Liz wasn’t sure, actually. “She told me to take a few days to settle in, so maybe next Monday or Tuesday. I’ll have a few days to get my bearings before the weekend.”
It occurred to Liz there was a possibility Tori wasn’t her biggest fan and was hiding it well. If Paige had exaggerated how much business had picked up so she’d take the job, having Liz around might cut into Tori’s tips.
“It’ll be nice having you on board,” the younger woman said, and she sounded sincere. “I’m supposed to be very part-time, just to get out of my apartment and meet people, but between the increased business and Paige cutting back to spend time with Mitch, I’m here a lot more than I intended to be.”
The cook yelled Tori’s name again and she walked away again before Liz could respond. She kept herself busy reorganizing the sugar packets in their container until Tori set her plate in front of her. The bacon went a long way in bolstering her new and improved positive attitude.
Once she was done, she left her money on the counter, took a menu from the stack by the register so she could familiarize herself with it, and walked out into the sunshine. It was getting hotter and the humidity didn’t help. She’d forgotten how much more humid it was in New England, and she cursed herself for not putting her hair into a ponytail before leaving the house.
Since there was a good chance somebody was already telling Rosie that Liz had been spotted at the diner, she decided to make the Northern Star her next stop. She could visit for a while and still have time to do the rest of her errands in the afternoon.
Liz kept her foot light on the Mustang’s accelerator through town, but once she was free of the downtown proper, she opened it up a little. The car was made to run, and, since it didn’t have air-conditioning, she needed the extra air flow through the windows.
She was almost to the turnoff for the lodge and about to let up on the gas pedal when she heard the siren and glanced in the rearview mirror to see flashing blue lights.
*
Less than twenty-four hours, Drew thought as he watched Liz put on her blinker to pull over. Not even a full day and the woman was being a pain in the ass.
She hadn’t even seen his SUV through the break in the trees where he was waiting to pull out after doing a wellness check down a long back road. He’d been in the process of looking both ways when the Mustang—his Mustang—had blown by him.
Cursing under his breath, Drew pulled in behind her on the shoulder and threw the SUV in Park. He got on the radio and told his dispatcher he was stepping out of his vehicle for a traffic stop, but then hesitated when she offered to run the plate. After assuring her it was a minor infraction and nobody would be getting a ticket, he got out and walked to the car.
He might want to handcuff her, pat her down and lock her in the truck with him for a while, but he wasn’t going to give her a ticket. Not only had she suffered enough vehicular trouble lately, but he didn’t want his tags on a violation tag.
Liz started to open the door, but he shoved it closed. “Stay in the vehicle. You know that.”
He bent down to look in the window and got sucker punched by her smile. It was the Kowalski get-out-of-trouble smile and God knew he’d seen Mitch and his brothers use it on women so often he usually just rolled his eyes.
But with her head tilted a little sideways and her blue eyes crinkling, Liz’s smile did something to his insides and he straightened again. Folding his arms over his chest as if they were armor, he glared down at her.
“I’m really sorry, Drew,” she said in a soft voice.
“What is it with you Kowalskis? When I’m in uniform and you’re in trouble, it’s Chief Miller.”
“Just how much trouble am I in?”
Not as much as he was, if she didn’t stop looking at him like that. “You’re speeding. In the police chief’s car.”
She held up her hand, holding her thumb and index finger a half inch apart. “Just a little.”
“Isn’t it bad enough there’s a picture on Facebook of my car in your driveway at midnight? What’s next? A picture of my car laying rubber down the main street?”
“I didn’t lay rubber down...wait. What picture on Facebook?”
“You haven’t talked to Mitch?”
That certainly wiped the charming smile off her face. “Not yet. Why is there a picture of my house on Facebook?”
“And my car. He stopped by my office this morning. Wanted to know why my car was in your driveway at midnight with no lights on in the house.”
“Oh. Well, at least there’s an easy explanation for that, and not many people know I’ve moved in there. Yet.”
He felt his jaw clench. “He says he won’t be too fazed by gossip because he knows I’d cut off my own balls before I’d put a hand on you.”
He watched her expression as the words sunk in, until she turned to stare out the windshield and drummed her fingers on the steering wheel. “Did he say that?”