“Whatever you do, don’t open the doors or the windows or they’ll find nothing but our skeletons.”
“We’re not going anywhere. In a few minutes, I’m going to start the engine to cool it off in here. Then I’m going to have a drink of water and give those mosquitoes another show.”
She rolled onto her side and propped her head on her hand. “You only had two condoms. A double header means you have none.”
“If we should find ourselves with privacy again before the trip’s over or I get so desperate I drive to a drug store, there are plenty of games we can play without that piece of equipment.”
“Then start your engine, Chief Miller, and let’s play.”
*
If Drew thought driving out of the campground with Liz was awkward, it was nothing compared to how conspicuous he felt driving back in. He could see by the smoke that the grills were fired up, and the family was all gathered together to get ready for supper.
“Great timing,” he said, navigating the dirt roads up to their tents.
“I’m starving.”
He realized she didn’t feel as self-conscious about the whole snuck-off-to-have-sex thing as he did and tried to relax. After parking the SUV next to his tent, he decided to leave the sleeping bag and pillow in the back until later. Preferably until after dark. Whether the others had guessed or not, there was no sense in advertising what they’d been up to.
“Smells like chicken,” Liz said as she climbed out. She took his hand as they walked down to join the others, giving it a squeeze.
“Hey, Liz, you’re just in time,” Terry said when everybody called out a greeting. “Can you help me with this coleslaw?”
And just like that, she was gone, leaving him to mill around with her family.
“So, Chief,” Ryan said. “How’d that very important police business go? Get it all...conducted?”
Funny guy, that Ryan. “Conducted very well, thank you.”
Bobby tugged at his shirt. “Did you get to put handcuffs on anybody?”
Mitch, who’d been mid-swallow from a can of soda, choked. The other guys started laughing at him, which earned them glares from the women until Josh finally pounded him on the back and Mitch got himself under control.
“No handcuffs,” Drew told Bobby. Then he looked at his friend over the top of the boy’s head. “This time.”
Mitch flipped him the bird from behind the soda can, which made him laugh. It was going to take more than a cranky Kowalski to get under his skin tonight. Once he got his hands on that grilled chicken and coleslaw, Drew was going to be fully satisfied in every possible way. He knew it was temporary. He’d be itching to have his hands on Liz again in no time because, if he ever did get his fill of her, it wasn’t going to be for a long, long time. But for right now, he was a happy man.
“Will you play ball with me?”
He looked down at Bobby, who was holding a tennis ball and smiling sweetly up at him. “Are you talking catch, or some kind of tennis ball of doom game that will leave me dying for a tube of muscle rub and a hot tub?”
“Just catch.”
He wasn’t sure he believed the boy, but the other kids were either helping with dinner or reading. Even if the game got rowdy, he could probably survive a one-on-one with a little kid. Maybe.
They moved out into the dirt road for space and Bobby lobbed the ball to him. Drew stepped in to catch it and then threw it back. They fell into an easy rhythm that reminded him of very long ago days when he’d done the same with his dad.
Last year, it had been the baseball glove he’d found in the garage that led to the end of his marriage. It had gotten him to thinking it was past time for him to have his own little boy to play catch with and he’d told Mallory that. She’d tried to put him off again and, for the first time, he’d really pushed. That’s when she told him she’d never wanted to have kids and was afraid to tell him or she’d lose him.
Now he was starting over and, as Rose called for them to go and eat, he felt a little less satisfied than he had only twenty minutes before.
Chapter Fifteen
The day before the Maine half of the family had to go home, Rose and Aunt Mary made it clear there would be family activities, not everybody going in different directions and doing different things. Once dinner had been eaten as a group, the guys could go ride if they wanted, but everybody was grounded until then.
Liz didn’t mind. She spent a little time after breakfast cleanup doing her last load of laundry and then, after dumping it in her tent, she took a leisurely walk in search of others. She was almost to the screen house when Brian went by her, struggling to drag a cooler through the grass by one handle and, curious, she went and grabbed the other end to help him out. Or maybe to make sure he didn’t have his little brother stuffed in it. “What’s in the cooler, kiddo?”
“Drinks and ice.” The poor kid was panting. “It’s time for the Annual Kowalski Volleyball Death Match Tournament of Doom.”