The Next Best Thing
Page 49
Nina ignored her. She was good at that. “You gonna stop staring and say hi?” she asked Levi, raising a perfect eyebrow and leaning against Everett’s desk. Ev, too, had frozen, his eyes on Nina’s ass, which, granted, was one of the seven wonders of the natural world, right up there with Faith’s rack.
“Hi,” he said.
“Hi,” Everett echoed.
Nina smiled and pulled up a chair. “I was in the area. Figured I’d stop in and see my favorite cop.”
He caught a whiff of the stuff she used in the shower, a musky, flowery scent, and waited for the surge of anger. This was, after all, the woman who’d left him with a hug and a cheery wave after three months of marriage, making him look like an idiot, for one, and breaking his heart for another. Two things he hated.
The anger didn’t come. “How’ve you been?” he asked.
She tipped her head. “I’ve been fine,” she said.
“Glad to hear it,” Everett said, his voice faint.
Nina glanced at Ev with that beautiful-woman smile, the kind that said In your dreams, mister. Everett only closed his mouth to swallow.
“So we gonna air our dirty laundry here?” Nina asked. “Or are you gonna buy a girl a drink? The best thing about this town was that little bar, as I recall.”
And so Levi stood up, Everett watching in a trance, Emmaline hissing, and took his ex-wife across the square to O’Rourke’s. Ignored Colleen’s look, as well as the fact that three members of the town council fell silent upon his arrival. Victor Iskin waved, his latest taxidermied cat on the bar in front of him, poised as if to leap while Lorena Creech admired it.
“Town hasn’t changed much,” Nina observed.
“Nope.” He took her to the farthest booth in the back and sat down.
He was flustered. Shitty feeling, that.
They ordered a couple of beers and the nachos grande, which Nina recalled with great enthusiasm. Colleen took their order with another pointed look, kicking Levi’s ankle. Nina talked about generic things—the traffic in Scranton, the cow in the road in Sayre. The nachos and beers came, delivered with another kick from Colleen.
And then Nina started with the war talk, which was what soldiers did when they reunited. Levi waited for her to get to whatever point she was here to make. He knew from experience there was no changing of the subject with Nina; she had an agenda, and trying to rush her only drew things out.
Then, finally, after reminding him of their common past in as entertaining a way as possible, she got personal.
“So how’s Sarah?”
“She’s good,” Levi said. Didn’t mention the fact that she could’ve used a sister-in-law this past year or so.
“Is she in college?”
He nodded. “Over at Hobart.”
“Good for her! And your mom? Still hates me, I’m sure.”
“My mom died a couple months after you left.”
Nina’s face changed. “Oh, Levi, you ass. Why didn’t you tell me? I would’ve come for the funeral!” She reached across the table and gripped his hand.
“I didn’t really see the point,” he said, extracting his hand.
She sat back in her seat, her big brown eyes growing hot. “The point, idiot, is that just because our timing was off doesn’t mean I don’t care about you. Or Sarah.”
“Gee. Thanks.”
She shook her head. “Man. You are totally furious, aren’t you?”
He declined to answer. Looked at her instead. It always made Faith irritable when he stared at her; hopefully it would work on Nina, too.
It didn’t. She took a sip of her beer, smiling a little, her eyes still on his.
She was the type of woman who could seduce in seconds. A regular...what was that Greek chick’s name? The one who caused the slaughter of an entire city? That one.
Levi took a careful breath. “So why the visit?”
“Never could fool you, could I?” she said.
“Actually, I’d say you fooled me pretty good,” he answered calmly.
“Okay. Fine. Let’s put it on the table.” She leaned forward, boobs practically tumbling out of her skimpy shirt onto the nachos. “This last tour was it for me. I was thinking about you. Thought maybe we could give it another shot.”
He waited until Nina huffed and rolled her eyes.
“Look, moron,” she said, and he felt an unwilling tug of affection for her total lack of sentimentality. “We were good together. It was the timing that sucked. I wasn’t ready to settle down two years ago. I am now. Simple as that.”
“Seems like you’re leaving a lot out of that equation.”
“So why don’t you fill me in?” she said with another sex goddess smile.
