Page 40 of Picking Daisies on Sundays

“Always.” I listened to him turn off the sink, wring out the shirt, and open the linen closet to my right. I caught the flash of material out of the corner of my eye and watched as he finished pulling a shirt over his head, sitting back down.

He was quiet for a moment, evidently thinking over his question, maneuvering his two rings around his fingers. Sliding one ring up and over his knuckle, and moving it onto the next finger, doing the same with his second ring; the pair moved in synchronization the way a figure skaters danced with one another.

He finally lifted his head up to look at me. “Are you interested in Ethan?”

“How so?”

“Are you interested in him romantically?” His question was clear, but I still struggled to piece the relevance of his question together, because what did Ethan have to do with any of this?

“No. Why would you think that?”

“The way you both sounded on the phone. It sounds like his

opinion matters a lot to you.”

“Well, of course it does, he’s my advisor. He has experience in the field I want to work in. But that doesn’t mean—”

“That he’s interested in you?”

I stood there dumbfounded. Was this his protective brother instinct or his concern for our fake relationship being tattered?

I shook my head, laughing in disbelief. “Ethan’s not interested in me.”

“He asked you to go to his place, Daniella,” he stressed. The use of my full name made me jump—he was serious.

“That was the first time that’s happened.”

“It’d better be,” he emphasized. His Older Brother Look was back in place.

“Levi, that’s how Ethan is; he’s friendly.”

“It’s not hisjobto be friendly. Has he always been like this?”

“Oh my gosh, Levi,no.He asked me outonce—”

He stood up from his seat like a lit spark. “Hewhat?”

Shit. I rushed to get the words out, “It was before he was my advisor—”

“Dani,that doesn’t matter. I’ve only been working in a teaching position for a few months, and I still know how wrong that is,” he stated, emphasizing his words with his hands and leaning down to meet my gaze. “Iswear to Godif he ever tried to touch you—”

“No! No, that’s never happened!”

“Was he working at the college when this happened?”

I cringed. “Well, yes—”

He scoffed, looking up at the ceiling and running a hand through his hair, tugging on the strands. Anger was radiating off of his skin, yet I still couldn’t help to notice the way his muscles tensed and how absolutelyattractiveit was. “Jesus. You need another advisor, right now.”

“Oh no no no.” I shook my head. “He’s the best one there is.”

“That’s exactly the problem. He knows you need him.”

“I don’t need him; I just need his help.” I appreciated how Levi always cared, like no time had passed between the two of us. But I hated when he acted like this—I hated it—when he thought he had a say in which men got to like me and who should find me attractive. I was twenty-two years old and graduating from college in just a few weeks; I was an adult. I didn’t need him treating me like another sister out of pity.

“Exactly! I heard the way he spoke to you over the phone.” My own frustration began to grow the more he rebutted what I said. This wasridiculous.

“Is this why you were being weird in the car? Why you’re acting like my brother?” I shot back.