Charitable Hearts (6 page)

Sonja slithered into Levi’s room
and sat on the edge of his bed watching him sleep. He smiled in his sleep. She ran her fingers through his hair and he leaned into her hand. “Hey, sleepy head.”

Levi grunted. He wished Sonja would stop trying to be more than just insurance against dating questions. “Hey,” he said, yawning.

“So you want to hang out with me today?”

“I can’t.”

“What? You and Hairy got something planned?”

“Don’t call him that.”

“You’ve never had a problem with it before.”

“I do now, so stop.”

“Okay. I’m sorry.”

Levi heard the words, but the way she said it he knew she didn’t mean it. He turned over so he didn’t have to look at her.

“Look, I just wanted to spend some time with you. What’s the problem?”

“The problem is, you and I are never going to be more than whatever it is we are and you keep trying to push me into something.”

Sonja curled her lip and rolled her eyes. “I’m not trying to push. Let’s just go for a walk in town, get a bite to eat, just hang out,” she said as sweet as she could muster.

Levi rolled onto his back and rubbed his face. Sonja scooted closer and placed her hand on his chest. They looked at each other a moment. She bent down and tried to kiss him. He looked away and she straightened.

“You’ve never had a problem with me kissing you before.” She drew circles on his chest with her finger. He took her hand and moved it to her lap. “It’s that Maggie girl, isn’t it?”

“What? No. Maggie has nothing to do with this.”

“So, what’s the problem?”

“I just think you are getting the wrong idea.”

“You’re the one who wanted me around, ya know? So you could avoid all those prying questions about your love life? Your marriage with Rachel?” Sonja threw the jab knowing exactly what she was doing.

“Don’t talk about that.” Levi sat up, immediately awake and bristling with anger.

“Why? Because your little feelings might get hurt? Does that Maggie girl know?”

“Because it’s a good way to get your butt thrown to the curb? You’re the one needing a place to stay because you’ve blown all your money and haven’t been cast in anything in a year. Try showing up to work on time and maybe you’ll get a callback.”

Sonja stood and snarled. “You know, you really are pathetic. Lovesick because you caught your girl in bed with another guy. Really? It’s been three years. Get. Over. It.”

“Get out Sonja. Leave now.”

She rolled her eyes. “You’re just mad ‘cause the truth hurts. Maybe you should just crawl into bed with that Maggie chick and get your rocks off so you can go back to being the soon-to-be has-been who doesn’t care what he does.”

“If you have any desire to keep a roof over your head, you’ll get out of my room, out of my sight and you’ll stay that way for the next week or so.”

Sonja spun on her heels and left in a huff. The stench of her overbearing perfume was all that was left in her wake. Levi fanned the air in front of his face to get rid of the smell.

He flopped back on the bed with his arms out wide, staring at the ceiling.
Maggie.
Maggie was what made the difference. Levi wanted her to like him and he knew the guy she first met wasn’t good enough. If he wanted Maggie to like him he needed to be a better guy and that started with making sure Sonja wasn’t allowed to make fun of Gary.

Levi turned on his side and stuffed his pillow under his head. The last time he'd been at Maggie’s, they’d almost kissed. He closed his eyes remembering her lips so close to his. The look of fear in her eyes and the tears that pooled in them.
Why though? What could have possibly happened?
The next time he was that close to her, he wanted her to want him as much as he wanted her.

I haven’t wanted anyone in so long.
The idea of wanting someone caught him off guard. When he’d followed her into the house, he wasn’t even thinking about kissing her. Then she turned around, looked up at him and all he could think of was kissing her. Her lips on his and the desire he felt for her that night hit him like a punch to the gut.

He liked her.
I more than like her.
How much more he wasn't sure, but he knew it was more than just a simple do-you-like-me-check-here type like. Levi sat up and threw his legs over the edge of the bed. Thinking about Maggie was making him crazy.

Rachel had killed part of him. Numbed him to a point he never thought he could ever recover, but thinking about Maggie made him…happy. An emotion he thought was buried with Amelia and the memory of his relationship with Rachel.

Maybe it was time for Levi to grow up and move on. Amelia would not have wanted him to be like this. If she were still alive she’d have killed him for even looking at Sonja, much less letting people think he was dating her.
She’d have punched the crap out of me.
Rachel was the same story, just a different name.

Levi met Rachel while he was filming
Lost in Love
. It was his first big supporting role. She’d been at the cafe he frequented. They’d struck up a conversation a couple of times and it seemed to grow from there. Amelia met her before she died, and what no one knew was that Amelia had hated her.

