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Break Away Page 4
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“Come in,” she called as she drizzled honey over the walnuts and goat cheese.
The door opened, followed by kissy noises as Zoey’s BFF Eva showered Lucy with love. Zoey and Eva had only known each other a year, and had become fast friends, which was new for Zoey. She’d never had a best friend, or a group of friends like the one that came with Eva. She did now, and she intended to enjoy them.
Eva entered the kitchen, a bottle of wine cradled in one arm. Two men followed her. Dark-haired and dimpled Diego held an aluminum baking tray covered by a checkered dish towel, while Justin, a baseball cap over his red curls, brought a plastic dessert carrier.
“Diego said our pizza would be better if we cooked it here.” Eva dipped her head. “Is the oven free?”
“Sure is,” Zoey replied.
Diego turned on the oven and pulled off the towel, holding out the pizza for Zoey to see. “Behold, perfection.”
Olives, mushrooms, peppers, and artichoke hearts: absolute perfection. “You’re right. You should use my pizza stone. It’s on top of the fridge. You need to preheat it.”
“Hey, I brought something amazing, too.” Justin flipped up the lid of his dish.
“Crème brûlée. You made crème brûlée?” Zoey reached out a finger, but Justin pulled it out of her reach.
“Don’t touch.”
“I want a taste.”
“You can have a taste later.”
“I love you, Justin. I might be willing to give sexual favors in return for an immediate taste of crème brûlée.”
“If anyone could un-gay me, it would be you, darling, but your offer of sexual favors doesn’t even tempt me.” He set the dish on the counter and gave her a warning look. “Don’t touch.”
“No one offered me sexual favors for bringing my perfect pizza,” Diego complained.
“That’s because your wife,” Zoey pointed to Eva, “would stab me with a spoon if I did.”
“Sure I would, but it wouldn’t be personal. I love your skirt, by the way.”
“Me too. I got it from that shop that opened a couple of weeks ago across from the Mexican restaurant on Main.” Zoey had paired the swishy multicolored skirt with a sleeveless peasant blouse of deep garnet and several beaded bracelets of the same color. She handed a stack of plates with cloth napkins and utensils stacked on top to Justin. “Take these out front. It’s too warm to eat inside. We’ll stuff our faces on the porch.”
“Got it.”
“Out.” Zoey pointed to Lucy, who made the already crowded space more crowded. “Out of the kitchen.” Head hanging in dejection, the big dog moved to the dining area and sprawled belly down in front of the fireplace.
Diego slid the pizza onto the prewarmed stone, then into the oven. Eva grabbed wine glasses while Zoey uncorked the bottle.
In minutes they were sitting on the porch in mismatched chairs and loveseats, the tray of crostini on the little table she’d found at a yard sale set in the middle of their circle.
Eva bit into her crostini choice and groaned. “This is wonderful. You make the best bruschetta in the world.”
Justin popped an entire appetizer in his mouth, then leaned back in the loveseat he shared with Zoey, the bottle of the beer he preferred over wine resting on his knee. Given the angle of her house, she could barely make out Levi opening the back of his Suburban.
Justin nudged her shoulder. “Who’s that? He’s hot.”
“My neighbor, Levi.”
“Straight or gay?”
“Hmm, he hasn’t said, but I’m getting a straight vibe.”
“Oh my god, Levi.” Eva set down her wineglass before bolting down the steps. “Levi,” she yelled, running to where he stood by his monster vehicle, throwing her arms around him. Zoey watched Levi gather Eva to him in a warm embrace.
“Good thing they’re related,” Diego grumbled.
Eva was tugging Levi’s hand to lead him up the steps to the porch. He glanced up and caught Zoey’s eye. They hadn’t spoken since their conversation on the hike the day before, and she thought she detected reluctance in his posture, but there weren’t many who could resist Eva.
“Zoey, did you know your neighbor is my cousin?”
“I kind of figured that out since Maddy and Brad are also your cousins, and he’s their brother.”
