The women all laughed and Liz glanced over at Drew. He was sitting in one of the chairs, balancing a mug of coffee on the arm. When he saw her looking, he gave her a pretty feeble thumbs-up.
“I don’t think Drew can actually lift that coffee up to his mouth,” Liz said. “Maybe we should give them straws.”
Aunt Mary slapped a stack of paper plates on the table. “Or maybe they shouldn’t go out there and try to act like they’re seventeen anymore.”
“Hey, Gram,” Joey said. “I don’t ride like that.”
“Only because you’re behind slower riders,” Lisa said. Her oldest son gave her his most charming Kowalski grin before taking off with a cup of orange juice. “They think I don’t know what goes on when they go out with just dad and no mom. Last week, Danny had mud down his pants and leaves in his helmet.”
They served breakfast and, after everybody had eaten their fill, the women sat and drank their coffee while the men tried to hobble their way through cleanup without moaning or groaning. They were horrible actors, but that just made the show all the more fun.
“I wish you didn’t have to go home today, Liz,” Aunt Mary said. “I mean, I wish nobody had to go home today, but especially you.”
“I know, but I’m closer now. We’ll see each other a hundred times more than we have in the past. You’ll probably get sick of me.”
“Never. Mitch said something about leaving about four so you guys could have dinner on the road and still be home early enough to take showers and unpack the truck before bed, right?”
“Actually, I’m going to ride home with Drew and he has to work tomorrow, so we’re leaving a little earlier.” That got the attention of all the women sitting around them. There was some speculative noises dripping with innuendo and Liz felt her cheeks heat up. “Have you guys ever ridden in the backseat of Mitch’s truck? If you were as tall as me, you’d ride with Drew, too.”
“I wonder if he’ll walk you to the door,” Emma said, giving her an exaggerated wink.
“He’s going to walk to my door several times since I’m going to make him carry stuff in.” Then she intended to drag him into the shower and then into her bed, but she was sure they could fill in those blanks without specifics.
“We’re done,” one of the men declared, preempting what Liz knew was going to be a heap of teasing from the women.
“Where are the kids?” Drew asked.
“Quiet, isn’t it?” Lisa sighed happily. “Leo took them down to the pond to do some fishing.”
“Damn. I want to offer them money to break down my camp and pack it up.”
Liz shook her head. “That’s pretty lame, you know.”
“You should know ahead of time my kids are brutal negotiators,” Lisa said. “You might be surprised how much it’ll cost you.”
“I’ll help you,” Liz said. “I have to do mine, too.”
It sounded like a decent plan, but an hour later she was hot, tired and ready to kill her tent with fire. “It came out of this bag, so it should go back in the same damn bag.”
Drew laughing at her wasn’t helping. “They never fit back in the way they came out.”
“It’s a scrap of nylon and some flimsy poles.”
“You could always throw it in the Dumpster.”
She put her hands on her hips and glared at the tent. “Then I’ll have to buy another one for next time, because you know Rose and Aunt Mary are going to try to drag us back every year now that we gave in once.”
“If we come back next year, we’re coming in an RV. I don’t care if I have to beg, borrow or steal one, but we’ll have a bed, air-conditioning and a lock on the door.”
Liz looked sideways at him, but he wasn’t paying any attention to her. He was in the process of rerolling her sleeping bag because the way she’d done it, it wouldn’t fit back in its zippered cover, and he didn’t seem to be aware of the assumption he’d just made.
Rather than feeling uneasy, the idea Drew took for granted they’d be together next summer made Liz feel warm and fuzzy inside. Obviously he was easing up on his urgent mission to acquire a mom for his kids and relaxing a little.
He tossed the zipped-up sleeping bag in the back of his SUV and then groaned. “That hurt. Everything hurts. Remind me never to ride with your cousins again.”
“We haven’t even started on your tent yet.”
“If we had an RV, we could just pile all the crap in it and shut the door. Then I could stretch out on the bed and take a nap while you drove home.”
She snorted and tossed her duffel bag to him, laughing when it almost knocked him off his feet. “Maybe instead of an RV you should buy a four-wheeler with power steering and a good suspension so you don’t hobble around like a ninety-year-old man after a ride.”
His eyes lit up, of course, at the mention of new toys. “Hey, maybe we can do both. You should get one, too. Or I could get a two-up so you’d be more comfortable on the back. Longer wheelbase, though.”