Page 13 of Glad You're Here
“Nope. Too sticky and loud.”
“Exactly!” Levi grinned up at me. “My ex really wanted kids, though.”
He had a lot of pain from his previous marriage. I wanted to dig into that more, not because I had villainous intentions but because I found his pain so interesting. Levi was a mix of pain and joy. The two emotions seemed to be battling day and night, but he got his ass out of bed every day and lived his life anyway.
What made a person do that? Keep living through awful pain?
I paused to look at the miniature trains enthralling Levi. “How long were you married?”
“Twelve years.”
I gaped at him. “Wait, wait, wait. You said you were thirty-three the other night, correct?” When he nodded, I continued. “So you got married at twenty-one years old?”
“Your math skills are on point, Thea.”
I laughed at his sarcasm and nudged him with my elbow. “Why did you get married so young?”
Levi straightened and glanced around for Jo’s kids in an adorable, protective way. When he spotted all three, he answered, “Mormon kids can’t have sex before marriage. I was horny, and Gina liked me. What’s a guy supposed to do?” He gave me a sarcastic half-smile. “Honestly, though, Mormon families put their kids on this conveyor belt of life experiences. Get baptized at eight, boys get the priesthood at age twelve, go on a two-year mission at nineteen, and get married before twenty-six. The real expectation, though, is that you’re married and have your first kid by twenty-six.”
I stared at him with my mouth slightly open. “Okay, there is so much to unpack there. What is the priesthood? What is the two-year mission like? And why don’t you have kids if you’re thirty-three and were married for twelve years?” I knew this guy had stories. If I sat down to paint his life, I already knew what colors I’d use. Most of the canvas would be muted gray shapes in a perfect line, but the last little strip of canvas right before the edge would be a chaotic explosion of color. Maybe I’d paint that when I got home today.
Levi sighed. “We both had fertility issues. I’d love to dive into the rest of your questions with you, but maybe not right now. I want a few hours where I don’t think about the church and the profound way it fucked up my life.”
“Hey,” I smiled at him. “You said ‘fuck’ out loud again.”
An hour later, Jo showed up at the train museum to get her kids. As I handed off Ryker’s booster seat, I noticed Jo’s offspring running in circles around Levi. Then, I had a deliciously evil idea.
“Jo, walk up to the dude over there and lay one on him.”
Jo shrugged, adjusted her bra, and walked over to Levi. She gave him a flirty smile, tossed her blonde hair over her shoulder, and grabbed his face with both hands. I laughed at the look of shock on Levi’s face as Jo smashed her heavily glossed lips into his. He didn’t even close his eyes! The most awkward kiss in history unfolded before me as she tangled her hands in his hair.
What started as hilarious suddenly turned irritating. Levi looked frozen and uncomfortable, and I felt this weird surge of protectiveness. It was time to call off the hound. “Jo! That’s good! Leave him alone!”
Jo slowly unglued her lips from Levi’s and patted his cheek before rounding up her kids. The littlest one waved at me with a shy smile. Jo winked at Levi. To me, she said, “Thea, thank you. You saved my ass today. I’ll find a way to repay you somehow.”
She wouldn’t. Jo had been full of fake smiles and empty promises since middle school.
Once Jo and her kids walked away, I bit my lip and locked eyes with Levi. He still looked shell-shocked. “Sorry about that, dude.” I took a few steps closer, thinking Levi might make a run for it.
Instead, he shook his head as if to clear it, smiled, and pulled a crumpled napkin from his pocket. “Sharpie, please.” He held his hand out for the black marker he knew I always carried in my bag.
I obliged and laughed while I watched him cross off Kiss a Stranger.
“So, were you into that? Be honest.” I fell into stride beside him as we crossed the street to my favorite bakery. Their lemon muffins tasted like they were hand-crafted by angels. I needed to make a mental note of them the next time I figured I had nothing to live for. Muffins weren’t always enough, but today they were.
Levi raised both eyebrows. “The kiss?”
I nodded.
“I’d classify that as the worst kiss of my entire life. I mean, I’ve only kissed two other people, but…” Levi cleared his throat. “How good of a friend is she?”
“We’ve known each other forever, but I’d hardly call us friends.”
Levi narrowed his light brown eyes as he pulled open the front door of Haven Bakery. A tinkling bell and the smell of pure joy greeted us. “You’re hardly friends, but you watched her kids?”
He gave me this piercing, curious look like he was about to figure me out. I didn’t like it. There was nothing to figure out, nothing to see but a big gaping hole of emptiness.
“You were telling me why the kiss didn’t rock your world.” I changed the subject.