you ever been out here?” Jeremy asked like a fricking psychic or something. “There’s a nice place to swim.”
Ah. So Jeremy had been here, too. Well, sure. He was the one who dated Faith. “I don’t know. Maybe,” he said. Then they rounded a slight curve in the path, and both men stopped.
“Wow,” Jeremy breathed.
The structure in front of them was both modern and old—the old stone barn, topped with a clear-paneled roof, glowing from the soft lights inside. All around, trees had been lit from below—white birch and silver maple, beech and hickory. There were flower beds, but it wasn’t fussy or precise; it was kind of...magical. Like something out of a fairy tale.
“Levi, Jeremy! So glad you could come!” John Holland greeted them at the big barn door, which was lit with copper lanterns. Two women flanked him; one in what appeared to be a brown paper bag; the other in, ouch, best not to look. Right. Lorena Creech, who’d been sniffing around Faith’s father in recent weeks. “Come on in, see what our Faith has done. Phyllis! How are you! The walk wasn’t too bad, was it?”
“This is unbelievable,” Jeremy said as they went through the barn doors.
Inside was quite possibly even prettier. Lamps made from Blue Heron wine bottles had been fastened to the stone with iron brackets. More wine bottles, the necks cut off, sat on the tables, filled with what looked like wildflowers. People milled about, pointing and exclaiming.
The far wall of the barn was missing, and a two-level deck cantilevered out over the hill. There were more tables out there, and people admired the view, which stretched out past the lighted trees, over the fields and all the way to the lake.
“Levi! I clocked a speeder going past my house at sixty-two miles an hour,” barked Mrs. Nebbins, who owned her own radar gun and phoned him about three times a week. “When are you going to set up a speed trap on my road?”
“I was out there yesterday,” Levi said.
“Well, you need to give more tickets. Or maybe put out some spikes. That’d slow people down, let me tell you.”
“Phyllis, you just get more beautiful, if that’s possible,” Jeremy murmured, kissing her cheek.
“Oh, Jeremy, you liar!” she said. “Have you seen Faith? Is it hard? Is she still in love with you? She probably is, poor thing. Listen, my knee is out of whack, and those exercises you gave me didn’t work, so I stopped doing them.”
“Really? How long did you do them?”
“Two days.”
“That’s just insulting,” he said. “Come on, complain away, I’ve got all night. But I want to see that deck.” He escorted the crotchety old lady away, grinning over his shoulder at Levi. Too bad the guy was gay. He was so good with women.
Levi got a glass of seltzer water and wandered around. The barn smelled of freshly cut wood, grass and food. Lorelei from the bakery was putting some flowers on top of a chocolate cake; she waved and smiled. Colleen manned the bar, which was made from stone and topped with a huge slab of wood. Suzette Minor, she of the mysterious noises and slutty nightgowns, gave him the eye from over the rim of her wineglass. Where was Gerard? Last he heard, they were seeing each other. Levi nodded, turned and bumped into Faith.
“Hey,” he said, grabbing her arms to steady her. Her skin was cool and smooth.
She blushed, the color rising from the neckline of her red (have mercy) dress, up her throat and into her face. “Levi,” she murmured.
Her hair was up tonight, and long gold earrings swung from her ears. As she looked at him, she bit her lower lip, and the action sent a jolt of electricity straight to his groin.
“Hi.” He realized he was still holding on to her and let go. “Haven’t seen you around.”
“No.”
The air seemed to thicken and pulse between them. There was that smell of warm cake, and, not for the first time, Levi had a sudden image of doing Faith against the wall.
“Faith! Your grandfather just spilled his drink on me,” Mrs. Holland said, breaking the moment. “And have you seen that Lorena? The outfit! Doesn’t she have a mirror? Oh, hello, Levi, sweetheart. Faith, do you have something to blot me?”
“I— Yep. Sure, Goggy.” She led the old lady away. If she looked over her shoulder, Levi thought, the wall would be a definite possibility.
She looked, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
Then her father went over to her, and Faith nodded, said something. She finished with her grandmother, kissed her on the cheek, then found a waiter and pointed him in someone’s direction. Poured a glass of wine and handed it to Mrs. Robinson, laughed at something she said.
And even though she was clearly doing a thousand things at once, taking care of a half-dozen people in the space of a minute, she looked back at him once more. Then, after a second, she smiled.
This time the jolt hit him in the chest. Faith Holland, smiling at him, not too far away from the spot he’d kissed her for the first time, all those years ago.
“She’s such a natural at this, isn’t she?” Jeremy said approvingly, having made his way back from the deck. “And this design! Gorgeous. She’s already had seven bookings for weddings here next summer, Honor told me.”
“Hey, Levi, hi, Jeremy!” Abby Vanderbeek bopped over, as well as Helena Meering. Helena had just gotten her license and had already received a ticket and a stern lecture from the chief of police, which had only made her giggle. “Want to eat with us?” Abby asked.
Helena smiled and stroked her own hair in that weird way girls did. “I see you didn’t bring a date, Chief Cooper.”
“Inappropriate, Helena,” he said. “Where are your parents?”
“You just look lonely, that’s all,” Helena said. “Besides, boys our age? So boring and immature.”
“I’ll be your date, ladies,” Jeremy said.
“Aren’t you gay?” Helena asked.
Abby took Jeremy’s arm. “Gays make the best dates, Helena. Everyone knows that.”
Faith, he noticed, ended up sitting with Jeremy and her niece, as well as a couple other members of the Holland family. Levi chose a seat at a table with the very nice Hedberg family. Andrew, who was about nine, was unfortunately fascinated with Levi’s military past and grilled him mercilessly.
“Did you ever kill anyone?” the kid asked.
“Andrew,” his mom chided.
“I only shot at bad guys,” Levi said, his standard answer. “You should come by the station, Andrew. I’ll let you sit in the back of the cruiser.”
“Really?” the kid said. “Awesome!”
Levi excused himself and went to get another glass of seltzer from the bar. Then someone whistled, and everyone turned their attention to the front of the room, where Faith
