She sighed heavily. “Okay, as long as you understand that this is just a friendly meal, nothing more.”
“Absolutely,” he said at once. “I promise not to make a pass at you or to bring up anything heavy or too personal. A little friendly chitchat. That’s it.”
He thought maybe she looked just a little disappointed that he’d ruled out making a pass, but maybe that was just wishful thinking on his part. Bottom line, though, if he could get her to agree to keep on spending time with him until he could tell her everything, perhaps she’d find some way to start believing in him.
* * *
Since healthy food was at a premium in his nearly empty refrigerator, Aidan had made a quick trip to a farmer’s market just outside of town after Thomas had given him a lesson in cleaning the fish. The process had been messy, but he thought he’d done a decent job of it. Now he needed some side dishes to go along with it. Thomas had recommended the local produce and even told him how to cook it on the grill.
“You’re a man of many talents,” Aidan had told him.
Thomas had laughed. “Trust me, this is a new one. Mick has always held the family barbecues and Ma’s in charge of all the other cooking. Connie seemed to feel that we should be equal partners in the kitchen. My skills are still pretty limited but we don’t starve when it’s my night to cook.”
Aidan had determined right then to make it one of his goals, too. It seemed like something Liz might appreciate. She’d been impressed by his sandwich-making ability, after all. A whole meal might just knock her socks off. And he was still determined to get those socks—figuratively—and a few other articles of clothing off. Nothing in recent days had changed that mission.
He’d started the grill, put a foil packet of vegetables on the heat to roast and made a salad by the time he heard her hesitant tap on his door. Not that he’d needed the warning. Archie’s reaction—barking and racing to the door and back—had been sufficient.
“Sit!” he ordered before opening the door.
Archie obediently sat, though it was clear that he was practically quivering with excitement over Liz’s arrival.
“Stay!” Aidan said as he opened the door.
Liz stood in the doorway and regarded them with a shocked expression. “When did this happen? All the good behavior, I mean.”
“If you’re referring to Archie’s, it’s relatively new. I’ve always been well mannered.”
She laughed and some of the tension in her shoulders seemed to ease. She came in and looked around curiously, proving that she really hadn’t explored the place earlier. Not that he would have minded if she had. He wanted her to know him, not that there was much she might discover from his belongings. He even wanted to get those secrets he couldn’t yet reveal out in the open, too.
“Would you like a glass of wine? I’ve opened a bottle of white, but there’s red here, too.”
“White’s fine.”
“Dinner’s almost ready,” he told her as he poured the drink for her. “I just have to put the fish on the grill. I think I can follow the directions Thomas gave me.”
She regarded him with surprise. “Thomas?”
“I guess I didn’t mention it before. I was fishing at Mick’s earlier with him and Sean,” he said, hoping he’d managed to strike just the right casual note for something that had felt momentous to him.
“How’d that happen?”
Here was one of those minefields he wasn’t certain how to navigate without giving away too much. For most of his life he’d been open and honest. He’d even had a reputation for unbridled candor with the media when he’d been playing pro football. Now he was forced to walk on eggshells every time he opened his mouth, at least when it came to this one topic.
“You know the after-school activity I’ve been assigned to handle, aside from football, is the environmental club, right?”
“I think you mentioned it. I guess I didn’t realize Thomas was involved, but that makes sense.”
“Can you imagine a better person to inspire these kids to treat the environment around here with care?” he said.
Liz studied him with a curious expression. “You sound impressed.”
“Of course. He has incredible credentials.”
“This is quite a turnaround,” she said. “I used to think there was bad blood between the two of you. What I couldn’t understand was why, if you’d never even met.”
“Just one of those things,” Aidan said with a shrug. “We didn’t hit it off at first. Now that I’ve gotten to know him better, I’m seeing him differently.”
The comment was true as far as it went. He could only pray it was enough to satisfy Liz. He watched her closely and noted that she seemed to have made up her mind to let it go.
She studied him. “So today was about bonding and talking about your plans for fall?”
“Exactly,” he said. “Thomas is getting me up to speed on what projects the club has tackled in the past and what he’d like to see the kids focus on this year. He even thinks perhaps one or two of them might want to testify during the hearings this year on some proposed changes to the law that could adversely affect the Chesapeake. The fishing was just a bonus. When he found out I’d never been, he suggested I join him and Sean.”
“He must love it that you’re embracing his favorite cause,” she said.
“The man has pretty amazing recruitment skills,” he said wryly. “I don’t imagine anyone living in the entire region could resist his arguments about protecting the beauty of our natural resources. Kevin’s good at it and just as passionate, but Thomas seems to innately know the right buttons to push.”
“Believe me, I know,” Liz said. “He had half the town working one day back in March to clean up the shoreline. It was still chilly and it started raining, but not a single person left. Nell was
