His dad snorted. “Son, you blew that whole thing up in under five.”
Tess nodded her agreement. “I don’t even think one of your PowerPoints could have saved you.”
“I’ve got this,” he said with a certainty he didn’t feel.
Tess looked at her parents. “Please note that, in fact, he does not ‘got this.’”
Levi shook his head and turned to his mom. “And you? The leader of the pack, the nosy instigator, you don’t have a smartass comment for me too?”
“Ask is a bad word,” Peyton said.
“Peyton’s right,” his mom said, nose in the air. “And anyway, the answer is no. I don’t have any comment for you because I’m not talking to you. You felt the need to make up a girlfriend. And then lied to me about it.”
Levi tossed up his hands and walked out of the kitchen, no particular destination in mind as he was already in hell. And oh, goody, Mateo was walking in the front door. The guy took one look at Levi and his smile faded. “What happened?”
“He just destroyed his relationship with Jane,” his mom said over Levi’s shoulder, having followed him from the kitchen.
“Not quite true,” Tess said, coming in behind his mom. “Jane dumped him.”
“Actually, what Jane said was that he could do whatever he wanted,” his mom said.
Mateo shook his head. “Ah, man, when a woman says that, you do not do whatever you want. You stand still. You don’t blink, you don’t even breathe, you just play dead.”
“Awesome,” Levi said. “That was super helpful, thanks.”
His mom looked at Mateo. “Can you tell your best friend he’s an idiot?”
“I think he already knows,” Mateo said.
Levi sighed and turned to his mom. “I thought you weren’t speaking to me.”
“I’m not!” She sighed. “Okay, yes, I am. I’m sorry you messed it up, Levi. So sorry. Are you okay?”
Levi pressed his hand to his aching heart and shook his head. “I’ll let you know if I ever get sensation back in my soul. Not that I should let you know—my personal life shouldn’t be up for debate.”
“Aw, sweetheart.” She cupped his face. “Who taught you that your personal life has to be separate from your family?”
“Who do you think?”
Sadness filled her eyes. “I’m sorry,” she said softly. “You were just always so private that we tended to do whatever we had to in order to find out what was up with you. I can see now, with perfect twenty-twenty hindsight, that wasn’t always healthy for you. But in our defense, we just love you so much.”
“I love you too, Mom, but you guys couldn’t even give me two minutes to process what just happened before you were breathing down my neck about where I went wrong. You think I don’t already know?”
Looking stricken, she sucked in a breath. “You’re right, we should’ve given you time. We just didn’t want you to take so long that you missed out on something that made you so happy.” She drew a deep breath. “That night you called me from the gondola. It wasn’t to tell me you had a girlfriend. It was to say goodbye, wasn’t it?”
The regret was yet another bitter pill.
“But you couldn’t do it,” she said. “You loved me so much that your last thoughts were of how to make me happy.” She pressed her hand to her chest. “Your heart’s in the right place. You meant well. I’m sorry that I ever made you feel like you had to be something you weren’t. I’m sorry you felt judged by us. I know we overreact to everything, but, Levi, you uprooted your life and moved away, and we miss you so much. So yes, when you come home, we go a little overboard. But it’s not because we want you to be someone you’re not. It’s not because we don’t love you. It’s because we can’t help ourselves.” And then she did it, she killed him dead when her eyes filled with tears.