Instead of dumping Rachel, he’d kept seeing her without Amelia knowing it. When his sister passed away, he’d asked Rachel to marry him. His TV show had been picked up for the third season, and he just felt so lost without his little sister. With their parents becoming more distant as Amelia got sicker, after Amelia died, Levi had jumped into marriage just to keep from feeling so alone.

Rachel planned the wedding, and the next thing he knew he was wearing a wedding band. Gary hated Rachel too. If Levi had been thinking at all, he would have listened to Gary, but Levi couldn’t or didn’t want to hear anything at the time.

Levi swallowed hard with the memory of walking in on Rachel. He’d just come back from filming and she was in their bed with another guy. It broke him. Amelia was gone and he hadn’t listened to her. It made him feel like crap.

Afterwards, he just shut down. Gary was the only one who knew the real Levi and put up with his jerk behavior. Letting Sonja roll over Gary like a steam truck made him sick to his stomach. Another thing Amelia would not have put up with from Levi.

He strolled to the bathroom and looked at himself hard in the mirror. “Where have you been? It’s time you and I have a talk. This…thing you’ve been doing the last three years is done. You have a life to live and you aren’t going to just watch your life roll by without any input. Amelia wouldn’t want you doing this and Gary deserves to have his best friend back.”

Levi turned the water on and splashed his face. “Plus, there is a girl who makes you laugh, and she isn’t Rachel so stop being a giant jack wagon and get your act together before you screw things up so bad you’ll never have a snowball’s chance.”

The man staring at him in the mirror smiled. It was a conversation he needed to have a long time ago, and now that it was out Levi felt the weight lifted off his shoulders. He actually felt physically lighter.

It was time for a shower. When he stepped out of the shower, he was coming out a new man and a better person.

Inspiration hit Maggie while she was in the shower.
The last book she’d written was over a year ago,
Grey City
. She’d written
Famished
before…
I can’t even bring myself to say the words.
Then Famished had been picked up by a studio a few years ago. She rode the success of her fifth book,
Grey City
, pretty well, but she hadn’t written anything worth reading in over a year. Writing the rest of the Famished series had kept her busy and her head away from painful memories.

She clicked away on the keyboard so immersed in her newest manuscript she almost didn’t hear the phone. In the past, she’d have turned it completely off. Now, she kicked herself for forgetting how annoying it was to be interrupted.

“Hello,” she barked into the phone.

“Uh, hi,” Levi sounded like he was taken off guard.

Maggie took a deep breath and when she spoke again she softened her tone. “Hi, Levi. I’m sorry.”

“Did I catch you at a bad time?”

She looked at the screen, and down at the word count: 1632.
Not bad for a couple of hours.
“No, I’m sorry. I was just…what do you need?”

“I just wanted to see if you wanted to grab an early dinner with me.”

“Um.” Her stomach grumbled. She hadn’t eaten all day, but dinner with Levi…? It made her stomach do other things.

“Come on. What can happen in a public place?”

Maggie smiled and laughed. “All right, where do you want to meet?”

“Nope, this is a proper date. I’ll pick you up.”

“Date?”

“Well, sure. What do you call two people eating dinner at a restaurant?”

“Dinner at a restaurant with a friend.”

“What if one of those friends wants to be more than friends with the other friend?”

“I’d say one of those friends needs to cool their jets and be happy that the other friend agreed to have dinner with them in the first place.”

Levi chuckled. “Okay, Maggie Lawrence. I’ll see you in a bit.”

“Okay.” Maggie heard the phone click and set it down. Instead of jumping up to get ready, she continued writing for a while. When she hit the save button, she was happy with her progress.

She took her time getting ready, finding a shirt she felt would bring out her eyes, and a pair of jeans that fit and were comfortable. Maggie even went to the trouble of putting makeup on, which she normally only tolerated for talk shows or speaking engagements. When she was done, she looked at herself in the mirror, satisfied with the results.

What am I doing?
Dressing up, putting on makeup, acting like an idiot. It’s Levi Martin. He’s dating Sonja, and even if he wasn’t why would he be interested in her?
Shut up, Maggie.
It’s just dinner. With a friend. Is he even a friend?
Yeah, he is,
she thought and smiled.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. She walked out of the bathroom, and Levi stood in the doorway with his hands in his pockets.
Oh, boy, that smile.
It was hard to keep herself from responding. He looked great with his button up shirt, and jeans.

