Melodies of the Heart: A Pinewood Grove Sweet Romance (2 page)

It took Kassidy a second to realise that they were blocking all the traffic on Main Street and needed to get off of the road before they got run over. Her rolls had already been squished by the drivers who squeezed around them, and the rest weren’t worth trying to save.

The birds can have them
, Kassidy thought to herself as she helped push the handsome stranger’s bike out of the middle of the road and onto the sidewalk.

“Come inside,” she told him. “We have a first aid kit.”

“I’m okay,” he tried to insist, but she wasn’t having any of it.

“Please,” she implored him. “I feel so bad about what happened. Let me help and at least get those scrapes washed off.”

Maybe it was the way she looked at him, or the innocence on her face, but Levi Thayne stopped arguing. Instead, he propped the motorcycle up and let her lead him into the bakery.

“Sit right there,” she instructed as she pointed at one of the two small tables and chairs that the bakery kept in the odd chance someone ever wanted to sit down and enjoy one of their treats. They rarely came in handy, but her father wouldn’t let her or her mother get rid of them.

“I really am okay,” Levi called after her as she stepped into the back. “It’s nothing more than a scrape.”

Kassidy was too busy getting a clean washcloth to listen to his arguing. The first aid kid was well stocked, but the scrape on the back of his hand was full of dirt and needed cleaning before she could even think about dressing it.

“I guess I should introduce myself,” she said as she sat down across from him and held out the wet cloth. “I’m Kassidy, Kassidy Olsen. My family owns this place.”

“I gathered that,” he said, the corner of his mouth turning up to reveal the slightest of smiles as he spoke.

“And you are?” she asked, leaning in a bit as she spoke.

He was visibly taken aback at that. Deep down he knew that he wasn’t that recognisable, or at least he always assumed as such, but it had been a very, very long time since anyone had asked him for his name.

“Levi,” he said, skipping his last name.

“Well Levi,” Kassidy said as she put the first aid kit on the table and cracked it open. “I am really, really sorry about what happened. It’s not like me at all. I really hope your bike is okay.”

That part was true. She was usually very attentive and careful, but her mind had been elsewhere and she’d almost gotten herself killed for it. At least the man in front of her had enough time to react and neither of them had gotten seriously hurt.

“It’s okay –” Levi moved to say, but before he could finish his thought a third party appeared. Mrs. Olsen stepped out of the back at the sound of voices, and from the look on her face, Kassidy knew she would have some explaining to do.

“Mom,” she said, trying to ease her into the idea that her daughter had almost been run down by a passing motorcyclist.

“Kass, honey,” her mom said as she glanced from her daughter back to the dishevelled and mildly battered young man sitting in her bakery. “What happened?”

“It’s nothing,” Kassidy tried to explain to her. “Levi here had an accident, it was entirely my fault.”

“No, I should have been paying more attention,” Levi cut in, but Kassidy shot him a look to say he was better to keep quiet.

“I basically stepped out in front of him,” Kassidy admitted. “It was stupid and I’m just making sure the scrape on his hand gets taken care of.”

“Oh gosh,” her mother said, her fingers going to her bottom lip like they always did when she was nervous. She’d always been a nail biter, but she’d taken to just putting her fingers on her lip when she fretted. “Honey, oh gosh, are you okay?”

“Fine, mom,” Kassidy said as her cheeks flushed red. She had never met anyone who’d given her butterflies like Levi did and the last thing she needed was her mother embarrassing her. She was twenty-one now and much too old to have her mother fretting over her, especially in front of other people.

Thankfully, the phone rang before her mother could embarrass her any more than she already had and Kassidy let out a sigh of relief once she was alone with the young man again.

“I am honestly really sorry,” he said once they were alone. “I wasn’t paying attention at all. I was in a bit of a daze.”

“It’s okay,” she insisted, though she could barely force herself to look at him. Every time her green eyes met the dark brown pools of his, she would tremble all over again. It wasn’t like her, and she was afraid of what that meant. Afraid and excited. “Look, let me get you a snack. It must be luck. It’s lunch time and you’re probably hungry and we have plenty to choose from, so at least it’s good you crashed outside this place.”

