Willow had a feisty side that was kind of adorable.
“What if I knew of a place we could stay along the way that wouldn’t cost anything?”
She frowned. “Like where?”
“My sister lives in Richmond. We could stay there for the night. What do you say?”
“I don’t know…won’t that be weird?”
“Nah, I’ll explain to Nat what’s going on. It won’t be deluxe accommodations or anything–probably the couch and the floor–but it will be free, and we’ll get dinner and breakfast out of it.”
“I’d feel like I’m taking advantage…”
It would be wrong to blurt out just how badly he wanted her to take advantage of him. So instead, he said…
“Are you kidding? Nat’s always saying I don’t come and visit enough. So really, you’d be doing me a favor.”
“If you’re sure…”
“I’m positive. Trust me.”
Sitting up a little straighter, she smiled at him. “Okay then. Richmond’s not quite halfway, but it still should work.”
“I have another sister in Savannah. Maybe we stop a second night and hit the road early the next morning, so we get to your grandmother’s by lunchtime. What do you think?”
“Hmm…three days of driving is kind of long…”
“Depends on how you look at it. If we did the drive in two days, we'd arrive at your grandmother’s kind of late at night. You won’t get any real time to visit her that day. But if we stop in Savannah and leave early the next morning, you’ll get almost a full day with her when we arrive.”
“I didn’t think of that,” she said thoughtfully. “That probably would be a lot better for everyone. Especially since we’ll be staying with her.”
“We are?” Okay, that was brand-new information.
Although…most of this was brand-new information. He just hadn’t thought about the logistics of their arrangements once they arrived in Florida.
Nodding, Willow explained, “My folks stay at this boutique hotel near one of the town squares. Neither of my siblings can go this year, but honestly, I’m the only one who stays with her. She lives in a two-bedroom bungalow. It’s super cute and cozy, but definitely not a lot of room for everyone to come and stay.”
“So who else is going to be there? You know, other than your parents.”
“We’re the only family that will be there, but she has a ton of friends. My parents are hosting a party at the local country club for her. She loves that place.”
“So we’ll need to dress up at least one night,” he commented.
“Yeah, the other nights will be way more casual.” She paused and looked down at her notebook. “We really do need to work out some stuff about our relationship before we get there. We can use our real how we met story if you’ll agree to leaving out what a klutz I am.” A small nervous laugh followed that request, and Levi was beginning to see just how little confidence she had in herself.
And that bothered him a lot.
How could she not realize how special she was? Granted, they didn’t know each other that well–yet–but he could already tell that there was so much more to her than she let on.
“We can totally leave that part out, but if you ask me, it’s part of what makes the story so sweet.” When she went to argue, he held up a hand to stop her. “Think about it. We can say you fell on some uneven pavement–which isn’t a lie–but we don’t give all the details you described earlier because that’s not what I saw. I saw a beautiful girl fall, and I ran out to help her by scooping her up in my arms and carrying her inside to tend to her injuries. Your grandmother will practically swoon from that!”
“Oh, she totally will! She loves romantic-sounding stuff like that.”
“Then there you go. That’s how we met and it wouldn’t be a lie.” He smiled proudly. “Okay, what’s next?”
“Now is the getting-to-know-you stuff–favorite foods, favorite color…all the little things we should know about each other.”
Just then, their waitress appeared with their meals. Once all the food was served, and she was gone, he knew how he wanted the rest of their “date” to go.
“Tell you what, we have about two weeks before we leave, right?”
Willow nodded as she opened her chopsticks.
“Why don’t we just let the rest of our time today go naturally, and we can pick up the getting to know you stuff while we’re driving. What do you say?”
She looked at him oddly. “We’re not going to get together again like this before we go?”
Could he really be this lucky?
“Willow, we can get together as often as you’d like before we go. You tell me when you want to go out, and I’ll be there.”
Her eyes went wide. “Really?”
Levi couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah,” he said gruffly. “Really.”
3
“What’s in the cooler?”
“Um…drinks?”
“Why?”
Levi looked at her like she was crazy. “Um…because I thought we might get thirsty?”
It took a minute for Willow to realize she was sounding a little accusatory rather than curious. “Oh, uh…sorry. I just thought we agreed that I would handle the road snacks and all.” They were standing in the parking lot in front of her apartment building and loading her luggage into his car. It was another thing he had offered, and she had no choice but to accept. Levi’s car was much newer and nicer than hers, so it was basically a no-brainer.
Actually, it was one of the coolest, sportiest cars she’d ever seen. The cherry red color looked amazing on the Camaro, and the fact that it was a convertible made it just a little irresistible to her. Part of her couldn’t wait to drive with the top down at some point.
“What’s in your cooler?” he asked.
Looking down at her own small
