All He Ever Desired (The Kowalskis)

by Stacey, Shannon

  Liz had been drinking and disappeared from the reception for a short time. Drew Miller hadn’t been drinking, but he’d also disappeared for the same amount of time at about the same time. And, as far as Rose could tell—and she’d been paying attention—the two of them hadn’t circled within twenty feet of each other or made eye contact for the remainder of the night. She didn’t like where her thoughts had gone during the reception, but she was starting to suspect she wasn’t wrong.

  Liz got halfway through her cake before she set her fork down. “Stop staring at me like I’ve done something wrong and you’re trying to will me to confess.”

  “Ouch,” Katie said. “Hate that look. Always works.”

  “I’m not staring at you.”

  “Yes, you are. And I left Darren last weekend. I moved out.”

  The relief practically knocked Rose out of her chair. Not only the relief that Liz had finally cut loose a man who was no good for her, but that if something happened between Liz and the police chief, she hadn’t cheated. Rose could forgive a lot of flaws in a person, but having been on the short end of that rope, she had no tolerance for cheating. And, no, Drew technically wasn’t divorced yet, but his marriage was definitely over.

  Another consideration was the fact Drew Miller was Mitch’s best friend and that relationship wasn’t broken. It was best for everybody if Liz and Drew’s whereabouts during the reception went undiscovered.

  “Are you coming home?” she asked, because that was the first question that popped into her head.

  “No. And you’re not going to change my mind. I like New Mexico and I have plans there.”

  Rose sighed, but it was a start. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah. It was a long time coming, I guess.”

  “Oh, damn, I have to run.” Katie got up from her seat and dumped her dirty dishes in the sink. “Mr. Wilcox likes his hair cut at noon on Mondays and he doesn’t recognize Columbus Day as a real holiday. He’s ninety-two now and it’s a lot easier to go in and cut his hair than try to convince him I should get the day off with everybody else.”

  After kissing her mother’s cheek, she rushed out, leaving Liz and Rose alone with the rest of the cake. After a moment’s consideration, she cut them each another slice. Sometimes a woman couldn’t have too much cake.

  “I wasn’t going to tell you until I was going out the door,” Liz said. “I didn’t want you to make a fuss and harass me about coming back to Whitford.”

  “I don’t harass you kids. I persistently guide you in the right direction.”

  “You thought I cheated on Darren,” she said, her voice heavy with accusation.

  Rose reached across the table and laid her hand on Liz’s, looking her in the eye. “I was trying my best not to believe it because it wouldn’t be like you.”

  “It was stupid, but it wasn’t cheating. I just wanted you to know that.” She pushed the cake around on her plate. “Just a stupid rebound thing for me and a stupid rebound thing for him, and that’s the end of it. I made him promise not to tell Mitch.”

  “That’s probably for the best, but it might eat at him, you know. Even without telling him, it might hurt their friendship.”

  “So he’ll tell him. Not only am I an adult, but I’m an adult who lives all the way across the country. They can do whatever they want.”

  She could say the words, and maybe even believe them, but Rose could see the unhappiness in her eyes. And in the way she went back to inhaling the chocolate cake. Liz cared a lot about what Mitch thought, and she also wouldn’t want to be responsible for breaking up his friendship with Drew.

  “Hopefully it didn’t mean any more to him than it did to me,” Liz said in a quiet voice. “Then he won’t care enough to have guilt and nothing ever needs to be said again.”

  Rose could only hope. Lord knew, with the kids finally starting to find happiness and love, that wasn’t the kind of family drama she wanted popping up. “Ryan’s going to come looking for you soon. Are you all packed?”

  Liz laughed. “I haven’t started yet.”

  “Maybe that’s a sign you don’t really want to go back to New Mexico.”

  “Or it’s a sign I’ve been sitting in the kitchen eating cake with you instead of packing.”

  Rose laughed and pointed toward the stairs. “Let’s go. I’ll help you because if you miss your flight, you’re calling Mitch to tell him you need a new ticket and interrupting his honeymoon, not me.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Dill and Matt showed up about midmorning on Tuesday, slightly sluggish after the long weekend and complaining about traffic. And Ryan greeted them with happy news.

  “While the family was all together, we looked over the house and we looked over some numbers and we decided to go ahead and put a new roof on. The house and the barn and the shed.” They groaned in unison. “If you guys don’t want to do it, that’s fine. I pay my roofers a little more than my rookie carpenters, so I won’t have any trouble finding other volunteers.”

  “Roofing in October, boss?” Dill didn’t look convinced.

  “Originally, we thought the roof would be okay, but it’s got some punky spots and if we get a heavy snow load and it collapses, we’re screwed.” Since he was there and able to do it, they’d voted to go ahead and get it over with. “We’ll start with the house and move fast. Stripping it totally, right down to new sheathing, but Josh and I will be up there, too, so hopefully with four of us it won’t be bad.”

  Matt looked past him at the lodge. “Man, that’s a lot of roof.”

  Dill slapped him on the shoulder. “And that equals a lot of money.”

  “Good point.”

