Page 186

Story: Ill Will

“You won’t. Hopefully, we can press for prison time, especially since it’s not his first offense.”
“I was gonna ask about that. What was the first restraining order he got?”
“Oh, I have a long story for you. One involving what I learned from Mr. Buford.”
“I completely forgot you confronted him.”
“And I learned a lot. Ready to hate Calvin more?”
“Who the fuck cares about him? I’m ready to hear about whatyoulearned.”
I laughed. It would take time to fully get used to the attention being on me.
But I would get used to it.
“I’ll tell you everything, but first things first, I’m gonna go take my medicine. I feel a headache coming on.”
“Then the conversation can wait. We have all the time in the world.”
I pulled him into a tight, crushing hug. “And we won’t waste it. We’re getting our happy ending.”
“Darling”—I could hear the smile in his voice— “I think we already have.”
Epilogue
I wokeup alone in my bed, which was unusual for me.
I frowned as I slowly got up. I threw on a robe—since I’d dozed off in nothing after another night of Levi rocking my world—and went to the kitchen. Levi was nowhere to be found and neither was his car.
One of our favorite things when we woke up was to have breakfast together. It was a tradition, even on the days he worked. And for him to be gone was worrying.
I turned to the coffee pot, which had freshly brewed liquid in it. I poured a cup and went to grab my phone to ask where the hell he was. But then I reached into the fridge and saw no maple syrup.
That was when Levi walked into the house with two massive bags in his arms.
“You better have had a good reason for leaving me in bed alone,” I said as I closed the fridge.
“I was trying to make you coffee for when you woke up, but we were out of maple syrup, so I ran to get some.”
“And these bags were forjustmaple syrup?”
“Yeah, about that.” He put the bags on the counter. “You know how I said there was no recipe you could make that would get me to like tomatoes?”
“Of course I do.” I crossed my arms. “Are you about to admit you were wrong?”
He sighed. “The frittata you made was incredible, and the tomatoes that were ripening on the window sill are ready now. Can you make that again?”
“Only if you admit I’m amazing and right all of the time.”
“You’re amazing and rightmostof the time.”
I glared. “Not what I asked for.”
“Maybe these will make up for it.” He pulled out a huge bouquet of flowers from the second bag.
My heart skipped a beat as it always did when he did something sweet like this.
“It kinda does. But you don’t have to get flowers for me all the time. You just did last week.”

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