“I know Mitch never liked him, but I also know you spent fifteen years ignoring his opinion. What changed?”
“I talked to Rose on the phone a lot. We’ve always been close, even if I was too stubborn to give up on Darren and come home. She’d tell me stories about how Sean and Emma fell in love, with the whole fake fiancé thing, and then about Mitch and Paige. I wanted that. I wanted to turn a guy inside out. I didn’t know at the time I was going to come back to Maine, but I knew I wasn’t settling for just friendship anymore.”
He nudged her arm with his elbow. “For the record, I’m glad you came back to Maine.”
“I am, too.”
She was smiling when she said it, but he thought he saw some reservation on her face. “Are you, really?”
“I am.”
“I guess it’s not the kind of thing you want to talk about at work. Sorry about that.”
She laughed. “It’s fine. The place is about empty now, anyway. It’s just that sometimes I feel a little...underachieving. I came out here to be with my family while they were getting married and having babies and running their businesses. But now I’m here not doing much while they’re doing all that.”
“What do you mean you’re not doing much?” He shook his head. “You’re setting up a new house and working a new job. Getting reacquainted with old friends and making new ones. I’d say you’re doing just fine.”
“I guess you’re right.” Her eyes softened, which did things to his insides. “I guess I just see everything they have and feel like I don’t have enough.”
“If you judge your life by what others have, you’ll probably always feel that way. I feel that way, sometimes. It seems like everybody’s got their shit together and here I am starting over, too. Like you.”
“You’re a smart guy, Chief Miller. Before you know it, some lucky lady will snap you up and you’ll be putting that town seal on the door of a minivan.”
He laughed at that visual. “I don’t know about that. I’d never hear the end of it if I had to call Butch to tow me out of a snowbank so I could answer an emergency call.”
His phone beeped, and he checked it to see a text reminder from Barbara. He was supposed to head out to Posthole Road and mediate a dog versus chickens situation and there was a brief window of time when both residents were home.
“No rest for the boys in blue?”
He smiled up at her and shook his head. “Got a dog chasing chickens and if we don’t get it resolved, we’re going to have to hire somebody just to field the complaints the owners are filing against each other.”
“Sounds exciting.”
He downed the last of his soda and stood. “It’s not exactly LAPD exciting, but taking care of Whitford makes me happy. And that’s the thing. As long as you’re happy, who cares what everybody else is doing?”
The warm smile told him she knew he was talking about her. “I’ll try to remember that. Have fun with those chickens.”
“See you next time.”
He walked out in a good mood, because the next time wouldn’t be too far away. As far as he was concerned, being able to see her just by stopping in to the diner was one of the best parts of her job.
*
After work, Liz dropped by the Northern Star to see Rose for a few minutes. She had a feeling it would become a regular thing, which was okay. They had a lot of face-to-face visit time to make up.
Rose had just finished dusting in the living room, and it amused Liz that, instead of just sitting on one of the sofas, they still went into the kitchen to visit. It was just how family visits were done at the Northern Star.
“How’s work going?” Rose asked as Liz rummaged in the fridge for some water and an apple. She was hoping to fend off Rose breaking out the baked goods because she was going to need new pants if she didn’t cut back.
“It’s good. I haven’t had any problems.”
“I hear Drew’s in there quite a bit.”
Liz gave her an are you kidding me look. “This town is too much. I’m pretty sure Drew ate lunch there long before I moved home from New Mexico.”
“Don’t try to pull the wool over my eyes. I can see by the blush on your cheeks that there’s still something going on with you two.”
“There really isn’t.” And there couldn’t be.
Rose pulled out a chair and sat across from her. “I think you should tell Mitch what happened.”
“I don’t necessarily disagree with you, but I’m leaving that up to Drew.”
“That’s not like you, to keep your mouth shut if you think something needs to be said.”
Liz shrugged. “He has more at stake. I’m Mitch’s sister. No matter how mad at me he gets, he can’t push me out of his life. With Mitch and Drew, there’s this whole stupid guy code thing and Drew could get pushed out. So I’m leaving it up to him.”
“You two can’t move forward until he knows,” Rose said, giving her a pointed look.