Chapter 27

"So, do you think that was all a big setup?" Elizabeth asked uneasily as they walked through the park.

"What do you mean?" Lucky said.

"The whole movie marathon thing. Didn't you get the feeling that it was just another attempt to get us together or something?"

He laughed. "Emily swore it wasn't, but I still wouldn't put it past her. The two of them are almost as bad as my parents."

"Gram is starting, too. Why are they all acting like that?"

He shrugged. "I guess they see something we don't." He looked over at her as they approached her house. The moonlight was reflecting off of her hair, making it look almost like she had a halo. "Well, here you are. Home, safe and sound."

She turned and smiled at him. "Thanks, Lucky. I didn't want to admit it before, but those movies had me a little nervous. It was nice of you to walk me home."

He smiled back at her. "Hey, no problem. I can't have my wife walking alone through the park at night. You never know what kind of weirdos hang out there."

She rolled her eyes. "So, who's going to walk you home? I noticed that you were a little uneasy yourself when we got back to the docks, and don't try to deny it!"

"I'm fine," he insisted, trying to hide the fact that he was lying through his teeth. He looked out at the road, noticing how dark it was, and shivered involuntarily.

"Liar," she said, staring him down. "I saw that. You're just as scared as I was."

"I am not!" he insisted. "Now, are you going to go inside, or do you just want to stand out here and argue with me all night?"

She sighed. "Look Lucky, you can admit that you're still jumpy, it's okay. I'm not going to tell anyone or make fun of you. You shouldn't have to walk all the way home from here by yourself just because you were nice enough to walk me home."

"Fine, I don't like the thought of walking by myself right now, but what else am I supposed to do? Call a cab? With what money? I walk around this town at night all the time, I'll be fine." He ran a hand through his hair nervously and looked behind him again.

"You can act all calm and cool with me, but I'm not buying it. Like it or not, I know you too well now, and I can tell when you're lying. Why don't I just walk home with you?"

He laughed. "Yeah, and then once we get there, we'll be back where we started! What are we going to do, walk each other home all night?"

"What else do you suggest? I'll walk home with you and you can borrow your dad's car to drive me back. You're not too afraid to drive by yourself tonight, are you?" She couldn't help taunting him a little. It was kind of funny that he was scared, even though she was, too.

He thought for a minute. "Well, that would be a good idea, but he's on a trip right now. He went out of town for a couple of days, and my mom doesn't let me drive her car. Look, I'm just going to go home, okay? I'll be fine, really!"

She looked at him for a moment, not believing him for a second, but couldn't think of anything else to do. "All right, if you're sure. If you change your mind, you know where to find me." She started for the front door, and he turned to walk away. Just then, there was a loud crack as a branch fell from one of the nearby trees, and they both nearly jumped out of their skin.

"Um...I don't suppose you have a guest room?" Lucky asked nervously.

Liz chuckled. "No, Gram's using it for storage." She thought for a moment. "Why don't you just sleep on my floor? I should have a sleeping bag somewhere that you can use. That is, if your mom doesn't mind you staying here."

As much as he didn't want to have to sleep at her house, he knew that the only alternative was walking home alone. His mom refused to drive at night, and he couldn't afford a cab. Sighing, he nodded. "All right, I'll stay here. Let's go."

She unlocked the door and led him inside. She laughed when she saw that he was tiptoeing around. "You don't have to be quiet, Gram's at the hospital tonight."

"Oh, right. Um...where's the phone? I should call my mom." She pointed it out, and he picked it up, trying the figure out what he was going to tell her.

"Hi mom. I'm at Elizabeth's. Nikolas and Emily rented a bunch of horror movies today, and her grandmother is at the hospital all night. She's kind of nervous being home by herself, so I offered to stay here tonight, is that okay?......On the floor...no, she's got a sleeping bag....I'll be home in the morning, I promise....Thanks, bye mom."

He turned around and saw that Elizabeth had been standing right behind him.

"Do you always lie to your mother like that?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

He smiled guiltily. "Well, I couldn't tell her the truth. She'd just tell me to stop being silly and come home. At least this way, it looks like I'm doing something noble, plus she's almost as determined as my dad to get us together, so I knew she'd agree."

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever. So, I guess that means we've got a sleep-over on our hands. It's not that late yet, what do you want to do?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. You got anything to eat? All I've had today is that popcorn."

