“Orla introduced it when she took over from her dad. She thought it was more fun than being divided by age or something and she let Jenna pick the names when she was like five or six. I can’t remember the full story but yeah, baby Jenna doesn’t know her bears apparently.”
“Jenna came here as a kid too?” he asks, running his palm down the puppy’s back. “It’s pretty cool she works here now.”
“What? Jenna is Orla’s daughter. Did you not know?” I say. “I thought everyone knew that, sorry.”
His expression is hard to pinpoint, somewhere between amusement and despair. “Of course my boss is the owner’s daughter.”
We finally reach the cabins and I wish there was a reason to keep walking and talking. He stops as I reach the steps. I take the first one and stop too, reluctant to say goodbye.
He takes a step closer and lowers his voice, presumably not wanting to wake Emilia, but I’m closer to his height on this step and his body is dangerously close to mine. “Jenna said we have to stop carrying the puppies everywhere, because soon they’ll be too big, but they’ll still expect it. She also said they’re dogs not babies but I can’t help it.”
My jaw drops. “I’m sorry, are you telling me that you’re breaking rules?”
“It was more of a suggestion . . .”
“It’s a rule and you’re rebelling. Oh my God.”
“I’m not. I’m ju—”
“You’re out of control, Callaghan. That’s how it starts. One minute you’re carrying a puppy then next minute you’ve crashed a boat you weren’t supposed to be on into the rocks and are being threatened with deportation.” His eyes narrow at my far too specific example. “Theoretically. Anyway, I’d invite you in but unlike you, I respect authority and apparently there’s something about cabins and not dragging men and their comfort animal into them.”
“Who knew you could be such a good girl.”
I almost choke. “Goodnight, Russ. Thanks for walking me.”
I step backward up the remaining steps onto the porch of my cabin. Space between us is good. Space means I don’t lean forward and kiss him. Or attempt to climb him like a tree.
“Goodnight, Aurora,” he says softly. “Sweet dreams.”
Turning my back to him, I quietly open the door, careful not to wake my sleeping roommate. When I look over my shoulder, he’s still standing next to the steps. “What’re you doing?”
“I’m watching you go in so you don’t have to watch me leave.”
My heart is in my throat as I close the door gently behind me and when I finally get into bed, I decide that it was definitely flirting.
Chapter Fourteen
RUSS
I didn’t think there would ever be a time where I’d voluntarily apply JJ’s advice to my life and actually benefit from it; and yet here I am.
The only person who knows you’re not confident is you is something he said to me to be confident with women, but I’m currently applying that to everyone and, surprisingly, it’s working. Unnecessary worry is a mentally exhausting process and, by definition, there’s no logic to it. All it does is make me feel alone, even when I’m surrounded by people.
The team has settled into a comfortable routine with all our campers and Aurora and I have settled into a comfortable routine when we’re not with the kids. Every time I walk her back to her cabin it gets harder not to kiss her goodnight, especially when she looks like she’s thinking about it too, but I’m grateful for her making an effort to keep us out of trouble.
I think I’m grateful.
I’m enjoying breakfast with Emilia when the woman always on my mind comes stomping toward us. She sits down beside her best friend and huffs. “Never again. I mean it. I will pay. I will fake my own death. I don’t care about the consequences.”
Hiding my laugh with my coffee mug, I check over my shoulder to make sure there are no listening ears from the kids still eating breakfast. Xander sits down beside me, his plate suspiciously loaded with bacon. I lean in, whispering. “Stop feeding the dogs.”
He keeps looking at his plate as he shakes his head. “You’re not my mom. I don’t have to listen to you.”
“Surely it wasn’t bad,” Emilia says to a still scowling Aurora, also fighting a laugh.
All our campers sleep in one cabin and we each take turns sleeping in there to supervise overnight a couple of times a week. There’s always a senior like Jenna available overnight for emergencies, so as long as your kids aren’t acting up, it’s easy.
Maya was feeling sick yesterday, so Aurora volunteered to cover the night shift, incorrectly thinking she would be with Xander. When she realized she would be with Clay she looked like the world was ending.
Yeah, petty me was happy about that.
“Sure it was bad, Emilia,” she grumbles. “He told me he doesn’t mind cuddling if I’m scared of the dark. I know he’s joking, but he’s so much funnier when he’s not trying to be funny.”
Emilia’s eyes roll. “What did you say?”
“I told him I sleep stab.” I almost choke on my coffee. “Which I thought was the end of it, but he started telling me it sounded like there was something under my bed and for me to wait on his while he investigated.”
“You gotta admire the creativity,” Xander teases. “Being a douchebag is difficult in this day and age, but here he is, hustling.”
Aurora’s eyes lock on him murderously. “Jessica was coming to ask me to get her teddy that’d fallen down the side of her bed and overheard Clay joke that it could be a murderer under there and started screaming. Then everyone else started screaming. I’m surprised you didn’t freaking hear it. My ears are still ringing. It took like, two hours to get everybody back into bed and calmed down.”
“I slept like a baby,” Xander says, taking a bite of his toast.
“I didn’t. You snore,” I grumble into my coffee.
“Damn,” Emilia laughs. “I just thought the kids were all tired and gloomy because of how long the line is to call home for Father’s Day.”
My shoulders instantly sag; it’s Sunday.
Aurora looks like she was told she has to pair with Clay again and I feel the same. It’s a day. I know it’s just a day, but it’s one that feels extra loud and extra in your face, when you don’t have a good relationship with your dad.
One of the activities earlier in the week was making Father’s Day cards for the kids to send home and even though I knew it was coming, I still feel caught off guard.
Xander starts laughing. “Easiest way to work out who has daddy issues. Tell them it’s Father’s Day. What a bonding moment for us all.”
“Speak for yourself,” Emilia quips. “My dad is the best guy I know.”
“And I, just this second, decided not to spiral today, so share your misery with someone else, thank you very much,” Rory adds, giving him a sweet smile. “I will spiral later, alone, like a regular person. Or if I’m feeling really adventurous, I’ll bottle it up and bury it deep down, letting it erupt at a much later, more inconvenient time.”
“What can we do today with the kids?” I ask, changing the topic to avoid being dragged into this conversation too much. “What do they love the most?”
“Paint dodgeball,” Xander and Rory say in unison.
Her eyebrow raises as Xander whispers, “Did we just become best friends?”
Aurora grabs herself breakfast while we work out what we need and Clay and Maya join us, immediately on board with our plan. Sundays are usually pretty chilled out; after a week of constantly scheduled activities, everyone’s tired so we plan more low-key days and it means everyone has energy for the Sunday barbeque and evening event, which is usually movie night or a show.
There doesn’t sound anything low-key about paint and dodgeball being in the same sentence.