Together, they readied things for the next day’s breakfasts; they put up the lunches the men would carry with them the following morning, and Esther played sous chef as Lissa made dinner. The men ate at six; Esther tidied up and loaded the dishwasher.
That left Lissa free to relax with Nick before the fire in his office over glasses of ginger ale topped with slices of lime before they had dinner together. If the weather was warm enough, they had their drinks on the back porch.
First, though, there was what had become the dinner ritual.
Tonight was no exception.
The men trooped in, clean-shaven, hands and faces shiny and scrubbed. As always, Ace was their spokesman.
“’Evenin’, ma’am.”
“Good evening, Ace. How was your day?”
“Excellent, ma’am. Truly fine.”
“I’m happy to hear it. Everything’s on the sideboard, but if you need anything, Esther’s right in the kitchen.”
“We’ll be fine, ma’am. You jes’ go on and join the boss. He’ll be waitin’ on you.” He blushed. “I mean, there’s no need to worry about us.”
“Thank you,” Lissa said politely. She went back into the kitchen, took off her apron, grabbed her sweater, said goodnight to Esther and headed out to the back porch that extended the length of the house. As she shut the kitchen door, the door to Nick’s office opened and he stepped outside, too.
Her heartbeat skittered. Was it really going to do that each time she saw him?
“Hey,” he said softly.
She smiled. “Hey, yourself.”
Brutus greeted her joyously.
“He acts as if we’ve been apart for ages,” she said, laughing.
“Yeah,” Nick said. “I know just how he feels.” He cupped Lissa’s face with his hands and lifted it to his for a tender kiss. “For instance, it seems forever since I did that.”
Lissa touched the tip of her finger to his mouth.
“Two hours and twenty-two minutes.” She smiled again. “Not that I’m counting.”
He linked his hands at the base of her spine.
“I figured it was too cool out here tonight. How about if we have our drinks in the living room for a change?”
“We’d have to go through the kitchen to get to the living room.”
“So?”
“So, it turns out your crew is keeping an eye on us.”
“I’m afraid to ask. What’d they say?”
Lissa did a creditable imitation of Ace. Nick laughed.
“OK. We’ll have to detour. Go in through my office—”
“—sneak down the hall….” She sighed. “I haven’t sneaked around with a boy since I dated Jefferson Beauregard the Third.”
“Jefferson Beauregard the Third?”
“The Third. He’d take a fit if you were foolish enough to forget that number!”