I loved you. You left me. You left me when I wanted to have a family with you, when I thought we were happy, and you walked away like I was nothing.
But the feelings behind those words were old and tired, and not worth putting into words.
“Hi.”
It was Faith. She looked at both of them, then stuck out her hand. “Faith Holland.”
“Hi.” Nina took her hand. “Wait a sec, Faith Holland? Holy shit! Jeremy’s ex, right?”
“That’s right.” She looked at Levi, her cheeks flushing. Otherwise, her expression was calm.
“Faith,” Levi said, “This is my ex-wife, Nina. Nina, Faith is my...” He looked at Faith, hoping she’d supply the appropriate word.
“Neighbor,” Faith said.
Women. You never knew what they were up to.
“Holy crap!” came another voice. “Nina?”
“Jeremy!” Nina jumped up and hugged him hard, like they were old pals. “It’s so great so see you!”
Jeremy, Levi was pleased to note, did not hug her back, just gave Levi a look as Nina babbled and grinned.
There’d been one night after Nina had re-upped when Jeremy had invited him up to the house, broke out the twenty-four-year-old single malt scotch and had very thoughtfully gotten drunk with Levi, and Levi had been able to be a normal person, to act not like a cop or a soldier or a big brother or the man of the house, but like a poor slob whose wife had left him.
Levi caught Faith’s hand and tugged her into the seat next to him. “Stay,” he ordered.
“I’m not your dog,” she said.
“Please stay.”
There. She squeezed his hand. “Whatever you want, neighbor.”
He narrowed his eyes. Now was not the time for sass. She blushed, and for some reason, it made his chest ache.
“Watch it, Chief,” she said. “I think I see a smile.”
Before he realized what he was doing, he leaned in and gave her a quick kiss on her soft, pink lips.
Which did make Nina stop talking.
“Oh!” she said. “You two are...together. I didn’t...wow.” She sat down, as did Jeremy, as if they were on a double date. “So, let me get this straight. Levi, you’re dating Faith, who was once engaged to your g*y best friend.”
“Yes.”
She nodded appreciatively. “Am I the only one who thinks that’s weird?”
“Seems kind of perfect to me,” Jeremy said.
Nina grinned, her perfect smile not quite masking her sharklike intentions. “Well, this is awkward, Faith, because I’m here to try to get my husband back.”
Faith nodded sympathetically. “Wow, that is awkward. But you mean ex-husband, right?”
Score one for Faith. She smiled sweetly, then looked at him, then back at Nina. “That being said, we’ll let you guys talk. Jeremy and I were about to grab dinner.”
“Oh, my gosh, you two are still BFFs? That’s so cute!” Yep. A great white.
Faith smiled calmly. “Yes, we’re adorable. Very nice to have met you.”
“Same,” Nina answered.
Faith slid out of the booth and looked at him. “See you around.”
“Okay,” he answered, wishing she’d stay.
With that, the cavalry left, Jeremy giving his shoulder a sympathetic squeeze as he left.
“So where were we?” Nina asked.
“We were nowhere,” he answered. “You were telling me we should get back together, and I’m about to tell you that won’t happen.”
“Well, you know what, hotshot?” Nina said, nibbling a nacho with ridiculous sex appeal and a studied casualness. “Your little birdie is right. We have a lot to talk about. Give me a couple hours of your precious time. I’m here for the weekend, at least. Staying at the Black Swan.” She raised her eyebrows and smiled at him from around the chip.
The Black Swan was where they’d spent their wedding night.
“Fine,” he said. “Get it over with.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
SO HIS EX-WIFE WAS BACK.
Faith sighed. Tried not to worry. Failed. Took another bite of Peanut Brittle. Another sigh. She held out the spoon for Blue—it was his favorite flavor—and took another bite for herself. A movie flickered on the TV—one of those stupid old black-and-white movies she didn’t like—but it was better than the infomercials for those hellish workouts where the “before” body looked a helluva lot like the one she was in, and the “after” looked way too much like Nina Rodriguez’s.
Levi’s wife. He was mad at her, sure, but he’d loved her once.
Would he want another shot at that? The chance to do a better job? Maybe just to show that he hadn’t been wrong about the woman he married? She could see that, understand how Levi, who tried so hard at everything, would want a better result than a quickie divorce in which he’d had no say.