Diego rose to shake Levi’s hand. “Good to see you, bro.”
“And this is our good friend, Justin,” Eva motioned to Justin. “He’s a firefighter and is on the same crew as Diego.”
Levi leaned over to shake with Justin. “Cool.”
“Join us for dinner.” Eva handed him a plate. “We’ve got these amazing crostini Zoey made, and Diego is baking a pizza as we speak.”
“Damn, my pizza.” Diego ran for the door.
Justin rose to follow Diego. “You want beer or wine, Levi?”
“Ah.” Levi locked eyes with Zoey, and she knew he was waiting for a signal. They hadn’t parted on particularly amicable terms, and he was letting her decide if she wanted to him crash her party.
Zoey hesitated. Despite his chosen profession, she liked him. Maybe she should get to know him as a man, and not the fantasy she’d built from her high school crush on a teenage boy. His expression closed like he was sure she was going to make an excuse and give him the boot. Instead, she made herself smile. “Please stay, Levi.”
He glanced at Justin. “Then I’ll have beer. Thanks.”
Eva pulled up another chair to widen their circle, Levi tugging the cushioned wicker wingback chair closer to Zoey’s end of the loveseat. He selected a crostini, white teeth showing when he bit into the appetizer.
He swallowed, wiping goat cheese from his lip with his thumb. “Hmm, good. What are these again?”
“Crostini. A simple and tasty appetizer.” She watched as he demolished another topped with creamy Brie and jellied cranberries. She found herself staring at his long, squared-off fingers. He’d pushed up the sleeves of his casual shirt, revealing forearms corded with muscles that went with the long and lean build. The whole package was too uncomfortably appealing, and noticing all that wasn’t a good start to moving past her teenage crush.
“What? You’re staring.”
She was not going to tell him where her mind had wandered. “I’m surprised, that’s all. I wasn’t sure if you ate anything that didn’t come wrapped in plastic.”
He gave her a wolfish grin. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me.” Those bold blue eyes locked on hers and her stomach did a slow somersault. When he spoke, his voice was a low growl. “I’d like to talk to you when you have a minute. Alone.”
“Ah, sure.” She would not read anything into that request. “You can hang around when the others leave, if you like.”
She wasn’t fooling herself that he wanted to talk with her about anything personal. He was a cop who had been assigned the hit-and-run investigation. Zoey caught Eva’s speculative gaze and gave her friend a quick headshake. She’d have to find a way to discourage Eva from thinking what that look said she was thinking.
With the appetizers consumed and the pizza cooling between them, Zoey leaned back against the cushion, the sweater she’d pulled on keeping the evening chill at bay. This was one of the nicest evenings she’d had since her move back to Hangman’s Loss a year ago. She loved the relaxed casualness of getting together with the friends she’d made, the easy talk and laughter. Maybe she liked that Levi had joined them a little too much, but she’d cut herself some slack. She couldn’t fault her teenage self for knowing a good thing when she’d seen it.
“Levi, word is you joined the Loss police department,” Diego said around a bite of pizza. “Small-town cop job is going to be a hell of a lot different than big-city cop job.”
“I’m hoping it will be a good difference. Today was my first day.”
“How was it?” Diego asked.
Levi shrugged. “Good. Drove around a lot to get reacquainted with the area. There’s been development on the oth
er side of the lake I hadn’t seen before.”
“Ooh,” Eva exclaimed. “Levi is a really good baseball player. We know what that means.”
“What does it mean?” Levi’s longneck bottle dangled loosely between those all-too-appealing fingers.
“These guys,” Eva pointed at the other two men, “have been bragging about how they are going to crush the Guns this year.”
“Crush the guns?” Levi looked confused.
“How good is good?” Justin interrupted.
“The Guns are the police department’s softball team, and the fire department’s team are the Hoses,” Eva explained. “Diego, Justin, and the other firefighters have been practicing for months. The Guns and Hoses play in an annual charity softball game with proceeds going to local kids’ programs.”