“Actually, I’m more worried about my bike than anything,” he admitted. “You don’t happen to know a mechanic in town, do you?”

She did. A couple of them in fact. One option was the automotive department down at the ShopMart, and then there was Murph’s Garage over on Birch Street. There was no question who to go to – her parents had made it clear from the moment the ShopMart started going up that the small businesses in town had to support one another or none of them would survive more than a year once the doors of the supercenter opened.

“Sure,” she told him once she finished wrapping his hand in gauze. The tips of his fingers were rough, but not like the ones of the farmers in town. She hadn’t tried to touch them, it had just happened as she’d cleaned him up, but she couldn’t deny that she liked it.

“Murph’s got a good garage,” she told him. “And he does good work. I’m sure if I bring him a loaf of rye bread, he’ll knock off a few bucks for you, too.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Levi said, though there wasn’t much protest in his voice.

“Don’t worry about it,” she insisted. “My dad still owes him for the last oil change he did on our car. The bread will double as interest.”

“So which way am I headed?” Levi asked as he pushed himself up from the table.

“Oh, I’ll show you the way,” she told him. “It’s not far.”

“What about your store?” Levi asked.

His question was like a quick stab in her gut, but Kassidy refused to show it. “Um, it’s fine. My mom’s in the kitchen and dad just went out for a bit. They can handle it when the lunch rush starts.”

In truth, she didn’t expect anyone to stop by. There used to be a lunch rush, back when she was in middle school, but those years were behind them. Still, she had faith things would turn around and she made sure to put a smile on her face before she grabbed a loaf of bread out of the display and bagged it up for Murph.

Levi’s fears for his bike were not entirely unfounded. He tried to kick it to life, but after a hard sputter, nothing happened. Two more tries later, he officially declared the bike broken.

“I am so, so sorry,” Kassidy apologized again as she walked along the Main Street sidewalk while Levi pushed his bike on the road.

“It’s no one’s fault,” he assured her, and again she saw that hint of a smile that made her heart do a back flip. She’d always wanted sparks, but she had no idea what it would feel like. Now that she had, there was no denying it.

“Well, Murph’s isn’t far,” she promised him. “And I’m sure he’ll fix it up no problem. The man’s a genius when it comes to cars. Our old Buick was a lemon, but he kept it on the road for ten years.”

For the next block, they walked in awkward silence while she struggled to think of something, anything to say or ask him. She didn’t want to sound like some love-struck child with a silly crush, especially not at her age, but everything she thought of just sounded stupid when she practiced it in her head.

“This is a nice town,” Levi said as they approached Birch Street.

“Yeah,” she agreed. “I’ve lived here all my life, I love it. What, uh, what brings you to Pinewood Grove?”

“Just passing through,” he said, his eyes staring straight forward as he spoke. “Decided to go on a little road trip.”

“Oh cool,” she told him. “How long have you been traveling?”

He laughed at that. Not at her, and though it was short, the sound of it made her smile. “About ten hours,” he told her.

“Oh wow,” she laughed with him. “Now I feel even worse.”

“Don’t,” he told her again. “I’m sure this mechanic will have me on the road by this afternoon, if he’s got time for me.”

Time was the one thing Murph did have. When they walked up to the old green garage, Murph himself was sitting on an old gas can reading a pulp action novel he’d probably picked up at some drug store or gas station.

“Kassidy, sweetie,” he said as he saw her coming. “How are things?”

“Good,” she told him. “I brought you a gift.” With that, she held out the bread bag and the middle-aged mechanic buried his nose in the paper.

“Rye,” he sighed when he finally came back up for air. “My favorite. Aren’t you sweet?”

She laughed at that, but then made herself turn a little more serious. “I’m afraid it’s kind of a bribe,” she told him. “My, um, my friend here needs you to look at his bike. They had a bit of a fall a few minutes ago.”

“Hey,” Levi said as the attention turned his way.

Murph gave a grunt in return and then meandered over to take a look at Levi’s bike. “That’s a nice machine you got there,” he said. “Did you trash it?”

