“Which there’s no date for,” Rose said. “I’m going to have to call Mary and arrange to go visit again so I can kiss my baby grandson.”
And on that note, Liz decided it was time for a subject change. “Lauren, do you know who’s been mowing the lawn? I didn’t see a lawn mower anywhere and I wasn’t sure if the real estate agent was having it done.”
“The boy three houses down does it, actually,” Lauren said. “He wanted to earn money mowing lawns but his mower didn’t really work. When I moved I sold him mine in exchange for him working off the cost. I think you have two more mows and then you’ll have to negotiate with him yourself or buy a mower.”
“Good to know.” She shifted in her chair, then shifted back when her knee brushed against Drew’s. “I’ll probably have him keep doing it.”
“He’s a really good kid.”
They talked about the house a bit, while other conversations went on around them. She was aware of the rich timbre of Drew’s voice as he talked to Josh about the ATV trails, which made it hard to concentrate on what Lauren was telling her about the heating system in her house. She’d probably have to ask her again when it was time to turn it on.
“It’s a problem when my officers can’t get to the folks doing something wrong,” Drew was saying to Josh. “I’m trying to get a grant to buy the department a four-wheeler, but I think we’re going to see more of a presence on the state level, too. We’re drawing enough of a crowd to keep a game warden busy.”
Liz leaned forward to take a couple more slices of bread out of the basket and, when she did, her entire leg brushed the length of Drew’s. She was off balance, so she couldn’t pull away, leaving her keenly aware of the contact.
Sitting back down, she slowly ate her bread, avoided making eye contact with Rose and tried not to touch Drew again.
*
If Liz’s leg didn’t stop touching his, Drew was afraid he’d jump out of his skin right there at the dinner table.
Even worse than the touching was her soft laughter. She was obviously enjoying being back with her family and, as she talked with each of them, she’d occasionally laugh and the sound seemed to vibrate through his entire body.
It was a reaction he had to completely hide, of course, since Mitch was sitting at the other end of the table. And he kept catching Ryan watching him, giving him a look that seemed to bore right through him and he wasn’t sure why.
He made a mental note to have more police business scheduled at the same time as Kowalski family functions.
After wrapping up a conversation with Josh, who he worked closely with regarding the ATV trails they’d opened to give access to the town, he did his part helping to clear the table.
Mitch loaded up with an armful of cold beers from the fridge and the men made a break for it as the women argued over who was doing the dishes. When they made it to the front porch without being called back, Mitch started handing out cans.
“None for me,” Drew said. “I’m out of uniform but I’m covering a shift, so technically I’m still on duty.”
“All work and no play, my friend.”
“Are you calling me dull?”
“I think he was,” Josh said.
“I get to carry a gun. That’s not dull.”
Mitch smirked and popped the tab on his beer. “I blow stuff up.”
Drew wasn’t alone in rolling his eyes. It was hard to win the whose-job-is-cooler contest when a guy owned a controlled demolition company. “Imploding’s not as cool as exploding.”
“Whatever you say. It all goes boom.”
Drew relaxed into one of the rockers as the trash talk turned to sports, tuning them out a bit. The brothers could get rowdy when it came to second-guessing professional coaches and Drew didn’t care enough to immerse himself in the debate. Especially sitting on the front porch on a beautiful summer afternoon.
He should put a porch on his house, he thought. It might not have the view the lodge had, but it wasn’t a bad way to close out a day. It’d be nicer if he had somebody to sit out there with, but he hadn’t put much effort in looking for that somebody.
Thinking of the way his body reacted when Liz’s leg brushed against his, he shifted in the rocker. What he wanted was a woman who made him feel the way Liz made him feel, but who wasn’t talking about going back to school or jumping out of airplanes before she’d even think about having children.
“Hey.” Mitch kicked his ankle. “Where’d you go?”
“Oh, just thinking about work,” he lied. “Paperwork and shit.”
He hated lying to Mitch. There wasn’t a single time in his entire life he could remember that he hadn’t been totally honest with his friend, until he had a weak, stupid moment and slept with Liz.