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“I wish we could go camping,” Charlotte says glumly as she stares out the window at the rain pouring down outside.
She’s said this at least ten times this morning and I’m worried that she’s annoying Heath. He went outside about fifteen minutes ago and hasn’t come back in.
“I know, bunny. I do, too, but it’s still storming out there. We’ll have to try to go a different weekend,” I tell her.
“Or…” Heath says as he comes in through the back door. “I could set up my tent in here and we could go camping inside.”
“Yeah!” Charlotte yells excitedly as she scrambles over to help Heath with the supplies.
I sit on the couch, sipping the coffee Heath made before I even got up this morning and watch them. I’d offer to give him a hand but I know nothing about tents and I’m sure that I would only get in the way.
Charlotte grins over at me as Heath puts the final rod in the tent and I smile back at her. It would have taken me at least four times as long to set up the tent.
“Can we make hot dogs over the fire?” Charlotte asks Heath and he nods.
He made us eggs, bacon, and toast for breakfast this morning and I’m a little concerned that we’re going to eat him out of house and home.
“I have some food and stuff in the cooler out in my car,” I tell him, standing to head outside to grab it but he’s already at the door.
“I’ll grab it. I’m already a little wet from getting the tent,” he says with a slightly timid smile as he darts outside and over to my car.
It takes him a couple of minutes to dig the cooler out of the car and by the time he’s headed back up to the house, he’s drenched.
His black T-shirt clings to him and my mouth starts to water at the sight. His hair is plastered to his head and he has drops of rain running down his face.
I want to lick those drops off of him.
I jerk my gaze away from him, looking over to Charlotte as Heath comes back inside. I can’t be thinking about Heath like that. I need to get my head on straight here. I just moved to Cherry Falls not that long ago. I need to get settled here, make sure that Charlotte is alright, and make the diner a success before I can even think about dating.
Besides, what if I dated Heath and then we broke up? It would be so awkward to still have to see him every day, and since our businesses are literally across the street from each other, I know we would be running into each other a lot.
I watch as Heath and Charlotte work together to dig the food out of the cooler. He heads back outside and comes back with some campfire cooking sticks and three sleeping bags.
“I’ll make you one, Caroline,” Charlotte tells me when I move to help them and I laugh.
“Thanks, bunny.”
I watch the two of them work together and I’m surprised. I never thought Heath would be good with kids since he seems too gruff with adults, but he’s patient and kind as he helps Charlotte with the hot dogs.
“Oh man! I burned it,” Charlotte says and I grimace as I think about eating that one.
“I love burned hot dogs,” Heath says right away. “Can I have it?”
Charlotte nods, smiling as she holds the stick steady and Heath grabs the now ruined hot dog with a bun. He slathers it in ketchup and mustard and I bite back a smile when I see him take a big bite and only slightly grimace.
When Charlotte looks at him, he takes another big bite, giving her a smile.
“It’s delicious. Thanks, Charlotte.”
She grins at him, holding up the package of hot dogs for him to help her with it. He slides another hot dog onto the end of her stick and back into the fire it goes. This time, he helps her hold it out of the flames and shows her how to turn the stick so the hot dog cooks evenly. A few minutes later, she has a perfectly cooked hot dog and Heath puts it on a bun for her before he hands it over.
“Now we just need to make one for Caroline.”
Heath gets to work on that while Charlotte eats her hot dog and I move over, grabbing a bun to help him when he pulls it away from the flames.
“Thank you,” I whisper to him and I hope he knows that I’m thanking him for more than just the hot dog.
I love seeing Charlotte so happy and I love that we were still able to go camping. I owe all of that to the strong, rough around the edges man next to me.