“Something like that,” Levi told him. “Any chance I could get you to look at it today? Money isn’t an issue.”

“And neither is time, I’m afraid,” Murph told him. “I can take a look at her right now, but I can tell you for sure I’m going to need to get a part or two in. Your gas line is snapped and your front tire is leaking air.”

“Great,” Levi said with a heavy sigh, but Kassidy had to fight to match his look of disappointment. If Murph had to order some parts in, that meant that Levi would be staying in town, at least for a couple days. It could give her a chance to get to know him better, which was something she was very appreciative of.

“I’ll have her up and running as good as new,” Murph assured him. “Give me a few days and I’ll make sure she runs better than ever.”

“Thanks,” Levi said and he shook the mechanic’s hand in a verbal agreement. It was when he turned his focus back to Kassidy that she nearly showed him just how excited she was about him staying.

“So,” he asked her. “Know any good motels around here?”

Kassidy tucked a lock of her long hair behind her ear. In her fall, most of her braid had come undone and it wasn’t until then that she thought of fixing it. The thought only became stronger in her gut as they walked back along Birch Street, making their way over to Poplar Boulevard. She was suddenly very aware of how she looked, and how much she wanted to impress the man she’d only just met.

“Is everything in this town named after trees?” Levi asked as they cut across Main Street. He had been careful to keep his eyes down and Kassidy was starting to take note of that. She thought to ask him on it, and a voice inside her told her to be careful.

What if there is a reason he is being so cautious?
she asked herself as they walked along the tree lined street.

He’s probably just shy,
she told herself. He hadn’t said much at all and spoke softly enough when he did talk. Being shy made a lot more sense than him hiding from someone or something. She couldn’t let her imagination get the better of her and she vowed to give him the benefit of the doubt.

That, and she didn’t want him to have some strange secret. What she wanted was for him to be a nice, quiet man that she could get to know better.

“Mostly,” she told him as they walked. They still had a few more blocks to go to get to Poplar Boulevard, and then another couple more heading south to get to their destination. “At least it’s really easy to get anywhere. You won’t need your bike or a rental while you’re here, you can walk pretty much anywhere in town in about twenty or thirty minutes.”

“That’s good to hear,” he said. “But I don’t know if I’ll be going out much. I guess I should just hope this place has a good cable package.”

She was about to ask why, but up ahead of her she spotted Gillian, Addison, and Kayla coming from the direction of the ShopMart. Kassidy was about to wave to her friends and say hello, but Levi took her arm and stopped her before she could.

“You know, I’m kind of hungry,” Levi said as he gently turned her around. “Maybe we should go back to your bakery for some lunch. I can always call someone to come pick me up and drive me to this place or something.”

“Um, okay,” Kassidy said, her heart deflating at his suggestion. She was about to turn back down Main Street, but Addison’s voice stopped her.

“Kass wait up!” she called. “Kass... Oh. My. Gosh.”

“What?” Kassidy asked, fighting to smooth down her hair. She must have looked terrible and the look on her friends’ faces only confirmed that suspicion. What was worse, she’d already spent at least half an hour with Levi before she’d even noticed that herself.

But then she realised it wasn’t her they were paying attention to. Their jaws were slack and her friends were all caught in their tracks. That was when she realised it was Levi they were looking at, not her. Yes, he was attractive, but she didn’t think he was stop in the street and stare attractive, even for Pinewood Grove.

It was when she looked at Levi that she realised he knew exactly what was going on. There was a slightly annoyed, but resigned look on his face and he sighed heavily as Kassidy’s friends approached the two of them.

“It’s you, isn’t it?” Gillian gushed as she raced over to where Kassidy and Levi were standing. “I mean, it’s really you, right? It has to be.”

“You?” Kassidy asked, but no one heard her over the questions that were flowing freely from her friends’ mouths. They were all talking over each other and yet they were all asking the exact same questions.

“You caught me,” he said, careful to keep his voice down as he spoke to them. “Look, I’m on a bit of a vacation, so if we could keep it down that would be really cool. I just want to relax and rest.”

