“Okay . . . a lot. Gavin called you and said I was making him crazy, didn’t he?”

“I refuse to answer that question on the grounds you might be angry with him.”

Liz laughed. “I couldn’t possibly be angry with him, since I’m so happy you’re here.”

“I’ve been offering to help you for weeks now, and you kept saying no.”

“I know. I’m so sorry. I wanted to be the perfect daughter-in-law and do it all by myself.”

Kathleen slid off the bar stool, came around the island, and pulled Liz into her arms. “You’ve always been the perfect daughter-in-law. You love my son and he loves you. It’s all I will ever ask for.”

Liz batted back tears. “I love you, Mom.”

“I love you, too.”

Liz took a look at her menu, then at her mother-in-law. “Okay, so help me out here and tell me how I can scale some of this back so I’m not hiding in a corner by tomorrow.”

***

By early evening, Gavin’s mom had left and he’d helped Liz finish up the last of the prep for tomorrow’s meal. Then he’d done all the dishes and cleaned the kitchen. After that he’d gone out and picked up a pizza, because the last thing his wife needed was to cook dinner tonight or have anything else in the kitchen to have to clean up.

They had curled up in front of the television to watch a holiday movie. Liz was lying on the couch, her head in his lap. After the movie finished, she flipped over to look up at him.

“Have I mentioned today that you’re my hero?”

“Uh, no, you haven’t. What brought this on?”

“You got me a pizza. If I never see the kitchen again, it’ll be too soon.”

He rubbed his hand along her hip. “I told you I’d help you cook everything. You know I don’t mind being in the kitchen, and I like to cook.”

“I know you do, but this is my thing, and I volunteered to do it, so I’m going to suck it up and do it by myself.”

“But you’re not by yourself anymore. You have a partner to help. So you should let me be there for you. I can toss a turkey in the oven and peel and mash potatoes and do anything else you need me to do.”

She finally nodded. “You’re right. I guess I’ve bitten off more than I can chew, and I need some help.”

“I’ll be happy to be your bitch tomorrow.”

She laughed. “I’m going to remember you said that.”

They started another movie, and Gavin continued to move his hand along Liz’s hip. She kneaded his leg, which made his dick hard. Hell, anytime she touched him, he got hard.