He put off dropping into Liz’s shop by settling onto a bench by the bay and calling Frankie. Frankie was always good at providing a couple of stories to keep Aidan’s mind off whatever was troubling him. What he hadn’t considered, though, was just how well his old friend could read him.
“Hey, I’ve given you some of my best stuff,” Frankie complained. “What do I get in return? Not so much as a chuckle. What’s going on down there? You thinking you made a mistake? You know management here would take you on in a heartbeat.”
“Doing what? Babysitting you oafs in the locker room? No, thanks.”
“What about being a quarterback coach?”
“The team already has a great one,” Aidan reminded him. “That’s who trained me.”
“Yeah, well, they’d come up with something.”
“I made a commitment here,” Aidan reminded him. “That means something to me.”
“What I still don’t get is why Chesapeake freaking Shores, or whatever it is?”
“If you’d come for a visit, you’d have some idea. It’s a great little town.”
“Any clubs? Hot babes? A great nightlife?”
“No,” Aidan admitted.
“Then it’s not for me. Why don’t you get your butt in gear and come to New York this weekend?”
For an instant Aidan was tempted, but going out on the town with Frankie didn’t hold nearly the appeal of getting even a glimpse of Liz. That was probably yet more evidence of just how hard he’d fallen. He might as well resign himself to it and chase the dream.
“Thanks, but I have things to do here,” he told Frankie. “Stay out of trouble, okay?”
“Always,” Frankie promised. “You do the same, though it sounds as if you don’t have many opportunities to get into trouble in the first place.”
Aidan hung up and headed for Main Street. When he walked into Pet Style, he found three unfamiliar women wandering around in the store while Liz finished a sale at the register. The older of the three kept firing questions in Liz’s direction, seemingly oblivious to the fact that Liz was busy with a customer.
“Mom, please,” Liz said, clearly fighting for patience after making an apology to the customer. “I’ll be finished here in a minute.”
Ah, Aidan thought. Her family had come to visit. As he walked in her mother’s direction, he caught the look of panic on Liz’s face, but he didn’t allow that to slow him down.
“You must be Liz’s mother,” he said, holding out his hand. “I’m Aidan Mitchell.”
Liz’s mother gave him a long look, her gaze narrowing, caught somewhere between suspicion and disapproval. “Doris Benson,” she said eventually as if debating whether to say anything at all to this impertinent stranger who’d approached her without a proper introduction.
The younger women displayed no such hesitation. They hurried over and introduced themselves as Liz’s sisters, LeeAnn and Danielle.
“I wonder why Liz hasn’t mentioned you,” Danielle said, unabashedly giving him a thorough once-over. “You’re definitely noteworthy.”
“Danielle!” her mother chided, her suspicious gaze never leaving Aidan. “How do you and Liz know each other?”
“We’re friends,” Aidan said. “We met when I first arrived in town about six weeks ago to coach the high school football team. I live in an apartment right upstairs, so we run into each other a lot.”
Liz’s other sister’s eyes widened. “You’re that Aidan Mitchell! I recognize you now,” LeeAnn gushed, promptly pulling out her cell phone to snap a picture. “Wait till I text this to Teddy. That’s my husband. He’s going to be so excited. We’re big Carolina Panthers fans, of course, but he thought you were about the most promising quarterback to come along in years.” Her expression sobered. “Too bad about your injury. I had no idea you were in Chesapeake Shores.” She shot a critical look toward Liz. “No one thought to mention there was a celebrity right here in town.”
“As I mentioned, I’ve only been here a short time,” Aidan said. “And since my football career is behind me, I doubt anyone in town thinks of me as a celebrity these days.”
“Well, any football fan surely does,” LeeAnn contradicted. “And you and my sister are friends. Imagine that.” She winked at Danielle. “Liz always did know how to snag the most handsome guy around. You should have seen Josh.”
“That’s enough!” Liz said, her sharp tone finally snagging her sister’s attention as she rushed in their direction.
“What did I say?” LeeAnn asked.
Her expression was innocent, but Aidan didn’t think there was anything innocent about her comment. Her next words confirmed his suspicion.
“Doesn’t he know about Josh?” LeeAnn asked, wide-eyed with feigned disbelief. “He was your husband, for goodness’ sakes.”
“I really don’t like to talk about that time in my life,” Liz said, her voice tight. “You know that.”
“Sure, but what I don’t understand is why,” LeeAnn said anyway, persisting in keeping the topic alive. “Josh was an amazing guy. It was tragic that he died, but you can’t just pretend he never existed. You should be keeping those memories alive.”
“Don’t try to tell me how to live my life,” Liz snapped. “And not in front of people you don’t even know.”
“Liz is right,” her mother said, trying to smooth over the awkward moment. “This isn’t the time or the place. Sweetie, if you’ll just give us a key and point us in the right direction, we’ll head on over to the house and unpack. I brought a cooler with some of your favorites. I thought we’d eat in tonight so we can relax after that drive.”
Aidan watched Liz’s expression. She didn’t seem especially ecstatic about the plan, possibly because she knew the topic of her late husband was likely to be part of the evening’s conversation.
He caught her gaze. “I could ride over with them and show them the way,” he offered.
“Oh, we couldn’t ask you to do that,” her mother said. “How would you get back?”
He smiled. Clearly she hadn’t been in town long enough to see how close downtown was to everything. “I’ll walk back. It’s not
