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.He grabs a glass of water from the table and guzzles it.He sets it down and in a soft voice, he says, “Yeah.”Levi stands still in his spot, but Alivia and Sharon sit on each side of Nathan and wrap their arms around him.Nathan just sits there with a blank look and eventually leans back forward, grabbing the vodka bottle again.The two women still hold onto him as he twists the cap off again and drinks straight from the bottle.Levi finally steps forward as Nathan sets the still open bottle on the table.“I just wanted to say thank you for what you did, Nathan.Alivia means the world to me—to all of us.You are a true hero.”“Yeah,” Nathan says as the girls release their hold.“I don’t feel like a hero.” He looks over to Alivia with his eyes half-full of tears and says, “I’m just glad you’re all right.”Alivia wells up and hugs him again tightly.She says, “I don’t know where I’d be without you, Nathan.”The two stay like that for a minute until Levi breaks the silence.“This is a happy occasion,” he says.“We should be celebrating.”Alivia feels every muscle in Nathan’s body tense up as he says in a quiet but frightening tone, “Too many people are dead for me to feel like celebrating.”“I didn’t mean to—”“I know what you meant,” Nathan says, standing up and getting in Levi’s face.“I’m glad that Liv’s all right too, but my best friend was killed by that psycho.Alivia’s parents too, got it? And I—” he stops himself from saying, “killed a man,” and replaces it with, “don’t feel much in the partying mood.Understand?”Levi backs up.“I—I’m sorry, Nathan.You’re right.”Nathan turns around and sits back down between Alivia and Sharon.Levi sits down in a folding chair, his face is a deep shade of red, and he doesn’t make eye contact with anyone.“Mind if I have another shot, Nathan?” Alivia finally asks, filling the void.“Go ahead,” he says getting up again.“I gotta pop in the other room a minute.”Alivia pours a shot for herself and presents the bottle to Sharon who nods enthusiastically.She pours her friend a shot and the two of them drink in silence.“I hope you know that I didn’t mean anything by what I said.”I don’t really feel like comforting you right now, Levi.Sharon is the one to answer out loud.“We know, Levi.” She pours another drink for Alivia and herself.“Don’t be upset at Nathan, it’s just a difficult time for all of us right now.”“I don’t blame him one bit,” Levi says, wringing his hands.“In his shoes, I probably would have punched me in the face.” He smiles sheepishly.Nathan comes back from the bathroom and says, “Hey guys, I’m feeling pretty tired, so I’m going to get some sleep.I don’t mean to kick you out or anything, but it’s been a long day.”“Not a problem.We just wanted to make sure that you’re all right,” Sharon says as she and Alivia stand up.Sharon walks to Nathan and gives him a big hug.She kisses him on the cheek and whispers, “Give us a call tomorrow, will you?”Nathan says, “Yeah.”“Thank you, Nathan,” she says and pulls her arms back.Alivia walks up and gives Nathan a hug and whispers quietly in his ear, “Let’s talk soon.I know what you’re feeling right now is the worst thing that you’ve ever felt, but it gets easier.I promise.Let me know if you need anything, Nathan.You’re an amazing friend, and I love you for it.” She stands on her toes and kisses him on the cheek.Nathan just says, “Yeah.”Levi stands in place and tries to hide his apprehension as he extends a hand toward Nathan saying, “I’m sorry about being such an idiot man.I hope things get better real soon.”Nathan looks at Levi’s hand and condescends to shake it, saying only, “Yeah.” He walks the three of them to the door and closes it behind them.As they’re walking down the hallway, Alivia puts her arm around Levi’s waist, holding Sharon’s hand.Her fingers rest on Levi’s jacket pocket where she feels a square box bulging through a little smaller than her palm.She’s been affluent long enough to know what’s inside.It’s a box for a ring.Her heart begins to race.Levi’s going to propose.Chapter 3One Day at a TimeLevi doesn’t mention the ring, although he must know that Alivia had her hand on it.After he falls asleep, Alivia gets out of bed and makes her way to the kitchen.She pours a glass of water merely for the purpose of plausible deniability.She quickly and quietly makes her way to the front room where Levi had dropped his jacket and feels for the box in the pocket, but it’s not there.She squeezes every inch of the jacket but only succeeds in finding his car keys.You clever boy.She drinks her water and takes the cup back to the kitchen.She goes to the front room and switches on the television.She keeps the volume low so as to not wake Levi or Sharon, and she paws aimlessly through her magazine.The station comes back from commercial to a show about the French Revolution.Alivia takes a moment away from rhinoplasty and sex tips to watch how Napoleon rose to prominence toward the end of the revolution.Apparently, he was actually average height for the time.Apparently, he was called Le Petit Caporal due to the height difference between him and his body guards.Interesting.Alivia shuts off the television and tosses her magazine on the coffee table.She makes her way into the bedroom, and Levi is naked and sleeping peacefully in her bed.She decides to take one last chance and finds his pants on the floor.She bends down and picks them up, immediately feeling the same box that was in his jacket earlier in the evening.She removes the box from his pocket and opens the lid.It’s a stunning 1.49 carat Tiffany Harmony solitaire with a platinum band.Alivia and Cole had looked at a similar ring when they got engaged.“Oh my god,” Alivia says out loud.She takes it out of its box and tries it on.How did he know my ring size? The clever man.Alivia takes the ring off and goes to put it back in the box.“How does it fit?”Alivia jumps.“Jesus, Levi! You startled me.”“Do you like it?”“It’s amazing.But how much did you spend on it?”“Don’t worry about that, Liv.” He sits up lazily and swings his legs over the side of the bed.“You’re worth more than any ring.”Alivia’s eyes well up.“It’s amazing.”“Could you hand me my pants? I feel a little compromised at the moment.” Alivia quickly snatches his pants from the floor and hands them to Levi.He puts them on and says, “Now that we’re both wearing pants…” He gets off the bed and drops to one knee saying, “Alivia Nelly Olson LaRousse…”Alivia chuckles and wipes a tear from her eye.“Will you marry me?”No.I can’t.No Levi, I can’t.“Yes!” She says, throwing her arms around him, knocking him off balance.They land with a thud on the carpeted floor.Alivia kisses her new fiancé on the lips and says, “I can’t believe this, Levi! When did you get this?”“I got it a few days ago, but with everything going on, I didn’t think it was the right time.”I don’t want to marry you.Alivia gets up and says, “Oh my god, I’ve got to tell Sharon!”Levi laughs and works his way to a sitting position.She runs downstairs saying, “Sharon! Sharon! Sharon! Sharon! Sharon!” She opens Sharon’s door and jumps on her bed saying, “Sharon!”Sharon is jolted awake and says, “What? What is it?”Alivia holds her hand out to display the ring, but the room is too dark for Sharon to see anything [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]