Luring Levi (Tarnished Saints Series Book 2) (10 page)

“Can’t wait to do this piece,” the man said. “I can see the title of the show now, The Prison Mayor Chef.”

Levi frowned just as much as the man was smiling. Suddenly he was not liking this idea at all.

“Mr. Mayor, I need to pick up my daughter f
rom a birthday party,” said Valerie looking at her watch. “I motion that we adjourn the meeting.”

“I second the motion,” said M
abel, “as I’ve got to go let my dog out.”

“Fine,” said Levi. “Then this meeting is adjo
urned.”

Ma
bel scowled at him. “You need to rap a mallet or something,” she told him.

“Oh,” he said, looking around the table but not seeing one. He picked up his spoon and
rapped that on the table instead. The council seemed satisfied, and the dozen people who made up the board got up and left quickly.

“Thank you for coming, Mr. Filmore
,” said Levi, getting to his feet and shaking the man’s hand. “I’m looking forward to doing the show. When will you be taping it?”

“
I’ll have it set up for one day during the fair,” he said. “If it looks to be a nice day, maybe we can have the set right out in the open. That will allow more people to view it.”

“Great idea,” said Candace, shaking the man’s hand.
“Then we’ll see you and the crew next week.”

“I’ll be contacting you with the details,” he said. “And Mayor?” He looked over to Levi and smiled. “I can’t wait to put you on the screen with your back story. That’s going to be priceless.”

“Yeah, priceless,” he mumbled, not sure now why he ever thought this would be a good idea in the first place.

The man turned to leave, then stopped and turned back. “Oh. Did I tell you that this will
be our anniversary episode? Ten years now and
Sliced
is still being aired.”

“Great,” said Levi, not really giving a
damned, until he heard what the man had to say next.

“
Since it’s a special episode,” he continued, “the winner of
Sliced
will not only get bragging rights but also the prize money of fifty thousand dollars.”

“Fifty grand
? Really?” Levi was speechless. He knew a lot of his problems could be solved with that kind of money. He’d be able to not only buy a car, but maybe rent a decent place to live. And since his job of mayor was nonpaying in this little town, he needed some form of income to live on. He had to win that money now. He needed it to buy a better lifestyle for himself and get him back on his feet again.

The executive producer
left, and Levi reached out and greeted Candace with a kiss.

“Hello
, beautiful,” he said with a smile. “I can’t stop thinking of last night.”

“Me neither,” she said, but when he went to put his arms around her, she stepped out of the way.
He thought she was playing hard to get and once again reached out for her to kiss her. She put up a hand to block him and looked the other way. Levi didn’t understand.

“Did I do something wro
ng, Candy? Because if I did, I’m really sorry.”

“No,” she said with a shake of her head. “You did nothing wrong.
I just can’t do this right now. I mean - it’s just that - before we continue our relationship - and in public, I need to talk to you.”

So that was it. She was embarrassed to be seen getting intim
ate with him in public since as she said, he was nothing but a jailbird.

“I understand,” he said, with a slight nod. “You’re embarrassed to be seen with me because of what I did and the time I served.”

“No, that’s not it at all,” she said.

“I expected this from the rest of the town, but not from you, sweetheart. But even the town has forgiven me for my past, but I can see you can’t.”

“You’re not giving me a chance to explain.”

He didn’t need this right now in his life. He felt happy for the first time in seven years and now after the best night of his life sh
e was going to dump him? She probably just wanted revenge of some sort like his brother Judas. He had let down his guard and now he was going to pay.

“There’s no need to explain. And don’t worry,
I won’t be touching you again - not in public or private, you can count on that.”

Before she had a chance to say anything, loud commotion and shouting
was heard coming from the back of the kitchen. Pots and pans clattered to the ground and the sound of breaking dishes filled the air, followed by shouting in Spanish.

“What the hell’s going on?” Levi ran to the back of the house, pushing open the kitchen door to see Margery staring out the open back door and crying. The prep cook and the dishwasher were the only other ones there.

“Margery, what happened?” He ran over and put his arm around the woman to comfort her.

“Well, that’s it,” she said, wiping her eyes. “It’s over.”

“What’s over?” He looked out the door and saw a Hispanic man in a white chef’s coat getting into his car and tearing out of the back lot.

“I just lost another
head cook. I had to tell him I couldn’t pay him on time and he walked out.”

“Not much of a loss,” said Levi, thinking of the slop he’d been served that the guy tried to pass off as food.

“Excuse me, Levi,” she said, walking past him. “But I need to put a sign on the door that says I’m closed. For good.”

Levi watched Margery make her way through the kitchen and just shook his head. His heart went out to her since he knew the pain of los
ing a restaurant. Years of backbreaking work and sacrifice went into growing her business and now she was about to lose it all. She had been so successful at one time. Levi could remember all the fond memories of eating at the crowded, bustling diner throughout the years. He looked over to the prep cook and dishwasher who were just staring at him with their arms crossed, obviously nothing to do. He hadn’t even seen a busboy or a waitress working here. He knew that things were grim for Margery and she was right. It was all over. Today would be the day that Margery’s Diner would close her doors forever.

“Wait!” he called out, and just before leaving the kitchen she turned back to look at him. “You don’t have to close your doors, Margery.”

“I do,” she protested. “I don’t have a head cook, and with nobody to cook the food, I no longer have a business.”

