Best Fake Fiancé by Roxie Noir

Author:Roxie Noir [Noir, Roxie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-08-11T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty

Charlie

When Levi pulls up in the driveway, Daniel and I are sitting outside on the porch steps, coffee in hand, talking about nothing, watching the sunlight slowly soak through the forest that surrounds the house.

I’m on my feet before Levi’s truck comes to a stop. Daniel takes my coffee mug. Levi’s truck stops. He gets out.

Daniel leans down and kisses me. I put one hand on his shoulder without thinking, a brief, chaste kiss, and then it’s over.

“Ballet Monday?” he says.

“Sounds good,” I say, and I walk toward Levi’s truck, manage to climb into the passenger side without flashing him.

“Thanks for the ride,” I say as soon as we’re both inside, seatbelts buckled. “I know it’s early, I just totally forgot that I didn’t have my car here, and we didn’t want to wake Rusty up, you know?”

Levi puts the truck into gear, and I swear there’s a quick, sneaky smile hiding under his beard.

“Naturally,” he says. “I imagine she’d have a lot of questions.”

I steal a quick glance over at Daniel’s oldest brother. Just because he tends to be the quietest, the last one to typically get involved in family arguments, and the least likely to interfere, doesn’t mean he’s the least nosy.

There’s a part of me convinced that Levi somehow knows everyone’s secrets, all the time, he just doesn’t say anything.

“Are you trying to tell me you’ve got questions?” I say, leaning back in the seat, my arm resting on the window ledge.

He’s giving me a ride home at sunrise. I probably owe him some answers. I think I can handle that. This isn’t really a secret, right? We’re supposed to be engaged, after all, though I think Levi is one of the ones who knows it’s a ruse.

Shit, I’m gonna need a flow chart to keep track of who knows what.

“I’m probably the only person right now who hasn’t got any questions at all,” he says, downshifting to go around a sharp turn. “Unlike Rusty, I know what it means when a woman is still at a man’s house at six o’clock in the morning.”

“Right,” I say. “So… how are the trees?”

The answer to that question is surprisingly complex and interesting. Most of the trees are well. Some of the trees are in trouble. He’s trying to convince the Forest Service to do slightly more prescribed burns this year than normal, to clear out the brush, and just as I ask how many acres they usually burn, my phone rings. It’s my sister.

“Sorry, one sec,” I tell Levi. “Hey, Betsy.”

“What happened?” she asks.

“I’m fine, it’s nothing,” I tell her.

“You called me at five-fifty in the morning,” she says. “That’s not a nothing time, Chuck.”

“Is that Elizabeth?” Levi asks.

“Is that Daniel?” Elizabeth asks.

I nod at Levi.

“It’s Levi,” I tell Elizabeth.

The line goes dead silent for at least five full seconds.

“It’s Levi?” she asks.

I’ve never heard my sister sound more astonished. I just start laughing.

“Surprise!” I say.

“What?” she hisses into the phone. Another silence.

Then: “Charlotte Alexandra, are you fucking with me?”

“Of course not,” I say.

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