The Best Man (Blue Heron #1)(59)

What to do. Levi drifted over to the bookcase. There was a sock monkey with pink button eyes and a pink bow. A little red vase, a tiny metal chicken. He couldn’t, for the life of him, imagine collecting such clutter. A Derek Jeter bobblehead. Here was a framed photo of her family at Pru and Carl’s wedding. Looked like Faith had been the flower girl—she was maybe nine or ten in the picture, holding a bouquet of flowers. Pru looked the same, except for some gray hair, and Carl did, too, though he’d thickened over the years. Mrs. Holland had been a knockout, same red hair as Faith, smiling at the bride, her arm around her husband. Jack looked sheepish, Honor pretty. A Golden retriever sat obediently next to Faith.

He put the photo down and went onto the next one. Faith and a friend in front of the Golden Gate Bridge on a foggy day, both of them laughing. Another showed Faith in work boots and jeans and a flannel shirt, standing in front of a fountain.

And here was a photo of her and Jeremy. The two of them at the beach, arms around each other. Interesting that she kept that on display.

He put the photo down and saw her next keepsake—a glass bowl of white beach stones. There, on top, was a little chunk of rose quartz, no bigger than a nickel and shaped roughly like a heart. He frowned, then picked it up and held it to the light.

“Someone gave me that after my mom died. Left it in my locker at school.”

Faith had changed into some pajama pants (red with Dalmatian puppies all over them) and a Blue Heron sweatshirt.

Blue bounded over to him and tried to mount his leg. “Blue, get off,” Faith commanded, and the dog obeyed.

Levi put the rock down. “How do you feel?”

She took a deep breath and tilted her head. “I’m okay. A little groggy. So I had a seizure, huh?”

“Yeah.”

Her cheeks reddened. “Sorry you had to be here.”

“You should be glad, Holland. You could’ve hit your head on the counter if it weren’t for me.” He folded his arms and raised his eyebrows expectantly.

She gave a little smile. “Wow. A hero yet again.”

“Actually, your dog came to get me. Kept head-butting the door.”

“Really?” Faith knelt down and opened her arms, and the dog bounced over to lick her face. “Blue! You’re such a good boy! Good dog!” She kissed him on the head and looked up at Levi, grinning. “Technically, he’s a therapy dog, but he’s never been put to the test. I guess he’s got more going on than I thought. Yes, you do, Mr. Blue! You’re brilliant!”

She looked so...happy. Bright as a new penny, his mom used to say, and the saying seemed to fit. Levi cleared his throat and looked away. “So all this stuff... Are you staying?” he asked, gesturing at her bookcase.

“My roomie sent me a box of stuff. It may be a sign that her honey’s moving in for good. And some of that is from my dad’s house. The books and stuff.”

She hadn’t answered the question. “Are you hungry?” he asked.

“Starving.”

“Good. I brought dinner.”

“A multitalented babysitter.” She smiled.

A distant warning bell clanged somewhere in his brain. Faith’s hair was tangled, makeup smudged under her eyes. The baggy sweatshirt wasn’t doing her any favors—gave her the same shape as a side of beef, and somehow she radiated sex all the same.

“Call your father,” he ordered, going back into the kitchen to start the water for pasta.

It was impossible not to overhear. “Hi, Daddy, I’m fine,” she said, and he wondered if girls ever outgrew the need to call their fathers Daddy instead of plain old Dad.

For about a week, Nina had thought she might be pregnant, though they hadn’t planned on it, and Levi was surprised at how happy the idea had made him. Pictured a daughter right away. But it had been a false alarm, and when Levi had suggested maybe they should toss the birth control and give it a try for real, she’d clammed up. Informed him of her re-enlistment two weeks later.

“I feel great, don’t worry,” Faith was saying. “I know, I know. I forgot to get it refilled, but it was a day or two at most...I know, Dad, I’m really sorry. No, don’t come down, it’s nasty out there. Good thing the grapes are in, huh? Yeah, he’s here. Sure. Love you, too.” She padded into the kitchen and handed the phone to Levi. “He wants to talk to you.”

“Hey, John.”

“Levi, I was wondering if you could possibly keep an eye on her tonight,” John said, the worry in his voice from earlier still present. “She skipped her medication for a couple of days, and if she has another seizure, she shouldn’t be alone.”

Levi hesitated. The warning bell clanged again. “Sure. No problem.”

“I’m so sorry to ask you this, but you’re right, the roads are a sheet of ice. I tried to get down the driveway and slid right off onto the lawn.”

In a truck with bald tires that had last been serviced in the ’90s, most likely. “Don’t come out, sir. It’s fine.”

“You sure you don’t mind?”

“Not at all.”

John sighed. “I owe you one. Kids. They age you. Okay, Levi. Thanks again.”

Levi hung up. “Looks like my babysitting gig just got extended. We’re having a sleepover.”