She grins, taking a bite of the melted dessert. “I won’t cause trouble.”
I doubt she knows all the things she does that cause me trouble.
“What’d you choose?” I ask. Someone always brings a variety of chocolate bars and graham cracker flavors out here. Once, Lucy saved those brightly colored marshmallow chicks from Easter to roast. I’ve got a sweet tooth, but that concoction was too much for me.
“It’s a peanut butter cup s’more.” She’s trying not to let anything drip, but it’s only a matter of time.
“Can I have a taste?”
She holds the gooey sandwich up to my mouth, and I take a bite. The rich, sweet flavors explode on my tongue. Pretty sure the melted chocolate explodes on my face, too.
Rose laughs softly. “You’ve got a little bit…”
She swipes at my lips with her thumb, and all my senses key into that gentle touch. I purse my lips to kiss the end of her thumb, licking the dollop of chocolate off with a gentle suck. Her gaze sticks there like glue.
Snickers move around the campfire. I wasn’t thinking about my family—I wasn’t thinking about much of anything. I release her thumb, and she dabs daintily at my mouth as if we didn’t just put a match to dry leaves.
“Did you get it all?” I ask.
She nods, turning in my lap so we’re not face to face. Possibly to avoid temptation. Little does she know, she’s all temptation.
Across the fire, Nathan looks beside himself. “I should have figured it out sooner. Reed was always smiling whenever I went into the coffee shop. Silly me, I thought you just loved your job.”
I don’t like to think how obvious I must have been for Nathanto take note of it. He might not have put the clues together, but he still saw them.
Graham nods. “It didn’t take much to realize he only smiled when Rose was around.”
I thought we were done being the center of attention, but here they are, making commentary on my life again. I suppose I invited it when I made us a spectacle over dessert.
“He doesn’t smile at work.” Rose takes another bite, licking a thread of chocolate from her lips. My stomach dips and tightens, and I redirect my gaze to the fire.
For a second.
Graham’s face looks wicked in the orange firelight. “Not when you’re watching.”
Fresh laughter goes around the fire. Rose turns to me, confusion in her eyes. I can guess her questions. I’ll answer them all later. We’ve had enough revelatory moments in front of my family for one night.
I hitch my shoulders and snuggle her closer, wrapping both arms around her. She sinks against me, seemingly content with that for now.
“Uncle Reed, I haven’t told you about my outdoors camp yet.” Jovie’s sitting cross-legged in a camp chair, licking melted chocolate off her fingers. She launches into a vivid description of the day camp she attended this week through Sunshine’s parks department. They learned basic outdoors skills like using a compass and tying knots, alongside elements of environmental stewardship. “I wish I could go again next year and learn even more stuff.”
“Why can’t you?”
“They only have an elementary school program,” Luke explains. “It’s a new camp. Most of their summer camps are centered on sports.”
“I still like softball!” Jovie clarifies. “I just like camping and stuff, too.”
“You’re lucky your uncle was a park ranger,” Russ tells her. “He could probably teach you a lot of what you want to know.”
“Yeah, could you?” Jovie asks me. “I want to learn how to read maps and find constellations and stuff like that.”
“We could do some things like that.” I don’t want to commit to a week-long, one-on-one camp or anything, but I can show her some of what she’s interested in.
“I can teach you basic first aid.” Nathan’s already roasting his second marshmallow. “Like how to splint a broken bone if you’re ever injured alone in the wilderness.”
Luke fans the smoke drifting in his face Nathan’s way. “Don’t give me new things to worry about.”
“I could teach you about local plants and wildlife.” Graham’s eating a peanut butter cup plain. “I’m not very outdoorsy.” He pauses for the requisite laughter when his aversion to getting more wild than visits to the cabin comes up. “But I can at least make sure you don’t touch or eat the wrong thing.”
