11. Levi

11

LEVI

L evi glanced over at Lily for about the hundredth time, feeling like he was in a waking dream.

The two of them had met at Cassidy Farm first thing this morning. He had offered to pick her up, but she’d had a shipment come in that she wanted to look at first.

Maybe because it was freezing cold and so close to Christmas, or maybe just miraculously, the parking lot had been half-empty when they arrived within a minute of each other. And it had been easy to wander around the animal pens, a bundled-up Flora strapped to Levi’s chest, chirping and squeaking for joy.

She was really too little to take much notice of the cows and chickens, or the ducks in the pond. Levi liked to think she was enjoying the fresh air and company, just like he was. He and Lily had fallen into cheerful conversation so easily.

“Can you imagine that one day she’ll be old enough to run around like that?” Lily asked, pointing out the kids on the playground.

Even on such a cold day, some children were running and climbing on the play equipment, parents and caregivers watching from the wooden benches with coffee or hot chocolate. The littlest ones were being pushed in swings or toddling after their siblings.

He swallowed over a lump in his throat at the thought that Flora would be long gone from his life by the time she could even toddle.

That’s a good thing, he reminded himself. Her mother probably misses her terribly already.

“Take a photo of her for me?” he asked, grabbing his phone and offering it to Lily. “I’ve been sending photos to her mom when she’s being cute.”

“That’s so nice,” Lily said. “I’ll get one with you in it.”

“Let’s do a selfie,” he said. “We can all three be in it.”

He wondered if she would be uncomfortable with a shot that felt kind of like a family photo, but she grinned at him and huddled in.

“We have to get closer,” she told him.

He leaned down to be at her height.

“Closer,” she said, looking at the screen.

They pressed their cheeks together, and he drank in the feeling of her cold cheek warming against his and the light scent of her hair. Too soon, she had taken the photo and pulled back to look at the result. She smiled and then her expression dropped just a little, leaving Levi to wonder why.

“Mind if I send it to myself too?” she asked, smiling again .

“Sure,” he said. “I mean, no, I don’t mind.”

She laughed at that, and he watched her tap and slide her index finger across the screen, her pink, sparkly nail polish shimmering in the sunlight. He felt almost hypnotized—completely charmed at her joy over a simple photo.

“Want to take a hayride?” he asked her.

“Sure,” she said, her eyes lighting up. “Let’s check her diaper first, though.”

“Good thinking,” he said.

“If you just stay still, I can probably do it without really taking her all the way out,” Lily offered.

“Okay,” he said, impressed. The baby was happy now, but sometimes she got impatient when he fussed with her diaper.

Lily started singing a song that started with nonsense words and Flora predictably chuckled at her.

Lily’s glittery fingers slipped quickly along the fastener of the carrier, and she ducked her face down and sniffed as she sang, sliding one finger inside Flora’s fuzzy fleece joggers to check for wetness before she put her back together again, nodding and winking to Levi.

“Want to go on a hayride?” she asked Flora in an excited tone when she was secured back in place.

Flora yelled and her legs jumped up and down as if she thought they could do whatever it was faster with her moving.

“You are the absolute best,” Lily told her, offering Flora her hand. “Come on.”

Flora’s chubby little fist closed immediately around Lily’s index finger, and off the three of them went past the play area, the octagonal barn with the nursery, and under the bare branches of the sycamore trees to the top of the parking area where the hayride line began.

It was still freezing out, but it was sunny, and Levi felt warm with the baby against his chest and his legs moving. Lily was wrapped up like a burrito with a pink scarf and hat to match her coat.

“This is nice,” she said softly, looking up at him. “I haven’t been here since I was a kid.”

“What was your favorite part?” he asked her.

“The candy apples,” she said, laughing. “My mom didn’t like me having too many sweets, but I loved them.”

He laughed, knowing his voice was sort of booming, but not caring. She laughed too, and he couldn’t help thinking about the first time he’d heard that sound.

“What a nice family,” the farmhand said in a warm tone as he loaded up the hayride.

He could feel Lily tense beside him, but she didn’t correct the man.

“Let me help you up,” the man offered Lily.

“I’ve got her,” Levi said sternly, uncertain why he was so angry at the idea of the farmhand taking her hand.

“Good enough, buddy,” the man said with a funny smile.

