He stopped in the doorway of the kitchen. The fact that he was covered in grease and wearing a blue Whiskey Creek Gas-N-Go shirt surprised her.
“You’ve been...at the gas station?” she asked.
He eyed Baxter. He had to have seen Kyle’s truck, but he would’ve had no reason to expect a third person. “All day. I was going to start cleaning up the mess left by the fire but figured that might not be wise—to touch anything before the arson investigator arrives.”
“Oh, right,” she said. “Of course. But you couldn’t have slept more than a few hours last night. Surely, you’ve got to be tired.”
He pulled his gaze away from Baxter. “I am now. But I needed to work.” He handed her a stack of bills. “That’s part of what I owe you.”
“They paid you in cash?”
“That was our agreement. It’s just day labor, whenever Joe needs me.”
Of course. At least he was still in Whiskey Creek. “Levi, this is my friend Baxter. He’s a stockbroker in San Francisco.”
“Nice to meet you.” Baxter played it serious, but then he flashed Callie an insider’s smile, as if to say he could see why she was so taken with this guy.
In an effort to keep Levi and Kyle from noticing, Callie hurried to divert them. “Have you eaten?” she asked, and stood to scramble some more eggs. Kyle had cooked egg burritos. She could easily assemble the ingredients for another one.
“I can’t eat yet. I’m too dirty.”
“The only soap I have that might be strong enough to get the grease off your hands is dishwashing liquid, which is right here. Go ahead and use that side of the sink. You can shower after.”
As he ran the water to get it hot, she cracked four eggs into a bowl.
“So...Joe hired you?” Kyle asked. “On the spot?”
Levi spoke above the running water. “He wasn’t too keen on the idea at first, if that makes you feel better.”
Kyle scowled. “It doesn’t make me feel anything. I’m just surprised.”
“Why, is he one of your friends? Was giving me a job some kind of betrayal?”
“Not really.”
“Joe is Gail’s brother,” Callie explained. “She’s the woman from that picture at my studio, remember?”
Understanding dawned. “The redhead who married the movie star.”
“That’s her.”
Baxter leaned back, holding his water glass. “If Joe wasn’t excited about the extra help, how come you’ve got his logo on your chest?”
“It’s Saturday. He was slammed. And he had a BMW that was giving him problems. Owner brought it back while I was talking to him, said there were still times it wouldn’t start, even after several attempts to fix it. I had a few ideas on how to solve that problem.”
“How’d you do it?” Baxter asked.
“They’d already replaced the fuel pump. It wasn’t the starter or the alternator. Far as I’m concerned, that leaves the central computer.”
Kyle pushed his plate away. “And was that it?”
Levi dried his hands on the towel Callie provided. “We’ve ordered one. We’ll see when it comes in.”
After hanging the towel on its hook, Callie poured the eggs into a skillet. “I thought...I thought maybe you’d gone.” She couldn’t look at him when she said this. She was too afraid he’d read the embarrassment she felt about what had happened between them earlier. Now that he was back, she wasn’t going to let things drift in that direction again. If she was careful, she could still enjoy the time she had left with him.
“I can’t go anywhere,” he told her. “Not until we find out how that fire got started.”
“You think it was Denny Seamans.” Kyle said this.
“I do,” Levi responded without a heartbeat of hesitation. “Makes no sense that a random fire would break out when and where it did. There was nothing in the barn that could’ve caused it. Nothing flammable. No one smoking. No lightning.”
“Sometimes fires start for odd reasons,” Kyle said.
Levi took a seat at the table. “This wasn’t one of those times.”
Kyle slid the pitcher of lemonade toward him as Callie brought him a glass. “Then I should thank you.”
Levi seemed confused as he poured himself a drink. “For what?”
“For caring enough to stay with Callie. For making sure she isn’t here alone.”
The two men stared at each other for a second, then Levi nodded and Kyle smiled. It was a small concession, on both their parts, but the exchange meant a lot to Callie.
“See what a good friend he is?” she said to Levi, and was glad that Kyle had proved it once again.
Maybe they really could forget the mistakes they’d made this year.
* * *
Callie was careful not to touch Levi when she passed him. She made a point of not letting their hands brush as she started making his bed on the couch and he came over to help spread out the blankets. She even avoided meeting his gaze, because she could tell he had something to say, that he was searching for the right words, and she was fairly confident she didn’t want to hear it. She’d already had another difficult conversation with her parents, one in which she’d had to assure them—several times—that the barn could be rebuilt and she’d be safe. She certainly didn’t want to talk about anything else that would be painful, especially what had happened when she’d put on that silly bustier. She’d been foolish to buy it in the first place. If Levi was interested in her, he would’ve let her know. And even if that was the case, it would be heartless to draw him any closer. Why would she set him up to suffer through yet another traumatic event? She could very well die while he was still around.
She was satisfied with having him back, she decided. With being able to spend a little more time with him. She wasn’t going to do anything to scare him off. The leaving would come soon enough. He’d made his intentions clear, yet again, during dinner, when he mentioned that his work at the Gas-N-Go was only temporary.
“Do you think you’ll need a heavier blanket?” she asked. “It’s cooling off a bit tonight.”
“No, that’s fine,” he replied.
“Okay.” She called Rifle, whom she’d brought inside after supper. Then she curved her lips in a polite smile, one she might bestow on any guest. “Get some sleep. Hopefully, we won’t have any trouble tonight.”