Free Love a Little Sideways by Shannon Stacey Page B

everybody’s schedules, we know two weeks is out of the question, but we can all go over for a week.”
    “I bet Mitch can make that work if I push,” Paige said. “And Ryan can delegate. What about the lodge? If Josh and Katie go, how can you and Andy go, too? You have to be there.”
    “If we go up on a Thursday and leave Wednesday, we’ll only be away one weekend. There’s a big ATV event in central New Hampshire the first weekend the family will be at the campground and everybody seems to be going there. That means we have no bookings to worry about and there’s also plenty of room at the campground.”
    “This is going to be so fun,” Paige said. “Doesn’t it sound fun, Liz?”
    Not really, but rather than come off as a wet blanket, she tried going with the practicality first. “If the diner’s so busy you were able to hire me to take up some slack, how can we both be gone for a week?”
    “Ava and Tori will understand this is a big deal for the family, so they’ll be willing to hold down the fort for a while. And, like Rosie said, most of the four-wheeling crowd will be at that other event anyway.”
    “I don’t have any camping stuff.”
    Paige shrugged. “You could probably bunk down in somebody’s RV. They all have couches.”
    Yeah, and they were mostly newlyweds, parents or—in the case of her uncle Leo—snored like the early rumbles of a major earthquake. But with Rose and Paige both looking at her so expectantly, practically vibrating in their eagerness to start planning this family adventure, she knew it was as good as done.
    She tried to muster a smile to match theirs. “There will be s’mores, right?”
    Within seconds, a notepad appeared on the table and the two women were talking over each other in a rush to make a list of everything they’d need. Liz sipped her decaf tea—which she liked a lot better than decaf instant coffee—and watched them work. Once they started coordinating with Aunt Mary, she knew this would be the best-planned camping trip in the history of the great outdoors. All she had to do was relax and enjoy the vacation.
    “Somebody should tell Drew right away,” Rose said, looking up from the list. “The department’s small, so covering for him might be a problem.”
    Liz almost choked on her tea, but she thought she covered it well. Of course they were going to invite Drew. He was Andy’s son. There was a good chance at some point in the future, he’d be Rosie’s stepson.
    But Drew was becoming a problem for Liz. She already knew they had great sexual chemistry, which was bad enough. Now she was slowly discovering they seemed to have great chemistry in general, and that was worse. If they lived anywhere but Whitford and he was anybody but her brother’s best friend, they’d be spending a lot of time together. Maybe going out to dinner or to a movie. Sitting on her futon, talking about who knew what at the end of the day.
    She knew they wanted different things right now. From what she’d heard, he was looking to be on the fast track to marriage and babies, and she was still hovering at the Start line, wondering if that was a path she was willing to take. But there was still something there, whether it made sense or not.
    “It would be so much fun to have Drew along,” Rose said in a totally innocent voice Liz knew was covering up a devious mind.
    “I’ll have Mitch talk to him today,” Paige said, because there was no way Liz could ask Rose to rethink inviting Drew, of course. Not in front of her sister-in-law. “After I’ve broken the news to Mitch, of course, and knocked down all of his excuses.”
    “He went a few years ago, though only for a couple of days, and he had a good time.”
    “If I have to go, everybody has to go,” Liz added.
    A week in the woods with Drew. And Mitch. What could be more relaxing than that?
    * * *
    Today was one of those days when Drew wished time machines were real so he could go back and politely but firmly