Getting out of bed the next morning was a little rough, so after dragging herself out into the sunshine and into the shower, Liz was good and made one cup of instant coffee. No more soda for her, rum or no rum.
Everybody else was running a little slow, too, so at least she didn’t miss breakfast. She helped the others get it ready, buttering pancakes as Terry took them off the griddle and passing them off to Keri and Lisa, who were adding sausage links to the plates and handing them out. Finally, Rose and Aunt Mary stopped making more batter and she got a chance to have a couple herself.
Feeling a little restored, she helped clean up and then flopped onto one of the chairs. “Today is going to be a lazy day.”
There were a lot of murmured agreements, but they were quickly drowned out by the kids listing off all the things they wanted to do that day. Everything from riding their ATVs all the way into town for lunch to a croquet tournament to more water ball of doom.
“Love these kids, but right now I’m so glad they’re not mine,” Liz said, tipping her head back against the chair. “Because I might not move until it’s time to go to bed.”
“Me, either.”
She realized Drew was sitting next to her and rolled her head sideways to look at him without picking it up. “I shouldn’t have had a second pancake.”
“I won’t tell you how many I had.”
She pushed herself upright in the chair again, mostly so she wouldn’t nod off. Everybody seemed to be scattering in a dozen different directions, probably getting ready for whatever activities they were going to do. It made her even more tired just watching them.
“Hey, Liz.” Drew’s voice was very low, which put her on guard as she turned back to him. He was about to say something he didn’t want anybody else to hear and, honestly, she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear it. Her heart still felt a little bruised from last night. “I’m going to talk to him.”
For a few seconds, she wasn’t sure she’d heard him right, but the intensity in his gaze held hers and she realized he was serious. “Why?”
“Why? Why do you think?”
“Are you going to talk to him so you don’t feel guilty anymore about what happened at his wedding or...why?”
“I’m going to talk to him because I want to take you out. I want to take you out to dinner or a movie. I want to walk down the street holding your hand, not just settle for little touches when we think nobody’s looking.”
Her heart tumbled hard and, when he smiled at her, she knew her return smile was a little shaky. “Really?”
“Really. But I don’t want to do it here, with your entire family around. And if it gets ugly, it’ll ruin everybody’s vacation. When we get back to Whitford, I’ll have him stop by my place and we’ll talk.”
“I think that’s a good idea.” She didn’t want to wait, but she knew he was right. And what mattered was the fact his desire to take her out was stronger than his desire to hide his transgression from her brother.
“In the meantime,” he said, “I’m going to do my best to behave, but it won’t be easy.”
“Anticipation makes it all the sweeter.”
He laughed. “If I anticipate any more than I have been, I won’t be able to walk.”
She didn’t get to respond to that because his laughter had drawn attention and there were two boys bearing down on them.
“Drew, Uncle Joe wants to know if you’re riding today,” Brian said.
“I don’t know. I’m pretty beat.”
“Uncle Kevin said if you said no,” Bobby said, “to ask you if you lost your ba...uh, testicles in a tragic accident overnight.”
“Oh, really?” Both boys shrugged. “I might do a few miles.”
“Sucker,” Liz said when the boys ran off to report to their uncles.
“If I don’t go do something, I’ll just fall asleep sitting in this chair and then I won’t be able to sleep tonight. Again. How about you? You going to ride?”
“I’m out of jeans. I have to stay here and do some laundry because I was lazy yesterday.”
Drew stood and she let herself watch him stretch because she didn’t think anybody was paying attention and because she wasn’t going to have to deprive herself of touching him very much longer. Just a few more days and then he could stop beating himself up every time he looked at her a little too long.
He looked down and what she was thinking must have shown on her face because his smile turned decidedly naughty. “Soon.”
She would have watched him walk away, but female voices were closing in so she stood and started putting the chair away. They liked to have their morning coffees and breakfast in the early sunshine, but then the chairs went under the huge tarp. If it rained, they’d stay dry and sometimes people used the tarp for shade if they didn’t feel like wrestling with the screen house zipper.