Miranda woke with a start. For a moment, she forgot where she was, until she heard Drew snoring softly beside her and memories of the night before came flooding back. She sighed in satisfaction and burrowed her head into the pillow. It hadn't been a dream after all.
She smiled as Drew snuggled up against her. She could stay in bed with him like this all day. The man she loved. Her fiancé. Wow. That sounded nice. She could get used to saying that. Still, she did have a business to run, and she could only leave Tommy with Kayla for so long without feeling guilty about it.
She gave Drew a light kiss on the cheek before attempting to get out of bed. If she were extremely careful, she might be able to get up without waking him. He looked beat, but after last night, who wouldn't be? Her cheeks burned at the thought of what they had done together, and she thought briefly of staying right where she was, but then thought better of it. She might be good and ready to admit there was a place for love in her life, but she wasn't willing to shirk her responsibilities.
She gasped, a warm hand reaching out to grab her arm just as her feet hit the cold wood floor.
"Where do you think you're going?" Drew said, his voice dripping with sleep and sex.
"I have to, Drew. I'm sorry." She couldn't help but laugh at his pouty expression. "Anyway, I thought you said you were sleeping in today. Didn't you say you had the day off?"
"No rest for the wicked." He pulled her back down on the bed and rolled on top of her.
"Really," she said. "I have to check on Tommy."
"I talked to my sister last night, remember? He's fine."
"But we should also help clean up. You know how messy it gets after the party, and—"
He stopped her with a kiss. "And you also know no one ever starts cleaning up until at least noon and it's only—" He paused to glance at his watch. "It's only seven thirty now, which means we've got plenty of time." He bent to kiss her once again.
She might have argued more, but his hands were busy exploring all those places only he knew where to find. She moaned, half in annoyance that he could make her give in so easily. But it wasn't long before the morning sun and Drew's hands, along with the soft yielding bed, had her convinced that she was right where she needed to be. For the moment, anyway.
∞ ∞ ∞
It was almost 11:00 a.m. before they finally crawled out of bed. Miranda stumbled to the shower, ignoring Drew's protests. "If you won't come back to bed, then at least let me get in the shower with you." He came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist.
"Mmm," she said. "Sounds wonderful, but don't tempt me, Drew. We really have been gone way too long."
"All right," he said, with obvious misgiving. "But, hurry it up. I'm not sure how long my resolve will hold out."
True to her word, and wary of Drew's potentially waning resolve, Miranda made quick work of her shower, stepping from the tub with renewed spirits and the energy she needed to leave their bedroom cocoon and face the real world again. It was a good thing Drew had been living at the house, too. Otherwise, she'd have had to put her dirty clothes back on. As it was, Drew's shirt hung like a dress on her small frame, and his shorts were more like capri pants, but at least they were clean.
"Wake up, sleepyhead." Miranda laughed. "Why are you still in bed? We have to get going."
"Not sleeping. Just waiting for you to get out of the shower."
"Uh-huh." Miranda laughed and shook her head. His voice was as drowsy as they come, and he could barely get the words out over the huge yawn in his throat. "Okay, well I'm out now. Where's my phone anyway? I wanted to call Kayla earlier, but I couldn't find it."
"Here." He rummaged in the pile of blankets and twisted sheets and tossed it to her, then grabbed some clean clothes out of a drawer. "I'll be quick, I promise." He paused long enough to give her a quick smile. "You look hot in my shirt, by the way. Are you sure I can't convince you to...?"
She threw a pillow across the room at him, and they both laughed when it bounced off his mouth and landed at his feet. It felt good to laugh. It felt good to be truly happy again.
"Get in the shower, Drew,” she said. “There'll be plenty of time for that later."
“Good shot.” Drew used the pillow to cover his naked behind as he headed for the shower. “Just for that, you don’t get to leer at me.” He stopped just outside the door and dropped the pillow. “Okay, maybe just a quick peek.”
Miranda tossed a second pillow in Drew’s direction, but he dashed behind the door before it could hit its mark. She grabbed her phone, but waited until she heard the water running and Drew singing terribly off-key before making the call. She knew Kayla would have questions and she wanted to be able to talk without the benefit of Drew's listening ears.