When she was first in San Francisco, Faith would occasionally dream that Jeremy was knocking on her door, confused as to why she wasn’t at their wedding. No, of course he wasn’t g*y, where had she been? The wedding disaster...that was the dream. She should come with him; everyone was waiting at the church.
Waking up from those dreams had always been like a kick in the stomach.
She wondered if Levi had similar dreams after Nina left.
“She can fly a helicopter,” she told Blue, who was staring at the pint of Ben & Jerry’s. She gave him another bite.
Levi was home, she knew. She’d heard him come in after midnight, muted the TV and leaped for the door. Waited for his knock, which hadn’t come. Saw through the peephole that he was alone.
O’Rourke’s closed at eleven. So where had he been?
Faith sighed and got up from the still-muted Bogart movie. Maybe Levi had sent her an email; he never had before, but it was worth checking, even if it did qualify her for Pathetic Female status.
Nothing except a note from Sharon Wiles saying she had a permanent tenant for the apartment, so if Faith could pack up her stuff and be out by the end of the month, that’d be great.
Crap. She liked it here, across the hall from her man. Who might not be her man anymore.
No, no. No reason to think that (yet). Faith shut down the computer and went back to the couch. Fluffed the cushions. Folded the blanket.
This was where a mother would come in very handy. Pru would listen, but she wasn’t great with advice, and given her recent marital roller coaster, might well be wearing Vulcan ears and doing her husband. Jack—no. Dad, ditto. Honor’s mysterious boyfriend hadn’t materialized, and she probably wasn’t in the mood to listen to Faith’s relationship woes. Also, it was 2:32 a.m.
But a mother...
Faith stopped at the picture of her family on Pru’s wedding day, the last one taken of all of them. Next to it was the rose quartz heart. Levi hadn’t denied giving it to her, but he hadn’t admitted it, either.
Of course it was from him.
Faith picked up the photo.
The tarry guilt she’d felt all these years wasn’t easily scraped away. Faith could feel it lurking, waiting for another chance. But there’d been flashes since Levi had unveiled the facts of that day. Flashes of pure memories undimmed by the belief that she’d caused the accident. Memories of her mother’s love so pure and bright and strong, they were shocking.
“Hi,” he said.
“Hi,” Everett echoed.
Nina smiled and pulled up a chair. “I was in the area. Figured I’d stop in and see my favorite cop.”
He caught a whiff of the stuff she used in the shower, a musky, flowery scent, and waited for the surge of anger. This was, after all, the woman who’d left him with a hug and a cheery wave after three months of marriage, making him look like an idiot, for one, and breaking his heart for another. Two things he hated.
The anger didn’t come. “How’ve you been?” he asked.
She tipped her head. “I’ve been fine,” she said.
“Glad to hear it,” Everett said, his voice faint.
Nina glanced at Ev with that beautiful-woman smile, the kind that said In your dreams, mister. Everett only closed his mouth to swallow.
“So we gonna air our dirty laundry here?” Nina asked. “Or are you gonna buy a girl a drink? The best thing about this town was that little bar, as I recall.”
And so Levi stood up, Everett watching in a trance, Emmaline hissing, and took his ex-wife across the square to O’Rourke’s. Ignored Colleen’s look, as well as the fact that three members of the town council fell silent upon his arrival. Victor Iskin waved, his latest taxidermied cat on the bar in front of him, poised as if to leap while Lorena Creech admired it.
“Town hasn’t changed much,” Nina observed.
“Nope.” He took her to the farthest booth in the back and sat down.
He was flustered. Shitty feeling, that.
They ordered a couple of beers and the nachos grande, which Nina recalled with great enthusiasm. Colleen took their order with another pointed look, kicking Levi’s ankle. Nina talked about generic things—the traffic in Scranton, the cow in the road in Sayre. The nachos and beers came, delivered with another kick from Colleen.
And then Nina started with the war talk, which was what soldiers did when they reunited. Levi waited for her to get to whatever point she was here to make. He knew from experience there was no changing of the subject with Nina; she had an agenda, and trying to rush her only drew things out.
Then, finally, after reminding him of their common past in as entertaining a way as possible, she got personal.
