levi looked at faith another minute. "bye," he said, then leaned in and kissed her, and just like that, her heart softened.

"be careful," she said.

"will do." then he left, and she and jeremy were alone in the beautiful living room of the lyon house, a fire crackling in the huge stone fireplace, wine and cheese on the coffee table.

she already missed levi. even if he was just her life-size sex toy.

"so," jeremy said. "you and levi. how's it going?"

she tucked her feet under her and took another sip of the wine (an oaky chardonnay with an overstated buttery texture, to be honest). "i don't really know," she said.

"the air crackles between you two. it does. it crackles."

faith snorted. "crackles with irritation, maybe."

"well, you like him, right?"

faith had to think about that one. "i like him sometimes. and, once in a great while, i think he likes me. i mean, i know he likes me in some ways-"

"he does. of course he does. you're wonderful."

faith put her wine down. "can you stop with the compliments, jeremy? it's driving me crazy."

he sighed. "okay, yeah, i'm a little..." he paused. "i'd really like to see you happily settled with someone. and i love levi like a brother. so i'm sorry if i'm a little overly invested here."

"i'm sorry, too," she said. "i didn't mean to snap at you."

he smiled, that easy, generous, ready smile that won over patients in a heartbeat. "it's okay. i think i'm owed some snapping." he paused. "i still feel bad that i couldn't give you what you wanted, faith."

"it's okay," she said. "water under the bridge."

being here in his beautiful house, where she'd been hundreds of times, the fire, the wine, the elegant furniture and many family photos...she'd been so close to living this life. to having jeremy, the heir to this vineyard, the town doctor, the guy who was everything she'd ever imagined having in a man.

the man who loved her with all his heart but had to picture justin timberlake to do the deed.

it occurred to faith that she'd never thanked levi for stopping her wedding.

she took a sip of her wine, which was improving with oxidation. "can i ask you something about levi?"

"of course! i mean, nothing that would betray our brotherly bond and all that." another smile.

"what was his wife like?" faith asked. she'd been dying to hear about her, but as she and levi hadn't done more than some x-rated acts, she hadn't had the chance.

"nina, nina, nina," jeremy said, swirling his wine around. "nina rodriguez. she was unbelievably pretty."

"hey! a little loyalty, please?"

"i take it back," he said. "she was so ugly. in an unbelievably pretty way." he grinned. "she looked like j-lo."

"ouch."

"well, she was also the one who broke his heart."

crap. she'd been kind of hoping for a marriage of convenience situation with an upcoming and heartfelt declaration from levi that only now did he understand the true meaning of love, yadda yadda. too many romance novels or something. "they were only together for a little while, right?"

"well, they knew each other in afghanistan. she was-is-a helicopter pilot. total kick-ass."

"right." more wine was definitely called for. she took the bottle from the ice bucket and poured herself a second glass. "was she nice?"

"not the word i'd use. she was hot. sorry, she was," jeremy said. "and she was funny. great smile, seemed very smart. but nice? not sure about that."

unfortunate that she had to ask jeremy about these things instead of the man himself. jeremy, however, would talk. "did they live together first or anything?"

"nope. levi had to go to some army thing in fort drum, and he came back with her, asked me to come to the town hall and there she was. they got married right then and there, with just his mom and sister and me." jeremy smiled at the memory. "he was totally smitten. couldn't take his eyes off her. he was so...smug, you know? like, yeah, look at me, married to her."

"you're giving me a cramp, jeremy."

he grimaced. "well, obviously it didn't work out. nina was fun, she was gorgeous, but she was edgy, too. it was tough, because it was one of those situations where you could see that his heart was going to be crushed. no one was really surprised it didn't last."

"except him?"

"exactly." jeremy paused. "he adored her, she couldn't wait to leave. just not meant for small-town life, i guess. or marriage. and levi, meanwhile, had practically named their kids."

faith knew that feeling. she and jeremy actually had named their kids. "and that was a year ago?"

"more than that. maybe a year and a half? yeah, because it was june and we had the biplane show on the lake. he walked around like someone had hit him in the head with a baseball bat."

faith sighed. "well, this sucks, jeremy, because from the sound of it, she's the love of his life, and i'm a booty call."

"how long have you guys been together?"

"eight days."

jeremy laughed. "i'd give it a little time, sweetheart." he stood up and picked up her wineglass. "let's eat. i have some beautiful steaks and twice-baked potatoes and coleslaw, all your favorites, not to mention grape pie from lorelei's. we can watch a movie if levi's late. i have the devil wears prada. i watched it last night, too, and i swear it gets better every time."

