Page 119 of Cactus Heart
“Me too,” June said, smiling at me. “I needed it.”
“As did I,” Austin said. “Even though I definitely put off work to be here.”
“Uh-huh,” Dallas said, shaking his head. “You gotta stop working so much. You’re turning gray already.”
“That’s been proven to be a genetic thing,” Austin quipped, not hiding his tired smile.
“It’s also been proven to be a thing when you work sixty hours a week,” Mateo said. “Too much.”
“Well, someone has to do it,” Austin said. “Levi, when are you leaving Whynot? Soon, right?”
His shoulders tensed. I couldn’t help but look at him.
“Why? Trying to get rid of me?” he snorted, avoiding looking at me or Mateo.
“Of course not. I’ve just lost track of time. The last few weeks have flown by,” Austin said.
“You should stay,” Evie said casually.
“You absolutely shouldn’t stay,” Dallas laughed. “This place has nothing to offer you. I mean, I love it. I love our community. But you’ve worked so hard for your career, that would be such a wild change. Just make it your vacation spot and come visit us more often.”
“I think he should stay,” June said.
Levi opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. Mateo stiffened next to me, his hand sliding under the table and settling on my knee. No one else could see it, but just feeling the weight of his hand calmed me just enough so I could breathe.
“My flight is Monday,” he said. “I’ll have to drive my car to the rental place in Odessa and then I’ll be heading back to Minnesota. My agent has a meeting set up for us the next day.”
“Any idea what you want to do?” Dallas asked. “I don’t know how the hockey world works. Honestly, I don’t even know anything about the sport itself.”
“I’m not sure yet,” Levi said. “My shoulder has been feeling a lot better now that it’s been rested. But . . . I don’t know if I want to go back.”
“You’ve worked so hard for it,” Austin said.
“He can change his mind though,” I said more firmly than I meant to.
Austin raised a brow and zeroed in on me. “I mean, yeah. He can. But that’s like you giving up your gallery.”
It wasn’t like thatat all.Did Austin even know Levi? “I think it’s different. If he’s not passionate about hockey anymore, then why do it?”
“The money? The fact that he’s at the height of his career?”
“Okay,” Mateo interjected. “This is none of our business. Levi should do what’s best for himself. Hewilldo what’s best for himself.”
Austin shrugged his shoulders and I wanted to launch myself across the flimsy table and choke him. And no, I couldn’t just let it go.
“I just think Austin needs to think about what Levi is saying before trying to pressure him into doing something that he doesn’t want,” I said.
Austin scoffed. “Why do you even care, Avery? It’s not like you know him.”
“I know him better than you do.”
Mateo’s grip tightened on my knee. The room was so silent that I could have heard a pin drop.Fuck, fuck, fuck.
“I just mean you aren’t listening,” I mumbled. My cheeks were hotter than an iron. I looked away, looking at June and pleading for some sort of interjection.
Evie was the one to rescue us. “I have some gossip.”
Everyone leaned in immediately, because she always had the best gossip.
