Page 24 of Every Little Kiss
Liv looked down and realized she’d been itching her wrist, so she sat on her hands. “Between Paxton and work, I never know what my schedule is going to look like. I didn’t feel comfortable promising I’d be there if I couldn’t be sure I wouldn’t have to flake. So it is easier to pop in when I can.”
Avery leaned in and asked, “So what has you popping in today?”
Besides avoiding a too-young man and all of his too-good lines?
“I talked to Dr.Brown about the Mobile Medic position, and she said I have all the qualifications she’s looking for.” It wasn’t a complete lie. Dr.Brown had said she needed to get involved in the community, and now she was sitting at a community meeting.
“Liv, that’s amazing,” Avery said. “It will give you the hours you’ve been asking for and the extra benefits for being full-time.”
It was all those things and so much more.
“Except, she needs someone who is involved in the community. And since the other person on her list is Kevin Curtis—”
“Mr.Sequoia Lake Curtis?” Grace asked, plucking a second cupcake from the plate and handing it to Liv. “Seriously, senior year I was voted Most Likely to Study Abroad, and he was voted Most Likely to Be Mayor.”
“Which is why I’m here.” Liv licked the frosting off the top of the cupcake like it was an ice cream cone. “The best way to prove to her that I’m invested in this community is to help out with Wagon Days. And while I don’t bake anything but cupcakes, and I can’t craft,” she said, convinced she sounded like the worst mother on the planet, “I make a mean Rice Krispies treat, and I’m as cool as a cucumber under pressure.”
“A cucumber, huh?” Avery teased and let out a big yawn.
“Early morning at the lodge?” Grace asked.
“Nope. A couple of late nights with my sous chef.”
“How did the iron steak and sweet potato mash turn out the other night?”
“Inedible.” Yet her friend couldn’t stop smiling. “I overcooked the steak, burned the sauce, and didn’t even get to the green beans before Ty got home, looking like a rugged, hungry mountain man. So I made omelets in nothing but my heels and a spatula. According to Ty, I should check off another adventure in my journal, because he thinks I’m Sequoia Lake’s hottest chef.”
Liv remembered those early years, before kids and mortgages, when everything between Sam and her was so simple. Spontaneous and easy. Every little thing was an excuse to fall into bed together. They had miss-you sex, make-up sex, morning sex, mad-for-you sex. And her personal favorite, maybe-we’ll-get-caught sex. Which happened often, but rarely happened in a bed. And they never got caught.
That was the Sam she’d mourned, the marriage she’d grieved. But the grieving had started long before the accident.
“Was there dessert? I mean, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t feel comfortable,” Grace said, tearing off the top of her cupcake and flipping it over to make a cupcake sandwich. “But please tell me. The closest I’ve come to sex on a stick was eating a Fudgsicle while watching the lawn boy manicure my hedges.”
“Why don’t you ask Liv?” Avery said, skewering Liv with an amused look that sent her pulse skyrocketing.
“Why me? A Fudgsicle makes my vanilla ice cream sundae sound tame,” Liv said coolly. Only her palms were starting to sweat, and her cheeks felt awfully red for a girl who hadn’t spent much time in the sun.
“I was talking about you playing doctor with Cub Candy the other day—”
“Cub Candy with the abs and perfect butt?” Grace asked.
“I had an emergency. He happened to pass by and lent me his finger,” Liv said, and Grace’s mouth fell open. “He was helping me stitch up Superdog Stan!”
“What exactly was he helping you do on the beach at sunset, then?” Avery asked.
“Nothing,” Liv said, but Avery wasn’t having it.
Giving another yawn, her friend sat back in her chair and settled in for the long haul. “From what I heard, it looked like a whole lot of something was going on.”
And since Avery had more sources than the local newspaper, Liv knew there was no point in lying. “Fine. I came home to Paxton hiding Ford’s dog in his room, so I went over to his house to return him. Ford was there, and I thanked him for helping with Stan, then apologized for my son being a pet-tomaniac. No big deal.”
“Even a blind woman would agree that Cub Candy in nothing but lake water and a wetsuit is a big deal,” Avery said.
Liv held up a hand. “Can you please stop referring to him as a cub? It’s not like he’s a coed guy spending his summers paddling around the lake and picking up on sun bunnies.”
He was spending his summer rappelling from mountains and rescuing coeds. Big difference. Or so she’d told herself every night when she’d fallen asleep thinking about just how hard those glistening abs would feel—above her.
Both women exchanged a pointed look that, combined with the snorts, had Liv squirming in her scrubs.
