She knew they wanted different things right now. From what she’d heard, he was looking to be on the fast track to marriage and babies, and she was still hovering at the Start line, wondering if that was a path she was willing to take. But there was still something there, whether it made sense or not.
“It would be so much fun to have Drew along,” Rose said in a totally innocent voice Liz knew was covering up a devious mind.
“I’ll have Mitch talk to him today,” Paige said, because there was no way Liz could ask Rose to rethink inviting Drew, of course. Not in front of her sister-in-law. “After I’ve broken the news to Mitch, of course, and knocked down all of his excuses.”
“He went a few years ago, though only for a couple of days, and he had a good time.”
“If I have to go, everybody has to go,” Liz added.
A week in the woods with Drew. And Mitch. What could be more relaxing than that?
*
Today was one of those days when Drew wished time machines were real so he could go back and politely but firmly refuse the appointment as police chief. The budget was a constant wrestling match requiring mathematical gymnastics that made his head hurt. He’d fielded a complaint from a mother about the new part-time officer not understanding how things were done, such as looking the other way when her little darling tried to bribe an adult to buy her alcohol. Papers were multiplying in his inbox at an alarming rate and the number of emails to the department’s address that had been flagged for his attention made him want to “accidentally” spill coffee on every keyboard in the station.
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?”