“So how’s Sarah?”
“She’s good,” Levi said. Didn’t mention the fact that she could’ve used a sister-in-law this past year or so.
“Is she in college?”
He nodded. “Over at Hobart.”
“Good for her! And your mom? Still hates me, I’m sure.”
“My mom died a couple months after you left.”
Nina’s face changed. “Oh, Levi, you ass. Why didn’t you tell me? I would’ve come for the funeral!” She reached across the table and gripped his hand.
“I didn’t really see the point,” he said, extracting his hand.
She sat back in her seat, her big brown eyes growing hot. “The point, idiot, is that just because our timing was off doesn’t mean I don’t care about you. Or Sarah.”
“Gee. Thanks.”
She shook her head. “Man. You are totally furious, aren’t you?”
He declined to answer. Looked at her instead. It always made Faith irritable when he stared at her; hopefully it would work on Nina, too.
It didn’t. She took a sip of her beer, smiling a little, her eyes still on his.
She was the type of woman who could seduce in seconds. A regular...what was that Greek chick’s name? The one who caused the slaughter of an entire city? That one.
Levi took a careful breath. “So why the visit?”
“Never could fool you, could I?” she said.
“Actually, I’d say you fooled me pretty good,” he answered calmly.
“Okay. Fine. Let’s put it on the table.” She leaned forward, boobs practically tumbling out of her skimpy shirt onto the nachos. “This last tour was it for me. I was thinking about you. Thought maybe we could give it another shot.”
He waited until Nina huffed and rolled her eyes.
“Look, moron,” she said, and he felt an unwilling tug of affection for her total lack of sentimentality. “We were good together. It was the timing that sucked. I wasn’t ready to settle down two years ago. I am now. Simple as that.”
“Seems like you’re leaving a lot out of that equation.”
“So why don’t you fill me in?” she said with another sex goddess smile.
I loved you. You left me. You left me when I wanted to have a family with you, when I thought we were happy, and you walked away like I was nothing.
But the feelings behind those words were old and tired, and not worth putting into words.
“Hi.”
It was Faith. She looked at both of them, then stuck out her hand. “Faith Holland.”
“Hi.” Nina took her hand. “Wait a sec, Faith Holland? Holy shit! Jeremy’s ex, right?”
“That’s right.” She looked at Levi, her cheeks flushing. Otherwise, her expression was calm.
“Faith,” Levi said, “This is my ex-wife, Nina. Nina, Faith is my...” He looked at Faith, hoping she’d supply the appropriate word.
“Neighbor,” Faith said.
Women. You never knew what they were up to.
“Holy crap!” came another voice. “Nina?”
“Jeremy!” Nina jumped up and hugged him hard, like they were old pals. “It’s so great so see you!”
Jeremy, Levi was pleased to note, did not hug her back, just gave Levi a look as Nina babbled and grinned.
There’d been one night after Nina had re-upped when Jeremy had invited him up to the house, broke out the twenty-four-year-old single malt scotch and had very thoughtfully gotten drunk with Levi, and Levi had been able to be a normal person, to act not like a cop or a soldier or a big brother or the man of the house, but like a poor slob whose wife had left him.
Levi caught Faith’s hand and tugged her into the seat next to him. “Stay,” he ordered.
“I’m not your dog,” she said.
“Please stay.”
There. She squeezed his hand. “Whatever you want, neighbor.”
He narrowed his eyes. Now was not the time for sass. She blushed, and for some reason, it made his chest ache.
“Watch it, Chief,” she said. “I think I see a smile.”
Before he realized what he was doing, he leaned in and gave her a quick kiss on her soft, pink lips.
Which did make Nina stop talking.
“Oh!” she said. “You two are...together. I didn’t...wow.” She sat down, as did Jeremy, as if they were on a double date. “So, let me get this straight. Levi, you’re dating Faith, who was once engaged to your g*y best friend.”
“Yes.”
She nodded appreciatively. “Am I the only one who thinks that’s weird?”
“Seems kind of perfect to me,” Jeremy said.
Nina grinned, her perfect smile not quite masking her sharklike intentions. “Well, this is awkward, Faith, because I’m here to try to get my husband back.”
