“And whether or not Aunt Mary or Rosie play, too,” Liz added.
Emma nodded. “Anyway, start thinking up naughty sex words, ladies.”
Liz snorted. “I have three sex words. Not. Getting. Any.”
“You need to start dating,” Paige said. “Who do I know who’s single in Whitford? Oh, there’s Max Crawford. He’s a little odd and works out of his basement. It has its own security system and nobody knows what he does, so the popular theory is that he’s a serial killer.”
“Great. Give him my number.” Liz rolled her eyes.
“But he’s smoking hot.”
“But wait,” Emma said. “How would being a serial killer make him money?”
“Don’t poke logic holes in our gossip.”
“I don’t want to date Max Crawford the alleged serial killer,” Liz said.
“I mentioned the smoking-hot part, right? Just sex. You don’t have to go in the basement.” Both Liz and Emma gave her a raised eyebrow. “Okay, fine. Who else do I know...”
“I don’t really want to date anybody.”
“But you said yourself your only sex words are not, getting and any. Why don’t you want to start dating?”
Because I only want to date your husband-slash-my brother’s best friend and he seems to have a split personality when it comes to reciprocating that feeling. “I just moved back. Let me get settled in before you start pimping me out to odd guys with locked basements.”
“He likes sports,” Paige added.
“Not going to happen.”
“Fine. There aren’t that many single men in Whitford, though, so if you see one you like, act fast.”
Oh, she’d seen one she liked, all right. And they’d both acted fast. Now, though, they seemed to be spinning their wheels, rocking back and forth but remaining stuck in the same rut.
The worst part was not being able to pour out her troubles and get advice. Certainly not from Mitch’s wife. And secret keeping wasn’t exactly a dominant Kowalski trait. So she kept her mouth shut and let the subject veer off in a different direction.
Inevitably, with a new mom and a soon-to-be mom, the conversation turned to baby stuff and Liz rested her head back against the chair and half listened. The others would be back anytime, so she was determined to enjoy the peace and quiet while she had it.
And, as with any game, she played to win, so she started building up a collection of naughty words in her head. She might not be having any sex, but that didn’t diminish her vocabulary in any way.
“There aren’t any hyphens in Scrabble, are there?” she asked, breaking into a debate on cloth versus disposable diapers.
Convenience versus bleach buckets were forgotten as they got down to the serious business of dirty Scrabble strategy.
* * *
This was what Drew had signed up for. A roaring campfire, a comfortable chair and a cold six-pack. The kids were in bed and the women were almost out of earshot, playing Scrabble. And it was one hell of a game, judging by the laughter echoing through the trees.
“I don’t remember Scrabble being that funny,” Drew said, popping the tab on beer number one.
“They’re making sex words,” Mike said. “They get extra points or whatever if nobody will say them out loud. But I don’t think we’re supposed to know that’s what they’re doing.”
Drew couldn’t help glancing over, wondering what sex words Liz might be spelling. She was as cutthroat as the rest of her family when it came to competition so, judging by the furrow between her eyebrows, she wasn’t coming up with anything too raunchy. If she was winning, her face would show it.
He’d be happy to educate her on all manner of things people didn’t say aloud outside of the bedroom.
“Speaking of sex, Drew,” Mitch began, and Drew’s entire body tensed. “When are you going to jump back into the dating pool?”
He forced himself to relax into his chair, taking a long swig of his beer. “The divorce has only been final six months, Kowalski. There’s no rush.”
“Six months is a long time to go without dirty Scrabble fodder, if you know what I mean. Hell, almost a year actually, since you split last August.”
There were two ways this conversation was going to go. One, he’d nod and have to take a bunch of crap about his drought. Or, two, he’d confess there hadn’t been an eleven-month drought and subject himself to a lot of questions about who in Whitford’s very small dating pool he’d been swimming with. Questions he couldn’t—or wouldn’t, rather—answer.
He could practically feel Ryan’s stare boring a hole through him, as if the guy was trying to psychically remind him of their conversation at the picnic area. “Job keeps me busy.”
Mitch laughed. “You’re the chief of police in a town with crime statistics that don’t even make a slice of pie, never mind a whole pie chart. I should sign you up for one of those online dating services.”
“If you do that, I’ll arrest you for impersonating a police officer.”
Joe looked up from the cooler, where he was fishing through the beer cans to find a soda. “Is it technically impersonating a police officer if he’s pretending to be you personally rather than professionally?”
Drew held out his hands so Joe could toss him another beer while he was in the cooler, then he set it next to him. He’d probably need it soon. “Semantics are for juries. They can figure that out after he’s been cuffed, fingerprinted and had his name in the paper.”
A burst of squeals and shocked exclamations from the women drew their attention, and then they heard Rosie’s voice above the others. “Elizabeth Sarah Kowalski!”
“Whoa,” Evan said in a low voice. “How bad does a word have to be to get you middle-named during dirty Scrabble?”
Drew’s brain scrambled as guesses started running through his mind. Then he had to shift in his chair because he still had on his jeans instead of his baggy sleep pants and things were getting uncomfortable below the waist.
