The Family You Make (Sunrise Cove #1)

She shrugged.

“Still not going to happen, Jane.”

“You don’t know. You might disagree with me on stuff. Or not like my opinions, of which I have many.”

“There’s nothing wrong with disagreeing or having varying opinions. I actually like that.”

She looked at him for a long beat. “You’re different.”

“Now you’re getting it.”





Chapter 12


Levi smiled when Jane just stared at him. The air seemed charged with something he hadn’t felt in a long time. And given the suddenly wary look on her face, she felt the same.

All around them were the sounds of people talking and laughing, silverware against dishes, music . . . The table between them was small.

Intimate.

“Pretend,” Jane said, pointing at him. “This is pretend.”

“Are you reminding me or yourself?”

“Both.” She shoved his hand off her iPad and read the next question. “Is a hot dog a sandwich—and why.”

He grinned. “Once again, in the bedroom or out?”

She shook her head. “I walked right into that one.”

He flipped the case closed on her iPad.

“But—”

He crooked his finger.

She narrowed her eyes, but leaned in. “What?”

Their faces were close. Not as close as they’d been the night of the blizzard, when she’d shown him the depths of her courage. Or when she’d shown up at the store and climbed the wall, revealing she also had determination, a sense of adventure, and a willingness to laugh at herself.

“Hello,” she said. “Earth to Tarzan.”

“You’ve got pretty eyes. They’ve got a ring of gold around the irises. When you’re irritated, it turns to fire. I like it.”

She snorted, and he grinned, but let it fade. “You do know that for this to work, we need to know more about each other than how we categorize a hot dog. So ask me a real question, Jane.”

“Okay . . .” She studied him thoughtfully. “You’re clearly smart as hell, successful, and some women might find you attractive . . .”

It was his turn to snort. “I don’t hear a question.”

“Why do you need a pretend girlfriend?”

He was the one to break eye contact this time, turning to look out the windows at the lake. “I spend my whole day at work selling people on the idea that I’m the solution to all their problems. When I get home, I don’t want to have to be that guy. I just want to be me. And I guess I haven’t met a woman who’s okay with me as is. I’m a simple guy with simple needs.”

“I get that,” she said, and nodded. “And same.”

Easy acceptance. A surprise because no one had ever understood this about him. He shook his head.

“What?”

“I’m just sitting here thinking you’re one of the most fascinating, amazing women I’ve ever met. I guess I’m just stunned that you’re . . . available.”

Her lips quirked. “Are you asking me why I’m single?”

“If you’re willing to answer, then yes,” he said. “Why are you single?”

“You mean other than most men suck?”

He smiled. “It’s true, but I suspect you’ve always known that. So . . . ?”

“So . . .” She lifted a shoulder. “I spend nine months of the year in other parts of the world dealing with real people with real problems, and at the end of the day, it makes dating seem . . .” She searched for a word. “Frivolous, I guess.”

This made sense, but it gave him a pang deep in his chest for her. She reached for the iPad, but he gently pushed it away. “I want to get to know the real you, Jane, not how you would answer an impersonal website survey.”

She leaned back, picked up one of the shots of beer, took a sip, put it down. Straightened her silverware.

“You’re nervous,” he realized.

“Am not.”

He put his hand over hers. “I was nervous tonight too. Until I saw you.”

She gave a small smile. “It’s actually the opposite for me. I wasn’t nervous until I saw you. Good thing this is only pretend, right?”

He gave her fingers a squeeze. “We’ll start easy, okay? Tell me something about your day.”

“About my day? I don’t know . . . it was pretty ordinary.” She thought about it. “I did meet someone new at lunch. I usually try to eat alone because it’s nice to get a minute of downtime between the rush of patients. But today this woman asked if she could sit with me. At first I was irritated.”

“Not you . . .”

She snorted. “But she was really nice. We actually exchanged numbers. She loves martinis, which I’ve never had, so we’re going to go for martinis soon. She’s a single mom, getting a divorce, loves skiing . . . Tess something or another.”

Levi froze. No. No, it couldn’t possibly be . . . “Tess,” he repeated, trying to hide his sheer disbelief.

“Yeah. Her daughter’s school and after-school program is across the street from the hospital. She was very chatty. Her daughter thinks she’s a fairy princess. Oh, and she has a totally annoying brother.”

“Really,” he said dryly. “That must suck for her.” He really should’ve seen this coming, but his sister, and undoubtedly his mom as well, had clearly been cyberstalking Jane. He shouldn’t be so stunned at the level of duplicity and lengths they’d gone to in order to butt their noses into his business, but he was.

And they wondered why he’d chosen to live in San Francisco.

“Yeah, I guess he’s home for a bit,” Jane said, “and he acts like he’s still a teenager, leaving his clothes everywhere and dirty dishes in the sink. I never had any siblings, so it must be really hard to have to deal with that.”

Oh, goody. They were still talking about him. “Must be,” he managed.

Her smile faded a bit. “How big is your family again?”

“There’s five of us,” he said. “Though sometimes it seems like triple that.”

She didn’t smile, his first clue something was wrong.

“And they’re . . . nice?” she asked.