Love a Little Sideways (7 page)

He never thought, back when he was a rookie, he’d ever long for the days of being out on patrol, listening to motorists spin creative tales to explain away their vehicular sins.

A cheeseburger would help, he thought. Especially if it had bacon on it. But the only place to get one, short of going home and grilling one for himself, was at the diner. Liz was working today and the more he saw of her, the more he wanted to see of her.

And not just see more of her, as in more of her skin. He wanted to spend time talking to her. Maybe take her to dinner in the city, or to a scary movie so he could play the big, brave cop and offer to check her dark home for boogeymen when he dropped her off. He wanted to read the newspaper with her, swapping sections as they finished, and then talk about what they read.

He wanted company. But with each passing day, it became less about just somebody to keep him company and more about Liz’s company. Maybe she wasn’t interested in the same future he was, but in the right here and now, she was in his thoughts whenever he wasn’t concentrating on something else. He’d been working even more hours than usual lately.

After skimming through email to see if there was anything either urgent or something his standard copied-and-pasted response could deal with, he leaned back in his chair and put a hand to the back of his neck, rolling his head from side to side.

Mentally playing eenie-meenie-minie-mo with his to-do list while he stretched his muscles, Drew looked toward his office window in time to see Mitch walk into the station. He hated the way his normal happiness at seeing his best friend was now tainted by his guilt for thinking dirty thoughts about the man’s sister.

But he smiled and waved him in when Mitch headed toward his office. Guilt or no, he was still enjoying seeing more of Mitch since he’d come home for a brief visit, only to fall for Paige and settle back in Whitford.

“I’ve come to make you an offer you can’t refuse,” Mitch said as he stepped into the room and nudged the door closed behind him with his foot.

“Does it involve a bacon cheeseburger?”

“No.”

“Then it’s an offer I can refuse.”

“I guess it’s not really an offer, anyway. Aunt Mary decided to turn their annual camping trip into a family reunion and she got Rosie on board.”

“In other words, you’re going camping for two weeks.” More importantly, Liz would be going camping for two weeks. Drew could use the break because pretending he was indifferent to her was exhausting.

“We can’t get away that long, but we’re going for a week. I want you to come, too.”

Whoa. Drew shook his head. “Not happening.”

“You used to be fun.”

“Yeah, but I’ve never been crazy.”

Mitch frowned. “My family’s not that bad.”

“I’m also not a part of it, so I don’t really need to reunite with everybody,” Drew pointed out.

“Since your old man has hooked up with Rosie, he’s practically family and you’re his son. You’ve also been my best friend for as long as I can remember. Why shouldn’t you go?”

What was he was supposed to say?
Well
,
at your wedding
,
your sister and I snuck off for a quickie and now things are a little awkward between us.
And he wasn’t sure he could keep his hands off of her, which would make things a whole lot worse than a little awkward.

“Look,” Mitch said. “When’s the last time you took a vacation?”

Drew rocked back in his chair and thought about it. Taking the odd fishing or sledding weekend off the table, it would have been...huh. “I went down to Florida for Red Sox spring training.”

“What year was that?”

“Ninety-four?”

Mitch leaned in for the kill. “Think about it, Drew. Mud. Wheelers. Meat cooked on sticks over an open fire.”

“No cell phones.”

“Crushing beer cans and tossing them over our shoulders.”

“Like men do.”

Mitch nodded. “We have to pick them up after, though, or the women will make us suffer.”

Women. Kowalski women. Liz was a Kowalski woman. “I don’t know, Mitch. I’ve got a lot going on.”

“Everybody does. That’s why it’s a vacation. It’s not a vacation if it’s a break from doing nothing.”

“I could use a break,” he admitted, looking over the cluttered top of his desk. “But—”

“Before you start thinking up excuses, you should know Rosie has her heart set on you going.”

“Shit.” He may as well start preparing the station for his absence. “I think I have some camping stuff in the garage.”

“Don’t worry. My aunt Mary will probably write out a master packing list and make sure everybody gets a copy.” Mitch stood. “I’ll tell Rosie you’re in. I’d stay longer, but I have to head to Portland tonight. Early flight in the morning so I can try to get ahead of schedule on some things before the trip.”

Drew stood and shook his hand. “I’ll tell you right now, if I get locked into this camping gig and you use work to back out, I’ll shoot you. And I know how to get away with it.”

