Читать книгу Rom-Com Collection - Kristan Higgins - Страница 32

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

THE MANNINGSPORT PUBLIC LIBRARY was closed on Saturday afternoons, but Faith had the code. Levi probably did, too, but he stood back and let her punch it in.

There was something magical about being in a library when no one else was around, she thought as they went through the darkened rooms to the children’s section. That, and Levi’s strong, calloused hand holding hers as the rain pattered on the roof. Holding hands for the first time. Funny, the sweet shock of such a small gesture.

“So it’s all done, then?” Levi said as she opened the back door to the courtyard.

“All done. The dedication is Wednesday night.” She paused. “Maybe you’ll be there?”

“I hope so,” he said.

His answer, while noncommittal, made her cheeks prickle with a blush just the same. “Well, here it is. Take a look around.”

The courtyard had been a bit of a challenge, since the space was so small. Previously, it’d had a cement bench and an anemic flower bed of red geraniums (cemetery flowers, Faith always thought), as well as a germ-laden birdbath. Few people had ever used the space.

Now, watching Levi take in her work, Faith felt a warm swell of pride. In each corner was a Japanese maple tree, chosen for their manageable size and gorgeous foliage. Next week, Julianne had said, the kindergarten reading group would be making wind chimes to hang in the branches, and Topper Mack had already made four birdhouses, miniatures of the library.

In between each tree sat four mahogany and chestnut benches, made by Samuel Hastings. Faith had kept the carpenter busy this fall. Each bench had been donated by a founding family of Manningsport—the Hollands, of course, the Mannings, the Meerings and the van Huesens. The southern wall had no window and, since it got the sun all day, had made the courtyard stifling; this was the wall where Faith had designed a sleek waterfall that ran in a smooth, fluid sheet, the sound soft and soothing.

In the bulk of the space, Faith had created a circular path lined with low boxwoods and paved with old brick, which led to the object that, in Faith’s opinion, made the courtyard great: a life-size, bronze statue of Dr. Seuss, reading a copy of The Lorax as the furry little creature looked on.

Levi stood there now. “Dr. Seuss, huh?” he said. His hair had darkened in the light rain. “Why him?”

“Because he’s the greatest children’s author in the world,” she said. “In my opinion, anyway. The library board seemed to agree.”

“Happy Birthday to You was my favorite,” Levi said, brushing a fallen leaf off Dr. Seuss’s foot. “I used to read that after—I read that a lot.”

“After what?” Faith asked, pulling her jacket closer.

He glanced over. “After my father left,” he said after a pause, looking back at the statue.

Right. She’d always known Levi’s dad wasn’t in the picture, but he’d never mentioned it before. Her heart tugged, picturing Levi as a little boy, reading the joyfully exuberant book to counteract the misery he must’ve felt. “How old were you?” she asked.

He didn’t answer. “This is really nice, Faith,” he said after a minute. “The kids’ll love it.”

Looked like the subject of his father was off-limits. “Thanks.” She paused. “The idea was to take a space that no one really saw and make it beautiful. Get people to appreciate what nature has to offer, get them away from their phones and computers and take a breath and listen to the birds and the water and just...be.”

“Is that what all your projects are supposed to do?”

She shrugged. “I guess so. Yes.” Now that she’d said it out loud, it sounded a little dorky. Dorktastic, maybe. Hopefully.

Levi was looking at her steadily. “You hungry?”

“Sure,” she said. “Want to go to O’Rourke’s?”

“Nope,” he said, coming back to reclaim her hand. “A picnic. I checked with Honor, and she said the Barn at Blue Heron was free.”

Twenty minutes later, they were hiking up the hill. Levi held a good-sized brown bag with “Lorelei’s” stamped on one side, as well as a blanket. The late October rain had petered off to a drizzle, and it was incredibly romantic, a Saturday afternoon picnic on a chilly autumn day.

Despite the fact that she’d worked on the barn for six solid weeks, the sight of it was still a small shock. The plants had withered from the cold—it’d been thirty degrees last night—but it was still beautiful. Leaves had gathered on the roof in one corner; she’d have to come up with a ladder and take care of that.

Levi spread out the blanket on the floor of the barn, then got to work, grabbing kindling from the little alcove next to the fireplace. Once the fire was blazing, he sat down. “Hungry?”

“Starving. Feed me, Chief.”

He smiled then, just a little, and Faith’s heart gave a sweetly painful tug. Levi Cooper didn’t smile enough. She’d like to change that.

