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“I’m working on a site nearby. Finishing my dissertation. On the Etruscan religious cults in the Mediterranean.” Words tripped off my tongue like they always did when my amygdala went into overdrive. Those blue eyes just kept staring through me as if I wasn’t there at all. It was unnerving and heartbreaking, so I reached for anything that would break the spell. “I wrote you. Almost every week. For years, and then I stopped. You never wrote back.”

Now, the words were out there. Hanging between us, loaded with hurt and betrayal.

Levi straightened and replied quickly. Too quickly. “I never got any letters.”

I opened my mouth to call him a liar when a warm hand settled on the exposed skin of my back and a deep voice echoed behind me. “Whoa, Jazz Hands, I see you’ve met my date.”

Frank, the army officer I’d met last week and who’d invited us out this evening had chosen the most inopportune moment to find me. When I glanced behind me, he was glaring at Levi like he’d been about to steal his last sandwich.

His expression changed when he saw me looking between them and he took my hand and brought it to his lips, dimples flashing. “Signorina.”

Levi’s eyes tracked the movement and his jaw clenched. For a split second, I thought he might pounce on Frankie. When he spoke, it was practically a growl. “This is your date?”

“Yeah, I’m one lucky son of a bitch, right?” Frank flashed those dimples again and Levi’s eyes met mine. For the first time, I felt like they were really seeing me.

“You have no idea,” he mumbled, and I shook my head, thinking I’d misheard him. What was that supposed to mean?

I didn’t get a chance to ask him though because suddenly Sabrina was barreling down on us, a couple of her Italian friends behind her. Levi took one look at them and groaned.

“I . . . I gotta go.” He started to back away and blind panic rose in my chest.

“Wait, Levi!” I cried, but he was already disappearing into the dancing crowd. I followed after him, but got held up by a man balancing drinks on a tray, and pushed through the back door into the parking lot just in time to see Levi pull away in his old Chevrolet Impala. “Francine?” I whispered as I watched him speeding away into the dark.

I stood there staring at the dust in the air when Frank’s arm snaked around my waist.

“Hold on a second there, princess.” He turned me toward him, his dark eyes confused. “How do you know Jazz Hands?”

“Jazz Hands?” I shook my head, a wave of shock finally settling over me. Levi was gone again. He’d left me. “We grew up together,” I said glumly.

“No shit?” Frank smiled. “What are the odds?”

“I need to talk to him.” I started to pull away but Frank held me back.

“Not a good idea. He looked like he wanted to get as far away from you as possible. No offense, hon. When he’s in one of his moods, you better just let him be.” Frank handed me a drink. “How about we forget about him and dance?”

“Diana!” Sabrina came panting up behind me. “What the fuck, girl? Was Il Re Leone hitting on you?”

“That was Levi.”

“Um, okay?” She was staring at me like I’d lost my mind, and I realized I’d never told her about Levi. “It was also Il Re Leone.”

“Il Re Leone?” I repeated. The name rang a bell.

“Yeah, the lion king. You remember, the guy that Chiara’s been sobbing over for weeks,” Sabrina explained. “Apparently he’s quite the legend around here. All the girls want to go home to his lair.”

My stomach dropped. Chiara, Sabrina’s hair stylist, had been crying in our kitchen a month ago, confiding in Sabrina about some guy she’d been seeing who was a real player. That was Levi?

Levi had always had girls following him around like lovesick puppies—I was a case in point—but he’d never been one to take advantage. In fact, Ashleigh complained that he’d always been too respectful of her.

“So, how do you know him?” Sabrina elbowed me in the ribs.

“He was my brother’s best friend. He stayed with us every summer when I was a teenager.” All those years suddenly flashed through my head, like a jumble of old home movies—Levi lounging by the pool, one foot dangling off the edge, teaching me the two-step, digging up meteorites, and falling in love with someone else while I stood by.

“No shit? You know him well then.” Did I though? I knew the boy he had been, but the man who just left was a total stranger. Il Re Leone? Local skirt chaser. That wasn’t Levi. Then again, I knew from experience how grief and heartbreak could change you.

“No,” I said finally, turning my back to the parking lot. “I don’t know him at all.”

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