"i can't believe i ever thought you were straight." she took his hand and let him pull her off the couch, then followed him into the kitchen.

the hedbergs had come home to find the back door open and called levi, rather than go inside in case the burglar was still there. smart. he made the family wait as he took a walk-through. no intruder. it looked like katie's room had been tossed, but she said it was as she'd left it. andrew gazed at him with wide-eyed adoration, firing off questions about bad guys, guns, robbers and whether or not abraham could be trained to attack.

after that, levi walked around the house, looking for signs of a break-in-screens knocked out, footprints in flower beds, damage to any of the doors. christine, the oldest of the three kids, admitted it was possible she hadn't closed the back door when she'd left that afternoon.

"sorry to have bothered you for nothing, chief," mr. hedberg said.

"no bother. you did the right thing by calling," he said, scratching abraham's ears. "that's what i'm here for, and especially with the other burglaries, you shouldn't hesitate. it's good you have a dog, though," he added. "very effective deterrent, aren't you, boy?" abraham had wagged to show that yes, he was an excellent watchdog.

"we should give abraham a steak," andrew suggested. "right, chief cooper? can i be a cop when i grow up?"

"sure," levi said.

"or a soldier! so i could kill the bad guys."

"hopefully all the bad guys will be gone when you grow up," levi said, feeling the familiar awkwardness. then he shook hands, told the family to have a good night and took a cruise through the neighborhood. pru and carl lived up the street, so he pulled into their driveway and knocked on the door. abby answered.

"hi," she said, her face lighting up. "wanna come in? hang out?"

"sorry, abby, i can't. are your parents home?"

her face darkened. "they're 'taking a nap,' okay?" she said, making quote marks with her fingers. "like i'm four and believe that. my father's living at my grandmother's house, but he comes over for conjugal visits. the noises, levi. no matter how loud i turn up the tv, i swear i can still hear them. i cannot wait to go to college."

he suppressed a grin. "well, the hedbergs thought someone might've tried to break in, but there was no sign of anything missing. even so, make sure the doors are locked, and you call me if you hear anything."

"first of all, i know everything already. katie just texted me. and secondly, i'm not exactly the type to go investigating things that go bump in the night. i've seen all the horror movies."

"right." he gave her his best cop look. "and how are you? you keeping on the straight and narrow?"

"oh, sure. mmm-hmm." she was texting as she spoke. irritating.

"make sure you do, abby. one act of stupidity can have long-lasting implications."

"wow. i'll totally think about that. thanks. you've changed my life."

"don't be a twit," he said.

"i'm posting that you said that on my facebook."

"i mean it, abby. you don't want to get pregnant or-"

"oh, hey, i just remembered something! i'm not your sister! i have plenty of adults to lecture me, okay? don't be one of them. just give me one of those hot looks instead, how about it?"

"have a good night, abby."

"that'll do." she held up her phone and clicked. great. he'd be on her facebook page in seconds.

no, she wasn't his sister. she might end up as his niece, however.

oh, shit. where had that thought come from?

he backed out of the vanderbeek's driveway. thing was, yeah. he wasn't the tomcat type. it'd be nice to get married, have a couple kids.

but this time, he had to pick wisely. nina had said she loved him (though looking back, she said it in the same tone that she used in saying she loved pizza). said she was ready to settle down. liked the idea of small-town life. she figured she'd get her master's in education, become a teacher. yes to kids.

that had lasted three months.

he picked up his phone and called sarah. "hey. what are you doing?"

"nothing. studying. how are you?" there was an eagerness in her voice that bespoke loneliness. he could hear music in the background.

"i'm fine. you alone?"

"yeah. chem test tomorrow. my slutty roommate's with her boyfriend."

"i thought you liked her."

"she's a slut, levi. so what's up?"

"just checking on you."

there was a pause. "thanks," she said, her voice small.

"i need advice," he said, surprising himself.

"really?" her tone was much happier all of a sudden. "why? did faith dump your sorry ass?"

"no," levi said, a smile threatening. "i'm just wondering if i want to be...i don't know. runner-up." he winced, not sure he should be telling his sister this.

"why would you be runner-up? oh, the jeremy thing! right! i got it." there was a rustle. "tell me everything."

"there's nothing to tell."

"is she still hung up on him?"

levi hesitated. "i don't know."

"ask her."

"right."

"do it, dummy! just ask her. then kiss the stuffing out of her, and she'll definitely pick you. straight trumps g*y every time."

levi laughed. "got it. how are you? doing okay?"

she sighed so hard it practically ruffled his hair. "am i allowed to say no?"

he hesitated. "you're still adjusting, that's all. you'll love college before long."

"whatever."

"not whatever, sarah. you have to give it some effort, though." he tried to think of what faith would say. "it's okay to be homesick. but don't let that take away all the good things." there. that sounded pretty good.