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 gay 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 gay, 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