Levi swallowed hard when Maggie walked out of the bathroom.
How could she look so good in a simple shirt and jeans?
But she did look great. The jeans hit all the right spots without being too tight. Levi liked the fact that she dressed modestly. It allowed his imagination to run wild.

“Levi?”

He smiled. “Uh, yeah.”

“Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, you ready?”

“I think so. Am I dressed appropriately? I didn’t know where we were going so I was trying to ride the fence.”

He whistled. “Yeah, you look great.”

Maggie blushed and looked away, tucking a piece of her hair behind her ear. “Let’s go,” she said grabbing her wristlet and walking out the door. Levi followed her to the car and opened the door for her.

The little black Mercedes convertible was sleek and looked like a car Levi would drive. Maggie was just glad he’d driven a car and not a motorcycle. Although, it may have been nice to have an excuse to wrap her arms around his waist and hang on.

“So, where are we going?” Maggie asked.

“It’s a surprise,” Levi smiled and backed down her driveway.

“Does your girlfriend know you asked me out? Won’t she be concerned? I guess it could be considered a business thing depending on the conversation.”

“This isn’t business.”

“Levi, you need to turn this car around. Now.”

“Nope.”

“Levi.”

“Let’s enjoy the drive and when we get to the restaurant I’ll explain more, okay?” The last thing Levi wanted to do was talk about Sonja or anything else while he was driving. It might make the drive a little better, but he wasn’t sure he could talk about it and drive at the same time.

What is he doing?
Maggie narrowed her eyes and nodded. “Okay, Levi.”
Something about him is different.
She leaned her head back, looked away, and watched as the scenery flashed past. If nothing else, she loved the drive to and from her home.

It was hard to keep her thoughts from wandering so she forced herself to concentrate on the drive. If she refused to allow the thoughts to root, maybe she could just enjoy the dinner as it is and let it be superficial. Dinner with a friend. Nothing else and going nowhere.

Levi stole glances at his traveling companion. She crossed her legs and sat relaxed in the passenger seat, looking out her side of the car. He was taking a risk tonight and hopefully the result would be that Maggie knew where he stood.

He had picked a little restaurant he knew had good food and a relatively low volume. Instead of staying in LA, he decided to go to the San Fernando area. The scene in the middle of LA would not have been the right atmosphere he was going for, at all. The place he was taking her had a nice little outdoor area where they could be alone and talk.

When he pulled into a spot at the restaurant, Maggie had fallen asleep on the way. Her long lashes cast shadows on her cheeks, and he smiled as she shifted in the seat. He hated that he needed to wake her up. “Hey, Maggie, we’re here.”

Maggie sat up and almost rubbed her eyes before she remembered she had put on makeup. “I’m so sorry. Some dinner date I am.”

“It’s okay.”

“Where are we?”

“San Fernando.”

Maggie looked at him surprised. “What?”

“I wanted to stay out of LA. It’s quieter here.”

For some reason, that struck her wrong, but she kept the feeling to herself. Levi didn’t want Sonja to know he was taking her to dinner. She pulled the handle of the door and hopped out of the car. “Okay, let’s eat.”

Levi rushed out of the car, wondering what he could have said to upset her. She may have tried to hide the fact that she was upset, but she was doing a poor job of it.

“This place has great burgers and fry bread tacos. They’re pretty well known for their creme brûlée, too.”

Maggie’s mouth watered. It was hard to stay ticked at Levi when he was talking burgers and tacos. “Oh, that sounds good.”

The restaurant was pretty busy when they arrived. Finding a table outside was easy though and the courtyard was nearly empty with most of the diners preferring to stay inside to dine. Levi was pretty pleased with his luck.

Once they’d given their drink orders, they sat looking over the menu. Maggie peered at Levi from over her menu. “So, does Sonja know?”

Levi took a deep breath. “Sonja is not my girlfriend.”

“But…”

“I introduced her as my girlfriend because at the time I wanted to keep appearances, but Sonja is not now nor will she ever be, my girlfriend.”

“So why would you introduce her as…” Maggie paused as the waiter returned to take their orders. When the waiter left, Levi didn’t let her finish the question.

“Because I got tired of the press asking about my dating. Everywhere I went someone was asking and she needed a place to stay because she blew all of her money and she wasn’t getting any jobs. So we made a deal. She could stay with me and she would pretend to be my girlfriend; although, lately, she’s tried to do more than pretend.”

