Page 22 of Except Emerson (Detroit ABCs #7)

Ava had to leave. She had a job to get back to, and she also had three children.

She had the dog who tripped her, a husband, a house, a brother and a sister whom she watched like a hawk, and probably a hundred other responsibilities that I didn’t even know about.

She needed to go take care of all that and she didn’t need to stand on this hot sidewalk under the bright July sun, comforting me.

But I couldn’t seem to let go. “It’s ok,” she told me, and she rubbed my back just like I’d seen her do with her children.

“Shh. It’s ok.” She had to say those things because I was crying on her shoulder, just like one of those children.

I squeezed up my eyes and took sniffling breaths, and I held onto her shirt and crumped the cotton in my fists.

She had just picked it up from the dry cleaner, too, and she’d had to change into it in the back seat of her car—and now I’d wrecked it.

It was so nice to be hugged, though…

“I’m fine,” I told her, and let go.

“You can visit him,” she suggested. She pulled a napkin out of her purse, but it had an unwrapped lollypop stuck to it. “Oh, that’s disgusting. Let me see what else I have for you to wipe your eyes.”

“I don’t need anything,” I assured her. “I’m fine, really. Thanks for listening to me go on and on.”

“I’m sure I have a tissue—”

“Ava, I’m really ok.” But it took a bit before she actually left and almost immediately afterwards, Levi called. We didn’t ever call each other, so I was aware that his sister must have ratted on me.

“Yep,” he answered when I suggested that she had been in communication with him. “She sure was. She was upset that you refused to get in the car so she could drive you home, so I said I would go get you.”

“I don’t need anyone,” I said irritably.

It was easy to be irritated when it was so hellishly hot today, and when you were standing on a sidewalk and it seemed like there was no available driver in the Detroit area to pick you up.

Also, I felt a little ridiculous that I’d just collapsed on Ava in public, hugging her like I’d never been hugged before in my life.

It had been a while, though.

“Did she try to pull you into her car, like a kidnapper?” he asked.

“Yes, and she’s exceptionally strong,” I admitted. “I don’t need a ride from her or from you, though. Thank you anyway.”

He said ok and I expected that was the end. I didn’t expect to find him sitting out on the steps with Hernán when the car that had finally arrived then finally dropped me off at my apartment building.

“ Hola ,” he called.

“Yes, hello. Buenos …” I forgot what came next in order to greet someone in the afternoon. I only remembered that it was a word that didn’t sound anything like “afternoon.”

“ Buenas tardes ,” Hernán filled in. “You need more work, I’m afraid.” Then he turned to Levi. “ Tienes que seguir con las lecciones ,” he said, and I didn’t know what that had meant but assumed it was advice that I needed a keeper.

“No one needs to watch me. I’m doing great,” I informed both of them.

“Ava said that you were crying on the sidewalk. She said that you hugged her and wouldn’t let go, and she was really worried about you,” Levi announced.

“Sometimes people get upset. There’s nothing strange about that.” I pulled out a phrase I’d memorized. ? Cómo se dice ‘busybody’ en espanol ?” I asked.

“ Se dice ‘ un entrometido ,’ pero no lo somos ,” Hernán answered smoothly.

“This is what happens, Emerson,” Levi said. “You make friends, form bonds, and then people worry about you when you break down on the sidewalk.” He stood up. “You know what I want to do? I want to meet that cat of yours. I hear so much about her, but you’ve never actually introduced us.”

“ Cuídate ,” Hernán said seriously. I assumed it was a warning, which was a legitimate response to the idea of interacting with Coral. “I adopted the animal for her because I hoped it would be a good companion. It didn’t go as planned.”

“You meant well,” Levi told him. He held out his hand to me to help me mount the steps. My hip didn’t hurt very much today though, not even after sitting for so long at the restaurant.

“You don’t have to meet her,” I said, but he countered that he really wanted to, that he needed to be able to assess for himself if the rumors were true or if I’d just been spreading terrible calumny about a helpless animal.

“Helpless?” Hernán called after him. “ Es una escapista. We spent two days looking for her when she ran away.”

“I don’t have anywhere comfortable for you to sit,” I explained as I unlocked my door. “Also, she really is unfriendly.” I cracked it open slowly, little by little, but Coral didn’t try to escape and she didn’t attack. I stepped inside and Levi followed me.

“Here, kitty…damn, Emerson. You meant it literally when you said that you didn’t have anywhere to sit.” He looked around. “How do you live in here?”

“I work there,” I explained, pointing to the desk. “When I want to lie down, I go in there.” I pointed toward the door that led into the bedroom.

He immediately went to inspect that area. “Small,” he commented.“I think you have the same bed that my baby nephew uses. There’s also a cat that’s the size of a mountain lion on it, or is does that animal only look so large because the bed is so damn tiny?”

“Meet Coral, and she’s actually that big.”

“She’s beautiful,” he remarked over his shoulder. “Hey, kitty.”

“Be careful!” I admonished. “Don’t stretch out your hand. You have no idea how common it is for people to be hospitalized after a cat bite. Their fangs are…”

My words died as I approached and saw what he was doing. He had picked up the cat and she’d allowed it.

