Once they left, Ryan leaned back in his oversize leather office chair and folded his hands behind his head. There were piles on his desk. He hated piles. And he knew Wendi had kept on top of the urgent things, but she’d leave anything she could for him as punishment.
It had been a long drive home and a short night’s sleep, followed by a very long, intense day of meetings and phone calls. All he wanted to do was hit the drive-through of the first fast-food joint he came to and then stretch out on his couch. He’d drift off to the sound of the TV and then, at some point, wake up enough to stagger off to bed.
By the time he pulled into the driveway of his big, empty house in the middle of a gorgeous neighborhood full of families, and grabbed his paper bag of dinner off the passenger seat, he was almost ready to skip the couch nap and head straight to bed. He knew that no matter how tired he was, though, if he went to bed now, he’d be up at four, ready to face a day that hadn’t started yet.
He watched a rerun of Bonanza while he ate, because that was what was on and he couldn’t reach the remote.
Then he stretched out on the couch and pulled out his phone. Lauren answered on the second ring and he smiled at the sound of her voice. “Another couple minutes and you would have missed me. I was going to jump in the shower before our shows start.”
“I won’t keep you. I just wanted to say hi. I said I’d call.”
“You sound tired,” she said after a few seconds.
“I’m pretty beat. It was a very long day with a lot of tense people in it.”
“Is everything okay?”
“It will be.” He didn’t want to talk about work. “Tell me about your day.”
She told him how excited Nick was about the fact he’d be earning a paycheck and how today he’d brought home an A on his history quiz, which was a first. Ryan could feel the tension easing out of his body as he listened to her voice.
Lauren was what he needed at the end of the day.
“You didn’t fall asleep on me, did you?” he heard her ask, and he realized he’d been dozing off to the comfortable lull of her voice.
“Of course not.”
“Liar. Go to bed. I’m going to go jump in the shower.”
“Good night, Lauren.”
After she said good-night and hung up, he pushed himself up off the couch and tossed the paper debris from his supper. Then he went into his room, stripped down and climbed into bed.
He’d always loved his bed. It had a firm mattress and was big enough for him to stretch out if he wanted. Tonight, though, it felt hard and cold. And he didn’t want to stretch out. He wanted to spoon his body around Lauren’s and hold her while she fell asleep.
Looking around the room, he wondered what she’d think of it. Her house was neat and not too cluttered with knickknacks and crap, but his room bordered on austere. The only bright spots were the family photos on the wall.
It could probably use some color. Neutral tones like beiges and tans were attractive to buyers, but he didn’t see selling the place anytime soon. Maybe some throw pillows and new drapes wouldn’t hurt, either. And a woman. It needed a woman and a teenage boy to muck things up. Maybe more kids to really make a mess. But, mostly, nothing would warm up the house—and his bed—like Lauren.
It wasn’t too late yet, so he took his phone off the bedside charger before he could squash the impulse. He scrolled through his contacts until he found Mitch’s number and hit Call. It rang three times before his brother answered. “Hello?”
“Can I borrow your bike for the weekend?” Once he’d popped the question to Paige, Mitch had had the motorcycle shipped to Whitford, where it lived in the Northern Star’s barn until they moved into a house with a garage.
“The whole weekend? Aren’t you supposed to be working? You’re always working.”
“Just looking to blow off a little steam.” And as far as Ryan was concerned, that was all he needed to know.
“Sure. I won’t be home until close to noon Saturday, so you’ll have to get the key and my helmet from Paige. And I’m sure she wouldn’t mind lending out her helmet, too, if you need it.”
As fishing expeditions went, it wasn’t subtle. “Thanks.”
“Going anywhere special?”
He might as well skip being discreet. The Kowalski family didn’t know the meaning of the word. “I want to bring Lauren here. I’m in Brookline, by the way.”
“Paige told me you had to go home. So, you’re going to drive back to Whitford tomorrow, then ride down on the bike with Lauren and then drive back on Sunday? In October, when it’s not really all that balmy, of course.”
“I want her to see my house, and weekends are the only time it can happen, so yeah.”
His brother was quiet long enough that Ryan guessed he probably wouldn’t like whatever came out of his mouth next. “I thought you guys were just fooling around. I didn’t realize it was that serious.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“No.” Again with the hesitation. “Just a lot of hurdles, that’s all.”
“I got a ribbon in track and field. I can handle it.”