He felt her chuckle vibrate against his chest. “You even had Katie, most of the time, since she was such a tomboy. The token girl.”
“While you were with Rose, learning how to keep house and cook. Maybe you should have paid more attention.” He kicked at the paper plates near his toe, bearing the remains of their frozen pizzas.
She slapped his leg. “Don’t be a wiseass. Watch, this is a good part.”
Drew slouched down a little more on the futon, trying to get comfortable. It was tempting to try out one of the blow-up pool floats still scattered around the room, but he didn’t want to let go of Liz. When he’d told her he’d read It but hadn’t seen the movie, she’d been so excited for him to watch it, he didn’t have the heart to tell her what he really wanted to do was stretch out on the bed with her.
But this wasn’t so bad, either. As a matter of fact, he could imagine doing it forever—coming home to Liz and having dinner and curling up in front of the television for a while. But, in his imagination, they’d need a few more frozen pizzas and the curling up would wait until the kids were tucked into bed.
His chest ached at the visual, so he tried to push it away. Kissing the top of Liz’s head, he let himself feel content with holding her because ruining the here and now out of fear of the future was a stupid thing to do. And, right now, holding her was enough.
*
Liz lingered at the diner when her shift ended, chatting with Ava and a few of the customers. Drew wouldn’t be out of work for several more hours, anyway, and when your house didn’t have a lot of clutter, it didn’t take a long time to clean.
She was starting to accumulate things, though. Like the coffeemaker Drew bought for her. And the extra razor and shaving cream in her bathroom. And, as of last night, a crisp WPD uniform hanging in her closet. Just in case he overslept on a night he stayed over, he’d said.
Part of her knew it made sense. He spent a lot of time there and rushing in the morning because you didn’t have anything you needed at hand could throw off an entire day. But another part of her was waving a yellow flag, urging her to slow down.
She loved spending time with Drew. Hell, if she was being honest with herself, she was in love with him and that scared the crap out of her. He seemed to be marching resolutely toward the finish line, which in his mind was marriage and babies, while she was content to go on as they were for a while. Spending time together, out of bed as much as in it, was enough for her since she was still adjusting to the changes in her life since leaving Darren and New Mexico behind her.
“You okay, Liz?”
She blinked at Gavin and realized she’d been standing in the kitchen with her keys in her hand for who knew how long. “Yeah. Just got lost in thought. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Doing errands took up some time. She went to the library and visited with Hailey, who had a fresh stack of books to recommend to her. Then she went to the market to pick up a few things and visit with Fran. Since Fran loved to talk, Drew’s cruiser was already in her driveway when she pulled the Mustang in.
He got out when she shut her engine off and opened her door for her. “How was your day?”
She climbed out of the car and kissed him. “It was another day. Better now.”
“I would have gone inside, but chiefs of police aren’t supposed to pick locks.” He winked at her, but she heard the seriousness in his tone. He was hinting at wanting a key.
“You know what they say. It’s only against the law if you get caught.”
He put his hands on his hips and gave her a stern look. “People who say that usually end up in trouble.”
“Again, only if they get caught.” She opened the trunk and he reached around her to grab the few grocery bags. She grabbed the library tote bag and followed him up the steps.
She felt slightly awkward when he had to step aside so she could unlock the door. Maybe she’d managed to put off the key conversation by being funny, but it was going to come up again and she wasn’t sure how she felt about that. Despite his toothbrush on her sink and his uniform in her closet, his having a key to her house seemed like a big deal.
“How was work today?” she asked once they were in the kitchen. “Any crime sprees?”
“Not today. Maybe tomorrow.” He helped her unload the groceries, but he kept glancing at her. “You okay? You seem a little off.”
Liz wasn’t one to let things fester. If something needed to be said, she usually said it. But she wasn’t sure she wanted to say something that might lead to a heavy discussion. They’d only been home from New Hampshire a week and it just didn’t seem like it was time for the exchange of keys yet.