“She’s not trying to escape,” I said, and on top of that, she’d nuzzled against him. “She likes you?”

“They were all lying about you, you poor thing,” he said to the cat. “Why would anyone malign such a nice animal who’s bigger than my niece?”

“Maybe she just needed time.” I stepped closer and the cat opened her sleepy eyes. Her body visibly stiffened.

“You’re fine,” he told her, and then asked me, “You’ve had her since she was a kitten, but you’ve never gotten along?”

“She just doesn’t like me,” I said. “I’ve bought her toys and good food, and I try to make friends.” Of course, with my poor skills at relationships and bonding, her lack of attachment to me made sense.

He made himself as comfortable as you could get in my apartment, by sprawling on the bed. He put one of the pillows behind his back and turned it into a kind of couch. “Do you mind?” he asked me.

“No, I guess not. I was wondering where you would go if you came over.”

“My sisters will tell you that I’ve never had a problem making myself at home, no matter where I am.

Some of my friends had chairs, pillows, and blankets in their houses that were designated for my use, since I was hanging around so much.

You can also make yourself at home, since it actually is yours.

” He patted the mattress and I joined them, making sure to leave ample space between myself and the cat.

The bed did seem distressingly small with the three of us on it.

“Hernán wants to give me his furniture,” I mentioned, and Levi said he thought that was a very good idea.

“As much as I enjoy this crib mattress, a couch would be nice. That’s generous of him.”

“You know, no matter what he says about me, you don’t have to do it.”

“Huh? You mean keeping up the Spanish lessons?”

He might have been playing dumb; Grant did that sometimes when he wanted to avoid what he called “getting in trouble” with me.

For example, when he’d lost our rent money at a Windsor casino, he pretended like he didn’t know what I was talking about when I demanded answers about why the bank balance had dipped so precipitously.

“I have no idea,” he’d said, his dark brown eyes wide and innocent even as I showed him the withdrawals from the ATM located in his office building’s lobby.

“I mean, if Hernán says something about watching me, you don’t have to,” I explicitly told Levi.

“Yeah, he mentioned that he’s been keeping an eye on you. It seems like you might have needed it.”

“Not anymore. I did the online therapy, I got a cat, and I’m taking walks, so I’m much better.”

“Good to know.”

“So…you won’t be watching me like that,” I hazarded.

“Well, no. I mean, yeah.” Levi smiled. “I guess I’m the kind of wanna-be writer who’s bad with words. I’m saying that I will be watching you, because we have that friendship bond. Like how you’re watching to make sure I don’t turn into a criminal.”

His new job started on Monday and it wasn’t soon enough for me.

I’d come up empty in my searches for Lance and Vivienne’s new home, but that could have been due to them using a shell corporation or some kind of trust. I had dug up some dirt on Levi’s friend August, though.

“I don’t think you’re a criminal,” I answered. “I told Ava that just today.”

“What else did you two have to say about me?”

“She told me about the wedding. Your cousin’s wedding,” I prompted, when he seemed confused.

“Right, Britainy’s big thing. I forgot about it.” He squinted. “I guess I should let them know that Mary Evelyn won’t be showing up with me.”

“Ava thinks I should go in Mary Evelyn’s place since because you’ll need someone as a plus-one. She says that your aunt and cousin are nasty people who are mean to you.”

“Hm.” He considered it. “So you’d be my bodyguard?”

“It would be more like support personnel. Like the guys who put in fuel and change tires in car races, or the assistant coach who holds all the teddy bears after an ice skating routine.”

“What teddy bears?” he asked.

“Levi, you’re missing the point. I would only go if you think you might need that kind of support person, if they’re going to be mean.”

“They get on my nerves, but I don’t pay much attention,” he said.

“Oh. Well, then I’ll tell Ava—”

“You know what?” he interrupted. “As much as I hate to admit it, I think my sister is right again. It would be very nice to have my own pit crew at that wedding.”

“Pit crew, like people standing in holes? What do you mean?”

“Emerson, you’re missing the point,” he said, smiling. “Would you go with me?”

I said I would.

“Black tie,” he said pensively, and I prepared to tell him that I had plenty to wear. I could have shown him, too, since everything was in the small closet across from us. “That means a tux, right? Damn, I hate those things.”

“You’ll look very nice in it, though.”

“Think so?” he asked, and I nodded, because he would, absolutely. He was as handsome as Cary Grant but not exactly in that classic Hollywood way…more like Jimmy Stewart, because he was so approachable, but also a little aloof, like Gregory Peck. Anyway, the combination was amazing.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t mind a tuxedo too much,” he continued. “You and I would have fun.”

Fun? I wasn’t sure about that; I’d never enjoyed parties due to all the stress, but it would definitely be different with Levi.

I still must have looked doubtful because he nodded. “We’ll have a great time. What would they say in one of the movies you like? How about, ‘Stick with me, sweetheart, and we’ll paint the town red,’” he told me, and I smiled, too. It was weeks away but I was already looking forward to it.