“You’re already locked in. Be on the lookout for a list from Aunt Mary. If nobody gives her your contact info, she’ll just email it through the department’s website.”

Liz came by her stubbornness honestly, that was for sure. “Since I haven’t been camping since before I was old enough to drink, I don’t have a problem with lists.”

“Dust off the fishing gear while you’re digging around the garage.” Mitch started walking toward the door, glancing at the clock on the wall as he went.

“Hey, Mitch,” he called after him. “We don’t really have to cook our meals on sticks, do we?”

Mitch shrugged. “Depends on how badly we piss off the women. Word to the wise, behave yourself on burger night because it’s a bitch to keep them on a stick.”

Drew opened his mouth to tell Mitch to forget it—that he’d changed his mind—but the door shut and the moment was lost.

And part of him didn’t want to back out. It had been a long time since he’d taken a vacation, and four-wheeling with the guys during the day and kicking back with a beer around the campfire at night sounded like a good time.

Chapter Seven

Liz looked down at the list her aunt had sent to everybody and then at the pile of stuff in her cart while mentally adding up the price tags. Then she put back the nice two-room tent that she could almost stand up in, and grabbed the small nylon tent with the red clearance sticker. It wasn’t as though she’d be spending a lot of time in it, so all it had to do was keep her dry while she slept and save her from having to have any camping roomies.

Most of the stuff on Aunt Mary’s list was probably basic stuff but, since Liz couldn’t remember the last time she’d camped, she needed all of it. She doubled up on bottles of bug spray and splurged on a small battery-operated lantern, but went cheap on the sleeping bag. It probably wouldn’t be thirty degrees below zero at night in July, even in northern New Hampshire.

Cringing as she paid for the items, she told herself it would be worth the cost. She’d moved home because she missed her family, after all. What could be better than having her brothers and cousins all in one place?

Once she’d loaded her purchases into the Mustang, she assessed the rest of the list. Aunt Mary had included every imaginable item that could be classified as toiletries, most of which she already had. The food stuff she was going to wait and buy at the last minute. She was afraid it would go bad or she’d eat it all and have to buy the same stuff again.

She had also included a list of who was bringing which games, so they didn’t end up with six Monopoly games and no cribbage boards. Liz didn’t own anything but a deck of cards and they seemed to have those covered.

Books. That’s what she needed. Rather than part with any more money, she decided to drive back to Whitford and get a library card.

She slowed down when she passed the town line. Bob Durgin had been out on patrol a lot lately and she knew there would be no sweet-talking her way out of a ticket from him. The last thing she wanted was to give him the satisfaction of busting her in his boss’s car.

Judging by the parking lot, the library wasn’t very busy, so hopefully it wouldn’t take long. The one food item she’d bought was chocolate and, with no air-conditioning in the Mustang, she was beginning to fear for its survival. And she wanted to get the tags and stickers off everything she’d bought and repack it for her trip.

The librarian looked so happy to see her, Liz couldn’t help but return her smile.

She and Hailey Genest hadn’t been close friends growing up, but they’d known each other. And Hailey had been at Mitch and Paige’s wedding, as well. From what Liz understood, she was very good friends with both Paige and Lauren.

“Liz! I heard you’d come back to town. I was going to let you settle in before I started hounding you to get a library card. The trustees love when I find new victims. Especially if you’re in the habit of paying overdue fines.”

Liz laughed. “Not too many, I hope. But I’m going camping and, from what I’m told, part of camping is sitting around reading.”

“Camping? Ah, yes. I heard Rose and your aunt in New Hampshire decided to make your family reunion a trip into the woods.”

“I’ve been promised s’mores.”

Hailey gave her a thumbs-up. “I’m a big fan of s’mores. Especially without the marshmallow and graham crackers.”

“I’ll be bringing a private stash.”

“Kind of a bummer to go on vacation and be related to every single guy there. Well, except Drew, I guess. And his dad.” Hailey paused in copying the info from Liz’s freshly minted Maine driver’s license onto a big yellow card to look up at her. “If there’s only going to be one single guy available, Drew’s not a bad one to have.”

Liz wasn’t sure what to say to that. “He’s a great guy.”

“He really is. I guess you’re off-limits because of Mitch, which is sad. He’s off-limits to me because I’m friends with his ex-wife. So much opportunity lost.”

