Page 74 of Camping with the Boss

“What?”

“Can I have your bacon? You’re obviously done.”

I hand it to her, and she smiles as she takes a bite. I huff. “What?”

“Nothing. But you’re not the first person to fall for your boss.”

“Not my boss. Not really.” Her grin tells me I stepped into her trap. Ugh. “And I didn’t fall for him.”

“Too late. Here’s the thing that bothers me. It’s not this other guy. Shit happens. It’s not that he didn’t tell you. Legally binding or not, he’s known you for less than five days.”

“Then what bothers you?”

“The whole less than five days, Can. This isn’t about him. It’s about you. It took you six months to decide you wanted to change the bedding in your room. And another six months to get up the nerve to make that change. One year to change your room décor. It’s been five days, if we’re being generous. This new Canyon is spontaneous. A risk taker? Fucking in the woods?”

“No. We didn’t. Not really.”

She sighs. “Gosh. Seeing you flustered never gets old.”

“Come on, Alex. Tell me what to do.”

“I can’t. What I want you to do is take it slow. See how you feel about this guy while you’re not at camp. If you still like him, fine. But don’t throw your life away on a camping retreat fling that might be nothing more.”

“So that’s your advice? Wait?”

She chews the bacon and shakes her head. “Nah.”

I grab her hands. “Alex. Be helpful.”

“Don’t mess with my bacon.” She pops the last bit in her mouth. “All that is what I want. But it’s not what you want. You have to figure that part out yourself and do it.” She leans down, making comical faces until I have to look at her. “Can?”

“What?”

“Do you know what you want?”

I think about it for a minute. “I want to take down his aunt and anyone who helped her. But what if I make things worse? What if he still doesn’t want me?”

“Aww,” she says, sounding relieved as she taps the side of my face. “Thank fuck, my doubting diva is still in there.” As the server comes back to collect the plates, Alex hoards the unused silverware, which consists of two spoons and a knife. What is she up to? After the server is gone, Alex continues, “You can only do what you can do. The rest is up to him. Meanwhile…let’s storyboard it.” She waggles her brows again, and I groan.

“Please, God, no.”

“He can’t help you now.” She points the silverware at me. “You asked for this.”

After gathering the silverware in a small pile on the table, Alex adds the salt and the pepper shakers. “Okay, so the spoons are you and Wade. Obviously.” She picks them up to show me and puts them aside. “River can be the knife since he’s playing an asshole in today’s production of Real Camping Housewives of Plevna.”

I start to tell her none of this is River’s fault, but she’s on a roll, so I leave it. There’s one thing I can’t leave. “I’m proud of you for not makingspooningjokes.”

“They’re all up here.” She taps the side of her head. “Tons of them. I’m planning a series of TikToks around them.”

I laugh, but I’m not positive she’s kidding. “Moving on.”

“How much time left at camp?”

“Our last session is at four. A closing dinner. ”

She sips her sweet tea and considers this. “So you think someone on bossman’s team is setting him up to fail?”

“Yes.”

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