Page 31 of Every Single Broken Piece
His eyes soften as they drift over my face. “What’s that?”
“Helping me to remember the happy times I shared with them.” I lower my arms as I admit, “I don’t want to forget them.”
“You won’t.” He brings his hand to my face and carefully cups my cheek. “One memory at a time. Okay?”
It feels like something bigger than us fills the air between us as I reply, “Okay.”
Suddenly, he pulls back and climbs to his feet. “Tea?”
“Sure.” I get up, and as we walk to the kitchen, I ask, “What’s the time?”
Levi gestures to a clock on the wall, and when I see it’s already past midnight, I gasp. “Oh my God. I’m keeping you up.”
“You’re not. I don’t sleep at night.”
Shocked, my gaze swings to him. “Really? Me too. When do you sleep?”
“I catch a few hours during the day.” He opens a cupboard, then says, “I only have black tea. Is that okay?”
“Yes.”
While he prepares coffee for himself and tea for me, he asks, “Can you open the back door for Lick?”
As soon as I pull the door open, Lick darts out of the house. I watch as she goes about her business until Levi brings me the cup. “Thanks.” I take a sip, then smile at him. “It’s good.”
He drinks his coffee while he looks at his dog. “When we moved in with my stepfather, he tied my dog to a pole in the backyard of our old home and said I had to leave him behind. I spent the week after we moved worrying about Dodger, then I overheard a call between my mother and our landlord. Luckily, he found and adopted Dodger, but he let my mother have an earful and refused to return her deposit.”
What kind of monsters force a little boy to give up his dog like that?
“We need to make a new deal,” I say.
Levi’s face fills with worry. “Too much?”
“No, but I get the feeling I’m going to want to hug you after every bad memory. Is that okay?”
His mouth curves up. “You have a deal.”
I give him a sideways hug before I move out of the way so Lick can come back into the house.
Chapter 9
Levi
I spent the entire morning at the Woodruffs’ house, getting rid of weeds and gathering all the dead leaves, which Lick had a blast playing in. A few of the neighbors gave me weird looks, but I just ignored them.
After I pull up to my house, I unload the trash bags and place them in the garage, thinking I’ll move them out onto the sidewalk when they come to collect the trash.
Lick and I head straight for the bathroom, and while I shower, she makes herself comfortable on the mat and sleeps like the dead.
It actually felt good doing all that yard work. I’ll go twice a month to keep an eye on the place.
Once I’m clean and dressed, I walk to the kitchen and grab a bottle of water before I go to my office to see if I can get some writing done. I should sleep, but when I open my laptop, I’m struck with an idea and start typing.
For the first time in a long while, the words come easily, and it feels so damn good, a smile settles on my face.
One chapter becomes two, and a few hours later, I take a break to stretch my muscles and let Lick go outside.
I roll my shoulders and make sure to drink some water while I watch Lick. Glancing at Kelcie’s house, I notice her yard needs some tending to. I’ll take care of it tomorrow for her. There’s also the added bonus that manual labor seems to be good for my writing.
