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“Can you spray me down too?” Livvie calls from the other side of the truck.
Ryan’s head snaps up and he clears his throat. “Yeah. Sure.”
My gaze meets his for a second longer, then he strides off to help his daughter.
I move to the back of the truck and begin unloading supplies, putting them where I think they should be.
When Ryan and Livvie are done dousing each other with bug spray, he puts Livvie and me in charge of the food and kitchen set-up and he gets to work on the tent.
“The camp stove goes there,” Livvie says, pointing to a spot a few feet from the water spigot, and next to a picnic table. I get to work setting up the camp stove while she sets up camp chairs, a lantern, and a few other items.
When we’re through, Ryan hands me and Livvie sleeping bags and jerks his head toward the tent. “Go ahead and put your gear and the sleeping bag in the tent.
I nod and follow Livvie.
When I get inside the tent, Livvie’s already unrolling her sleeping bag. I look around and stare at the floorspace wondering where I should put my bag. Should I sleep next to Ryan? Will that freak Livvie out? Do I put Livvie between me and Ryan? Will that be awkward but more appropriate? Would Ryan be offended? Should I sleep at their feet and avoid this whole scenario altogether?
I nibble on my lip, contemplating when Livvie looks up at me and smirks. “Are you gonna sneak out of your sleeping bag and make out with my dad?”
“Wha–No! Of course not,” I say, rearing back. Please, God, let a hole open up and swallow me whole.
Livvie rolls her eyes. “I’m just messing with you.” She shoves her sleeping bag against the wall and then gestures to the spot next to her bag. “He can sleep in the middle. Be careful. He snores a little. And sometimes he farts.”
Ryan’s head pops into the tent through the doorway. “I can hear you. And I do not snore.”
“So you admit that you fart then,” Livvie says, folding her arms over your chest. “And that it peels the paint from the bathroom walls?”
“I didn’t say that either,” he says.
“But you didn’tnotsay it.” She lifts both eyebrows as if daring him to contradict her.
Ryan turns to me, and says completely deadpanned, “Do you want a daughter? I’ll give her to you cheap. In fact, I might pay you to take her off my hands.”
Livvie’s mouth pops open. “Dad!”
“What?” He swivels his head and cocks it at her. “Quit spreading nasty rumors to our guests. If you keep that up, I’ll warn her about how you’re deathly afraid of spiders, and walk in your sleep and how you–”
“Dad! Don’t you dare!” Livvie bellows, her eyes wide.
Ryan grins.
She narrows her eyes at him, then huffs and stomps out of the tent, elbowing past him at the doorway of the tent.
Ryan chuckles then grabs the sleeping bag tucked under his arm, and unrolls it next to Livvy’s. “You can put your bag next to mine. I promise not to bite. Or burp. Or snore. Or fart.”
I chuckle, which makes him grin.
When we’re done figuring out the tent, we step back out into the campsite. Livvie’s already stacking sticks inside the fire pit.
“She seems to know what she’s doing,” I say to Ryan.
He folds his arms over his chest and stares at her, a look of pride on his face. “Yeah. She loves this sort of stuff. The only reason I’m here is because she can’t drive yet. Practically everything else she does herself.”
Livvie looks up at us and rolls her eyes again. “Will you two quit yammering and start on the food? I’m starving here.”
Ryan gives her a mock salute. “We’re all over it, captain Livvie!”
Chapter 20
