Stars Over Alaska (Wild River #4) - Jennifer Snow Page 0,109
hadn’t exactly taken things slow a few weeks before.
Selena moved closer to the screen. “Look, you need to go to him.”
“I’m not sure I can.”
“I’m telling you, you can. He’s in Wild River tomorrow night at the resort for the charity event. You need to go and you need to tell him you love him.”
Leslie winced. At an event honoring her former fiancé? One she wasn’t a part of or even invited to? “You really think that’s the best time?”
“Yes. Because it will bring you both closure and assure him that he’s getting all of you. All of your heart. Convince him you’re ready to move on.”
She hated when Selena was right. “What if I’m not entirely ready?” She loved Levi. He was her best friend, always had been. He was the only man she wanted in her future, but she wasn’t good at this. She’d started opening herself up only a few weeks ago...
Selena gave her an encouraging smile. “Then Levi will help you get there. With patience and understanding and love. Damn, girl, if you don’t go after him soon, I’m making another play for him.”
Leslie laughed as she nodded. “Okay... I can go to him. I can do this.” In fact she wasn’t sure she could do this, not even a little bit, but Levi was worth shooting her shot.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
THAT SEASON’S TRAINING was scheduled to start in two weeks and sitting across from Levi was the latest recruit. Tyler Forrester’s smile might be wide now, but it wouldn’t be for long when he was enduring eighteen-hour days preparing for the upcoming wildfire season. “Welcome to the team,” Levi said, extending a hand to the guy.
Tyler stood and shook it. “Thank you. You won’t regret this.”
“Make sure I don’t,” Levi said.
Tyler hesitated as he headed toward the office door. “Can I ask—why the change of heart?”
It was a fair question. No doubt his call to the guy the day before had come as a surprise. “I, uh, just realized that maybe I’d been unfair before. We’d be lucky to have someone as qualified as you.” He wouldn’t admit to the guy that his own actions had only amplified how hypocritical he’d been in his applicant assessment. How could he turn the guy away for having someone in his life that he’d choose over the job in a hypothetical situation when Levi had actually done it?
“Well, thanks again.”
“See you at training,” he said, sitting back in his chair as Chad entered the office.
“So, you reconsidered?” he asked with a knowing grin.
“Seemed like the best decision,” Levi said. He cleared his throat. “Speaking of decisions...” Time to have the hard talk. “I realize mine wasn’t what was best for the team. I chose to leave Florida on an instinct and I’ll be happy to step down if the team thinks that’s the best thing.”
Chad looked at him as though he’d lost his mind. “What are you talking about?”
“I abandoned the team.”
Chad shook his head as he entered. “No. You prioritized. And you made the right decision. Besides, you’d completed the jump. Lead member or not, your name would have been moved to the bottom of the jump list...the next one was Miller’s fire.”
“But I would still have assisted...”
“Levi, give yourself a break, man. You’ve chosen a life of serving and protecting, no matter what that looks like—jumping out of a plane into a fire or being there for a loved one.” Chad patted his shoulder. “Now stop stressing and get ready to have your ass handed to you by that new recruit at training camp,” he said as he left the office.
Levi nodded and sighed as he fell back in his chair.
Now that that was over, he had something even heavier weighing on him.
He stared at his computer screen, the blinking cursor at the top of the page, where it had sat all morning, taunting him. He had twenty hours before he’d be standing in front of a crowded room and delivering a speech to honor his best friend, and a blank page was all he had so far.
Thinking of things to say about Dawson wasn’t the hard part. It was putting all of his respect and admiration for his friend into coherent sentences that would ring true and give everyone in the room a sense that they knew him.
He started to type...
Dawson Powell was a hero.
He backspaced over the stale introduction and ran a hand over his face. “Come on, Levi...get it together,” he mumbled.