The Family You Make (Sunrise Cove #1)(17)

“We’re opening an hour late,” his mom said.

This was a shock. The store his family owned and operated was called Cutler Sporting Goods, located in the Tahoe area. It was closed for Easter and Christmas, and nothing else ever. The store had its ebbs and flows like anything else, but it was largely successful. Mostly because Hank Cutler was so tight with money he squeaked when he walked.

“So,” his mom said. “Where’s Jane?” She looked around like maybe Levi was hiding her somewhere in the tiny room.

“I’m probably going to be discharged soon,” he said, hoping to distract from the fact that the girlfriend he’d made up last night had never really existed. “You guys didn’t have to all come check on me.”

“Oh, we didn’t,” his sister, Tess, said. “We came to meet your girlfriend.”

“Where’s Mateo?” his mom asked. “He’ll give me a straight answer.”

“Shirl, listen to the boy,” his dad said. “Everyone’s fine, and he would know otherwise.”

“Uncle Levi!” Peyton yelled, jumping up and down. “Grandma said you might be getting married soon. Can I be the flower girl?”

Levi looked at his mom, who had the good grace to wince. He shook his head at her, then smiled at Peyton. “Hey, sweetness. And there’s no wedding on the horizon.”

“That’s okay!” The six-year-old beamed at him, her two front teeth missing. “Hospitals smell bad. Like medicine and burnt toast and Grandpa when he forgets to spray after going potty.”

“Peyton,” Tess said, sounding like she was holding back a laugh. “You can’t possibly smell all those scents at once.”

“Actually, you can,” Levi said. “The human nose can distinguish at least a trillion different odors.”

His mom, dad, and sister stared at him, but Peyton laughed in delight. “Is a trillion a lot?”

“A lot, a lot,” he said.

“More than the stars in the sky?”

“In our galaxy, yes,” he said. “But not in the universe.”

His dad tossed up his hands. “He gets his head bashed in, but can still cite weird random science facts.”

“That’s why he beats you at Trivial Pursuit,” his mom said. “It’s also why he can fix anything and everything. It’s how he’s wired, Hank, you know that.”

Levi had taken a lot of teasing over the years for being the family fix-it guy, but he hadn’t been able to stop Amy from dying, or keep his sister from getting dumped by her asshole husband, Cal. And no matter how hard he’d tried, he hadn’t been able to fix the emptiness inside of him that he was beginning to be afraid was just a part of him now.

Peyton patted his IV-free hand and smiled at him so sweetly and adoringly it almost hurt. “Mommy told me I can pick a candy from the ’chine!”

Tess looked pained. “Every time I say no, she hears ask again. Giving in was the path of least resistance.”

Peyton tried to climb up onto his bed. Tess attempted to stop her, but Levi leaned over and gave Peyton an assist. It hurt his head, but hell, so did life.

Peyton sat on his bed at his hip, her smile slowly fading as she got a closer look at him. “You haz an owie!” she said, pointing at his head.

“It’ll heal.”

She nodded, then leaned over and gave him a very wet kiss on his cheek. “I bring you candy from the ’chine. Grandma! We haz to get him some candy!”

“I’ve got something better.” Levi’s mom sat in the corner chair and started going through her bag. “Power bars. I made them myself . . . where did they go . . .”

Tess sighed and shifted closer to Levi. “Thanks for the car ride over here with her, by the way,” she whispered.

“Oh, I’m sorry, was my near-death experience inconvenient for you?”

His mom raised her head with her ultrasonic maternal ears that could probably also hear his heart rate. “Your near death?” she repeated, eyes wide.

“He’s just kidding,” Tess said.

Levi risked his head falling off by nodding.

“Let’s talk about Jane,” his mom said. “Where is she?”

“She’s been released.”

“Released . . . Well, for goodness sakes.” She sat down, removed her contact lenses while muttering about how annoying they were, and then slid on her bright blue glasses. “Why isn’t she at your bedside? And how come you’ve never mentioned her before? How did you meet? Is she from here or San Francisco? What does she do?” She was looking around as if waiting for another bed to miraculously appear, and suddenly the hairdo and makeup made sense.

She’d dressed for Jane.

Making up a girlfriend had definitely not been a good son moment. It’d seemed so logical when he had been staring death in the face, but now . . . “Listen, about—”

“Oh, no.” His mom put her hand to her mouth. “You were dumped.”

“No—” He blinked. “And why would you think I’d be dumped?”

She had the good grace to wince. “I mean . . . it happens to everyone at least once, right?”

“I wasn’t dumped. I made her up.”

His mom dropped her hand from her mouth to her heart. “Are you telling me you’d rather lie to my face about not having a girlfriend just so that you don’t have to introduce her to me? You’re that ashamed of us?”