Love a Little Sideways

by Shannon Stacey

  The Whitford Diner first, she decided. Eggs. Bacon. Home fries. Raisin toast. It was enough to propel her into the shower and then out the door.

  Where she lowered herself into the driver’s seat of Drew’s Mustang and stuck the key in the ignition. But she paused a moment before firing up the engine, looking through the windshield at the house she’d rented for who knew how long. It was small but tidy, with gray vinyl siding and white trim around the windows. There wasn’t much for landscaping, but the lawn had been mowed recently and she wondered by whom. She hadn’t explored the backyard yet, so she had no idea if there was a lawn mower lurking in a shed, if one of her brothers had done it, or if the real estate agent had arranged to have it done before Lauren took it off the market.

  She’d felt pretty sorry for herself last night and before she rolled out of bed. She’d wrecked her car, her house echoed and she had to start a new job. But now she breathed in deeply through her nose and blew it out through her mouth.

  She had a friend who cared enough to lend her his classic Mustang. She had a lovely house that wasn’t filled with somebody else’s stuff, but was waiting for her to find new treasures to fill it up. She had a family who loved her enough to make sure she had the bare necessities even though she’d told them she’d be okay. And, thanks to her sister-in-law, she had a job waiting for her.

  For somebody making a fresh start, she had an awful lot going for her.

  With a much better outlook on life, she backed the car out of the driveway and headed in the direction they’d come from the night before. She concentrated on shifting, making sure she didn’t grind any gears while getting used to the clutch. It had been a while since she’d driven a standard. Since the town hadn’t changed much, it didn’t take her long to get her bearings and, before long, she was pulling into the parking lot of her sister-in-law’s restaurant.

  It wasn’t busy, but Liz hoped to chat with Paige a bit, so she took a seat at the counter just as the swinging door to the kitchen opened. A young woman who wasn’t Paige stepped out. She wore a Trailside Diner T-shirt with a little plaque that said Tori pinned to it. Tori’s dark blond hair was pulled into a short ponytail, and her honey-brown eyes crinkled when she smiled in greeting. “You want coffee?”

  What Liz wanted was to dump sugar and cream straight into the full, fresh pot and down the entire thing, but she shook her head. She’d had her cup of instant for the day. “A small OJ and a large ice water, please.”

  “So you must be Liz,” Tori said when she returned with the drinks.

  “What gave me away?”

  “Tall, with dark hair and blue eyes like your brothers, and you’re driving Chief Miller’s Mustang.” She laughed, pulling an order pad out of her apron pocket. “Plus, Paige told me you’d probably show up looking for breakfast.”

  “Rose left me some banana bread and pumpkin muffins, but I need bacon.” She also ordered the eggs, toast and home fries to go with the bacon. “I take it Chief Miller doesn’t let a lot of women drive his car?”

  Oh, that was subtle. Liz wanted to kick herself, but sipped her water and forced herself to look only mildly interested instead.

  “I’ve never seen anybody else drive it, but I figure for your family, he’d make an exception.”

  Right. Because Drew and her oldest brother were best friends. “A tree jumped out and crumpled my fender in the rainstorm last night.”

  Tori laughed. “Hate when they do that. I’d have wrecked my own car, though, if I’d known that beast was available as a loaner.”

  The cook yelled Tori’s name and she left to deliver a tray of food to a table in the back. Liz sipped her water, trying to pretend it was coffee and failing miserably. She should have scrounged up enough change to get a newspaper from the rack out front or brought a book to distract her.

  “Is Paige around?” she asked when Tori moved within earshot.

  “She’s off today. Mitch flew in last night to spend a couple of days, so she asked me to cover for her. Ava comes in for the afternoon shift, but you probably already know that. When are you starting?”

  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?”

  “He did.”

  She took a deep breath and, since the angle he was looking down at her offered a window-framed view of her breasts, he forced himself to look at the trees over the top of the car. Having sexy thoughts about her while discussing Mitch’s reaction to the idea of them having sex didn’t sit well with him. Neither did lying to his best friend, even if only by omission, but there was no point in putting a strain on relationships for what had been nothing more than a quick rebound fling.

  As happy as he was for Mitch and Paige, their wedding had been hard on him. Divorce sucked extra hard when you were celebrating a marriage, and he felt lonely and cold inside. Then he’d seen Liz and turned hot in an instant. She was so vibrant and fun, dancing and laughing with her family but, behind the smile, he could see that she was lonely, too.

  They’d circled around each other during the reception. Glances. Smiles. Touches. Then they’d run into each other in the house and found themselves alone. He still wasn’t sure who moved first, but the kiss made him feel like that bird that rose out of the ashes and they went upstairs.

  Liz was just as vibrant and fun in the bedroom, and Drew wouldn’t want to ever confess how many times he’d thought about that day since. But he’d barely caught his breath before Liz heard her brother Ryan yelling her name and ran off like a teen who’d spotted her parents’ headlights in a window. There had been cake cutting and more celebrating and then he’d been doing the designated-driver thing, so he hadn’t gotten to see her again before she went back to New Mexico.

  Maybe if she’d stayed, it would have amounted to something and they would have told Mitch they were a couple. Instead, the best sex of his life was an awkward secret.

  “It’s not a big deal,” Liz said, and he wasn’t sure if she meant the sex, the Facebook photo or Mitch’s certainty his best friend wouldn’t put the moves on his sister. “I’m not worrying about what people think. I’m starting a new life and I’m going to have fun and do what I want to do. If people want to plaster it on Facebook, more power to them.”

  “Do me a favor and don’t do it at sixty miles per hour, okay?”

