“How much more is yours?”
Liz jumped when Drew spoke from just behind her. She hadn’t realized he’d followed her. “The sleeping bag and ground mat, and then my pillow and a bag of books in the backseat of the truck.”
He grabbed the items she pointed out and fell in beside her for the walk back. “I hope you measured this sleeping bag before you bought that tent.”
“I did. It’ll fit.” Probably. It was going to be tight, though.
“I’m surprised you’re not bunking down in one of the RVs. They’ve got plenty of room.”
“That’s not real camping,” she said, because it was easier than explaining she didn’t really want to be a third wheel to any of the other couples. “Those are like luxury hotels on wheels.”
“Ah.” He nudged her with his elbow. “So you’re hard core.”
“That’s me. Hard-core camping.”
They stopped in front of her tent and she set down her bags so she could unzip the door. He crouched to hand in her belongings once she was inside. “So hard core you don’t need a cooler?”
“My family has, like, eight refrigerators. There’s a limit on being primitive.”
She watched him take a knife from his pocket to slice the plastic wrapping on the ground mat, relaxing a little. This wouldn’t be so bad, she thought. Obviously she had the ability to hang out with Drew and chat like friends did. Friends who’d had sex and occasionally snuck little touches they didn’t want her family to see, but friends.
Once he handed her the mat, she unrolled it onto the tent floor and then spread the sleeping bag on top. After she added her pillow and tucked her duffel, book and food bags along the side, she was done. Then she crawled back to the door.
“You anchored this well, right?” Without waiting for her to answer, he went around to each corner and checked the ground pins. “It looks like it’ll blow away in a stiff wind.”
“Surrounded by trees, so I won’t go far.”
He didn’t laugh. Instead he kept scowling, looking around. “You’re kind of close to the bathhouse.”
“I see that as a plus.”
“Yeah, except for the Dumpster next to the building. If bears come looking to rifle through the trash, they might smell the peanut butter you have in that flimsy little tent.”
“I’ll yell and you can come running with your gun,” she teased.
“I’m not too far away, but yell loud.” He turned to face her and she realized he was very serious, which made her laugh.
“What’s so funny?” Andy asked, surprising them both.
“Drew’s going to guard my peanut butter from the bears.”
He slapped his son on the shoulder. “Good man.”
“Where are you and Rose set up?” Drew asked him.
“I guess Mike and Lisa’s RV is ours for the week. They usually put the two older boys in the pop-up, but Mike and Lisa are moving to the pop-up and putting the boys in a tent so we can be comfortable.” Andy shrugged, looking a little embarrassed. “I wanted to argue, just to be polite, but if I sleep on the ground, it’ll take a small crane to get me back on my feet again.”
As Andy continued on to wherever he’d been going, Drew drifted away with him. But he turned back and smiled at Liz, giving her a wave.
Warmth curled through her as she waved back, but she did her best to ignore it. Friends. That’s all they were.
Very deliberately, Liz turned back to her tent so she wouldn’t do something foolish, like stare at Drew’s ass as he walked away, but then she realized she was out of things to do.
A mosquito landed on her arm and she slapped at it. Time to douse herself in bug spray and go join in the family festivities.
*
On the rare occasion Drew was hanging out at a pool, he liked to do just that. Hang out. Sit on the edge and dangle his feet in the water with a cold beer in his hand.
But there was chaos around the edge of the pool, with kids everywhere and half the women sitting around the edges watching the little ones splash in the shallow end. And Liz was in the mix, looking hot and curvy in a one-piece bathing suit that made his mouth water. It had a tiny skirt that moved flirtatiously as she walked the length of the pool, emphasizing her long legs. And the top of it had that bunched-up look that kept drawing his eye to her cleavage no matter how hard he tried not to look.
He fumbled with the gate latch securing the fence around the pool which, of course, drew attention. Praying his swim trunks were baggy enough to hide his reaction to Liz in a bathing suit, he waved off their ridicule and made a running dive into the deep end.
The water felt arctic, shocking his overheated body as it closed over his head. After pushing off the bottom of the pool, he surfaced gasping. Better than a straight-up cold shower any day.