Janet Evanovich - Love in a Nutshell

A sharp rapping sounded on the taproom window, pulling Matt’s attention from the clock. Lizzie stood at the glass in her police officer’s uniform, flashlight in hand.

Matt pointed her toward the front entrance.

“What are you doing here?”

“My promised late-night rounds,” she said. “The bigger question is, what are you still doing here?”

“Waiting for midnight.”

“Why? Are you going to turn into the guy version of Cinderella or something?” She grinned. “Kate mentioned your shoe fixation.”

“More like I was hoping to turn back into myself.”

“I didn’t know you weren’t yourself. I mean, you skipped last Friday’s fund-raiser and everything,” Lizzie said.

He rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, well, Kate moved out, and I wanted to enjoy my new peace and quiet, but Chuck really misses her.”

“He’s really stuck on Kate, huh?”

“This isn’t the kind of stuff we talk about,” he said. “It feels wrong.”

She gave him a crooked smile. “It’s just that ‘Chuck’ doesn’t generally have relationship problems, and I don’t generally have relationships.”

“Good point,” he said.

Lizzie sat down on a barstool next to Matt. “So why did Kate move out?”

Matt was surprised by the question. Kate and Lizzie had grown pretty close.

“You mean she hasn’t talked to you?”

“Not in the past few days.”

“She found out her parents were coming in for Thanksgiving, and she kind of freaked out. Apparently, they don’t believe in sleeping in a guy’s guest bedroom before you’re married.”

“Interesting,” Lizzie said. “And in more ways than one. Kate slept in the guest bedroom?”

“Don’t let it get around. My false reputation is at stake.”

“As if I would. And no one would believe me, anyway. But, really, so what if she moved home? Things have been calm here, and she’ll be safe.”

“Well, I’m also about to foreclose on her childhood home and destroy her dreams so I can expand my evil empire.”

“I know.”

“You do?”

“Yeah. I’m a police officer and I’m a woman. That makes me a big snoop. I also know you made arrangements with Kate’s contractor to secretly pay him yourself and have him reimburse you once he gets the money from her. Does she really believe a contractor would ever wait for his money?”

Matt grinned sheepishly. He’d been caught. “Does anyone else know?”

“No. I don’t think so. Why’d you do it? You have a lot of money invested in this project, don’t you?”

Matt shrugged. “I love her.”

Lizzie burst out laughing. “Look at you. You’re a mess. Do you want my advice?”

“Give it your best shot, because I’m coming up blank.”

“I love Kate. I think she’s fabulous. I hope you two work it out and have a million kids, or whatever it is you’re looking for. You’re my big brother… heck, my only brother. I want to see you happy. My advice to you is-Suck it up.”

Matt raised an eyebrow at his sister.

“Since when was Matt Culhane a quitter? You never gave up in football or hockey. You didn’t give up in the eighth grade when Mary Lou Petty refused to go to junior prom with you. You certainly never gave up on Depot Brewing-even when a lot of people thought you should. If you love Kate that much, go get her!”

Lizzie was right. He’d go to Traverse City for a couple of days, giving Kate the space she needed and a chance to get reacquainted with her parents. When he returned, he was sure Kate would be ready to invite him to dinner, and if she wasn’t, he’d invite himself. Desperate times called for desperate measures. After all, Chuck really missed her.

It was the Monday evening before Thanksgiving. Kate’s mom and dad were still living out their snowbound fantasy, and Kate was beginning to lose her mind. Sinatra playing on the stereo twelve hours out of twenty-four was part of the issue. The rest was that her parents gave her little privacy.

In a house this size, how could they be everywhere at once? Kate was beginning to think cloning was involved. She was currently holed up in her bathroom for both prime cell phone reception and a little alone time.

The doorknob rattled. “Kate? Are you in there?”

“Yes, Mom,” Kate said from her resting spot in the dry bathtub.

“You’ve been in there awhile.”

“Yes, I have. I’m taking a bath.”

“That’s odd. I didn’t hear the water run, and you know how the pipes in this place are.”

Kate turned the page in her magazine and readjusted the pillow beneath her head. “Maybe Sinatra drowned it out.”

“Maybe,” her mother said. “Are you going to be out soon? I think Stella needs to go potty.”

Kate felt a little guilty for having abandoned her poodle in the name of solitude, but Stella would get over it. Dad could feed the dog table scraps, since Kate wasn’t out there to stop him.

“Her chain is at the kitchen door, Mom,” Kate said. “Just put her on it, and she’ll do the rest.”

“You’re sure you’re okay in there?”

“Absolutely.”

Her mother moved off, leaving Kate to her thoughts and a cell phone that didn’t want to ring back. She knew from Ginger that Matt was going to be up in Traverse City on Tuesday and Wednesday. From Matt, she’d heard nothing directly. Not even so much as a hello since the staff meeting early last week. She missed him. She wanted to find a way back into his life. It was chilly here on the outside.

“Attempt number four,” she announced, then pressed the speed dial number she’d assigned him. At this point, she didn’t really expect an answer. It was more for the sport of hearing his voice mail message that she called. But this time, Matt answered.

“Hi, Kate.”

Kate’s hands started feeling a little sweaty. For the love of Mike! She hadn’t felt this nervous since asking Scotty McDougall to the Sadie Hawkins dance in ninth grade. “I hear you’re heading out of town for a couple of days.”

“I’m on the road now.”

“I was wondering if yourindays.’d like me to help take care of Chuck? I can check on him as many times a day as you think he’d need, and he knows who I am, so that would be nice for him.” She was babbling and couldn’t stop. “And, honestly, it’s no big deal. You’d be doing me a favor by giving me an excuse to get away from here in the evening for a while, and-oh hell, I really miss you.”

“I miss you, too.”

Kate smiled with her entire body. She felt like the Grinch when his heart grew three sizes that day.

“How are you doing with your parents?” he asked.

“I’m hiding in the bathtub to make this call. No place is private anymore. If I go into my bedroom, my mother wants to have a girl-to-girl. She wants to know if I’m recovering from my divorce. She wants to tell me how to find a new man. I mean, I’m glad we’re talking a whole lot more than we used to, but sometimes I just need a break from her advice.”

He laughed. “That good, eh?”

“That 1960s outlook. I don’t get it, but I guess I don’t have to. Bottom line is that I love her and Dad.”

“I think I’d like your parents,” he said.

Kate smiled. “You probably would. And they’d like you, too.”

They were silent, but it wasn’t in the least uncomfortable.

“So I’d really be doing you a favor if I had you check on Chuck?”

Kate’s smile had taken up permanent residence. “Definitely.”

“Actually, that would be great,” he said. “Lizzie has promised to stop by, but she has the next couple of days off. Before I enlisted her, she’d been talking about visiting a college friend downstate.”