“See? One person down. That should make it so much easier to grab some alone time for a quickie.”
“Uh-huh. Good luck with that.”
“Now you’re challenging me. You know how much I love a challenge.”
He walked away, shaking his head. As if he didn’t believe she could find a way to get him alone in his parents’ house for sex. Did he not know her at all? When she was determined to have something, nothing got in her way.
Not even a houseful of Rileys.
She went upstairs to change. Gavin came up to change, too, and they headed over to his parents’ house. As soon as they walked in, the smell of baked bread assailed her. Her stomach growled. Gavin looked over at her.
“Hungry?”
“Ravenous.” She gave him a direct look.
“I believe you’re trying to seduce me.”
She saw Gavin’s mother coming toward them down the hall, so she gave him a quick smile. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She hugged Kathleen, then Jimmy, who’d entered the room behind Kathleen. The house was full, the women gathered in the kitchen and the guys in the living room. She made her way into the throng of females, all talking over each other in groups.
“And then he said he wanted a bigger house,” Tara said with a roll of her eyes.
“Bigger than the five bedroom?” Kathleen asked. “For what?”
“I have no idea. Maybe he thinks we’re going to have six more kids or something. If he does, he’s going to need to practice polygamy, because this uterus is closed for business.”
Liz laughed and poured a glass of iced tea. “What? You’re not going to pop out two or three more?”
“I don’t think so. I have an eighteen-year-old son and one that’s just about ready to walk. That’s more than enough children for me to handle.”
“Maybe he doesn’t like the house,” Jenna suggested, popping a cherry tomato into her mouth.
“I saw that Jenna. Those are for the salad.”
“Sorry, Mom.” Jenna winked at Liz, who smiled at her.
“He loves the house. It has plenty of room both inside and out. Plus there’s the game room. So I don’t know what he was thinking.”
“Does he miss living in San Francisco? Do you?”
Liz caught the look of concern on Kathleen’s face.
“Not at all, Mom. Mick’s only there for home games with the Sabers, and the condo there is fine for him. St. Louis is home to us—to me and to Nathan and to Sam. This is where we’re staying.”
“Okay. I just wanted to be sure.”
Tara slid off the bar stood and went over to hug Kathleen. “Don’t worry about us leaving. We’re happy here. My guess is Mick thinks I want a bigger office space, or maybe a separate place to house an office.”
“Do you?”
“No. I like working outside the house. I need my retail space where clients can see me. Plus, would we really want my staff traipsing in and out of our house?”
“Lord. I know I wouldn’t,” Savannah said.
“Neither would I.” Liz agreed. She knew having people other than family in her house would drive her crazy. Of course, she sometimes answered emails or made phone calls from home at night or on the weekends, but primarily she worked nine to five. “I need my office. It’s where the majority of my work gets done. I like to keep my office and home life separate.”
“A-men,” Tara said. “Plus I get walk-in traffic at the shop. I’d never want to lose that.”
“Or have them show up at your house,” Jenna said.
Tara nodded. “Exactly.”
“So I understand where Mick is coming from. He knows I miss Sam when I’m at work, but I also love my job and want to continue to do it.”
Kathleen rubbed her arm. “He just wants you to be happy.”
Tara smiled. “I am happy. Happier than I ever thought I’d be.”
“And speaking of all things happy,” Jenna said, “I have a few wedding details. Well, actually they’re not wedding details so much as they are the fun stuff before the wedding details. We have final dress fittings on Thursday night, and the bachelorette party trip is this weekend. Just in case any of you forgot, which I’m hoping you didn’t.”
“I definitely didn’t forget,” Liz said. “I’ve been looking forward to that trip for months.”
“Me, too,” Savannah said. “I can’t wait.”
“Everyone’s coming, right?”
“I will not be coming to the bachelorette party,” Jenna’s mom said.
“Aww, Mom, you know you’re welcome to come.”
Kathleen gave Jenna a smile. “I’ll be babysitting my adorable grandson this weekend so Tara can go. Besides, I’ve done my partying. You girls can go have some fun drinking and carousing. I’ll be happy to have Sam all to myself.”
Liz took out her phone. “By the way, I’m going to be out of town Monday through Thursday, but I’ll be back Thursday afternoon.”
Alicia nodded and grabbed her phone. “Are we doing the fitting at the bridal shop on Thursday? And what time?”
“Yes,” Jenna said. “At six thirty.”
“No problem.”
“Six thirty works for me, too,” Liz said. “My flight gets in at three.”
“What are we synchronizing our phones for, ladies?” Gavin asked as he walked in to get a beer. “Planning epic world domination?”
Liz laughed. “Sort of. Wedding stuff.”
“No, pre-wedding stuff,” Jenna corrected. “Dress fittings and the bachelorette party.”
Jenna turned to him. “Speaking of, care to share the details of the bachelor party with me?”
Gavin shot Jenna an enigmatic smile. “Nope.”
“Damn you, Gavin.”
He grinned at Jenna, screwed the top off his beer, then shot Liz a look. “You aren’t going to get drunk and dance naked on the table at a bar, are you?”
“I don’t know. Will you come rescue me if I do?”
“Sure. As soon as I get video.”
She shook her head. “And all this time I thought you were my protective knight in shining armor.”
He walked by and kissed her cheek. “How foolish of you, wife.”