The Family You Make (Sunrise Cove #1)

His eyes narrowed playfully. “Why, Dr. Dixon, I forgot how viciously competitive you were.”

“Never have tried to hide it.” She smiled and hoisted another handful of snow threateningly. “Say it, Moreno.” Amongst the cheers, he rolled her to her back, came over on top of her, and dropped a kiss to the tip of her icy nose. “Our next round is a one-on-one,” he said for her ears only, and then rose, hauling her to her feet as well.

After that comment, she felt her knees wobbling, so he held on to her for an extra second. “Yeah?” he asked.

She drew a deep breath. “Yeah.”

LEVI WAS AT his dad’s desk, ostensibly working while also playing that kiss with Jane on repeat. Good thing he could multitask. He was putting together a PowerPoint presentation to explain all the shocking accounting discrepancies to his family in an orderly fashion. And to hopefully mitigate their panic while he was at it. He’d also come up with a few possible solutions for the now-struggling store, not to mention a list of the evidence needed to put Cal away. The thought gave him a pang for Peyton, who deserved better from her dad, but they’d deal with how to tell her when the time came.

The problem was the mitigation of panic. Cal had managed to get his hands on a lot of the Cutler money, enough to put them under if the store didn’t bring in a lot of money quickly.

And the high revenue season—the holidays—was behind them. Knowing that, Levi planned to present the info in a way that they could stomach.

Or so he hoped.

Making it worse, Cal had gone off the grid. With some time and the right resources, Levi felt confident they’d be able to find him and haul his ass back to Tahoe to face his crimes. But one thing at a time.

Jasper padded into the room and gave a soft woo woo. Translation: he was hungry.

“You’re always hungry,” Levi said.

Jasper nudged his arm.

“You had dinner. In fact you had your dinner and half of mine, because when I got up to get a drink, you got up on your hind legs like Scooby-Doo and helped yourself to my plate.”

Jasper lay his head on Levi’s thigh and gave him the “I’m starving to death as you speak” eyes.

“You know the vet told Mom you’ve got to lose some weight.”

At this, the dog huffed out a huge sigh and plopped to the floor, propping his face on Levi’s shoe so he would know if Levi moved so much as a single inch.

Tess appeared in the doorway wearing oversize plaid pj’s and crazy hair. She helped herself to Levi’s bed—aka the couch—and sighed more dramatically than Jasper.

Levi knew this trap. He’d grown up with this trap. So he just kept working on his laptop.

Jasper abandoned him to jump up on the couch, all ninety pounds of him crawling into Tess’s lap.

Another very loud sigh came from Tess as she scratched Jasper’s head.

Levi gave up and looked at her.

“I just spent the last ten minutes helping Peyton look for the cupcake she got from school.”

“And?”

“And . . . I ate it two hours ago.”

Levi laughed. “Isn’t it past her bedtime?”

“She got up to go potty. Then she wanted another story. And then she needed water. We were in the kitchen getting a cup of water when she noticed the cupcake was missing.”

Of course she would notice. Not much got by his niece. “I assume you lied your ass off.”

“Yeah.” She sighed again and hugged Jasper. “I’m a terrible person.”

“You’re not a terrible person. You’re a single mom on the edge.”

Tess burst into tears. “Oh my God, I’m a single mom! I don’t want to be a single mom! How did this happen to me?”

With a grimace, he got up from the desk and sat next to Tess.

Jasper, an equal opportunity hugger, crawled from Tess’s lap to Levi’s.

“It’s not your fault,” Levi told Tess. “Your husband is a big bag of dicks.”

She sniffed. “Yeah.” She stared up at the ceiling. “Today Peyton got mad at me when I wouldn’t let Jasper drive her home from day care, when her bath was ‘too wet,’ and when I wouldn’t buy her shoes like her friend Skylar. And please do note that there is no Skylar.”

He laughed. “Sounds about right.”

Tess sighed. “Not that I’d change a single thing about my precious girl, but sometimes her bedtime is my favorite time of the day. No, scratch that. Her falling asleep is my favorite time of day.”

“Hate to break it to you, but she probably never went to sleep tonight. She just pretends, and then she goes under the covers with a flashlight and reads.”

Tess smiled. “I know. She thinks reading past her bedtime is an act of rebellion. It hasn’t yet occurred to her that her flashlights never seem to run out of batteries.”

He smiled. “You’re a good mom, Tess.”

She blinked in surprise, looking unbearably touched. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Thanks,” she whispered and cleared her throat. “And you’re a good uncle. I know she wakes you up every morning. I know she gets into your things and makes you have tea parties, and you never complain. I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you’re such a good male role model, when her dad can’t love her enough to do right by her.”

“He’s an idiot.” He shrugged. “And she’s an easy kid to love.”

Tess nodded, then laughed. “Scary how easy it is, even if half the time I’m pretty sure she needs an exorcism.”

“Maybe it’s a female thing.”

She chucked a pillow at his face and it landed with the accuracy only an older sister could execute.

THE NEXT MORNING, Levi asked everyone to meet in the kitchen at the table at eight A.M. sharp. He was there with copies of his presentation and an open laptop, ready to start the slide show. Jasper sat at his side, clearly hoping the show included breakfast.

Levi’s mom and dad showed up two minutes past the hour.

Tess came strolling in fifteen minutes later. “Sorry I’m late,” she said. “I didn’t want to come.”