Chapter 29
Lucky let go of Liz at the sound of Luke’s voice. She had to grab onto the chair behind her in order to keep from falling. She glared at Lucky for dropping her, but he was too flustered to notice.
“Dad, um, this isn’t what it looks like,” he stammered, running a hand through his hair nervously.
“Uh-huh,” Luke said, not buying it. “I bet I can figure this out: she fell, you caught her, and I walked in just as you were about to kiss?”
They both blushed and looked away from one another. “Everything but that last part,” Lucky said. The door opened again, and he looked up anxiously, hoping it would be a customer so he could escape.
“Spence, long time, no see!” Charisma greeted cheerily. She could tell she had just missed something big, but had a feeling Luke would fill her in later.
“Charisma, I just saw you a few days ago. It hasn’t been that long!”
“Oh, so I can’t miss you?” she asked innocently. Liz made a face and hurried back to the kitchen, taking advantage of the change in subject to make her escape. She was still shaken up by what had almost happened. If Luke hadn’t come in, would she have really kissed Lucky?
“Temporary insanity, that’s what it was,” she muttered to herself, standing over the sink and trying to wash some of the dishes. “Or maybe it was some kind of post-traumatic stress thing from the shooting.”
~*~
“Well, cowboy, are you going to talk or am I going to have to drag it out of you?”
Lucky sighed and rolled his eyes, sitting on the stool behind him. “I told you, she was climbing off of the counter, she fell, I caught her, you walked in, end of story.”
Luke grinned. “You sort of left something out. If I had come in a few seconds later, you two would have been lip-locked.”
“No, we wouldn’t,” Lucky said adamantly, trying to convince himself as much as Luke. “You just mistook what you saw, that’s all.”
“Wait a minute, back up,” Charisma said. “What was she doing on the counter anyway?” she asked, raising an eyebrow suggestively.
Luke chuckled and slapped her on the back. “I like the way you think!”
Lucky rolled his eyes again and stood up. “You’re both sick, you know that? Charisma, stay away from my dad, he’s a bad influence on you!” With that, he stormed into the kitchen, forgetting that that’s where Liz had gone earlier.
Luke and Charisma grinned at one another. “We’re breaking them down,” he said proudly.
“Yeah, they won’t be able to hold out much longer, especially now that she’s single again! So, what’s our next move?”
“I don’t know. I figured we should give them a break, see what happens. They seem to be doing just fine without us.”
Charisma nodded, looking at the closed door to the kitchen. “I wonder what they’re doing in there now?”
~*~
Lucky burst into the kitchen, startling Liz and causing her to drop the bowl she was washing. It clattered onto the counter loudly, and she turned to glare at him.
“Must you come in here so loudly?” she asked. “I almost broke that bowl.”
“Well, you shouldn’t be trying to do the dishes like that. It’s a two-armed job,” Lucky said, walking over to her and taking the bowl out of her hand. “Let me, I need an excuse to stay back here, anyway.”
“Oh no, you don’t!” she said, grabbing the bowl back. “I’m not going out there either!”
“Well, someone needs to go out there, this place can’t run itself.”
“There’s no one here anyway, besides Luke and Charisma. Until there are real customers, I’m not leaving this kitchen!”
“Fine, be that way, but neither am I. Here,” he said, tossing her a towel, then taking the bowl out of her hands. “I’ll wash, you dry.”
“Why do I have to dry?” she pouted.
“You’re never happy, are you?”
She grinned and shook her head. “Not when you’re around. Look, I was doing just fine with these dishes on my own. I don’t need your help.”
“I never said you did. Come on, give me a break here. My dad’s driving me crazy, I need to get away from him,” Lucky pleaded.
Liz thought for a minute, then sighed. “All right, but we’re switching halfway through. I don’t want to dry the whole time.”
Lucky moved closer to the sink and turned on the faucet. As he was scrubbing the bowl, he turned to her and smirked. “You think you can keep up with me?”
“What, are you some sort of speed-demon when you wash dishes?:” she asked sarcastically.
“Not really, but both of my arms work!”
“Okay, enough with the arm jokes!” Liz shouted, snapping him with the dishtowel.
“Hey!” he yelled, dropping the bowl in the sink of soapy water. “Watch it!”
“Okay, I’m not the one that just dropped that bowl and splashed water everywhere!” she said, wiping the front of her shirt with the towel. “I don’t need a shower right now.”
“I beg to differ,” Lucky said with a chuckle. Liz smacked him with the towel again.
“You’re no rose garden yourself!” she shot back, wrinkling her nose.
Lucky grumbled and went back to washing the bowl, then handed it to her. She dried it as quickly as she could, then set it off to the side as he handed her the next dish. They continued washing and drying in silence for a few minutes, until a plate slipped out of Lucky’s hand and splashed them both.
“That’s it, we need to switch before I get totally soaked here!” Liz said in annoyance, pushing Lucky to the side.
“Oh no, you’re not pushing me out of the way that easily,” he said, shoving her back. He reached into the sink to pull out the plate just as she bumped him again, causing him to drop it into the soapy water, splashing her.
Liz squealed as the water hit her, then stepped forward and reached into the sink, splashing him. He jumped back in shock, looking down at his wet shirt. “Why you little...“
Liz just grinned and splashed him again. She knew she was just asking for him to retaliate, but she couldn’t help herself. Sure enough, Lucky stepped back to the sink and began to splash more water on her. They continued splashing the soapy water on one another until the sink was nearly empty, and they, along with the kitchen floor, were soaked.
“Oh my gosh, look at this mess,” Liz gasped, looking around them as her laughter died down.
“I guess you better go find the mop, huh?” Lucky asked, stepping back in anticipation of the slap he knew he would receive for that comment. As his foot hit the soapy floor, it slid out from under him and he flailed about trying to regain his balance, then finally grabbed Liz’s sleeve in a last-ditch attempt to save himself, pulling her down on top of him.
“Gee,” Lucky said breathlessly, “Who didn’t see that coming? “
Liz rolled her eyes and tried to get up. “Ow!” she cursed, falling back onto Lucky.
“Careful,” he said, looking up at her. “We really need to stop doing this, you know.”
“Tell me about it,” she muttered, trying to push herself up with her right arm. Unfortunately, the floor was too slippery, and her hand kept sliding out from under her. “This isn’t working.”
Lucky reached up and grabbed her by the waist, then rolled her onto her back. She screeched as the cold water hit her, causing Lucky to chuckle. “Sorry, but if I had to lay in it, so do you.”
“Thanks for sharing,” she said between clenched teeth. “Now, will you help me off this nasty floor?”
Lucky grabbed the counter next to him and pulled himself up, then reached down and grabbed her hand, yanking her to her feet. She almost lost her balance again, but grabbed Lucky’s shoulder in time to steady herself.
“Well, if you don’t mind, I’m going to go up to my apartment and put on something dry,” he said, walking to the kitchen door.
“Um, Lucky?” she asked. He turned around, waiting for her to continue. “I don’t suppose I could borrow one of your shirts? This one’s kind of gross now.”
He sighed, then nodded. “Fine, come on.” They both left the kitchen and started for the stairs, making sure there were no customers waiting first. Noticing that Luke and Charisma were still there, they hurried upstairs before either of them could say anything.
Luke turned to Charisma and raised an eyebrow questioningly. “Well, what do you make of that?”
She chuckled and shook her head. “I don’t know, but there was definitely something going on in there. I told you to go in when she screamed!”
“Oh no, I’ve learned my lesson. If I had gone in, they would have probably been about to kiss again, and I would have just ended up stopping them! No, I think they were doing just fine without me in there.”
