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Ryan tipped his head toward the now-charred marshmallows. “Those might be good.”
“I think I’ll try it again.”
This time, I placed the marshmallows carefully on the stick and squatted down so that I could get them close to the flame without them catching on fire. There was only the crackling of the fire and the sound of the water lapping on the dock. The sun was setting, and the air off the water was cool since it was fall.
“I’d ask how it’s possible you never cooked s’mores before, but—”
I laughed lightly. “I never had the opportunity to go camping. Not that this is what that is. It’s more like glamping.”
It was a house, not a cabin, and a beautiful yard, not the untouched woods, but it was perfect.
He nodded toward my stick. “I think yours are ready now.”
Turning them over, they were a nice brown color. I stood up while he grabbed a plate with graham crackers and pieces of chocolate.
He used the crackers and chocolate to create a sandwich around my marshmallows, easily pulling them off the stick.
“You make it look so easy.”
He handed me the s’more. “I had lots of practice. My parents sent me to camp for most of the summer.”
I licked the marshmallow that had squeezed out from between the crackers. “I remember Jake complaining about you being gone.”
Ryan’s gaze dropped to my mouth. “You have a little…marshmallow…right there.”
He used his thumb to clean the spot and lifted it to his lips where he licked it.
Need clenched in my stomach. I had to remind myself we weren’t alone. I couldn’t act on the desire Ryan stoked with his touch.
Ryan turned away to make his own s’more. “It was good and bad. I wanted to be away from my parents but not my friends back home.”
“Yeah, I could see that.”
His brow furrowed. “You don’t think I’m ridiculous for complaining about attending summer camp?”
I thought about it for a few seconds before I responded. “Our situations were different. You couldn’t help how you were raised any more than I could.”
“I never felt like I fit in with my family. Money and status mattered to them. Everything we did reflected on them.” His voice was low in the night air, barely discernible above the sound of the crackling fire and the wind coming off the river.
“That’s why you acted out?”
“To get their attention? I don’t know. Who knows what I was thinking back then.”
“And now?” I thought I understood Ryan, but I wanted to know the whole picture.
“You know I reached out to them to see if they wanted to see Corey.”
The air rushed out of my lungs. “Wow. That’s a big step.”
“If he has connections with more than just me here, it could help with the judge.”
“Is that the only reason you’re reaching out?”
He stretched his neck to the right and then the left. “It’s good for him to have a relationship with his grandparents. Both Tiffany’s parents and mine live here.”
“Oh, that’s right. I forgot about that. He doesn’t know either of them well?”
Ryan’s gaze was on the fire. “Tiffany’s parents visit Texas once a year.”