Levi bit the side of his cheek, feeling the knot in his stomach warning him not to get involved. But he couldn’t just let the poor woman go down without a fight. He had to do something to help her. So before h
e could stop himself from saying what he knew he would someday regret, he squeezed his eyes shut and blurted out, “I’ll do it.”

“What?” She wiped her nose with a tissue. “What do you mean? What will you do?”

“I’ll cook for you. Until you can get a replacement.”

“Oh, Levi, I appreciate that but you know I can’t pay you, and I can’t ask you to work for free.”

“Why not?” he asked, thinking he already had one nonpaying job, so what the hell was the difference if he took on another?

“Do you really mean it? You want to help me?”

“I do,” he said, walking over and putting his arm around the woman. “I know the pain in losing a restaurant that you’ve put your heart and soul into. I want to help you build your business and get customers in here again. We can do it, I promise. I will help you get back on your feet.”

Candace listened to the conversation between Levi and Margery, peeking through the round window in the swinging door that led to the kitchen. She saw Levi rolling up his sleeves and stepping behind the metal counter. Stoves covered with pots of bubbling liquid were right behind him.

Her heart went out to him. He was a good man. He was going to help Margery save her diner and he was pushing past his fears to do it. He was going to cook again, and for this she was glad. She knew Levi didn’t have time for this now that he had the dutie
s of mayor and a fair to deal with as well.

She wished she’d told him about the kids already, but her timing
had always seemed to be off. And now he had some notion in his head that she was ashamed of him and wanted nothing to do with him, which was the furthest thing from the truth.

She pushed open the kitchen door and entered, walking up behind them. They didn’t even realize she was there. Levi was peeking under the lids of the pots and then
he followed Margery to the walk-in cooler. Candace followed them inside, suddenly feeling trapped in the small enclosure that held lots of food but not lots of room for people.

Levi held a clipboard in his hands and looked up to her with a questioning brow. “Did you need something Ms. Kane?”

Well, if she didn’t know he was angry with her before, she certainly knew it now. He was back to calling her Ms. Kane again, like when they’d first met.

“I . . . I . . .” She wanted to tell him, but she couldn’t do it with Margery standing right there. News like this needed to be in private. “I need to get back to the cabin to pick up the kids. I’ve already imposed on Angel more than I should.”

She hoped he’d take a break to give her a ride back to the cabin, and she planned on telling him in the car.

“Here,” he said, digging the car keys out of his pocket and tossing them to her. She reached out and caught them. “
You seem like you’ve got the hang of driving stick already. Take the car. I’m going to stay here for awhile and help out.”

“Oh . . . a
lright,” she said. “What time should I pick you up then?”

“No need,” he said, not bothering to look at her. Her
heart ached at the way he was just dismissing her from his life after the wonderful night they’d just shared together. “I’ll find a ride, or call my brother or Dan.”

“I can give you a ride home,” said Margery to Candace’s dismay.

“Sounds good, and I’ll take you up on your offer,” he replied. Then looking up to Candace, he said, “was there something else you needed?”

Both Levi and Margery were staring at her and she felt like such an outsider now that it made her feel uncomfortable.

“No, that’s fine,” she said, and turned and hurried out the door. She made her way out to the lot to look for the car, wondering what to do about the whole situation. He hadn’t even thanked her for saving his ass and convincing her executive producer to film
Sliced
right there in Sweet Water. But then again, Levi Taylor was a man who let his pride often get in the way. He was not a man who was eager to ask for anything, and neither was he one to say thank you. And she had a feeling that when he found out she’d been keeping the fact from him that he had two children, the last thing he was going to say was thank you.

Chapter 8

Candace pulled up to the large metropolitan house that was the home of Thomas and Angel. She knew it used to be a Bed and Breakfast that they ended up buying and using to house all their kids. She walked up to the door and rang the bell. The inside door was open and she could see through the screen. Their youngest boy, Eli, ran to the door barefooted and opened it for her to invite her in.

“Why thank you,” she said with a smile. Eli didn’t talk much and she’d heard that at one time he didn’t talk at all. But he was a cute kid and she patt
ed him atop his curly blond head. “Where’s your mother?” she asked. A shadow covered his face and he ran out the back door without answering.

“Hi,” said Angel, walking up drying her hands in a dish towel.

“I think I spooked little Eli for some reason. All I did was ask him for his mother.”

“Oh,” she said, looking over her shoulder and speaking in a whisper. “You may not want to mention his mother around him. You see, she was murdered.”

“Oh, I didn’t know,” she said. “I was talking about you.”

“The boys all call me Angel,” she answered. “Gabby is my daughter and
also the only one who really calls me mom. By the way . . . did you and Levi have time to talk?”

“Oh, Angel,” she said. “I think I’ve made a terrible mistake.”

“Let me get some lemonade and we’ll go sit on the porch,” she said. She grabbed a pitcher from the fridge and two glasses from the cabinet and then led her to the door.

“Valentine and Vance,
as well as Gabby are upstairs playing and I don’t want them to hear us.”

“
It’s so quiet around here. I saw Eli, but where are all the rest of the boys?”

“Well, it looks like Levi lured them all
over to the station to clean out the room he’s staying in. He promised them all free food and unlimited rides at the fair, and even said he’d give Zeke a rabbit.”

“Yep, that sounds like Levi. Always luring someone into his web.”

“Now what could that possibly mean?” Angel put the glasses on the round patio table and poured out some iced cold lemonade. She handed a glass to Candace and they both sat.

“It means he lured me into bed.”