  Ryan knew they’d both stick it out. “Start taking measurements then. I want to be damn sure we have everything on hand before we strip a single shingle. Long-range forecast looks decent, but I don’t want to be wasting time making supply runs while the roof’s open.”

  While the guys got busy on that, Ryan grabbed his clipboard and went through the smaller things left to be done. A lot of it could be done during downtime or when it rained. There were a few inside things he wanted to address, like the basement stairs. They were old and narrow. It wouldn’t take long to replace them, and new ones would not only be safer, but would be more attractive to a potential buyer if they put it on the market.

  He looked at his phone’s clock for the umpteenth time, but the day was refusing to do anything but crawl by. He’d given Lauren some space over the weekend to deal with her son and Dean, but he was anxious to talk to her. Not so anxious he’d be obnoxious and call her at work, though.

  He threw himself into work to take his mind off her, hoping the hours would fly by. He made a few phone calls, looking for the best deal on a construction Dumpster. The guys had been making dump runs with the pickup as needed, but there was no way that would work for stripping the roofs.

  Once the guys started seriously taking measurements, he joined them on the roof. At this time of year, he didn’t want to chance any screwups, so they checked and rechecked every measurement. Once they’d sketched out the house, they moved to the barn.

  He must have lost track of the time after all, because Rosie appeared at the base of the ladder and hollered to him. “I heard the bus go by and it didn’t stop. Did you know Nick wasn’t coming today?”

  His stomach sank. Shit. “No, I didn’t.”

  “Lauren would have called us if she’d known he wasn’t going to be here. Something’s wrong.”

  What was wrong was the kid had walked in on him in bed with Lauren and now he didn’t want to face him. Ryan climbed down the ladder and pulled out his phone. “I’ll call her now. Let her know he didn’t get off the bus.”

  Rose was giving him the look and he knew she had more she wanted to say. He didn’t want to hear it, to be honest,
but a lifetime of experience told him to let her say her piece and get it over with.

  “That boy was doing really well,” she said. “Not only was working with you guys good for him, but he was doing better in school.”

  “Jesus, Rosie. Maybe he didn’t feel good or something.”

  “So it’s just a coincidence that Saturday night you didn’t come home and today he didn’t show up?”

  “Fine. And Sunday morning Lauren and I woke up to Nick standing in her bedroom door and Dean in the living room. Happy?”

  “Oh, no.” She put her hand over her heart. “What a mess.”

  “Yeah, so that’s probably why he didn’t get off the bus.”

  “I still think Lauren would have called if she’d known he wasn’t coming.”

  He held up the phone. “Which is why I’m going to call her.”

  When she just stood there watching him, he turned around and walked to his truck. Once locked inside, he pulled up Lauren’s number and hit Call. It rang twice and he would have smiled when he heard her say hello if not for the circumstances.

  “Hey, it’s Ryan.”

  “Hi.” She paused for a couple of seconds. “I was going to call you. I just...wasn’t sure what to say. And I’m at work, actually.”

  “I know. I was going to call you later tonight if you didn’t call me first. But I’m calling now because Nick didn’t get off the bus.”

  He could practically feel the exhaustion in her sigh over the phone. “He seemed okay this morning. I would have called if I didn’t think he was going to show up.”

  “Which is why I called you.”

  “It’s pretty slow today. I’ll sneak out early and go talk to him.”

  He didn’t want the call to end. “Is everything okay? I mean, I know this is a problem, but...in general.”

  “Everything’s okay. I’m sorry there was such a scene. I was looking forward to making you breakfast, you know.”

  “Is Nick going to his dad’s this weekend?” He knew he shouldn’t push, especially in the middle of a situation with Nick, but he couldn’t help it.

  “Yes, but I have to see if he’s okay. It’s...complicated.”

  It wasn’t a no, so he’d take it. “We’ll play it by ear.”

  “I really need to go. I want to make sure he went home and isn’t getting in more trouble somewhere.”

  “Call me and let me know how it goes. And if he’ll be here tomorrow.”

  “I will. Bye, Ryan.”

  He closed his phone and sat there drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. What a mess.

  But for once in his life, this was one mess he wasn’t in any hurry to extricate himself from.

  * * *

  Lauren had just pulled out of the insurance company’s parking lot when her phone rang again. Thinking it had to be Nick, she answered it without looking at the screen. “Hello?”

  “You haven’t called me.” It was Hailey, and Lauren rolled her eyes. “I know you’re at work, but I heard Rose Davis’s car was parked outside your house all Saturday night and I’m pretty curious why I didn’t know about that.”

  “I’m not at work. I’m on my way home because Nick didn’t get off the bus at the Northern Star today.”

  “Possibly connected to Rose’s car spending the night at your house?”

  “I’d say probably.” She really didn’t want to go into it, but she might as well get it over with. “Dean brought Nick home early. Sunday morning, actually. We were still in bed.”

  “Oh, shit. Was it bad?”

  “Dean was a jerk about it and I had to throw him out. Nick’s been quiet, but I thought he was doing okay. He’s having some issues with his dad and Jody, too, so maybe it was just too much.”

  “What a freakin’ headache. But was Ryan worth it?”