The wind gusted around them, sending puffs of smoke from the fireplace once in a while. They sat on the blanket and ate Lorelei’s beautiful sandwiches, roast beef and horseradish mayonnaise with sharp cheddar cheese on a hard roll, egg salad with dill on a thick rye. A bag of potato chips, two bottles of iced tea. And, for dessert, chocolate cookies, thick and dark and chewy. Faith closed her eyes as she chewed. “These are proof of a loving God,” she murmured. “Lorelei should be canonized.”

“She didn’t make them,” Levi said.

Faith opened her eyes. “Really? Oh! Are these the source of that heavenly smell at three o’clock in the morning?”

He nodded, looking, for the life of her, a little shy.

“Good job, big man,” she said. “I should tell Barb at the newspaper. ‘Chief Cooper’s Baking Secrets’ or ‘War Hero Secretly a Midnight Baker.’”

“Don’t you dare.” There was that almost-smile again.

“Why? The townspeople would love it. Don’t hide your light under a bushel, Chief Cooper.”

“Hush, woman. Close your eyes and eat another. You’re fun to watch.”

She obeyed, trying not to think of her thighs and the effect these cookies would have. It was worth it. When she opened her eyes, Levi was looking at her, his face solemn, two lines running between his brows. His eyes looked gray today, same color as the sky.

“I’m sorry I called you a tease that day,” he said. “You weren’t.”

The memory knifed into her heart. That day, when he’d given her the kiss that had so stunned her, not far from this very place. She swallowed the cookie in a lump. “That was a long time ago, Levi.”

“I know. But I’ve been thinking about it, a little. Thought about it a few times over the years.” He looked at the fire. “It wasn’t my finest moment. I’d just kissed my best friend’s girlfriend, and I wanted someone to blame. I’m sorry.”

“Thanks,” she whispered. The fire popped and hissed. Shoot. Now or never. “Levi, is this a relationship, or are we just fooling around?”

Because if it wasn’t a relationship, she’d better lasso her heart and bring it back to the stable, since it was obvious that thing was galloping away.

He looked at her with some difficulty, it seemed. “I don’t know. Are you staying in town?”

“I...I have to take care of some things first. I want to stay, though.” More than ever now.

He hesitated, then nodded.

“So we’re...friends?”

“Is that what you want us to be? Friends?” He wadded up the paper bag and tossed it into the fire.

“I’ve wanted to be your friend my whole life,” she said, her throat abruptly tight.

He looked at her sharply. “Why?” he asked. His face was in its familiar solemn lines, forehead slightly crinkled with a question.

“I don’t know. You were... I don’t know.” And she didn’t. He’d been one of the cool kids, of course, but there was something more to him. Something different. “There was one time, when I had a seizure. Maybe third grade? Yeah, because Mrs. G. was our teacher.” Levi nodded. “And what I remember when I came out of it was you, telling people to back off and stop staring.” She looked at him, and his face was gentle now. “Do you remember that?”

“No.”

“Well. I do, obviously. But other than that, and especially when I was with Jeremy, you never seemed to like me.”

She looked down at the string edges of the blanket. Quite fascinating. Faith braided three of them together, then found her hand covered by Levi’s.

“I like you now, Faith.”

She looked up to see him smiling, just a little. “That’s good.”

“Feels like we’re more than friends, though.”

There was the rush of golden heat, fast and heavy. She nodded.

He pulled her against him, and the nice clean smell of him, soap and smoke, made her chest ache. There was a little bit of dried leaf on his flannel shirt, and she brushed it off, her heart feeling fragile and new in her chest.

Then she kissed him. His mouth was firm and smooth and so, so good at what it was doing, and that golden heat filled her, making her warm and slow and lazy with its sweetness.

And heck, there was a fire and a blanket and a beautiful man, and now rain pattered on the clear roof of the barn, and if there was a better place to make love, Faith didn’t know what it was.

A good while later, the patter had turned into a steady rush, blowing the last of the leaves onto the roof. Blue lay on his back in front of the fire, dreaming of being a ball boy at the U.S. Open, his paws twitching. Faith was against Levi’s side, her head on his shoulder, warm and sleepy from the heat of the fire and her man’s warmth.

Yep. Her man. That worked.

“Can I ask you a question?” Levi’s voice was just a rumble in his chest.

“Sure.”

“What’s it like to have a seizure? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to,” he added.

