“I’ll hold him and you scrub him.”
Emma made quick work of Johnny’s hands and face with the warm water and soap, and Sean dried him off while she washed herself up. Then, while she dried her hands, Sean looped his arm around her waist and pulled her close so he could kiss the back of her neck.
“Are you having fun so far?”
“Yes, although I’m freaking exhausted and it’s only the first day.”
“There was also the driving and the set-up. But I’ll take him to the camper and get him in his pajamas. If I read to him for a while, he’ll probably nod off. You brought the baby monitor, right?” She nodded. “Then you go get Terry to make you a drink and sit in front of the fire for a while. I’ll bring the monitor out with me when he’s asleep.”
She turned in his embrace so she could kiss him. “That sounds like one hell of a plan.”
“Then maybe later we can fool around a little.”
After a nod toward their son, who was trying to scrub chocolate off of his shirt with a wad of paper towel, she shrugged. “I might let you get to second base.”
“Tell Terry to make it a stiff drink.”
She kissed him again and then bent down to kiss Johnny. “It’s time to go in the camper and read with Daddy.”
Sean knew his son was wiped out when he didn’t put up a fight. He just took his hand and walked with him toward their RV. Emma looked back at them, silhouetted by the campfire behind her, and he blew her a kiss.
Yes, he was definitely one lucky son of a bitch.
* * *
Leaving the Northern Star without specifically seeking out Laney to say goodbye felt wrong to Ben, even though he knew it was the right thing to do. The smile and wave across the campfire had to be enough, since anything more would have attracted attention and she wouldn’t want that. He had a feeling if Mary and Rosie decided to do some matchmaking, Laney would feel uncomfortable pretty quickly.
His apartment was dark when he let himself in, and so quiet he turned the television on just to have some background noise. Most of the time he didn’t mind being alone too much, since he was used to it, but he didn’t usually spend the evening surrounded by happy couples. Tonight, though, the apartment felt so empty he was surprised the voice of the sports reporter on the television didn’t echo.
After changing into a pair of cotton sleep pants, he stretched out on his couch with the remote and started flipping through channels. He found nothing that was engrossing enough to make him stop wishing he had somebody to talk to.
He could picture the others going back to their RVs and talking about the night. Laughing at something one of the kids had done. Sharing little tidbits they’d heard through the family grapevine. Talking about their plans for the next day’s vacation.
Ben fell asleep to an infomercial for some gadget that would roast a chicken in a fraction of the usual time and woke with a sore neck to the early morning news.
After setting the coffee to brew, he jumped in the shower, hoping the hot water would ease the pains of a restless night on the couch. He should have just gone to bed, but he’d been afraid he’d lie awake, thinking about Laney and how lonely he was.
Ben dressed in cargo pants and his paramedic T-shirt because, if he did decide to meet up with the guys and ride, he’d still technically be on duty. He still hadn’t made up his mind about that, but he thought he might go out for a little while. It would be the guys, which meant he wouldn’t feel like a third wheel, or a fifth wheel or whatever wheel he’d be. And he could burn off some energy, which wouldn’t hurt.
He heard voices in the driveway, so he went downstairs to see his parents for a few minutes before going to work. They were the early-to-bed-and-early-to-rise kind of people, so he always had a better chance of seeing them at the beginning of the day than at the end.
They were discussing whether or not the driveway needed resealing, and less than two minutes later, Ben wished he’d found a way to sneak out without them seeing him. It wasn’t likely he could have gotten in his SUV and driven past them, but he could have tried.
“We can just seal the cracks again,” his dad said for the fourth time since Ben hit the bottom step.
“Our driveway already looks like it’s duct taped together thanks to years of that,” his mom argued. “I think we need to redo the entire thing. Ben, what do you think?”
He hated when she did that. In his mind, he heard which parent is your favorite at this moment, Ben? “What does Jimmy think?”
“We haven’t asked Jimmy,” she said. “And you live here, so you get a vote.”
He really hoped he wouldn’t be living over his parents’ garage for so long that the longevity of the driveway surface was relevant to him. “I think you should have some kind of cook-off and whoever wins gets to make the driveway plan.”
His dad scowled. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“You make those ribs that make grown men eat until they throw up and maybe some coleslaw. Mom can offer up some cornbread. Maybe a strawberry-rhubarb pie. Jimmy and I can judge and whoever wins...wins.”
“You just want ribs and pie.”
Ben shrugged. “Just trying to come up with a fair plan because I’m a good son like that.”
“What do you really think?” his dad asked.
“Honestly? It’s starting to look like a patchwork quilt, so either this year or next year, depending on your finances, you should consider having it repaved.”
“Maybe I should raise your rent,” his dad growled.
“Then I’d better to get to work so I can earn more money.” Ben kissed his mom on the cheek, seeing his opportunity for escape.
“We know you’re salaried,” his dad called after him, and Ben laughed.
Sam was at the fire station when Ben walked in, which was no surprise. Dave and Jordan were also there, hanging around. There tended to be a lot of hanging around in Whitford, which was a good thing, since people usually only called them when they were having a really bad day. But it was still an adjustment for Ben, who was used to spending most of his shifts on the run.
