Love in a Nutshell - Janet Evanovich [54]
“Silverware goes in the drawer second down from the end,” Matt said.
They worked in silence for a minute or so, then he asked, “So you’ve seen my crew. What’s yours like?”
“Smaller. Different.”
“Any sisters?” Matt asked while digging through the contents of a lower cupboard.
“One sister and one brother. Bunny and Chip.”
“Seriously, those are their names?”
“Well, actually Barb and Larry, just like my mom and dad. Everyone calls them Bunny and Chip to save confusion.” She pointed to a harvest gold–colored plastic bowl filled with salad greens. “Do you know where the top to this is?”
He rummaged through the bottom drawer, then paused to look up at her. “So among you summer people, when do adults become too old for names like that?”
“Never. The same holds true in the townie set. Witness Junior Greinwold.”
Matt laughed. “Point taken.”
He handed her the bowl’s lid. “So how’d you luck out and end up without a nickname?”
Kate returned the salad to the fridge. “It was a near miss. Since mom and dad had already used up their own names, they could have moved on to the family parakeet’s.”
“Which was?”
“Spike.”
Matt smiled. “I kind of like it. I think there might be some Spike in you. Remember, I saw you take down the fire chief,” Matt said. “That was definitely a Spike moment.”
Kate squelched a groan. “What should I do with the garlic bread?”
He handed her a box of aluminum foil. “How about if we take the bread and spaghetti to the hospital crew? I know Maura thinks this is going be fast, but I remember what it was like in that waiting room last time.” He smiled. “All the same, it’s totally worth the wait.”
Kate hesitated in her wrapping.
“What?” he asked. “Maybe just the spaghetti should go?”
“No, definitely the garlic bread. But how about if I just help you get things packaged up? I’d feel a little intrusive being there. I mean, Maura and I just met.”
Kate loved what she had seen of the Culhanes, but whatever she and Matt had going on between them didn’t make her family.
“Huh. I guess I wasn’t looking at it that way,” Matt said. “I was thinking more about how I’d like you to be there.”
“You would?”
He came closer and tipped up her chin so that their eyes met. “I like being with you. I like having you next to me. Haven’t you figured that out yet?” Matt lowered his mouth to hers and brushed a light kiss across her lips.
TWELVE
Kate had become a human battlefield. Ten days of excitement over heading home to Royal Oak warred with ten nights’ worth of nervous insomnia produced by the same trip. She’d been tempted to go with Matt to the hospital or his bedroom or wherever their kiss might lead, but in the end, she had him drop her off at her house before he went to find Maura and the rest of his family. The sun hadn’t completely risen when Matt pulled up The Nutshell’s drive. Kate, however, had been packed and ready for a good couple of hours. Preloaded with caffeine, she was waiting by the front door with her suitcase in hand. Matt exited the truck, took the suitcase, and stuck it in the backseat.
Matt opened the passenger door. “Do you want to lock up the house?”
“I can’t lock it. I don’t think we’ve had keys since my parents bought the place. All I can do is dead-bolt it from the inside. Let’s just go.”
“I don’t want to be an alarmist, but since I just changed the locks at the brewery and hired a night guard, I’m tuned in to security issues. Keene’s Harbor’s a great place, but we have our share of crazies, too.”
“All under control. Avanti.”
Matt glanced at Kate. She was really ready. Almost too ready. “Is everything okay?”
Kate fidgeted in her seat. “Everything is perfectly under control.”
The front door burst open and two or three workmen in hazmat jumpsuits ran out the door waving their arms frantically, screaming jibberish. Matt watched as they ran to the back of Kate’s house and jumped into the lake.
Matt got out of his car and walked up to Kate’s front door. There was a faint buzzing coming from inside her house.
He peeked inside