you keep doing that to yourself? Didn’t you see the signs? Any red flags?”
She looked at him sadly. “Levi, I’m like a red flag factory. Trust me.” Groaning, she hung her head. “And now you probably wish you never signed on for any of this.”
Kissing her hands, he simply did what Levi did best.
He smiled and made sure she was okay.
“For your information, I do not regret for one minute any of this. I have loved getting to know you, and the last two days have been a blast.” Another kiss to her hands. “Now let’s go get some time with your grandmother before your parents show up. That’s what you wanted most, right?”
Well, that and an orgasm or two last night would have been nice, but…
“Yeah,” she said instead. “Definitely.”
“You sure you’re good to go? Because if you need a few more minutes, we can do that too.”
“Nope.” She shook her head. “We’ve driven all this way, let’s go and do this.”
Levi straightened and drove them the rest of the way–all five houses worth–to her grandmother’s. Gammy was walking out the front door grinning from ear to ear before the car even came to a complete stop.
Smiling, Levi looked at her. “Showtime!”
“And then there was the time when Willow bell and I went to Colonial Williamsburg and dressed up and learned how to make soap!” Gammy laughed and looked over at Levi. “Have you ever been there, Levi?”
“Um…once. In my senior year of high school we took a class trip there along with Busch Gardens.”
“Oh, what fun! I bet that was a wild time for your chaperones!” Gammy said.
And yeah, she had insisted on him calling her Gammy.
Which just felt weird.
He was a grown man, and that was the kind of endearment that…well, that a grown man shouldn’t use.
Especially one who just met her.
“Where did you go on your senior trip, Willow?” Gammy asked as she rose from the dining room table to get them more food.
Because clearly the platter of sandwiches along with potato salad, coleslaw, macaroni salad, chips, carrots and celery, and sweet tea wasn’t enough.
I probably shouldn’t have eaten that brownie…
Or licked the icing from Willow’s fingers…
“We went to Niagara Falls,” Willow said, smiling. “It was so much fun. I have a picture of a group of us straddling the line between the US and Canada somewhere. I never thought about going back or anything, but we definitely had a good time.”
“I bet you did,” Gammy said, placing a plate of cookies on the table before sitting down again. “So, Levi, Willow tells me you’re a bartender.”
He nodded.
“What’s your specialty?”
“I don’t really have one,” he said lamely. “It’s a pub, so it’s a lot of basic stuff. Nothing too fancy. It’s not that kind of clientele.”
Willow frowned at him. “We were talking about that on our way here,” she said. “The people that go to McGee’s aren’t the college crowd, but they’re not the kind that hangs out at wine bars either. Still, there is a massive collection of beers they serve.”
“I never acquired a taste for beer,” Gammy said. “Give me a good Old Fashioned or just some vodka neat and I am a happy woman.” She winked. “The bartender at the country club makes the best Old Fashioned I’ve ever had. You’ll have to try it at the party, Levi.”
He nodded again but didn’t want to admit that he wasn’t a big whiskey drinker. Honestly, he wasn’t much of an alcohol drinker, period. He enjoyed all kinds of beers, but…that was it.
Probably not the smartest thing a pub owner can admit.
So he didn’t.
“What about you, Willow bell? You still drinking your rum and pineapple?”
Reaching for a cookie, Willow nodded. “I am. And Levi makes it just the way I like it-the perfect ratio of rum to pineapple. Totally yummy.”
“Yes, he is!”
“Gammy! Behave!”
“What? You think I don’t appreciate a handsome young man just because I’m 75?” Gammy winked at him. “You’ll fit in nicely with the Romeos. They’re going to take you to lunch tomorrow while Willow and I go get our nails done.”
“Um…what? Who am I going out with?”
“The Romeos,” Gammy repeated like he had no reason to question her.
“And they are…?” he prompted.
“They’re a group of wonderful men who live here in the community.”
“And they’re called the Romeos because…they’re single and date a lot?” He glanced at Willow for help, but she was trying not to laugh while eating her cookie.
Gammy considered him for a moment. “Now that would be a much more