Now there were no shifts. If there was a problem, they showed up. Otherwise, they maintained equipment, trained and—in the case of some of the others—worked other jobs. For Sam and Ben, there was a lot more hanging around than anything else.
“Hey, Ben,” Sam said, once he’d had a few minutes to shoot the shit with the guys. “Got a second?”
“Sure.” There was technically an office, but it was more like an oversized closet with a cheap desk shoved in it, so they went outside. It wasn’t totally private, but the other guys were arguing about whatever was on the TV screen and not paying them any attention. “What’s up?”
“They’ll be a lot of traffic this upcoming weekend, what with it being a holiday and all. We’ll probably have more ATV calls than usual.”
“I figured as much. It’s the same in the city, except for the ATVs. A holiday means more parties, more driving under the influence. More accidents. And being the Fourth, more drownings and more injuries from fireworks and sparklers.”
“Rumor has it you’ve been spending a lot of time at the Northern Star lately.”
“Rumor has it, huh?”
Sam shrugged. “It’s a small town.”
“It’s a small town that needs to understand I’m not going to sit here twenty-four hours a day, staring at my phone and waiting to be called out.”
“Back it up,” Sam said, and then he chuckled. “That wasn’t a criticism. I know Sean’s back for a while, and Ryan’s up and lord knows Rosie must be cooking up a storm.”
“Yeah, she is.”
“I was just trying to get a feel for what everybody’s doing over the holiday weekend so when a call comes in, I have a rough idea of where everybody’s staging
from. I had the same conversation with the other guys, too. So I’m just wondering if you’ll be spending most of the weekend there, that’s all.”
“Probably. During peak riding hours, I might hang around here, though.” He couldn’t spend all of his time at the campground because being around Laney that much would drive him crazy.
Sam shrugged. “As long as you’re not drinking and have your phone on, it doesn’t really matter if you’re at the lodge. The access trail out of town goes almost all the way there, anyway, so technically starting from the Northern Star would shorten your response time to the main trail system.”
That wasn’t helping, but Ben didn’t want to tell Sam he’d been fishing for a solid reason to avoid hanging out at the lodge. “Good point. I’ll text you whenever I think I might be out there for any length of time, so you’ll know. Otherwise, assume I’ll be starting from here.”
“Sounds good.” The argument inside was escalating, and Sam looked over his shoulder. “I think we’ll be washing and polishing the engine today. Those two need to spend some time in the fresh air.”
“I’m going to get some fresh air myself. The guys are going out on a ride today after lunch and I might meet up with them out there.”
“Good day for it. Things will start getting busy out there Friday night, once people have arrived and checked into their lodging. But they won’t stray far the first night. Saturday and Sunday will be busy, and—oh crap.”
Ben turned, frowning. “What’s wrong?”
“I totally forgot about the library thing.”
Hailey Barnett—town librarian and wife of Matt, the game warden—was walking toward them pushing a stroller and with a black Lab and a half-dozen little kids with her.
Sam stepped through the open doors. “Field trip, boys. Look sharp!”
To buy them a few minutes to tuck in their shirts and make sure everything was reasonably well childproofed, Ben wandered down the sidewalk toward them. “Good morning, everybody.”
The kids all shouted it back at him, and Hailey smiled. “How are you, Ben?”
“I’m good, thanks.” They’d met a couple of times, but he hadn’t met their little girl yet. She was in the stroller, kicking her feet while her hand rested on the neck of the dog, who’d sat down next to her as soon as Hailey stopped.
“This is Amelia. She’s nine months old. And that’s Bear.” The dog’s tail thumped.
“Bear is the dog,” one of the boys offered, apparently thinking Ben might be confused.
“Oh, that makes sense. Bear would be a funny name for a pretty little girl.”
“I saw Sam run away, so I guess it’s safe to assume he forgot the fire station is on our list of free field trips for the summer reading program?”
Ben laughed. “I think he just wanted to spit shine the old bell on the engine so it would be shiny for the kids. You guys want to ring the bell, right?”
His question was met with the kind of enthusiasm fire engines tended to bring out in the elementary age, and he smiled. “You know what’s even cooler than a truck with lights and a siren? An ATV with lights and a siren.”
Judging by the ooh sound from the kids, it was going to be a fun morning. Not a bad way to pass the time, he thought.
Chapter Nine
Emma
Sitting around the pool didn’t have quite the same effect when it was an inflatable pool filled with a few inches of water. But the little kids were happily splashing in it and the women were relaxing in chairs set in a circle. The older kids were inside the fence, in the big pool. The men had all gone out on one of their guys-only rides, which meant they’d come home filthy and starving and hopefully not too battered, so they were enjoying the peace and quiet while it lasted.
“Seeing the kids all together like this sure does the heart good,” Mary said. “The little kids and the big kids.”
“I haven’t seen Sean this happy in a long time,” Emma said. “He loves it here.”
