Right Move (Clean Slate Ranch #6) - A.M. Arthur Page 0,28
“Drive safe.”
“I will.” Levi hesitated a beat longer, then walked around the truck. Got into the driver’s seat and shut the door.
George shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans, thoughts and emotions tumbling all over themselves. As Levi and Ginger drove away, they took a tiny piece of his heart back to Garrett with them.
* * *
Levi spent the hour-long drive home confused and annoyed by his conflicting emotions. He had enjoyed this entire week of daily visits with George, bringing him lunch and picnicking with Ginger. He was thrilled to finally bring Ginger home to Baby and Sporty. So why did he also feel as if he was betraying George somehow? It made no sense.
And that hug. That hug.
He hadn’t expected George to agree to more than a handshake goodbye, but the instant that slender body pressed into his? Levi had wanted to hold on and never let go. To take George with him back to his tiny house, their three cats, and a wonderful, happy life together. But life wasn’t that sort of fairy tale and they both knew it. They each had their lives to return to and they would remain in contact. Remain friends.
A friend Levi kind of wanted to kiss until they were both breathless.
Ginger yowled in the passenger seat, and he tried to keep his fingers inside the carrier for her to rub against. She hated being confined more than the other two, even for brief trips to the vet, so he imagined this past week had been horrible for her. But she was healing and that’s what counted. In a few more days, she’d be free to wander again with her siblings. Small price to pay when the injuries from falling from a tree could have been catastrophic.
Hopefully, she’d be more cautious where she climbed in the future.
“You’ll be okay, baby girl. We’ll be home soon.”
Her chirp sounded strangely annoyed but he didn’t blame her. Levi couldn’t imagine being caged for an entire week. The closest he’d ever come to being imprisoned had been detox and rehab, and even those situations had come with their own set of freedoms. He, like his kitties, was meant to wander, not remain trapped in one place.
More and more, he considered uprooting his tiny home and hitting the road again. Taking the ghost town closure as a chance to travel and wander for a while, maybe find some new, exciting blog material. But every time he considered uprooting his life, even temporarily, his thoughts wandered back to George. To not seeing him again for weeks on end, when this entire past week of visits meant the world to Levi.
He drove up the familiar, pitted dirt road and the familiar split. Going straight led to Clean Slate Ranch. The left road ended at the ghost town, and Levi turned that way. Went down the long driveway to Mack and Wes’s place, and then onto a grass track that his tires had begun wearing into the earth. He’d already promised Mack he’d reseed any areas where his truck or home caused real damage.
Baby was sleeping in the sun near the house when Levi parked, and she barely twitched when he opened and shut his truck door. Then Ginger began yowling, and Baby surged to her feet. Sporty came racing out from beneath the house, and they were both winding around his ankles, chirping for their littermate. Levi gently lifted the carrier out and, since it was sunny and not too chilly, he put the carrier down in a sunspot. The siblings sniffed and chirped, and Ginger reached out with one paw to swat at Sporty.
Levi closed his eyes and sent positive energy out to the universe, thanking her for bringing his girl home safely.
His phone dinged with a text.
Robin: You back yet?
Levi sent back an affirmative, and less than fifteen minutes later, he and Robin were sitting out on deck chairs together, each holding a cold bottle of cream soda from a local soda maker Robin knew he loved. The cats had all settled together around the carrier, and Levi had never seen a sweeter sight.
Except maybe George’s smile.
“Now that the family’s back together,” Robin said, “you give any more thought to traveling during our break?”
“Some. I might wait until January, though, so I’m here for Christmas.” Levi needed to be there with Robin on the four-year anniversary of Xander’s death. “Plus, Ginger has just spent the last week cooped up. I don’t want to coop her