“How good?” Justin asked more insistently.
“Levi is awesome.” Eva batted her eyes at her cousin. “He played first base in high school and college. He’s got a great bat and is awesome on the field. He was even scouted by the big leagues.”
“Really?” Zoey asked him. “What happened with that?”
Levi shrugged. “I was good enough to play in the minors, but probably not good enough to go farther than that. I didn’t want to spend year after year chasing a break into the majors that might never come.”
“The Guns also have Jack Morgan,” Eva added. “The guy can hit home runs like he’s swatting flies.”
“Hey, who’s side are you on? Besides, we’ve got Tank,” Diego interjected. He glanced around the group. “He’s Tank because he’s built like a tank. He’s our power hitter.”
“True, we do have Tank,” Justin muttered. “Dude,” he motioned to Levi while talking to Diego, “they’re going to draft you to play in the Guns and Hoses game. There’s no way they won’t. We won last year, but barely.” He pointed at Diego. “We’ve got to start practicing every night.”
“When is the game?” Levi asked Eva.
“A couple of weeks.”
“Would you play if asked?” Zoey sat forward and started stacking plates.
“Hell yeah.”
“Damn,” Justin muttered.
Darkness had fallen, and the globe lights gave the gathering a sweet, cozy feel. Zoey rose to gather up the stacked plates, putting out a hand when Justin would have risen. “You all stay seated. I’ll bring out the crème brûlée.”
“No dipping in your finger,” Justin called as she crossed the porch.
“Awesome,” Eva said, and Zoey caught her snuggling in next to Diego on their loveseat.
Zoey carried dishes to the cabin door, not realizing Levi had followed her until he reached around her to push it open. The door opened a scant inch before it was blocked on the inside.
“Lucy, move.”
A groan sounded from the other side of the door.
Zoey put her shoulder into it and pushed harder. The door gave abruptly and Levi dropped an arm around her shoulder to steady her.
“Bear dog lies against the door?”
“There’s no logic to where Lucy sleeps. The only thing you can count on is that it’s not likely to be her bed, unless it’s bedtime or she’s not feeling well, then that’s the only place she wants to be.”
“Huh. Funny dog.”
Bright headlights speared through the darkness as a car turned onto the driveway.
“Expecting more company?”
Zoey was more than aware of Levi’s arm still draped around her shoulders. “No, are you?”
“Nope.”
“I’ll go see who it is,” Diego said, rising from his seat.
Zoey and Levi stood in the glare of the headlights as Diego approached the driver’s window. Before he could reach the car, it bulleted in reverse back onto the street before tearing off in the direction from which it had come.
“What the hell?” Levi leapt off the porch and across the driveway to the street, where he stood staring in the direction the car had gone. He walked back to Zoey’s house and met up with Diego on the steps.
“You recognize the car or driver?”
“No. It was a small SUV, light colored. Could be anywhere between gray and white. That’s what we get for not having streetlights out here. I couldn’t see through the windows. So basically, I got nothing.”
“Surely that was someone turning around. Why are you so concerned?” But Zoey felt suddenly cold and gathered her sweater around her.
“Whoever it was seemed anxious not to let me get close enough to see who was driving,” Diego observed.
In the shadowed light of the porch, the planes of Levi’s face tightened. “Zoey, did the vehicle look familiar to you?”
“No. I don’t get many unannounced visitors. We’re far enough from town that most people will call first to make sure I’m home before making the drive out here. Maybe the visitor was yours.”
Levi shook his head. “Same deal as you. I’m not likely to get casual visitors here, and since I only moved in a couple of days ago, not many people know I’m back home or where I live.”
Eva bustled by with dirty dishes stacked in her hands. Zoey followed her into the cabin and returned a few moments later, carrying Justin’s crème brûlée. Enjoying the creamy dessert, she tried to ignore the uneasy feeling brought by the arrival of the car that sped off into the night.
