The Family You Make (Sunrise Cove #1)(44)

“Here?” he asked, surprised. “They’re here in Tahoe?”

“Just my grandpa now. My grandma . . .” She paused, her liquid jade eyes revealing pain. “She died when I was eight.”

“Aw, Jane. I’m so sorry. Did you get to stay with your grandpa?”

“Her death was . . . hard on him. They’d been together since they were kids. They had an amazing relationship. He’d hide things for her to find. Food, cheap little knickknacks, seriously expensive jewelry, it didn’t matter. It was a game between them. He’d give her hints and she’d run around looking. She was just as happy to get a box of cookies as a diamond bracelet. He’d just sit there and laugh the entire time she was hunting for whatever it was.”

“They sound amazing.”

She nodded. “My time with them holds my favorite childhood memories.”

“What happened after your grandma died?” he asked softly.

“My grandpa had problems. Grief, and some health issues. My aunt Viv took me back in so I wouldn’t bother him or put any burden on him.”

“Damn. You couldn’t catch a break.”

“Maybe if I’d been an easier kid—”

“Jane, you were just a kid. Someone should have given you the choice and made you feel wanted. Someone should have asked you to stay.”

She shook her head. “Real life’s not like that. Memories stay. People go.”

He hated that this was the lesson she’d gotten out of her childhood, and put his hand over hers. “What happened next?”

“I bounced around, and when I turned sixteen, I emancipated myself.”

Yeah, brave as hell, and he had a whole new appreciation for what she’d done with her life. But damn, he hated that she’d never really had a home to call her own. “Do you see your grandpa when you’re here?”

“No. Thinking about it, though. Maybe.” She met his gaze, caught the look on his face, and shook her head. “Don’t feel sorry for me. It wasn’t all bad.”

She’d been through hell and she was comforting him. His heart tightened at that. “Your family failed you.”

“They did the best they could. And I never had to go into the system.” She shuddered. “I know people who are still scarred from that life.”

He squeezed her hand. “Still, it couldn’t have been easy.”

“Yeah, but when is life ever easy?”

She was amazing and resilient, and he wanted to hold her. He wanted to do other things too. She was beautiful, and he was extremely attracted to her, but more than anything, he wanted to make her smile. Make her feel as special as she made him feel.

Kendra came by and gathered up their plates. “Your s’mores platter is ready when you are.”

Levi stood and took Jane’s hand, pulling her up. “Come on. They’ll serve it by the fire pit.”

There were six fire pits spread out on a snow-covered patio. The sitting arrangements were low benches. They claimed a spot by themselves and Kendra brought a platter that held three bowls filled with marshmallows, chocolate bars, and graham crackers.

“I’ve never done this before,” Jane said.

Levi smiled and handed her a spear. “You just load a marshmallow—” He broke off as she loaded not one, not two, but three marshmallows on her spear and held it over the fire, looking so excited that he laughed as he loaded his own spear. He held his marshmallow over the fire too and gently tapped it to hers.

She looked up at him from where she’d been deep in concentration on her marshmallow.

“Thanks for tonight,” he said.

“I haven’t been out in a long time,” she admitted.

“How long is long?”

She thought about it. “Maybe over a year. My last relationship was a long-distance one, and it didn’t work out.”

“What happened?”

“Long distance.” She lifted a shoulder. “I got a new assignment, and we weren’t serious enough to make it work.” She pulled her marshmallows back from the fire and beamed with pride. Perfectly golden. She carefully sandwiched them with chocolate and then graham crackers.

“Thought you’d never done this before.”

“Haven’t,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean I didn’t always want to try.” She took a big bite, and he became enthralled with the dollop of melted marshmallow at the corner of her mouth.

“What happened between you and Amy?” she asked.

The question surprised him, but he supposed it shouldn’t have. He’d hesitated to tell her before, but he didn’t like the idea of hiding Amy. She deserved more than being a secret.

Jane narrowed her eyes at his long pause. “Did you cheat on her?”

“No.”

“Just checking. You don’t seem to have a lot of obvious faults, so I had to ask. Did you know your marshmallow’s on fire?”

“Shit.” He yanked his spear from over the pit and blew out the fire, eyeing the black lump that used to be a marshmallow.

Jane laughed.

He looked at her clearly enjoying his discomfort and had to shake his head. “See? Plenty of faults.”

“Uh-huh, and one of them is being good at coming up with distractions when you’re asked uncomfortable questions. You make crap s’mores. And you don’t have a poker face.”