“No, it’s okay.” She tucked a bit of hair behind her ear. The question was familiar. “At first, I have what they call the aura. I get worried, like something really bad’s about to happen. Doomsday bad. I can feel my body doing things—I know I pull at my shirt, and I feel almost panicky, and then I just...check out.”

“What’s that like?”

“I don’t know. It’s just...empty.” She ran her hand over his smooth skin, feeling the muscles underneath. “What’s funny is how people act afterward. Or during, I guess, but I only see them afterward.”

“How do they act?” he asked.

“It depends on the person. You were pretty good. Kind of perfect, actually.”

“I get that a lot.” There was that lovely smile in his voice.

“I’m sure. Especially from the over-eighty crowd.”

“Correct. How do other people act?”

She thought a minute. “Well, when we were little, Jack would stay away from me, like I was about to burst into flames. Except, of course, for the time he filmed me for a Boy Scout badge or something. My mother almost killed him. Pru was pretty good. Honor...it’s funny, Honor would cry.”

“Honor cries?”

“I know.” She smiled.

“How about your parents?” he asked.

“Well, Dad would look like I’d died and come back. He’d be totally spent and relieved. I think it was harder on him than on me. And my mom would be...well.” Faith stopped. The rain was harder now.

“Mom would be what?”

“She’d be mad.” It felt sacrilegious, saying something negative about her dead mother.

Levi rolled over to look at her. The frown lines and crinkled forehead were back. “Your mother couldn’t have been mad at you because you had a seizure, Faith,” he said.

“No, I guess not. Mad that I had epilepsy, mad at the universe maybe. But it used to seem like she was mad at me.” She gave a small shrug. “But no, she probably wasn’t.”

“Can you imagine being mad at your kid because she had a seizure?”

The image of a little girl with sleepy green eyes came to her, so clear that she sucked in a breath, then cleared her throat. “No. Anyway. Let’s change the subject.” She paused. “My turn for a question. How’d you do in Afghanistan?”

His eyes changed, as if a door had closed. A second ago, they’d been gentle and kind...now, there was nothing in them. “I did fine.”

“So you don’t talk about the war, then.”

He didn’t say anything for a second. “I just don’t know how to answer when people ask that question.”

“How many tours did you do?”

“Four.”

“All in Afghanistan?”

“Yep.”

She paused. “Were you ever scared?”

“Sure.”

“Is that where you met your wife?”

“Yes.”

He didn’t say anything else. Faith waited. Waited a little more. “You can tell me about it, you know,” she said.

“About what?”

“Whatever you wanted. What you had to do over there, how you feel about it, or your wife, your mom, your father...whatever you want.”

He sat up and started dressing. “There’s really not much to tell.”

Looked like the intimacy portion of the afternoon had ended. “Well, if the mood ever strikes to go into a bit more detail, I’m just saying you can, if you want to.”

“I don’t.” His movements were sharp and hard.

“Yes, that’s coming through loud and clear.”

“Well, not everyone sits around feeling the feelings, Faith.”

“Is that a jab at me?”

He stopped buttoning his shirt. “No.”

“Do you have bad dreams?” she asked, unable to stop. “Is that why you bake in the middle of the night?”

He didn’t answer for a long minute, his smile gone. “Yes,” he said eventually.

She waited for more. Nothing came. She waited some more. “You could wake me up, too,” she said. “If you’re sleeping over, that is.”

He looked at her solemnly. “I don’t have those dreams when I’m with you.”

The words went straight to her heart—a gift, even if he didn’t seem to realize it.

His phone rang. Dang it all—just when they were getting somewhere. He groped for the evil little device, and honestly, wasn’t Everett ever on? “Chief Cooper. Hey. Sure, what’s up? Yeah, okay, I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

Faith suppressed a sigh. She shouldn’t complain; the guy was the police chief. “I have to go,” he said. “Alice McPhales thinks there’s a man in her woods.”

“Right.” Mrs. McPhales, her Girl Scout leader. Seemed like her Alzheimer’s was worsening; Faith had gone over the week before to cut back her plants for winter. The sweet old lady had made her tea but had forgotten the tea bag, so Faith, not wanting to upset her, had just drunk the hot water. “Want me to come with you?”

Levi glanced up at the clear ceiling. “No, it’s really pouring. I’ll just tramp around in the woods and reassure her.”

“I don’t mind.”

“It’s fine. I’ll see you at home.” The word home had never sounded nicer.

Tiling her chin up, he looked at her steadily. “I had a really nice time with you today.”

“Thanks. Me, too.”

“Walk you back to your dad’s?”