“Leave it to Liz,” Mitch said, shaking his head.
“Usually Aunt Mary stays in her camper while they play,” Kevin said. “Rose must have talked her into playing. Or being a spectator, at least.”
“Makes for a lot more words they won’t say out loud,” Evan said. “More points.”
Josh chuckled. “I’ve heard your wife’s good at dirty Scrabble.”
“Hey.” Joe shook his head. “His wife is our sister, so we don’t want to hear how many dirty words she knows.”
“Sisters and sex is off-limits,” Mitch agreed. “Nobody wants that.”
Sure Ryan would be staring at him again, Drew stared down at his beer and prayed for a subject change. Sports. Weather. Best bathroom cleaner for hard water stains. Literally anything else.
“Did you see what Mike did out on the trail today?” Ryan asked, and Drew let out a slow, relieved breath. “Out by the moose pond?”
“That wasn’t my fault,” Mike said.
“I saw him in my mirror for a second,” Josh said. “He looked sideways, but by the time I was going to stop and go back, he was behind me again.”
“I hit a rut the wrong way and it threw me. That’s all.”
“Took a detour through the woods,” Ryan added. “It was probably funnier if you heard him screaming the whole way.”
The chagrin on Mike’s face made them all laugh, and Drew relaxed as that story segued into another and then another after that. He even told one himself, about the ATV rider he’d busted for riding into Whitford in his underwear. The guy had gotten muddy and, rather than make a mess in the diner, he’d stripped down to his boxers and used a bungee cord to strap the ball of dirty clothes to his rack. Since he was drunk as well as almost naked, it had made perfect sense to him at the time. Less so when he’d sobered up and had to call his wife
.
It was several hours before they let the fire burn down and called it a night. Drew tossed his empties into the bag with the others, then looked around to make sure there were no others. “Since I have to go by it anyway, I’ll dump these in the recycling barrel.”
“Hey.” Mitch draped his arm over Drew’s shoulders. “I’m glad you came. We don’t get to spend enough time together.”
“I’m having a good time.” Mostly. But he’d enjoyed tonight. It had been too long since he and Mitch had just kicked back and talked, other than the night Mallory had left and Drew went looking for a shoulder.
“You and I should go on a fishing trip soon. Tents, beer and fishing poles. Nothing else.”
“Since neither of us can fish worth a damn, maybe a package of hot dogs, too.”
Mitch laughed and slapped him on the back. “That’s a plan.”
It was a plan that would probably sound less appealing with fewer beers in them, but Drew agreed and started the long walk back to his tent. The campground was dark and quiet, since they’d outlasted the women, so he did his best to be quiet. Rather than dump the cans into the barrel, he set the bag next to it to add tomorrow, then walked around the bathhouse to take a leak, doing his best to stay in grass and avoid the gravel.
* * *
Liz shouldn’t have had that second rum and Coke. Actually, she shouldn’t have had any of the rum and Coke. Terry had started handing out the drinks and it dawned on Liz way too late that the rum wasn’t the problem. Coke not only had sugar, but it had lots of caffeine.
Now she was wide awake, damn near twitching, and she had to pee. Again.
It took her a couple of minutes to get out of her sleeping bag and crawl out of her tent, and the zipper sounded incredibly loud in the still night. Not that it would matter to the rest of them, since they had the white noise of all those lovely rooftop air-conditioning units.
She was getting ready to push open the door when she heard a rustling next to her and froze. Bear? Maybe it was just a raccoon.
Slowly turning toward the sound, she bit down on a yelp as a dark shape—too tall to be a raccoon and too skinny to be a bear—came toward her. “Drew.”
He jumped and she heard him suck in a breath. “Liz. You scared the hell out of me. What are you doing out here?”
“Probably the same thing you’re doing.”
“I was leaving the beer cans next to the recycling barrel.”
“Okay, then maybe not. I have to pee.”
“Oh. Okay.” He didn’t keep walking, though, which would have been the polite thing to do. “Want me to stand guard?”
“I’m good, thanks.” She went into the bathroom without giving him the chance to say anything else.
When she came back out, she saw him sitting on a rock waiting for her in the spill of light from the bathroom before she flipped the switch. He was persistent when he wasn’t running in the other direction, she’d give him that.
After a lot of blinking, her eyes adjusted to the darkness again and she made her way toward him. “What are you doing?”
“I wanted to make sure you got back to your tent okay.” He shrugged, then she saw the white of his teeth when he grinned. “And ask what word got you middle-named by Rose during your dirty Scrabble game.”
“Ah, the truth comes out. Too bad. We don’t spell naughty words and tell.”
“You look pretty tonight.”
“Since it’s too dark to really see me well, let me describe to you the raggedy T-shirt and sloppy braid for sleeping.”
He got off the rock and moved closer to her. “Since you always look pretty to me, it was a safe bet.”
“How much have you had to drink?”
“I had a few beers. How about you?”
“I had a couple of rum and Cokes which I’m regretting now. I don’t really do caffeine anymore, so the caffeine and sugar combination is why I’m roaming around wide awake.”