Liz wanted to ask why everybody seemed bound by rules left over from high school, but sometimes it was best to let sleeping dogs lie. “I don’t think a family camping trip’s the place for romance, anyway. I mean, Rose and Aunt Mary both told me if I had sex it would ruin my life forever. Granted, I was probably thirteen at the time, but that kind of conviction can stay with a girl.”

Hailey’s laugh echoed through the quiet library and got her shushed by a guy using one of the computers. “Oops. Embarrassing when the patrons have to tell me to be quiet. Okay, so tell me what you like to read so I can help you find some perfect camping books. Fun stuff, though. Books that go well with s’mores, like romance or horror.”

“Both,” Liz said, though she had no idea how either corresponded to s’mores.

“And you’ll be there how long?”

“A week. I was thinking maybe four books, but I might start reading one before I even leave, so maybe five.”

On a mission, Hailey perused the new release shelves, her head cocked sideways to read the spines. She must spend a fortune at the chiropractor if she did that every day, Liz thought.

Hailey would make a noise and pull out a book, handing it to Liz. She then looked at the cover and skimmed the blurb on the back before either handing it back or holding on to it. In no time at all, she had a half dozen books in her arms, ready to keep her company on vacation.

“Did Paige talk to you about movie night?” Hailey asked as they walked back to the checkout desk.

“Yes. I guess women are coming to my house to watch a movie?”

“Awesome. It’s always fun to go to a new house.”

Liz set the books down and slid them toward Hailey. “You guys know I don’t have any furniture, right?”

“We’ll have food and drinks. Who needs furniture?”

Liz shrugged, still not sure about this new turn in her social life. Fran had mentioned movie night when she was in the market the day before yesterday and Paige brought it up, but how it got to be Liz’s party, she wasn’t sure.

“That’s a lot of books,” Hailey said once she was done stamping the return dates for all of them. “You know, for only ten dollars you can have an official Whitford Public Library tote to carry them in. All the cool kids have one.”

With her reading material tucked away in her new tote bag, Liz hurried back to the car. She wanted to get the chocolate bars into her fridge before they became chocolate blobs.

A car sitting in a parking lot across the way caught her eye and she smiled as she let the Mustang crawl out onto the main road. She stopped completely at the stop sign, counting all the way to five, and then gave Officer Durgin a friendly wave as she passed by.

“Maybe next time, Bob,” she said to herself, and then hit the gas when she was safely out of his sight.

* * *

The Fourth of July had been a lot more fun before Drew was personally responsible for the safety of Whitford’s population, but it was still one of his favorite holidays. It was a day for barbecues and beer and lemonade and fireworks, and most of all for friends.

Though everybody was on duty that evening, it didn’t really feel like work as Drew wandered on foot through the crowd gathered to watch the fireworks. Whitford put on a good show and he’d fought the budget committee to keep them from cutting the funds. The better the official town display, the fewer people who got hurt blasting them out of their own backyards.

There were various fundraisers going on, and Drew spread his money around the different bake sales and lemonade stands until he couldn’t take any more sugar. Everybody said hello to him and he felt a sense of deep satisfaction. This community was almost like a family to him and he took pretty good care of them.

Excitement hummed through the crowd when the first test shot went up, but Drew estimated it would be another ten to fifteen minutes before it was dark enough for the real show to begin. Off in the distance, a baby cried and a dog barked, but overall the crowd was a happy one this year.

He spotted his dad waving to him and waved back, making his way toward him. The Kowalski crowd had carved out a space in the park’s grass, marked with several old quilts. Besides his old man and Rose, Josh and Katie were there, along with Ryan and Lauren. Drew had already run into Lauren’s teenage son, Nick, who was watching the fireworks with his dad, stepmom and little brother and sister. Mitch and Paige were on the far side of the quilts and, of course, next to Rose was Liz. Drew waved his hand in the general direction of all of them to say hello.

“Come to watch the show with us, son?”

He’d actually just been wandering aimlessly, but why not? “Crowd seems peaceful. No reason I can’t hang around for a little while.”

Rose opened the cooler sitting at the foot of her quilt and pulled out a bottle of water. He wasn’t really thirsty, having had his fill of lemonade already, but he took it from her anyway. There was a lot of chatter around him, but he only half paid attention while keeping part of his focus on the crowd. Now that the test shot had been fired, the kids were starting to get antsy.

Finally, another round went up and Paige clapped her hands. “Everybody lay down! You should lay down to watch fireworks.”

