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“Sorry, have to be at the crepes. Jack stuck me in charge of shit so I can’t really skip out on shit like you assholes.”
Dave grinned at him. “How exactly did you land that job?” He looked to Jax. “We should get him a frilly uniform and a pretty little tag that says ‘tour guide’ or some shit.”
Kaeden shook his head at the pair and was about to ask where Mia was when she walked out of the cabin, long hair still wet as she braided it with quick fingers.
Jax snaked an arm out and pulled his wife against him, tugging her off balance and drawing a yelp from her. But she smiled when she batted at him and it was easy to see she didn’t mind the interruption.
She smiled. “Kaeden, if you’re planning to climb with these two, you should know they turn everything into a competition. You won’t just be scaling a rock face. You’ll be timed and judged on who took the hardest route or came up with the most unique handhold or whatever.”
Kaeden wasn’t surprised. Dave and Jax routinely competed in the office. Whether it was who could do the most pushups if they got bored during lunch or who could dig up some piece of information on a company fastest—even though Samantha always kicked their asses on that score—they turned everything into a rivalry.
Dave beat his chest with a fist and gave a mock growl. “Keeps us strong.”
Mia rolled her eyes.
The two were tougher than tough. Jax had been a Navy Corpsman to the Marines and Dave was an Army medic, though Kaeden suspected he’d been more than that. He was pretty sure the man had been a Special Forces Medical Sergeant, though Dave didn’t talk about it. He’d lost sight in one eye and had some pretty bad scars to one side of his face from whatever had taken him out of the job, so Kaeden knew whatever had happened had been bad. He didn’t blame the guy for keeping quiet on that.
Mia turned in Jax’s arms and kissed him before pulling loose and saying her goodbyes. She then headed up toward the main lodge.
“Lucky bastard,” Dave grumbled as Jax looked after his wife with a sappy puppy dog look.
Kaeden looked at Dave. Even though Jax and Dave had gone back to packing up their gear, Dave still looked like he wanted to say something more. Kaeden didn’t in a million years think it was about Mia specifically. Dave wasn’t like that. But he wondered if the man wanted a woman in his life more than he realized.
Kaeden wasn’t there yet. Hell, he probably should be since he was hitting his thirties, but he didn’t really think he could let anyone close enough to him for that. Probably never would.
He wasn’t going to let it get to him. If he did, he’d have to start analyzing his life and all that shit and that just wasn’t going to happen.
He was happy with chasing after his promotion for now.
And that meant getting up to the lodge.
“Have a good climb, guys.” He gave a nod of his chin when the two men looked up to say goodbye and then he hoofed it up to the lodge to meet the van.
He needed to put in the facetime Jack wanted if he was going to get this raise.
Chapter 6
Joy watched the group unload outside Crepes a la Carte and was glad when none of them looked put out by the long line that was already halfway down the block. The place was actually a cart not a restaurant, though they did have a small store front option on the other side of the street. She’d already told some of them they might want to cut through the alley that led to the storefront to see if there was a shorter line there, but they all seemed happy to get into line at the cart.
She saw Mia who she’d met earlier that morning talking to a woman she hadn’t met yet but thought was named Sarah if she went by process of elimination and the list of people she’d been given by her boss.
She was beginning to learn which kids went with which parents but it wasn’t easy. They all seemed like they parented each other’s kids as easily as they did their own, making it all the more confusing.
Jack’s auburn-haired wife, Kelly, smiled at Kaeden. “Crepes were a great idea. You’re not bad at this trip planning thing.”
Joy stifled a laugh as Kaeden glanced her way before brushing off the compliment and telling Kelly it had been Joy’s suggestion.
Kelly beamed her way. “Any fan of crepes is a friend of mine.”
Jack, Andrew, and Chad came up to the group just then and Joy’s recollection of Jack being Kelly’s husband was confirmed when he kissed her temple.
“Kel, it looks like there’s a small park a couple of blocks down the street. We’re going to take the kids down there while you guys wait in line. If you don’t mind waiting?”
Kelly sent him a look that said he was crazy. “Do I mind getting to hang with my girlfriends in line while you take the kids off our hands?”
Jack laughed and squeezed her close for a minute, dropping another kiss to her cheek before he and the others began herding the kids toward the park.
Kaeden watched them go. “Don’t you need to get their orders?”