The brulee was gone. As in, no leftover finger swipes. Justin got high praise from everyone. Her guests helped to tidy the porch, and after hugs and promises to do it again soon, Zoey waved as they drove away.
Levi stood beside her on the steps, Lucy leaning against his leg. Zoey rubbed her arms against the evening chill. “Well, that was fun.”
“Yeah.”
Zoey angled him a look. “Is that you sounding surprised that you enjoyed yourself? I have nice friends, plus it’s obvious your cousin loves you.”
“My surprise has more to do with you letting her invite me.”
“It’s hard to say no to Eva, as I’m sure you’re aware.” She looked down as she stroked Lucy’s head. “I might have gone a little overboard yesterday about the hit-and-run.”
“A little?”
“Yes, a little. I like to be up front with people, so I’ll tell you I have an inclination to resist authority if I think that authority is being heavy-handed.”
“In what way have the Loss police, or me for that matter, been heavy-handed?”
“You haven’t been, hence the apology.”
“What apology?”
“The one where I said I might have gone a little overboard yesterday.”
“See, I was a detective in Oakland. I heard that part, but somehow did not detect an apology.”
She gave a throaty little laugh. “It was implied.”
“Ah.”
“Did you know Diego when we were in high school? He’d have been a freshman when you were a junior.”
“No. There’s a lot of my junior year that’s a blur.”
“Oh, jeez, that’s right. Your dad died that year.”
“He did.” The warm glow from the globe lights reflected the closed expression on his face that didn’t invite additional comment.
“Anyway, I’m glad you joined us, Levi.”
“Me too.” He seemed to make an effort to shake off the mood brought on by her careless comment. “I have a couple of questions about the hit-and-run.”
Not what she wanted to talk about, but Zoey guessed she wasn’t going to be able to put him off. She nodded and returned to the loveseat, pulling her feet up onto the cushion and covering her legs with her skirt. Lucy sat on the floor and rested her head on the cushion of the little sofa.
“I heard you when you said that you’re not interested in pursuing prosecution if hitting you was an accident.” Levi took the wingback chair and turned it so he was facing her. “I don’t agree, but I understand. Kind of. But what if it was intentional?” He held up a hand when she opened her mouth to speak. “Hear me out. I’m pursuing the investigation an
d I’d like your cooperation. Main reason is because if it was intentional, you could be targeted again. If it was an accident, then there’s a seriously deficient driver out there who shouldn’t be on the road. The next person might not be as lucky as you. This isn’t police heavy-handedness, Zoey, it’s public safety.”
She pulled a scrunchie out of her pocket and wrangled her hair back into a ponytail. He had a point, and she really didn’t want to get into another argument with him. “Okay, but if it turns out that it was accidental, my cooperation ends.”
She nudged her dog. “C’mon, Lucy. It’s too cold to stay out here.” She rose to her feet and held the door open for the dog before directing her next comment to Levi. “I need to clean the kitchen. You can ask your questions inside.”
Chapter Five
Levi followed the irascible woman and lumbering dog into the cottage. Zoey switched on a lamp that cast a cheery light over the living room. She’d used lots of textures and colors in the rugs, furniture, and knickknacks, giving the room a welcoming feel. His family owned this cottage, and as a teenager he’d spent too many hours painting and doing repairs. He remembered complaining and swearing about having to spend what had seemed like his entire summer after graduating high school painting every damn room in the place, only to have Brad chew his ass while doing it.
Levi stopped at the bar separating the kitchen from the living room. All available counter space was covered with cutting boards, dirty dishes, food scraps, and pans in need of scrubbing. “Holy crap.”
There was that laugh again. “Don’t judge. Every time I start making something I tell myself to clean as I go, but I get too busy and then my kitchen ends up looking like this.”
“Is there any dish you didn’t use?”
She took off her many bracelets and set them on the windowsill above the sink. With the water running, she began rinsing dishes and stacking them on the tile counter. “I’m pleading the fifth on that question.” She gave him that side look that he was starting to think was downright sexy. “Make yourself useful. You can feed Lucy.”