Page 79 of For Fox Sake

“I’m ready!”

“Wooo!”

And then we’re off.

Finley keeps Ari entertained as we complete a loop around the camp, giving a whole speech on every building we pass and everything the camp has to offer from the art building to the paintball course to the indoor ice rink.

“I’ve never ice-skated,” Ari says after we’ve passed the giant barnlike structure.

“We will definitely have to fix that,” Finley tells her.

Then we stop at the mess hall for a few snacks and to use the bathrooms.

“This is incredible,” Ryan says when Finley points out the restaurant-grade kitchen connected to the mess hall. It’s used for meal preparation, and there are also stations where the kids are taught how to cook and prep their own food.

After the kitchens, we tour the perimeter of the property, and Finley lets Ari steer the cart along the well-worn dirt roads. We stop a few times for short nature walks—there are tons of wooded areas to explore—and then we head over the hill to the pond for a picnic. Archer meets us there, bearing a giant picnic basket and a few large blankets.

“What part did you like the best?” Finley hands Ari a turkey sandwich.

We’ve all spread out on blankets in the shade of one of the many sprawling trees surrounding the pond.

Ari taps her chin with her finger. “I liked the art place.”

Everyone loves the art building. It has space for pottery, welding supplies and junk for metalwork, and anything anyone could ever need for painting, drawing, and sculpting.

“But,” Ari continues, “I really want to ice-skate.”

Finley beams at Ryan, then me. “I knew I liked this girl. What do you say we head over there after lunch? I can show you the basics. Once you learn how to fly on the ice, it’s the most amazing feeling in the world.”

“Finley is the best person to teach you,” I tell Ari. “She could have been in the Olympics.”

If tragedy hadn’t struck.

“Really?” Ryan’s eyes lift to her hairline. “That’s incredible. What happened?”

Finley stands up, wiping her hands on her jeans. “Life got in the way. As it does.”

Ryan frowns. “Yeah. I’ve had that kind of thing happen too.”

She placed first in sectionals a week before Aria died. She dropped everything and came home to take care of us. She gave up all her dreams.

Finley watches me like she can read the thoughts tumbling in my head. I clear my throat and crumple up the bag of chips I just demolished. “Did you bring dessert?” I ask Archer.

We spend a couple of hours at the ice rink, goofing around and burning off lunch.

Then Luke, Atticus, and Oliver meet us at the paintball course for a round before we all head to Veronica’s to meet the rest of my family for dinner.

Taylor owns Veronica’s, but she kept the old name. Veronica was an old friend of our dad’s. We hung out in the bar all the time when we were kids. We’d eat all the cherries and orange slices, help her sweep the floors, and dust the bar. It’s like a home away from home.

A place where I used to go to get smashed. Being here doesn’t make me want to drink, but it does make me a little sad about all the time I wasted disappearing instead of living. Although I suppose I had to make those mistakes to get to where I am now.

By the time we finish eating and head back to the cabins, it’s late and Ari’s eyes are drooping.

Archer drops Ryan and Ari off at their place first before heading back to the main house.

“Did you want to get out here too?” Archer winks at me after Ryan and Ari have exited the vehicle.

I don’t want to make Ryan uncomfortable by assuming, and he knows it, the prick.

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