Of course, her phone had died during the night, so she grabbed Drew's charger from the nightstand and plugged it into her phone and the wall outlet. She waited impatiently while it cycled through the greeting phase. Before she could dial Kayla's number, however, a message flashed on her screen. Sixteen missed calls. Wow. She quickly scrolled to the messages folder, but there were none. She grabbed Drew's phone and found it turned off, as well. She pushed the power button, and it began to cycle through. Not dead, at least. Nerves jangling, she tried to call Kayla from her phone, while Drew's was powering on. No answer. A familiar loud beep from Drew's phone. She glanced at his screen. Over a dozen missed calls on his phone, too. What was going on?
She walked into the bathroom right in mid-chorus of some eighties hair band ballad Drew was belting out and poked her head around the shower curtain.
"Hey," Drew said, his look of surprise morphing to one of mischief. "What's up? Did you change your mind?"
"No." Her matter of fact tone stopped Drew's laughter abruptly. "Did you know your phone was turned off last night?"
"Yeah," he said. "I turned it off after Susie kept calling, remember?"
"Uh-huh." She nodded her head. "I guess I do remember that now."
"Is something wrong, babe?" He turned off the water and grabbed a towel.
"I'm not sure."
Drew looked at her, quizzically.
"I mean, my battery died last night, and when I turned it on, I saw that I have over a dozen missed calls. When I turned yours on, I see you've missed a bunch, too. Only a couple are from Susie. The rest are from Kayla, Jordan, and your parents."
"Any messages?"
"No. Kayla didn't answer when I called, either."
"Give me five minutes." Drew jumped out of the tub and began to towel off. "I'll get dressed and we can take my truck back to the Inn. In the meantime, try to call home and see if you can get anybody."
Drew took only five minutes, but it felt much longer. Miranda had tried Kayla and Jordan each twice before deciding to try Max and Nancy—all with no luck. She finally had the bright idea to call the Inn, where someone had to be working the front desk or in the kitchen. No luck there, either. She got an answer all right, just not the one she was looking for. The front desk clerk informed her that the family was meeting in the private living quarters and had asked not to be disturbed. Of course, the clerk had offered to get one of them for her, but she declined after confirming that there was nothing physically wrong with Tommy or any of the others. By the time the clerk was able to get somebody to the phone, she and Drew would already be there.
Drew's truck was fast, but the ride was bumpy. After all, it wasn't a real road leading from the new house to the Inn. It had just recently been cut from brush and clay. Barely a passable foot path, let alone comfortable driving terrain. Taking the main road wouldn’t have been much better, though. It was paved and smooth, but it was a more circuitous route, where this path cut right through the invisible property line between Drew’s house and the Inn,
"Sorry," Drew said, after a particularly jolting bump. "I promise I'll fix this before you move in."
"It's okay, Drew." Miranda flashed him a brief smile. Normally, she might have cracked some joke about the road being like their journey together—rough and bumpy at the start, but gradually smoothing out. Not now, though. She was too nervous about whatever it might be that was waiting for them.
"Don't worry, babe," Drew said. "Whatever it is, it’ll be all right." His eyes were calming and full of hope. "You never know. It could be good news."
"People leave messages about good news, Drew." She looked away, not wanting him to see just how worried she was. "It's when they feel they need to tell you something face to face that you have to start worrying about it."
"Just promise me something, will you?"
"What?" Miranda was a bundle of nerves already, but Drew's voice had an edge to it that made her stop and take notice, especially since he had appeared relatively calm up to this point.
"Just promise me that, whatever this is, it won't change anything between us." He glanced at her, his eyes now full of a mixture of love and fear. "Promise me that whatever it may be, we won't lose each other again."
"Drew—" she began, her voice placating.
"I mean it," he said. I've waited too long to have you in my life again. I've also lived long enough to know that life throws some wicked curve balls, sometimes. I just don't have a good feeling about this."
"Don't be silly." She grabbed his hand as they pulled into the driveway of the Inn. "Whatever it is, we'll get through it together."