  She smiled and looked up at him. “Does that mean you’re letting me off with a warning, Chief Miller?”

  He should give her a warning, all right. A warning not to look at him like that, with her pretty eyes and the smile that looked sweet, but held a hint of naughtiness. “Just this once.”

  After waiting to make sure she pulled the Mustang back onto the road and drove off at a legal speed, Drew did a U-turn and decided to head home for lunch. While most of the time being in the house alone depressed him, sometimes it was a crazy-people-free refuge and that’s what he needed right now.

  He made himself a turkey sandwich on wheat in deference to his uniform’s belt, but then slathered on the mayo in deference to his mood.

  Sitting on one of the two bar stools at his counter, since Mal had taken the dining room set, he ate his sandwich and tried to clear his head. He vaguely remembered, from some high school English class, a story about beautiful women who’d lure sailors in so they smashed their ships on the rocks. That’s how he felt about Liz. Not that she was trying to lure him to his death, but he didn’t seem to be able to resist thinking about her, even knowing it wouldn’t end well.

  Even without Mitch as a rock to crash up against, any relationship between Drew and Liz was a disaster waiting to happen. They were both starting over, but they were going in different directions. Liz wanted to have fun and figure out her new direction in life. Drew already knew what direction he was going in. He wanted children, so he was looking for a wife who wanted the same and he was tired of waiting.

  He needed to stop thinking about Liz Kowalski every time he closed his eyes and start picturing the family he wanted to have. Maybe if he concentrated hard enough, he could imagine the sounds of young voices and the sight of bicycles left in the driveway. He’d wanted that for a long time, but had been married to the wrong woman. Now it was time to start making that dream come true, and being derailed by another wrong woman wasn’t getting him any closer.

  No matter how good she might make him feel, he had to remember Liz wasn’t going to be the mother of his children.

  Chapter Three

  Liz parked in front of the Northern Star Lodge and leaned against the car to look over her childhood home. Somehow it was still the same while not being the same at all. She knew her brothers had done a lot of major remodeling before the wedding eight months ago, but she could see they’d been making constant cosmetic improvements since.

  The huge house gleamed white and the dark green shutters framing the new windows were in perfect condition. Traditional white rocking chairs were placed in conversational groupings along the deep farmer’s porch, which was punctuated by hanging baskets overflowing with bright flowers. The landscaping was lush and inviting, and she could hardly believe this was the same lodge Mitch had sent her photos of back when it was in financial trouble and they’d had to make the decision to sell it or keep it. Even when she was a kid and her dad still ran the place, she didn’t think it had looked this good.

  The front door opened and her brother Josh stepped out into the shade of the porch. She ran up the steps and threw herself into his waiting embrace, so glad she’d decided to move home. Phone calls just weren’t the same.

  “Rosie’s been waiting for you all morning,” he told her. “And she gets up early.”

  “I needed bacon.”

  “Don’t we all?” He held her out at arm’s length. “You look great. A lot happier.”

  “So do you.” The last time she’d seen Josh, he’d been sitting on her front step in New Mexico, sulking because he was trying to convince himself he’d done the right thing in leaving his best friend Katie behind to see the country, and failing. Luckily, he’d figured it all out and returned to the Northern Star Lodge and to Katie, who was Rose’s daughter.

  “Katie’s at work,” he said, looping an arm over her shoulder as they walked toward the front porch. “She was going to close the shop, but nobody was sure quite when you’d get here.”

  Katie Davis owned the only barbershop in Whitford, so it was probably a big deal when she closed it down for a day. “I understand. You two set a wedding date yet?”

  “Not yet. We’re trying to let Ryan and Lauren go first, but if they don’t hurry up, we’re going to stop being nice.”

  Liz laughed, then gave a squeal of delight when the screen door flew open and Rosie stepped out.

  “My girl’s finally home!” Rosie threw her arms around Liz, barely giving Josh time to get out of the way, and squeezed her hard.

  Rose Dav
is had been the housekeeper at the Northern Star all of Liz’s life and, since Sarah Kowalski died when Liz was seven, she’d been the mom of the house, too. She considered the Kowalski kids as much hers as she did her own daughter, Katie, who she’d practically raised at the lodge along with them. And while Katie had been a tomboy, running with Liz’s brothers, Liz had spent her time with Rosie, helping her clean and bake and learning to knit. Now that she was home to stay, it was safe to admit to herself that she’d missed her horribly.

  “When did you get in?” Rosie asked, practically pushing her through the house to the kitchen, where most of the visiting usually took place.

  “Last night. I know I should have called then, but by the time I got settled, it was late enough so I thought you might be in bed already.”

  Rosie’s eyes narrowed. “You stayed at Lauren’s last night?”

  Liz remembered the photo on Facebook. “Yes, but before you jump to any wrong conclusions, I had a small accident and—”

  “An accident? What happened?”

  “My car hydroplaned and sideswiped a tree. I’m fine.” She put her hands up and made a slow circle so Rosie could see for herself. “Drew lent me his Mustang, which is why it was parked in the driveway at midnight.”

  Josh laughed, pulling a chair away from the table so he could turn it around and straddle it backward, ignoring Rosie’s frown. “When people find out you were in the house when the picture was taken, they’ll have something to chew on for a while.”

  Liz felt pinned down by Rosie’s look. She knew Liz and Drew had history, however brief. They’d talked about it before Liz went back to New Mexico and they’d both agreed it was best Mitch not know about it. Liz could only hope Rose’s opinion on that wouldn’t change now that Liz had moved home.

  “Of course not,” Josh replied. “It’s ridiculous. Drew’s too good a friend to Mitch to try something with you.”