“I mean independent to a fault. Like, sometimes you need other people, right?”
“Right.” Her tone softened.
“Well, she doesn’t need anybody, and she apparently doesn’t need me. I could’ve been there for her. I could’ve helped her.” He cleared his throat. “So. We’re done.” He tried to keep his tone nonchalant, but had a feeling his sister picked up on the hurt he couldn’t quite hide.
“Oh, Levi.” She touched her fingers to her throat. “Are you in love with her?”
“Fuck no!” His eyes popped open wide.
Madeline smiled slowly. “Little bro.” She shook her head. “You brought her to the wedding.”
“That was just because she needed to get out and have more fun.”
“Uh-huh. And you wanted to be there for her and help her through a rough time.”
“Well. Uh. Yeah.”
She bit her lip. “Oh, baby brother. Maybe you have grown up.”
“Whatever.”
“It looked like she was really into you,” she said. “At the wedding. I really liked her. You seemed so good together.”
“I thought we were too,” he said glumly.
“So you’re just going to give up? Let her go?”
He frowned. “Uh…”
She smacked his shoulder. “You spoiled brat.”
“Ow!” He lifted a hand to his shoulder and rubbed it. “What the hell does that mean?”
“Everything’s been handed to you your whole life. Everyone’s always done whatever you want. Now you run into an obstacle, you’re just walking away? Even though you love her and your heart is broken?”
“What?” His mouth fell open, but her words stabbed into him.
“Jesus. Come on, Levi. I’m guessing she has some issues because of what happened with her mother. Show some empathy and understanding. Relationships take work.”
“Okay, let’s go.” Bryan appeared, cell phone in hand. “Sorry, that call took longer than I thought. Hey, Levi. Thanks for coming.”
“No problem,” he said again, his head in a daze from Madeleine’s crazy words.
“We’ll be home around eleven,” Madeleine said. “They better be asleep.” She paused and gave him a long look. “Sack up, Levi.”
He saluted her and watched them leave through the kitchen door to the attached garage.
He was not a spoiled brat.
And he knew relationships took work. Well, he’d never had a real relationship, but he’d heard that they took work.
In love with Sloane? Jesus Christ.
His distracted himself by playing with the kids. He took them out to the backyard and let them run around. They swung on their swing set and played with some dump trucks in the sandbox, and Elijah rode his tricycle around in circles on the patio, making engine noises. If he got them tired enough, they’d be asleep in no time.
Then Elijah tipped his trike over, scraped his elbow and started bawling. Levi carried him into the house. Madeleine had showed him where the first aid stuff was the first time he’d ever babysat the kids, and it was the well-stocked first aid kit of a paranoid, overprotective mom. He cleaned up the scrape, applied a SpongeBob bandage, hugged Elijah and dried his tears.
“Need another bandage,” Elijah said. “On dis arm.” He held up the other arm.
“Where?”
“Here.” Elijah pointed at his forearm. It appeared fine to Levi.
“Okay.” Levi shrugged and applied another SpongeBob bandage to the other arm. Elijah nodded in satisfaction.
“Let’s wash up and get you in your PJs,” Levi said. “Then we’ll see if you have any cookies.”
“Cookies!”
Probably not what Madeleine had in mind for a snack, but the kid was hurt. He had to distract him. They found oatmeal cookies, which were somewhat healthy, and the kids sat at the big kitchen island on stools to eat their bedtime snack.
“I cannot use that cup,” Elijah said as Levi handed him a glass of milk. Levi raised his eyebrows.
“Is blue,” Elijah said. “I ony like the red cup.”
“Ooookay.” Levi opened the cabinet door and found the red plastic cup, then poured the milk from the blue one into the red one and handed it to Elijah. He set the blue one in the dishwasher.
After cookies and milk, they read a couple of stories in bed and Elijah was nodding off before he’d even finished the second one. Emily wasn’t far behind him.
Then Levi was alone in the quiet house, thinking about Sloane.
His anger had muted. So had the hurt. Yeah, it bothered him that she hadn’t told him about her mom and what was going on. But maybe like Madeleine said, he needed to understand what was behind that. Sloane was very private. She kept her feelings to herself. She came across as tough and take-charge in the office.