“Thank you,” Lily said, taking Levi’s hand and making him forget about worrying whether he had just made a fool of himself.

She was up on the bed of hay in no time, looking around for a good spot to sit in.

Levi climbed up with Flora smacking her lips and talking quietly to herself all the way. When he reached the top, he saw that Lily had taken a space against the far wall of the bed, so they could watch the big barn disappearing as they rode.

“Great spot,” he told her as he lowered himself and the baby to the hay beside her.

An older lady with a couple of elementary school aged kids got in next. Levi was pretty sure he recognized her from the Co-op Grocer’s. She must have moved to town lately to be near the grandkids, or maybe she was just visiting. He’d thought he knew just about everyone in Trinity Falls.

Amazingly, no one else arrived. Before he knew it, the driver called to the horse, and they were jolting off to a start. The wheel must have been caught slightly in a rut, because there was a big bump as they got underway. Lily yelped and grabbed Levi’s arm like she thought she was going to fly right out.

As soon as she realized she was safe, she started laughing. The kids with the grandma laughed too, and Levi smiled down at Lily, in awe of her infectious joy.

From up front, the driver began calling out interesting facts about the farm and the plantings they were passing.

But Levi wouldn’t be able to pass a quiz on any of them an hour from now, and he had been on the hay ride a hundred other times. His mind and heart were taken up by how good it felt to be here with his two favorite girls.

They rolled past the cornfields, the apple orchard, and around the fields where drifts of mesh would protect blueberries from the birds in the summertime. A little stone house with a pretty garden brought back memories of taking the hayride as a child at Halloween and being dropped off there so that they could eat homemade ginger cookies and drink paper cups of apple cider while the kindly witch , who was very clearly Shane Cassidy’s grandma wearing a hat, told them funny stories.

“Did you ever do this at Halloween?” Lily asked as if reading his thoughts. “With that friendly witch’s house?”

“Oh, yes, definitely,” he told her with a chuckle. “I was just thinking about that.”

“I’ve never had ginger cookies like that,” she said, shaking her head.

“Like ginger snaps,” he said, nodding. “But so soft.”

“And spicier than gingerbread,” she said. “Nothing ever tasted so good.”

He made a mental note to ask Shane if they still had the recipe.

“The stories were so funny too,” she said.

“They all had lessons,” he remembered. “But I liked them anyway.”

“Levi Williams,” she scolded him lightly. “There’s nothing wrong with a story that has a lesson in it.”

“Not when Granny Cassidy tells it,” he said, winking at her. “She was super funny.”

Lily smiled and leaned back again. Their shoulders were touching now, and it was all he could do not to take her hand in his.

This isn’t a race, he reminded himself. It’s a brand-new friendship. Don’t push her for more.

Too soon, they were back at the start, and the driver was pulling them up to the grassy area where they would unload the ride.

Levi got down first, holding up a hand to help Lily down.

When her feet were back on the ground she gave his hand a squeeze before she let go and smiled up at him.

“How have we known each other since middle school and never hung out before?” she asked, her eyes dancing merrily.

“Truthfully?” he asked, feeling suddenly brave.

She nodded.

“I never thought the prettiest cheerleader would want to hang out with the president of the chess club,” he told her, arching a brow.

He’d posed it like a joke, but he wondered if she would see through his bravado and know how much he meant it.

She looked up at him, meeting his eyes and smiling.

“Levi Williams,” she said earnestly. “I always thought you were the absolute nicest guy for not telling the whole school about seeing me at the library that night. I guess I really didn’t notice you much before then because you were kind of quiet in school. But after that, I always noticed you. I’ve even noticed you lately, walking by the shop. But I always pretend I’m not looking.”

She looked down suddenly, her cheeks even pinker than before.

Emotions rolled over him, drowning out the little voice in the back of his head that told him guys like him didn’t get the girl. She had noticed him then, and she noticed him now.

His determination to take things slowly suddenly disappeared like it had never been there at all. You didn’t let a woman say a thing like that and then not ask her out.

He opened his mouth to make his case.

“I really need to run,” she said, before he had the chance. “Drop her off at the shop anytime tomorrow. Bye Flora.”

Lily took off for her car like she was afraid it was going to turn into a pumpkin. And Levi only stared after her helplessly, wondering what in the world he had done wrong.