Maggie’s mouth hung open. “So all this time, you’ve been pretending?”

“Yeah.”

“I mean, I guess I understand but, wow.”

“So, she doesn’t know I’m here with you because it’s none of her business. In fact, she may be moving out soon.”

“Oh.”
Ohhhh…

Levi smiled and ran his hand through his hair. Maggie smiled because no matter how many times he ran his hand through it, it still stuck up in spots. Levi chewed on his lip. He looked like he was trying to work up the courage to say something, but Maggie couldn’t figure out what he could possibly…
oh no.

“I need to tell you about Rachel.”

Maggie sighed with relief on the inside. “No, you don’t. It’s okay.”

“No, I need to. Please let me.” Levi watched Maggie. She nodded her head slightly. A small part of him felt like chickening out, but it was now or…well it was now. “Okay, so I’m sure you know I was married.”

“Laura told me. I’m sorry. I swear I didn’t go looking for information.”

“It’s okay. Anyway, Amelia was my sister.” Levi studied her expression. “You knew that too, though.”

Maggie simply smiled. She wouldn’t betray Gary.

“I won’t ask you how you know because I’m pretty sure I have an idea who told you. So, I met Rachel about a year before Amelia, well, before she passed away.” He frowned and looked away.
I still can’t use the “d” word,
he thought
.
Levi cleared his throat, and looked at Maggie again. “It was a pretty tough time for me.” Levi paused as the waiter delivered their food. They’d each ordered something the other had found interesting so they could share.

Levi had ordered a burger with a side of Gouda mac and cheese and Maggie had gotten a fry bread taco with sweet potato fries. It was an odd combo, but it smelled delicious. Maybe more than it normally would because Maggie was beyond hungry when it arrived.

“So, you were saying it was a tough year?”

He more or less just pushed his food around on his plate. “Amelia started having complications. The lung transplant she had seemed to be working great for a while, but she kept getting sicker and sicker. I met Rachel while Amelia was in the hospital and I was having trouble dealing. Looking back, I knew my relationship with her was just a way of dealing with what Amelia was going through.”

Maggie could hear the pain in his voice. It was a pain she understood too well. The way he was able to sit and talk about it made her look at him in a completely different way. It took a courage she didn’t possess.

“So, when Amelia met Rachel she was livid. Rachel was superficial, obnoxious, and she didn’t love me. I was just an actor and she wanted her fifteen minutes of fame, but I just couldn’t let her go, ya know? I knew Amelia was…” Levi’s eyes watered. “I knew Amelia was dying and I was going to be alone.”

“You had Gary.”

“At the time, I was in a spiral. I knew I had my best friend, but I have never felt more alone in my life. When Amelia died, I asked Rachel to marry me. I overlooked so many red flags because I was hurting so bad I couldn’t think straight.”

“I understand that.”

Levi frowned and studied Maggie’s face. “You really do, don’t you?”

Maggie pulled her eyes away from him. “So, what happened?” She asked, deliberately moving the conversation back to him.

“I walked in on her having sex with another guy in our bed. I was supposed to be gone an entire week, but I got home early. I found out through the divorce she’d been having an affair the entire time we were together. The only reason she married me was for the money and the face time on the red carpet. We dated, married and divorced in less a year.”

Maggie took a deep breath. “I can’t even imagine. I’m so sorry.”

“You know what? It doesn’t excuse my behavior. I’ve been a complete jerk for the last few years and I’ve used Amelia and Rachel as an excuse. If Amelia were alive she’d have beaten me to a bloody pulp. Actually, she’d never have let me marry Rachel.”

“Really?”

“She hated Rachel. Flat out told Rachel to her face she didn’t like her. My sister was not a pushover and she never hid how she felt. I should have known. Amelia was always right about people. As much as she hated Rachel, it would have been a cage match between her and Sonja.”

Maggie chuckled. “I think I would have liked your sister.”

“She would have loved you.” Levi picked up his burger and took a bite. “Oh,” he said, making a face. “I let it get cold. It’s okay, but I don’t care for cold mushrooms.” He dropped it back on the plate.

“Want some of my fries? They taste pretty good.”

Levi reached over and snagged a couple of fries. “Look, I wondered if you wanted to come hang out with me and Gary tonight after we eat?” he asked between bites. “We’re going to play video games, eat absurd amounts of junk food and just chill in the basement. I know it sounds like a blast. You can probably barely contain your excitement.”