“Dad and I cooked, so we were exempt. As the chief of police, I felt it was my civic duty to point out manning the grills in any kind of costume could be dangerous.”
Liz snorted. “Please. You guys whined and Rose and I gave in. There was no civic duty about it. I’d found the best prison jumpsuit online, too. We would have matched.”
“Speaking of that, don’t let me forget those handcuffs Monday morning.”
“Maybe I should put them on you so you can’t miss them.”
“I’m ready to go home. You?”
Tori laughed and then hugged Liz when she announced she was done for the night. “Congratulations.”
“Thanks. Paige is covering the early morning, just in case, but I’ll be working tomorrow morning. You should come and...” Her gaze flickered to Max and back. “Visit.”
Once they were gone, Tori set her basket next to her and held her hands over the fire.
“Are you cold? I have a coat in my car. I can run and get it.”
“No, I’m fine. My hands are getting a little chilly, but the fire’s nice.”
Butch and Fran wandered over and chatted for a while. Butch was wearing his work uniform, which wasn’t very original, but at least he’d tried for the spirit of the occasion. Fran was wearing a fancy cocktail dress, with her hair up and jewelry glittering in the moonlight, though at some point she’d conceded to the cold and had a flannel shirt over the dress.
“I’m a Real Housewife of Whitford,” she explained, and Tori laughed. Max just looked confused, which didn’t surprise her.
“Oh, like those women on that show,” he said about two minutes later, and they all laughed. “I was flipping through the channels one day and there was a show called the Real Housewives of...somewhere. I dropped the remote over the end of the couch and watched fifteen minutes of it before I got the ambition to get up and fish it out.”
While Fran, who was obviously not on her first beer, recapped a television franchise none of them watched, Max looped his arms around Tori’s shoulder and pulled her close. He was warm and she pressed against him.
“I feel bad for everybody who has to ride home on four-wheelers,” she said when Fran paused to take a breath.
“Most of them already left,” Butch said. “But there will be a few who’ll need cocoa and a hot shower when they get home.”
Tori noticed a couple of women edging toward the fire and she and Max had been there awhile. “We should move on and give somebody else a turn.”
When they were out of earshot, Max dipped his head close to hers. “Now we know what Fran does all day at the store.”
“I knew she’d taken to having a TV on under the counter, where she can see it from her knitting chair, but I’ve never paid any attention to what she was watching.”
“Now you know.”
“In detail.”
They wandered for a few minutes, before Max pointed toward a group clustered near the edge of the house. “It looks like Matt and Hailey are getting ready to leave, if you want to say goodbye to them.”
“Matt and Hailey brought me, actually. Gavin took my car to Kennebunkport and, when he stopped by to switch vehicles, he put his truck keys in his pocket out of habit and because he was so nerved up, he forgot about them. And Uncle Mike can’t find the spare set.”
“You have no vehicle?”
She shrugged. “It’s only for the weekend and I can walk almost everywhere. He felt bad and was going to drive all the way back, but that would have been stupid.”
“So you have to leave with them?”
Tori knew she should say good-night to Max and leave with Matt and Hailey. They’d drop her off at home and she’d go to bed and tomorrow, when she woke up, everything would be the same. That was what she should do.
“Unless you want to drive me home.”
He locked gazes with her and she wondered what he was thinking. With Max, she couldn’t be sure. He could be contemplating the fact she’d spent the entire night at his side and was inviting him to drive her home. Or he could be calculating time and gas mileage to determine who would be the more logical driver for her.
“Of course I’ll drive you home.”
“I should tell them.”
“I’m going to find out where people are getting those cups of hot chocolate. I’ll meet you back here.”
Hailey saw her coming and met her halfway. “I was just coming to find you. Matt had a long day and I hate to drag you away from the party, but he’s ready to go home.”
“You can go. Max is going to drive me home.” She said it casually, like it was no big deal, but that didn’t stop Hailey’s eyes from widening.
“Seriously? Like...he’s driving you home or he’s taking you home? Or going home with you?”
“He’s driving me home. That’s what I said.” She blew out a breath, which hovered in a white cloud for a second in front of her mouth. “It’s not a big deal. Instead of you and Matt driving me home, Max is driving me home.”
“Hailey, you coming?” they heard Matt call.
“You’d better call me tomorrow,” Hailey said. “And tell me everything.”