  Lauren smiled, even though Hailey couldn’t see her. She couldn’t help it. “He was worth it.”

  “Oh, customers. Call me later.”

  When she got home, Lauren was relieved to see Nick’s backpack dumped inside the door, as usual. Though she’d been pretty sure he had come home instead of going to Ryan’s, not knowing exactly where he was wasn’t a good feeling.

  “Nick?”

  He came out of the kitchen, opening a can of soda. “What are you doing home early?”

  “I’m home early because I got a phone call you didn’t get off the bus at the lodge.”

  “I was going to call you. I just wanted a drink first.”

  “What about calling them? They were expecting you and it’s not like it was a social visit. You have an obligation to be there.”

  He set his jaw in an imitation of Dean’s stubborn look. “I didn’t feel like it today.”

  “You keep telling me you’re responsible enough to take driver’s ed and drive my car, but then you pull something like this?”

  “Something like what? I don’t want to see him. It’s weird.”

  She had no doubt it was a little weird. But it didn’t change the fact he’d made a deal with Ryan and now he wasn’t living up to it. “You see Jody every weekend. That’s not weird.”

  “Dad married her. It’s different.”

  He certainly hadn’t been married to her in the beginning, but Lauren let that whole thread drop. “Fine. Put your shoes back on and get in the car.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “We’re going to the lodge so you can apologize for not showing up and tell them you’ll be there tomorrow.”

  “Can’t you just pay what’s left?”

  “No, I can’t.” She prayed for patience because she was about out. “This is your mess, you gave your word and you’re going to honor it.”

  “Whatever.” He shoved his feet into his sneakers and stormed out to the car.

  Nick ignored her for the entire drive, which was fine with her. Her stomach was twisted up and her head was starting to ache. By the time they parked behind Ryan’s truck, she was ready for the entire male species to disappear off the planet.

  Until Ryan walked out onto the porch and smiled at her. She didn’t want him to disappear anytime soon. Then he turned his attention to Nick and his expression was a little less warm.

  She had to give her son a little nudge to get him up on the porch, but then he straightened up and looked Ryan in the eye. “I’m sorry I didn’t call and tell you I wasn’t coming.”

  “You worried Rose and probably your mother, too.”

  “But not you, right?” He said it with a little bit of a sneer, but Lauren stayed back. If Ryan didn’t like his tone, he’d let him know.

  “Not really. I know why you didn’t show up.”

  Nick squirmed under Ryan’s calm stare. “It’s just...weird. I thought my mom would pay what’s left, but she said I had to keep working it off.”

  “Good for her. You’re not seven, Nick, and it’s not weird. What it is, is none of your business. What is your business is this—I like your mother. I respect your mother. I like you. And, up until this afternoon, I respected you.”

  “You did?”

  “You screwed up, which happens, but you came here every day you said you would to work it off. Now today, you’re here ready to throw your mother under the financial bus because seeing me might be a little weird?”

  “I’m sorry.”

  Lauren hoped Ryan could see that was about as huge a concession as he’d get from her son. It was incredibly hard to watch silently and not mediate, but Nick was sixteen now. He needed to learn how to deal with other men as a man.

  “Apology accepted. So what are you going to do?”

  “I’ll work if you let me. Starting tomorrow, if that’s okay.”

  “As long as you understand my relationship with your mom and my relations
hip with you are connected, but still separate.”

  The word relationship echoed around in Lauren’s mind. She knew what he meant—or she was pretty sure she did—but the word still stuck.

  Nick stuck out his hand and Ryan shook it. “I’ll be here tomorrow.”

  “Good. Now go in and apologize to Rose for worrying her. And tell her I said you could have some of those oatmeal raisin cookies she baked this morning.”

  Nick was through the front door in an instant. Lauren laughed, stepping closer to Ryan. “You handled that perfectly. Thank you. Although, he probably doesn’t deserve any cookies.”

  “I was on the receiving end of that kind of talking-to more often than I can even count.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her close. “I missed you.”

  She didn’t get a chance to respond before he kissed her. He slid his hands over her shoulders and up the sides of her neck so he was cradling her head. His mouth tasted like oatmeal raisin cookies and she smiled against his lips.

  “Hey, boss?” The shout from around the side of the lodge made him end the kiss with a sigh.

  “Let me take you to dinner on Saturday,” he said.

  “Ryan!” The voice—she thought it was Dill—was getting closer.

  She stood on her tiptoes to give him a quick kiss. “I’d like that.”

  Nick exited the house at the same time Dill turned the corner. Though her son’s expression closed off a little when he saw her standing so close to Ryan, he just said, “See you tomorrow,” and walked to the car.

  “Sorry to interrupt,” Dill said, “but we want you to take a look at the flashing on the big chimney.”

  “I’ll see you tomorrow when I pick up Nick,” Lauren said, moving toward the stairs.

  “If I’m not around, I’ll give you a call. Five o’clock Saturday?”

  She nodded and lifted her hand in a wave before going to the car. Once they were on the main road, Nick took a folded-up napkin out of his pocket and unwrapped an oatmeal raisin cookie.