“No, that’s okay. I’ll get this all cleaned up. Put out the fire and all that.”

He kissed her quickly, and again more slowly, then left her alone with the sound of the rain and the smell of wet leaves and wood smoke.

* * *

WHEN LEVI LEFT THE STATION after filling out a report or six, it was dark. The rain had blown off across the lake, leaving behind a clear, moonless sky. Lights were on in Faith’s apartment, he noted as he crossed the green. He stopped, looking up. It was a skill he was getting pretty good at, this spying—first his father’s house, now her funky little apartment. From where he was, he could see part of the red wall, a bit of the bookcase where she displayed all those family photos.

And the rose quartz heart he’d given her.

He should probably cop to that.

There she was, the phone tucked under her ear as she walked, a carton of Ben & Jerry’s in one hand—she had six of them in her freezer last time he checked, and not one green vegetable—a spoon in the other. She was laughing, and Levi felt a blade of lust knife through him. He loved when Faith laughed. She had such a girl-next-door face, but when she laughed, she looked—and sounded—like a sex kitten, and the husky sound of her voice seemed to have an electric effect on his groin.

His phone rang, and he jumped, then answered it. “Chief Cooper.”

“Little Cooper here.”

“Hey, hon, how you doing?”

“I’m good. Got an A minus on my chemistry test.”

“Told you so. Good job.”

“Thanks for the cookies. I’m getting fat. Fatter, I should say.”

“You’re not fat.”

“So what are you doing?” There was that lonely note in her voice again. “You at the station?”

“Nope. I’m staring up at Faith’s windows, watching her.”

“Stalker-ish of you.”

“Well, I’m a police officer,” he said. “We’re good at that.”

“At being pathetic, you mean? Because that sounds totally pathetic. You about to burst into verse? ‘What light through yonder window breaks’ and all that crap?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Sad. You’re still coming up for dinner this week, right?”

“No. When did I say I’d do that?”

“Levi!” his sister barked. “You said you’d come for dinner! Since you banned me from coming home before Thanksgiving, which is still weeks away!”

“Well, I can’t come this week. I have a budget meeting tomorrow—”

“What about Tuesday?”

“Tuesday I’m on call.”

“Wednesday?”

“Dinner with Faith’s family.” Shit. He shouldn’t have admitted that.

“How cozy,” Sarah said, her voice thick with tears. “Thursday?”

“On call again, honey. Come on. I didn’t say this week. I said sometime before Thanksgiving, and—”

“You know what? Don’t come up. That’s fine. I’ll make new friends and be happy and you don’t have to worry about me at all. Okay? Bye.”

“Sarah, don’t be so—” Great. She’d hung up. He called her back, but it went right to voice mail. Texted her. Please stop being an ass. He waited. She didn’t write back. He waited another minute or two.

With a sigh, he texted again. How about friday?

Seconds later, his phone chimed. fridays great. xoxox

Tucking his phone into his pocket, he crossed the rest of the green. Into the Opera House, up the stairs and straight to Faith’s apartment. Knocked, causing Blue to bark wildly.

A second later, Faith answered the door, still on the phone. Her hair was in a ponytail, and the Dalmatian pj’s were topped with a skimpy little tank top that barely contained the mighty rack. She looked, in other words, like the start of a particularly good porno.

“Why, it’s Manningsport’s hottest cop,” she said into the phone, stepping aside so he could come in. “No, not in uniform, alas. Flannel. Has a sort of lumberjack appeal, though. No, I totally agree. Dresses like a straight guy. Well, then again, so did you.” She laughed merrily. “Hi,” she whispered to him. “It’s Jeremy.”

“Yeah.”

“He’s doing the one-word answer thing,” she said into the phone. “No, he’s scowling. It works.” She held the phone out to him. “Jeremy wants to talk to you.”

Levi didn’t want to talk, not to Jeremy, not to her. He took the phone, clicked it off and tossed it onto the chair, then wrapped his arms around Faith, slid his hands down her generous ass, pushed her against the wall and kissed her smooth, beautiful neck, then licked the same spot.

Blue began trying to get in on the action, so, without releasing her, Levi turned, grabbed a pillow from the couch and tossed it on the floor. Blue took the hint. Then Levi slid his hands up her front, feeling her nipples harden under his palms. “You like this shirt?” he muttered, his lips just below her ear.

“Not really,” she whispered, her voice shaky.

“Good.” He grabbed the neckline with two hands and ripped it open, and without further ado, she wrapped herself around him and gave as good as she got.