“Wait...” Kassidy started to ask, but she didn’t get the chance to finish her question before someone else cut her off.

“Are you here recording a new album already?” Addison asked. “You know, I’m a singer too, and if you need someone on backup or anything. I’m free all summer.”

“Oh is the rest of the band here?” Gillian cut in. “Is Dean here?”

“No, it’s just –” Levi tried to explain, but he was cut off once more.

“Can you sign my iPod?” Kayla asked. Even Kayla, quiet Kayla, was unable to contain herself around him, and Kassidy was finally starting to figure out what was going on.

“Sure,” Levi said with a smile. It was a different kind of smile than the one that Kassidy had already seen. The smiles he was giving her friends were too put on and forced. There was a hollowness to his expression that she couldn’t quite describe, but it didn’t pass by her unnoticed.

While he signed their iPods with Kayla’s pen, the questions kept coming.

“Are you going back to LA for the show tonight?” Gillian asked.

“No, unfortunately we had to cancel,” he told them.

“Is that why you weren’t on
The Morning Show
?” Addison asked him. “I set my DVR, but I saw on Twitter you didn’t appear. I hope everything is okay.”

“Yeah, there was an issue with the venue,” he told them. “I, uh, decided to take a couple days off when it turned out we weren’t going to be able to play.”

While her friends gushed over Levi, Kassidy couldn’t decide if she should be annoyed by them or embarrassed by herself. They obviously knew who he was, but she still had no idea. It was easy enough to tell that he was from some band, or maybe he was a solo act, but she wouldn’t have been able to tell if they were big, indie, or somewhere in between.

From the jeans and dark t-shirt, she guessed he played rock music, but a lot of country singers were dressing that way too. Even some pop stars were going with that style, but she was too embarrassed to ask anyone.

A blush crept over her cheeks as she thought about it. She was starting to realise that he must get recognised everywhere he went and he probably thought she was dumb for not knowing his name when she first saw him. At least he hadn’t made her feel stupid about it, because she was doing enough of that for the both of them.

“Okay ladies,” Levi said as he handed back the last iPod of the bunch. “I should get going. If you could keep it between us that I’m here, I would really appreciate it, okay?”

“No problem,” Addison said, and Kayla nodded in agreement, but it was Gillian who spoke up.

“You know,” she said as she twirled her fiery red hair around her fingertip. “We could always show you around town if you’d like. We could give you the full tour and show you all the fun stuff to do while you’re in Pinewood Grove.”

She knew it was wrong, jealous, and completely immature, but Kassidy’s blush turned to a flush of anger at Gillian’s suggestion. It was obvious what she was trying to do, and it had been obvious that Kassidy had already volunteered for the job. Still, she kept her mouth shut. There was no point in sinking to Gillian’s level, especially not in front of Levi.

“Thanks for the offer, but I think I’m good,” Levi said and Kassidy had to hide her sigh of relief. Then Levi added, “Kassidy here has already been a big help, and I’m sure she can handle being my tour guide,” and her blush came back in full force. She could feel the heat of it in her cheeks, and she knew everyone could see it. Being quick to flush red with almost any emotion was a curse that came along with the gift of her shiny strawberry blonde hair and freckled shoulders.

“Oh,” Gillian sighed, the dejection obvious on her face. “Well, if you change your mind, I live over on Ash Street, number three-fifteen. Come say hi if you’re ever bored.”

“Thanks, I’ll think about it,” Levi said, though his tone said otherwise. “Come on, Kassidy, shall we keep going?”

“Sure,” she said with a nod. “Um, I’ll text you later,” she told Addison before they parted ways.

“You better,” Addison mouthed at her, but waved them off while Kayla looked on in shock and Gillian stared in thick, green jealousy.

Neither Kassidy nor Levi had said aloud where they were going and without being told to do as such, she led her new friend down a second side street before they ended up on Poplar Boulevard. She trusted her friends not to follow them, but not enough to make it totally obvious where they were going. It put an extra twenty minutes on their walk, but she didn’t mind. Every extra moment she got to spend with Levi was a blessing and if she could have gotten away with it, she would have walked him around town twice before they arrived at their destination.