Page 73 of Never Will I Ever

However, I do catch his subtle nod of approval before Elijah drags my attention away with his ever-inquisitive mind.

“When did you learn to read a map?”

This morning, and I’m only about sixty percent literate.

I shoot him a grin. “I’ve got some tricks up my sleeve, kid. Don’t you worry.”

Jordan stops suddenly, staring down at the map in his hands, and the rest of the group gathers around him while he checks our location with the compass.

“Okay, so it should be here, right?” Jordan asks before holding them out for me again.

Despite knowing this is, in fact, where we were supposed to be, I double check anyway. Using the map and compass, I align thetwo the way Kaleb showed me and then check my surroundings for landmarks.

“Yep,” I confirm, then glance down at the instructions for the final clue. “Sounds to me like you’ll be climbing into something hollow. Should be just down the hill a bit, but be careful when you—”

The six of them race off the trail, heading toward their destination: a large, hollowed-out tree stump big enough for one or two of them to climb inside.

With it being Jordan’s find, Elijah and Colton link their hands together for leverage and a little boost off the ground. Then he climbs up the ten or so feet to the top of the stump before disappearing inside it.

“This is so cool!” I hear Jordan shout, and instantly, the others want their chance to get a look too, all climbing up the outside to peer down below.

A smile pulls at my lips while I watch them work together, and it only grows as they celebrate their success when Jordan emerges with the container in hand.

Elijah and Cole share a high five while Jordan holds out the container to Dayton so he can climb back out of the stump. Kaleb had hidden random things inside each find, and this one happens to have a tiny orange triceratops figure, which Jordan seems pretty pleased about when he pops it open.

The six of them clamber their way back to where I’m waiting on the trail, possibly more excited than they were when this adventure started—Elijah most of all.

“It’s my turn next!” Elijah shouts with excitement before pressing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose.

I hand off the tools to him, doing my best not to laugh at his enthusiasm. After all, getting him to enjoy camp and connect with the other kids is half the reason I’m here, though that seems to be a fact I often forget.

Elijah is already reading the next set of instructions, the rest of the kids hanging on his every word, before he aligns the map and compass to get his bearings. When he looks up at me for approval, I motion toward the trail.

“Lead the way, kid.”

They all set off, Elijah in the lead, and when I turn to follow, I find Kaleb’s gaze on me again. His group is already heading off in the opposite direction under the leadership of their new navigator, disappearing down the trail with my own group hot on their heels. But Kaleb is still here. Watching. Waiting.

And when I get closer, I realize…he’s fucking smiling.

“Not bad, rookie,” he muses as we set out after the kids together. “We’ll make a wilderness junkie out of you yet.”

We continue like that, trailing after the kids and helping them as needed, for another couple hours, filling the time with easy jokes and conversation. And lots of passing glances too. I swear, every time I turn my back to chat with one of the kids or reorientate them, I can feel his gaze on me.

And when I finally refocus my attention on him, he doesn’t look away. He just studies me for a second and grins, only to continue whatever conversation we were having before the interruption.

I think Elijah’s even started to notice with how many times it’s happened, because he asked why Kaleb keeps watching me. So when we’re trekking with the kids to the sixth and final location, I take it as an opportunity to say something.

Discreetly.

“Since you’re the one who made this whole game up, maybe you can help me with these last set of instructions,” I murmur, holding them out for him to take.

His eyes narrow with equal parts suspicion and curiosity as he takes them from me, a smirk sitting on his lips when he glances down at the page. A smirk that grows into a full-blow smile whenhe reads the note I’d written near the top.

Stop looking at me like that. These kids notice everything.

My heart is racing, pulse thudding beneath my skin, and when his brow arches playfully after his attention returns to me, I can feel the idiotic smile crossing my face.

“Seems easy enough to follow.”

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