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“This is an art,” he said. “You can’t just put your marshmallow into the flames and expect perfection. You need to rotate your marshmallow and make sure you don’t keep it in the direct fire. Then, when it’s nice and toasty, we put a piece of chocolate on a graham cracker and then the marshmallow. After that, we top it with another graham cracker. We squish it all together and wait for it to cool for a minute. You don’t want to burn your mouth. The marshmallow can get very hot.”
Reese tried not to smile. Grady was taking this very seriously. She put her marshmallow near the flame, careful not to put it directly in. Grady nodded his approval as he toasted his own marshmallow, and Reese slowly rotated her skewer. When Grady deemed it ready, she placed it on the graham cracker he had prepared and squished it between another graham cracker with chocolate on it. The marshmallow oozed out both sides, but she was careful not to touch it.
“You never did stuff like this when you went camping?” he asked.
“This is the closest I’ve ever been to camping. My parents didn’t camp, and I was usually too busy training or studying to go camping.”
“Hmm. We were busy too, but summers were important for us. And my family loves the outdoors. I’m going to have to get you in a tent for some old-fashioned roughing it. That reminds me. It won’t be like real camping, but we can set up the patio furniture on the deck, put out the netting, and sleep outside one night. My parents have it all rigged up for when the bugs get bad.”
His suggestion caught her off guard, and she found herself smiling. “That sounds like fun.”
“Yeah, we can tell scary stories and stay up all night.”
She playfully punched him in the arm. “Not so fun.”
Her s’more had cooled enough and Reese took a bite. The chocolate, marshmallow, and graham cracker hit her all at once. She couldn’t believe she’d missed out on this. “Oh my God. This is freaking amazing.”
“Told you,” he said proudly.
She’d barely finished it before she’d speared another marshmallow on her skewer and had it in the low flames. And just like her first s’more, she relished the second one. She thought about having a third, but instead toasted a marshmallow and ate it on its own.
“I feel like I’ve missed out on so much. S’mores, camping. What else?”
“I don’t know,” Grady said, licking his lips. “Have you ever climbed a tree? Peed in a pool? Ate bugs?”
“None of those. And the second one sounds gross. As for climbing a tree, both my parents would have killed me. I spent most of my teen years training. There was no time for fun. I don’t really have memories of spending summers anywhere. I trained. My dad wanted me to be the best, and my mom liked the attention. Cam had more of a childhood because his parents were normal. Maybe that’s why I don’t have many healthy relationships.”
“I think I’m a healthy relationship for you.”
“You are,” Reese said, patting his arm. “Basically, you and Cam. The only two normal men in my life. All the others have been losers. I either attract losers or seek them out. I’m not sure which.”
“I’m in a similar boat,” Grady said, assembling another s’more. “But I think I seek out materialistic women who would rather buy makeup and shoes than have an adult conversation. My brain tells me I want a certain kind of woman in my life, and then I do the exact opposite.”
“Me too! It’s like I pick the opposite of the man I want.”
“For me, I’ve always envisioned someone athletic so that we could do things together. A woman I could joke around with, who would want to try new things. Someone I could talk to about what’s going on in my life…” He trailed off. “Anyway, I always end up with a woman who can barely climb a staircase, who wants to gossip, and who I feel I can’t share anything serious with.”
Reese pulled a chunk off her marshmallow, catching the long, melted strands with her fingers. “Why do you think that happened?”
“I don’t know. Maybe because that’s the type of women who were around. Plus, most of the guys date women like that. Maybe I was subconsciously trying to fit in.”
Reese could sympathize. She’d spent her life trying to fit in. “If it helps, Jordy was a loser. We dated on and off for three years. He used me. He didn’t care about me. He didn’t come see me win gold. Not once did he ever say he was proud of me.”
“We’re really diving deep into our emotions tonight, aren’t we,” Grady said and winked at her. “One of my therapists told me Michelle wasn’t a healthy relationship for me. And I stopped seeing her because of it. I guess she was right. Do you think you like bad boys?”
“No. I think it’s more about searching for something. Maybe because I couldn’t fix my mother, I wanted to fix Jordy?”
Grady prepared another s’more and set his marshmallow into the flames. “I wonder if I’m too nice. Maybe I’m easy pickings for some women. And maybe I want them to be someone else, and when I finally realize they aren’t, I cut my losses.”
“Maybe this pretend relationship is good for both of us. It’s keeping us occupied so we can’t get ourselves into any more destructive relationships.”
“Maybe.”
They talked for a long time and Reese didn’t even notice that hours went by. Julia had been gone a while when they headed back up to the cottage. It was nearly midnight.
“I think I’ll turn in. I’m not used to the outdoors,” she said, stifling a yawn.
“I’ll be up in a bit.”