“Want to go for a walk?”
As appealing as that sounded, she needed to zip herself back up in that little tent before she did something a lot more stupid than kissing him. “That’s probably not a good idea.”
At least where they were, it was only a semblance of privacy. If they went for a walk and ended up someplace where they were really alone, she might forget she was irritated with him.
“I guess you’re right.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “Look where drinking got us last time.”
She started to walk away, but turned back. “Drinking didn’t get us in a bad place, Drew. I liked that place. It’s where we are now that kind of sucks.”
“I know. I’ll go home if you think that’ll make it easier.”
She didn’t want that. As much as his presence tied her up in knots, she’d miss him if he left. “I don’t want you to do that. Maybe I should just tell him.”
“No. If he finds out, it has to come from me.”
“That’s stupid. He’s my brother. We’re adults.”
“It’s a guy thing, Liz. A code.”
She snorted, then waited for him to continue. To say he’d talk to Mitch tomorrow or when they got back to Maine. Anything to signal he wanted her enough to risk pissing off her brother, but he was quiet.
“Let’s go sit on the swings for a while and talk,” he finally said, which wasn’t what she’d been hoping to hear.
“I don’t know. It’s probably not any better an idea than going for a walk.”
“We’ll be in full view of anybody who cares to look, so I’ll have to keep my hands to myself.”
She arched her eyebrow. “So, to recap, we’ll be in full view of anybody who cares to look.”
“We’ve known each other forever, Liz. We’re allowed to talk.”
He was right, and she felt silly about her paranoia. “I’m not going to sleep anytime soon, anyway.”
They kept a respectable distance between them as they walked down to the playground, sticking to the grass as much as possible. She could hear the hum of the air conditioners running all through the campground and knew that, as hard as the family played, everybody was probably sound asleep already.
She sat on one of the swings, smiling as he took the one next to her. “I haven’t been on a swing since I was a kid.”
“Me either, but it beats trying to sneak chairs out of the campsites.”
Looking up, she gazed at the star-speckled sky and sighed. “You’re like a yo-yo, you know. You flirt and then you run away. You kiss me and then you run away. I’m starting to not like it.”
“I know.” His swing was swaying back and forth, his toe dragging in the dirt. “I’m not trying to play games with you. But there’s Mitch to consider, and being here with him has reinforced how much his friendship means to me.”
Rose had warned her there would be no going forward with Drew until one of them had told Mitch, but at the time she’d still been able to convince herself they weren’t really going forward, anyway. But now she knew whatever was between them might be stronger than she’d thought.
But, as she’d told him, she wanted to turn a man inside out. She wanted a man who’d walk through fire for her, and Drew wouldn’t stand up to her brother. “I don’t want to come between you and Mitch. You’ve been friends for as long as I can remember.”
“You know I want you.”
The quiet words tugged at her heart, but she kept her gaze on the dark shadow of the tree line. “It’s too messy.”
He was quiet for a few minutes, the only sound the slight creak of the swing chains. Then she heard him inhale deeply and blow out a slow breath. “Your family’s really great. I’ve enjoyed them. Even the kids. Maybe especially the kids. They’re tough to keep up with, but I like them a lot.”
“I know you and Mallory split up
because she didn’t want children, so it must be a little hard to be around them if you want kids that badly.”
“It was the lying about wanting kids someday that ended the marriage. Sure, I want them, but who knows how things would have turned out if she’d told me up front how she felt.”
“But you’ve always wanted to be a dad?”
“Yeah.” His swing stilled as he stared out at some point in the darkness. “I’m an only child. My parents were pretty quiet people and, after my mom left, it was even quieter. My stepmother was a good woman, but I felt a lot like a third wheel. Then it was Mallory and I. So quiet and neat and orderly.”
“Some people like that.”
“I want loud and messy and crazy. I want crayons on the wall and bicycles in the driveway and playing ball in the backyard. I want to teach my kids to read and climb trees and drive a standard. I want noise and laughter and yelling and the kind of love that can’t ever be broken.”
Her heart ached for him, even though it was a strong reminder that Mitch wasn’t the only thing between them. “You’re still young, Drew. You’ll find the right woman and, before you know it, you’ll be scrubbing your walls and listening to the gears in that Mustang grind.”
“I’ll find the right woman, huh?” He looked at her then, his gaze holding hers in the darkness.
“She’s out there.” The idea of him finding that woman made her stomach hurt, but Drew already knew Liz wasn’t on the fast track to babies, baseballs and bicycles.
“It’s hard to find her when all I can think about is how much I want you.”
But not enough to risk his friendship with Mitch. Rather than continuing down what was turning out to be a depressing conversational path, she forced a humorless chuckle. “Pretty sure a baby would be a hard secret to keep from my brother.”
“Yeah.”
He didn’t seem inclined to say anything else, so Liz let the silence envelop them again. But sitting on the swing, wishing there weren’t so many stumbling blocks in the way of the chemistry neither of them could deny, just made her feel cold and she couldn’t stop the shiver.
Love a Little Sideways Page 12