Rosie smiled at her. “I can’t even tell you how happy that makes me. I wasn’t sure he’d ever come back, to be honest. He never liked it growing up, but I hoped when he left the army, he’d come back to Whitford. To the lodge. But he said he was going to spend some time in New Hampshire first, and then he met you, Emma. It was for the best, of course, because I can’t imagine him without you, but seeing him here makes me feel whole again somehow.”
Emma knew that Sean had visited New Hampshire after his discharge because he didn’t know what he wanted to do and he was afraid if he went back to the lodge, he’d get sucked into the family business. He’d never been comfortable growing up in a house he shared with strangers and he wanted no part of running it.
When push came to shove, though, he’d joined with his brothers to keep from losing it. And, whether it was simply letting go of his childhood or the fact it had brought the Kowalski kids back together again, Sean had even come to love the place.
“What’s wrong, Emma?” Rosie asked, her voice low with concern.
“Nothing.” She forced herself to smile. “I think I mentally wandered off for a minute, that’s all.”
“I hope I didn’t make it sound like I’d rather Sean had come home instead of going to New Hampshire before. I wouldn’t change anything, you know, because I love you and Johnny.”
I’d rather Sean had come home... Because Whitford—or the Northern Star Lodge, to be precise—would always be Sean’s home in everybody’s mind. Maybe even Sean’s. “I know that. That wasn’t it, I promise.”
“Are you feeling okay?” Mary asked.
“Yes. Tired, I guess. Getting Johnny to settle in the camper is a little challenging. Bedtime isn’t too bad, because he’s wiped out by then, but he’s been waking up earlier than usual and I’m thinking about leaving the two of them in the RV and moving myself into the lodge.”
“I’ll drink to that,” Beth said from the other side of the chain link fence. Because Brianna and Lily wanted to swim in the big pool, some of the women were inside the fence and some were outside, with the kiddie pool. “I’ll drink a lot to that. Lily isn’t bad, but Gabe doesn’t handle us all being in the same room very well. He has his own little air mattress with a sleeping bag he got to pick out, but likes to roam around. He’ll crawl in with Lily, but that wakes her up and she’s cranky, so then he gets in with us. And as soon as it’s light enough for him to see, he’s ready to go again.”
“That sounds like Johnny,” Emma said.
“I asked Andy if he could paint windows black, and he laughed,” Beth continued. “I guess he thought I was joking.”
“We hung a princess curtain around the bottom bunk in our cabin,” Keri said. She was inside the fence, with Beth. “That way, she has her own private room and she pretends it’s a fancy bed like princesses have. But mostly it keeps the sun from waking her up in the morning.”
“I’d steal it, but Lily could sleep through the zombie apocalypse. Gabe’s the problem, and I don’t think he even has to see the sun. He just knows.”
Emma watched Johnny trying to show Gabe how to put his face in the water and blow bubbles, which led to Gabe sputtering, coughing and then laughing every time. Then Jackson, who was just sitting in the pool, slapping the surface of the water with his hands, would laugh. It was soothing, she thought, watching babies enjoy the smallest things in life.
“What do you think, Emma?”
“Huh?” She looked at Liz, who’d spoken to her. “I’m sorry. I was watching my son teach his cousin how to inhale pool water.”
Beth snorted. “He’s kind of hopeless in the water. He’ll probably still be in the kiddie pool when the others go off to college.”
“He’ll get it,” Mary said. “I haven’t met a Kowalski yet who can’t swim.”
“Well, he’s got my DNA, too, and I know a few
Hansens who sink like rocks.”
“What do I think about what?” Emma asked before the conversation derailed to the point nobody remembered what the original question had been.
“Oh, Laney,” Liz said. “Laney and Ben.”
“What about them?”
“Do you think they’re a thing?”
Emma was surprised by the question, and she wasn’t really sure what she should say. Sean had told her he thought Ben had a thing for Laney, but that as far as he knew, nothing had happened between them. But talk between two old friends that was shared with a wife in private didn’t make it family gossip. And she didn’t think Rosie had some kind of rule governing fraternization between Laney and guests, and technically he wasn’t a guest. But he was the guest of a guest...and an old friend of the family.
“I don’t know,” she said, before she could confuse herself to the point she couldn’t get any words out. “Why do you ask?”
“I think they’d be a perfect couple,” Rosie said.
Mary nodded. “I agree.”
“Well,” Liz said, “they’re pretty well doomed.”
They all laughed, but Emma knew Liz wasn’t kidding. Laney and Ben being attracted to each other plus Rosie and Mary deciding they belonged together would only equal one of two things—a happily-ever-after, or some kind of moment so awkward Ben would probably never return to the lodge again.
* * *
Laney had seen the guys return from their big ride, and she was dreading what the bathhouse would look like. The machines had been caked with mud, and the men themselves were so dirty, she had a hard time telling them apart.
Even though they’d taken turns at the wash station, spraying each other and their ATVs with the hose, she had a feeling a whole lot of that dirt was going to be on the bathroom floors. And when steam from the showers and water splashed around mixed with it, she’d learned that muddy bathrooms were actually a thing that existed in campgrounds.
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