Faith nodded sympathetically. “Wow, that is awkward. But you mean ex-husband, right?”
Score one for Faith. She smiled sweetly, then looked at him, then back at Nina. “That being said, we’ll let you guys talk. Jeremy and I were about to grab dinner.”
“Oh, my gosh, you two are still BFFs? That’s so cute!” Yep. A great white.
Faith smiled calmly. “Yes, we’re adorable. Very nice to have met you.”
“Same,” Nina answered.
Faith slid out of the booth and looked at him. “See you around.”
“Okay,” he answered, wishing she’d stay.
With that, the cavalry left, Jeremy giving his shoulder a sympathetic squeeze as he left.
“So where were we?” Nina asked.
“We were nowhere,” he answered. “You were telling me we should get back together, and I’m about to tell you that won’t happen.”
“Well, you know what, hotshot?” Nina said, nibbling a nacho with ridiculous sex appeal and a studied casualness. “Your little birdie is right. We have a lot to talk about. Give me a couple hours of your precious time. I’m here for the weekend, at least. Staying at the Black Swan.” She raised her eyebrows and smiled at him from around the chip.
The Black Swan was where they’d spent their wedding night.
“Fine,” he said. “Get it over with.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
SO HIS EX-WIFE WAS BACK.
Faith sighed. Tried not to worry. Failed. Took another bite of Peanut Brittle. Another sigh. She held out the spoon for Blue—it was his favorite flavor—and took another bite for herself. A movie flickered on the TV—one of those stupid old black-and-white movies she didn’t like—but it was better than the infomercials for those hellish workouts where the “before” body looked a helluva lot like the one she was in, and the “after” looked way too much like Nina Rodriguez’s.
Levi’s wife. He was mad at her, sure, but he’d loved her once.
Would he want another shot at that? The chance to do a better job? Maybe just to show that he hadn’t been wrong about the woman he married? She could see that, understand how Levi, who tried so hard at everything, would want a better result than a quickie divorce in which he’d had no say.
When she was first in San Francisco, Faith would occasionally dream that Jeremy was knocking on her door, confused as to why she wasn’t at their wedding. No, of course he wasn’t g*y, where had she been? The wedding disaster...that was the dream. She should come with him; everyone was waiting at the church.
Waking up from those dreams had always been like a kick in the stomach.
She wondered if Levi had similar dreams after Nina left.
“She can fly a helicopter,” she told Blue, who was staring at the pint of Ben & Jerry’s. She gave him another bite.
Levi was home, she knew. She’d heard him come in after midnight, muted the TV and leaped for the door. Waited for his knock, which hadn’t come. Saw through the peephole that he was alone.
O’Rourke’s closed at eleven. So where had he been?
Faith sighed and got up from the still-muted Bogart movie. Maybe Levi had sent her an email; he never had before, but it was worth checking, even if it did qualify her for Pathetic Female status.
Nothing except a note from Sharon Wiles saying she had a permanent tenant for the apartment, so if Faith could pack up her stuff and be out by the end of the month, that’d be great.
Crap. She liked it here, across the hall from her man. Who might not be her man anymore.
No, no. No reason to think that (yet). Faith shut down the computer and went back to the couch. Fluffed the cushions. Folded the blanket.
This was where a mother would come in very handy. Pru would listen, but she wasn’t great with advice, and given her recent marital roller coaster, might well be wearing Vulcan ears and doing her husband. Jack—no. Dad, ditto. Honor’s mysterious boyfriend hadn’t materialized, and she probably wasn’t in the mood to listen to Faith’s relationship woes. Also, it was 2:32 a.m.
But a mother...
Faith stopped at the picture of her family on Pru’s wedding day, the last one taken of all of them. Next to it was the rose quartz heart. Levi hadn’t denied giving it to her, but he hadn’t admitted it, either.
Of course it was from him.
Faith picked up the photo.
The tarry guilt she’d felt all these years wasn’t easily scraped away. Faith could feel it lurking, waiting for another chance. But there’d been flashes since Levi had unveiled the facts of that day. Flashes of pure memories undimmed by the belief that she’d caused the accident. Memories of her mother’s love so pure and bright and strong, they were shocking.