Paige hadn’t had much in the way of family before marrying into the Kowalskis, and she seemed to take a lot of joy in things the rest of them took for granted, so everybody stretched out on the blankets.

Rose looked up at Drew and then pointed. “Hurry up, Drew. There’s room there next to Liz.”

There wasn’t much he could do short of standing over them like an idiot or walking away, so he kicked off his shoes, set the bottle of water in the grass and stepped onto the quilt. There was some maneuvering to make room for him, but there still wasn’t a lot of space between Liz and Josh. He scooted down into the opening and lay on his back, feeling as relaxed as a slab of concrete.

“Sorry about this,” Drew said quietly, his head turned toward Liz. “It’s a little tight.”

“Trust me, she knew exactly what she was doing.”

It took a few seconds for her words to sink in and, once they did, he had no idea what to say. It sounded like she was implying Rose had wedged him up against Liz deliberately, which didn’t make a lot of sense, unless she’d picked up on some kind of vibe between them. Or she already knew.

Josh was talking to Katie and the others were all in their own conversations, so he felt safe talking in a low voice. “Did you tell her?”

“The morning after the wedding.”

Rose had known the entire time. It was a tough thing to wrap his mind around, and he stared up at the sky. On the one hand, she hadn’t told Mitch, which meant she must agree it was best he not know. But on the other, Liz had implied Rose put Drew next to her on purpose. If she was matchmaking, she must believe it would be okay when Mitch inevitably found out.

And if Rose knew, had she told his dad? They were a couple, so it was possible. But since Rose was like a second mother to Liz, maybe keeping her secret trumped telling the man she lived with. He was pretty sure his dad would have said something to him by now, so Rose was the only person who knew Drew and Liz had snuck away from the reception. It was interesting, but nothing he could talk to Liz about while lying on a quilt, surrounded by her family.

When the first big rounds exploded high overhead, ripples of ooh and ahh went through the crowd. There were some whistles and woo-hoos, while another baby joined the first in wailing and more dogs barked. He barely paid attention, focused instead on the proximity of Liz’s body to his own.

By ten minutes in, everybody was starting to squirm. Rosie had nice thick quilts and the grass under them was lush, but the ground was still the ground and none of them were kids anymore. He shifted, trying to work the various attachments on his belt—especially the flashlight—out from under his body. His thigh pressed against Liz’s, only for a moment, but he heard the quickening of her breath.

Being chief of police was more about politics and paperwork than great powers of deductive reasoning, but it didn’t take a great detective to figure out she was just as aware of him as he was of her.

Color exploded in the sky, much to the crowd’s delight. Around him, Drew was aware of the other couples on the quilts. Paige had her head rested in the cradle of her husband’s arm, while Katie had her leg hooked over Josh’s. Through his peripheral vision, Drew could see Ryan constantly turning his head to whisper things against Lauren’s ear that made her blush. Even his dad and Rosie were holding hands.

He couldn’t do that because the woman he wanted was off-limits to him, and that sucked.

Then her hand brushed his and, on the ground where their hands were hidden from everybody else by their bodies, he linked his fingers through hers. She was still for a few seconds, and he wondered if she’d pull away. But then her hand relaxed and she drew circles against his palm with the knuckle of her thumb.

Such a sweet, innocent thing, holding hands. But the secrecy of it—the feeling of doing something forbidden—made the small touch seem so much more erotic. The sizzle of chemistry was as strong as ever between them and he savored this little bit of her that he could get. Each stroke of her thumb pulled at something deep inside of him and he lost himself in the sensation as colors continued to fill the night sky.

Then the radio clipped to his shoulder squawked and everybody jumped. Liz jerked her hand away as her family and a good number of the people around them turned to look at him.

“Sorry, folks.” As he pushed himself very awkwardly upright, hoping nobody would be looking below his belt, he radioed back to dispatch that he’d call in on his cell. In a town like Whitford, where everybody knew everybody else, he did his best to keep people’s troubles from being broadcast.

“What’s up?” he said into his phone when dispatch answered.

A big family barbecue had gone south and, fueled by significant amounts of alcohol, somebody had insulted somebody else’s mother. Sides were taken, punches were thrown, and Officer Durgin felt like he might need some backup with muscle.

“Sorry, I have to run,” he said to everybody. It wasn’t easy, scooting backward off the quilt, and then he had to roll to his knees to stand up.

“Is everything okay?” Rose looked concerned. “Was there an accident?”