Levi had his mouth open to retort to his brother but his head jerked, his mouth snapped shut, and his eyes sliced to me.

Brock’s arm around my back gave me a squeeze.

“What?” Levi asked.

“Jesus, fuck,” Brock muttered.

I looked up at Brock to see him scanning the ceiling.

Oh well. It was out there.

I looked to Levi.

“Lenore is in love with you,” I repeated.

He did a slow blink.

Uncanny, just like his brother.

Then he asked, “Did she tell you that?”

“A girl knows,” I informed him.

“A girl knows,” he repeated after me.

I shrugged.

He stared at me.

Damn. I had to keep going.

“Okay, well, you’ll probably never notice shit like this but her outfit at Thanksgiving… very nice. It suited her. This is good for you if you’re, uh…”—I paused, then forged on—“interested in her. She’s young but she knows herself, what suits her. A lot of girls struggle with that through their twenties and into their thirties. She’s already found her style. That’s impressive.”

Levi blinked again.

I kept talking.

“Anyway, what I mean to say is, it was very nice but not too nice. She wanted to make a good impression, not to be in your face about how pretty she is or what a great body she has. And she’s pretty, don’t you think?”

His eyes slid to his brother and I kept going.

“Well, of course you do.”

His eyes slid back to me.

“You were with her,” I went on. “My point is she wanted to make a good impression on your family. She thought Thanksgiving was a move forward in your relationship and it was important to her. But I think it wasn’t only that. It was about being part of you, reflecting on you. She wanted your family to like her but she wanted to represent you in a good light to them too. No flashy clothes. No cleavage. Not overboard. Decent and respectable. She cares about you and what your choice of her says about you.”

Levi stared at me again.

Then he asked, “You got all that from an outfit?”

“Well…” I hesitated. “Yeah.”

Brock’s body started rocking again and I looked at him to see he was now staring at his bare feet but he was doing it smiling.

“That doesn’t say she’s in love with me, Tess,” Levi noted and my eyes went back to him.

“No,” I agreed. “It says you mean something to her. I knew she was in love with you when you tested me, your whole family got pissed at you, and she closed in on you.”

Levi’s body went visibly still.