"Let's go see," she said, walking into the kitchen. Audrey hadn't been to the grocery store yet, so there wasn't much to choose from. They finally found a box of brownie mix in the pantry and decided to make that.

"You know, this is one of the few things I can cook without ruining," Liz said, reading the back of the box. "We need two eggs."

"Man, I wish you had warned me about that before I married you!" he said jokingly, opening the refrigerator and getting out the eggs. "What kind of wife can't cook?"

"Hey, check your calendar, this is the 90s! Wives don't just cook and clean and raise the kids anymore, you know!" she said, taking the eggs from him and looking back at the box. "Get the vegetable oil. It's in that cabinet up there."

He opened the cabinet she had pointed out and got the oil. "I never said that was all a wife was good for, it's just that someone has to be able to cook, and I'm not that good, either. We can't live off of take-out food!" he said, handing her the bottle.

"Well, aren't you big, rich doctor-man? We'll just hire a cook." She measured the oil and poured it into the bowl with the brownie mix and eggs, then handed the bottle back to him. He put it away and she held out the measuring cup. "Could you fill this was 2 cups of water?"

He took the cup and went over to the sink. "Do you know how expensive a full-time cook is? Our budget wouldn't be able to handle that. If you wanted to hire someone to cook for us every day, you'd have to get a better job!" He brought the full measuring cup back to her and she emptied it into the bowl.

"Trust me, I wish I had a better job, but that's what I was assigned. I don't think she'll let us change them." She looked at the box again to make sure she had all the ingredients. "I need a spoon, they're in that drawer. Oh, and preheat the oven to 350 degrees."

He went over to the oven and turned it on, then dug out a mixing spoon from the silverware drawer. "If you can't change your job, then we can't afford a cook. You'll just have to learn how to do it yourself, that's all." He handed over the spoon, picked up the empty measuring cup, and brought it over to the sink.

"I'm going to have to learn? What about you? Why does the woman always have to cook anyway? Most of the great chefs are men!" she said, stirring the mix. "Get out the pan, it's in the drawer under the stove. Check the box to see what size."

He grabbed the box and went over to the oven, pulling open the metal drawer underneath. "Remember, I'm a doctor. I probably work long, strange hours, like your grandmother does. That makes it hard to cook dinner every night. What happens when we have kids? Here, is this 9 by 13?" He held up a pan, trying to see if there was anything written on it.

"I don't know, I guess so. There should be some non-stick spray or something in that cabinet above you." She switched the spoon to her other hand and continued stirring. "So now I'm cooking and raising the kids by myself? How chauvinist can you be?"

He rolled his eyes as he dug around in the cabinet. "I'm not being chauvinist, I'm just saying that doctors' schedules are very strange. They work late hours, they get called in all the time when they're not scheduled, and they spend a lot of time at the hospital. That's probably why most of them get married to other doctors or nurses. Look, I don't see any cooking spray here."

She sighed and rested the spoon against the edge of the bowl before walking over to him. "You're in the wrong cabinet, that's why." She opened the one next to it and pulled out a small can. "Here." She went back to the bowl of brownie mixture. "Oh, man! Now look what you made me do!"

"What? I've been over here the whole time, what could I have done?" he asked, going over to see what she was yelling about. He started laughing when he saw what happened. The spoon had slid into the bowl and was covered with brownie mix.

"Stop laughing!" she yelled as she dug it out gingerly. "Look at this mess!"

"Oh, it's fine. The stuff looks like it's mixed enough anyway. Just throw the spoon in the sink and rinse it off."

She dropped it in the sink and licked her fingers. "Mmm, it's ymmy. Can you pour it in the pan while I wash the spoon?"

A few minutes later, the brownies were in the oven. She set the timer and sat down at the table with the empty bowl.

"What are you doing?" he asked, watching her run her finger along the inside and lick off the mix.

She looked up at him and chuckled. "Doesn't your mom ever let you lick the bowl?"

He shook his head. "I never wanted to. That stuff's raw, you know!"

"I don't care. It's really good. Here, try some." She held the bowl out to him and he grimaced.

"No thanks, I'll wait for them to cook," he said, pushing the bowl away.

She shrugged. "Your loss, more for me." She continued to "lick" the bowl clean as he watched her in amusement.

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