“Here, you can have my seat.” Juliet slid off the bench and stood up. “I was just leaving.”
“What?” Savannah frowned. “Where are you going? You haven’t eaten yet.”
“I’ll ask them to make mine to go.” Juliet retrieved her straw handbag from the booth. “I’ve got to get back to work. The visitor’s center is busy these days. Great to see you, Levi.”
“You too,” he called after her.
Juliet strode to the counter and spoke to the person bagging the orders.
Levi looked at Savannah again and shuffled awkwardly from one foot to the other. “Are you sure you don’t mind if I join you?”
“It’s not a problem.” Savannah patted the beige Formica table with her hand. “Have a seat.”
“Are you here because you’re applying for a job?”
“No.” Savannah’s lips still held that cute lift when she smiled. “I would rather muck out stalls at the dog kennel than work here ever again.”
“Wow, tell me how you really feel,” he teased. “I didn’t know this was such a tough place to work.”
“It’s probably fine.” Pink tinged her cheeks. She reached for a discarded straw wrapper and threaded the paper around her fingers. “I just had a bad experience.”
“Huh.” He shrugged. “I don’t remember.”
She tipped her head to one side and tossed him a disbelieving look. “You’re just being kind.”
“I try to be kind, but I can’t recall a scandalous story that involves you working here.”
Savannah formed the wrapper into a ball. “Good, then let’s not go there. Juliet offered to meet me for lunch, and I rarely say no to a chicken sandwich and fries.”
“Same.” He took a sip of his soda and snuck another glance at her. The navy blue and green stripes on her shirt emphasized the blue in her wide-set eyes. She’d styled her hair in loose, bouncy curls. Time had not erased the adorable freckles sprinkled across the bridge of her pert nose.
“So.” She leaned her elbows on the table. “Jasper’s engaged.”
His heart squeezed, and he took his time swallowing his soda. “That’s what I hear.”
Her eyes widened. “You didn’t know he planned on proposing?”
Hesitating, Levi checked the order number on his receipt. Where was his food? He didn’t want to talk about Jasper and Miranda. Not now, and not with someone he felt confident had had a crush on Jasper. “How long have you been sitting here?”
She plucked her phone from her purse. “Almost twenty minutes. Why?”
“They aren’t usually this slow.” He twisted in his seat and glanced toward the counter. The three employees buzzed around like bees, loading trays and filling to-go bags.
“Have they been dating long? Jasper and Miranda, I mean.”
Savannah’s question pulled his attention back to the conversation. “Six months.”
“Oh.” She lifted a slender shoulder. “Maybe when you know, you know.”
Levi couldn’t smother his grimace. “Jasper hasn’t confided in me, and I... I don’t want to speculate. Here’s hoping they have a long and happy life together.”
All right, so he didn’t exactly mean that last part. And what was he thinking, saying that to Savannah, of all people?
Something he couldn’t quite interpret flashed in her eyes.
Oh man. He was making this more awkward by the minute. Maybe he should get his order to go after all. Before she could say anything else—or got up and left—he plowed on with his offer. “Here’s the thing. I still need somebody to help me with that float. After this morning, I definitely need a babysitter for Wren. You evidently still need a job, so how would you like to babysit a mischievous four-year-old?”
“Seriously?”
“Wait. I have another request.” His heart hammered. An idea popped in his head that might solve two problems at once. “There’s a semiformal dinner and dance at the Fairview Hotel for our class reunion. Tori, my ex-fiancée, will probably be there with her date, so I’d rather not go alone. Do you want to go together?”
Her jaw drifted open. Together?
Levi’s kind eyes held hers. Waiting. She shifted in her seat. So many questions scrolled through her head. “Since when is there a semiformal evening?”
“Since you-know-who weaseled her way onto the planning committee.”
She leaned closer and kept her voice low. “Candace is planning way too many things around here.”
“I couldn’t agree more.” He rattled the ice in his cup. “In case you haven’t checked your email lately, she added a fifth event to the schedule.”
“No, she didn’t.”
“A coed softball game.” Levi feigned a full-body shiver. “I think I’m busy that day.”
Savannah laughed, drawing more than a few curious glances from people sitting in nearby booths.
“Look over the events and let me know which ones you want to go to together. If any.”
