The Family You Make (Sunrise Cove #1)

“Your parents?” he asked.

Her mom and dad had been troubled teens when she’d come along and disrupted their lives. By the time she’d been born, her dad had peaced out and had never been a part of her life. Her mom hadn’t stuck around much longer, leaving Jane with her grandparents. Eventually her mom had grown up, settled down, and gotten herself a new family. Deeply embarrassed by her wild youth, her mom hadn’t spoken to her in years, and Jane had no intention of wasting her last few moments on earth trying to get her on the phone. “They’re not in my life.”

His eyes softened, but since she couldn’t handle sympathy, she cut him off before he could speak, handing him back the phone. “You should hurry, your battery’s nearly dead.”

Not moving anything but his finger, he activated a call on speaker, presumably so he didn’t have to exert the energy to lift the thing to his ear. A female voice answered with a soft, joyous-sounding “Levi!”

He drew a deep breath and closed his eyes. “Hey, Mom. Listen—”

“Oh, honey, I’m so glad you called! You left so quickly I didn’t get a chance to ask what you’d like for dinner. I mean, it’s so rare you get up here from San Francisco— Hold on a second. Jasper!” she yelled. “Stop that! Oh, for God’s sakes, he’s digging in the yard. We’ve got gophers in the grass again. They’re making holes all over the place, and Jasper fell into one and nearly broke his leg.”

Jane looked at Levi in concern.

Levi put a thumb over the microphone. “Jasper’s her dog. Also known as ‘Stop that!’ and ‘Drop it!’ He’s a huge goofus goldendoodle she rescued. Trust me, he’s indestructible.” He pulled his thumb from the microphone.

His mom was still talking.

“I mean, those holes . . . one of these days they’re going to be the death of someone,” she was saying. “Yesterday at my yoga class there was a woman whose son created a system with a camera that lets her know if there’s a gopher in her yard. He’s going to sell it and get rich.”

Levi looked pained. “Mom, anyone can buy a security camera—”

“Sure, but you could make something like the gopher camera and get rich.”

“I’ll get right on that,” he said on a barely-there sigh that made Jane smile. “But about why I’m calling—”

“I mean as long as it didn’t take any time from your personal life,” his mom interrupted. “You need a personal life, Levi, you work too much. You haven’t even made time to date since—”

“Mom.” Levi ran a hand over his face.

A blizzard and possible death hadn’t rattled him, but this clearly did. And now Jane wanted to know what the since meant.

“Mom, I’m trying to tell you something.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, honey. What?”

“I’m . . .”—he locked eyes with Jane—“going to be late picking up Peyton from her after-school dance program.”

Jane would bet her last ten bucks that hadn’t been what he’d planned on saying.

“Oh no,” his mom said. “Levi, you promised. Peyton told everyone in her class you were going to show them that magic trick you do, you know, the one where you make a volcano out of a soda? Oh! And did I tell you our plumbing problems are back . . .”

Levi ran a hand over his head, which undoubtedly hurt like hell. “Mom—”

“The toilet in the upstairs master keeps running, and sometimes it even overflows, and I know you say it’s because your dad doesn’t give a courtesy flush, whatever that means, but there’s got to be a fix.”

Levi looked pained far beyond his injuries, and Jane couldn’t help it: a laugh escaped. They might die at the next gust of wind, but his mom had gophers and plumbing problems.

“Who was that?” his mom asked, apparently possessing bat-like ultrasonic hearing. “I heard a laugh. A feminine laugh. You’re with a woman? That’s why you can’t pick up your darling niece? Levi!”

Jane winced for him, thinking he was about to get yelled at.

“Ohmigod, you finally have a girlfriend! How wonderful! How exciting! Why didn’t you just say so? What’s her name? I want to meet her, put her on the phone.”

Jane went from laughing to walking backwards with her butt cheeks while miming no-no-no with her hands. She had zero experience with parents to begin with, which meant she was especially bad with dealing with other people’s parents.

Levi took in her panic and smiled, and, oh great, he was going to hand her the phone and she’d have to kill him. That is, if their fall down the rocky mountainside didn’t.

“Mom, I’m not putting Jane on the phone.”

“Jane! What a lovely name! Is she nice? Does she look after you? Not that you need it, you’re a grown man who’s been taking care of himself for a long time, but the thing is, you’re thirty years old and all you do is . . .” She paused. “I’m sorry. I always forget what exactly you do. It’s something with data.”

Before Levi could answer, they were slammed by another gust of wind. Over the unbelievable noise of that came the unmistakable sound of metal straining, and Jane covered her mouth with her hand to keep her startled scream to herself.

“Levi? Levi, can you hear me?” his mom asked, sounding tinny. “What was that?”

Before he could speak, his phone beeped and Jane knew what that meant. The battery was on its last breath. It was now a race as to who would die first, the battery . . . or them.

Levi’s gaze met Jane’s, and in that single heartbeat something changed for both of them. Acceptance. He reached for her hand as he spoke into the phone. “Forget my job, Mom,” he said with surprising gentleness, eyes still locked on Jane’s. “I just wanted to tell you that you’re right. Jane’s my girlfriend.”

“Oh!” his mom whispered, clearly touched to near tears. “Oh, Levi, that’s wonderful. A dream come true for me, to know my baby is happy. You are happy, yes? Is she sweet?”

“Very,” he said.