Page 32 of What it Takes
“Evan’s got that campfire roaring already,” Keri said. “I was hoping we’d get to relax for a bit before s’mores time.”
“We’ll relax,” Mary said, “and bring out the marshmallows when we’re ready. And when somebody reminds him we want more hot coals and less raging inferno with these kids.”
“I’m going to get some stuff done,” Laney said. She might be able to do a quick check of the bathhouse while they were distracted with marshmallows. “I’ll just carry the garbage bag. It’s not that heavy.”
“Make sure you’re back for s’mores,” Lauren said. “Probably about forty-five minutes or so. We have to let the fire burn down some, but we don’t want to wait too long to jack the kids up on sugar.”
“Oh, I’ll probably just go in for the night.”
“And miss the s’mores?” Mary shook her head. “They’re the best part of camping.”
“I’ve never had one, actually.”
“You’ve never had a s’more?” Lauren cocked her head. “How is that even possible?”
“We never went camping that I remember.”
Keri laughed. “Sometimes, in the winter, Brianna and I put on a movie and toast marshmallows over a candle and make s’mores in the living room. Very important to use unscented candles, by the way. Learned that one the hard way.”
“You don’t want to miss the s’mores,” Mary said, and Laney knew the issue was settled.
“I’ll definitely be back, then,” she said, and through the corner of her eye, she saw Ben smile.
Sean
There were times in Sean’s life that made him wish there was a pause button so he could treasure a moment longer. Moments like Emma and Johnny working in the garden together, singing silly songs. The way Emma laughed when Sean told her a stupid joke.
And this moment, when Johnny was trying to feed Emma a s’more and marshmallow was stuck to her chin and she was laughing too hard to bite into the graham cracker and chocolate. He was frowning in concentration, and maybe a little bit of annoyance, and while Johnny looked like him, the expression was so Emma, Sean couldn’t help smiling.
“You are one lucky son of a bitch,” Ben said from the chair next to him.
“That I am.” They were all lucky, he thought, looking around the fire. Liz was feeding Jackson little bits of lightly toasted marshmallow while the other kids made s’mores with the help of various adults. It was a messy business and occasionally dangerous if you didn’t want to get slapped with a molten marshmallow flung off the end of a stick being waved around, but he knew none of them would rather be doing anything else. “So you never got married, huh?”
“Nope. Gave too much to the job and not enough to the women who were willing to try to make a go of it with me.”
“Now you’ve got a little more free time and you can find yourself a nice hometown girl.” As soon as he said it, Ben’s gaze shifted and Sean didn’t miss it.
He’d had a hunch his old friend might be interested in Laney, and the way Ben looked at her now confirmed it. She was on the other side of the fire, holding Gabe on her lap while frowning at the ends of her hair, which had marshmallow stuck in it.
“Laney fits in well with everybody,” he said, fishing with a more obvious bait.
Ben looked at him, nodding slowly. “Yeah, she does. She’s a nice woman, so I’m not surprised.”
“What’s her story, anyway? Rosie said she was divorced and looking to leave...where was it she’s from?”
“Rhode Island.”
“Right. And she ended up here in Whitford, huh?”
Ben frowned. “She’s Nola Kendrick’s cousin, which I’m pretty sure you already know, since it probably came up during the family meeting about hiring her.”
Sean decided to dial it back a little. “That’s right. Honestly, Josh does such a great job of running this place now that I don’t always pay attention as well as I should on the conference calls. Which I hate, because it’s confusing keeping track of who’s talking.”
Emma, who’d finally managed to swallow a few bites of Johnny’s s’more, walked toward them. She was holding their son’s hand since they were close to the fire ring, and grimacing at her other hand, which was covered in marshmallow and chocolate.
“Tell Daddy we need help cleaning up,” she said when they were standing in front of him.
Johnny pulled his hand free from his mom’s so he could hold them up. Judging by the amount of marshmallow and chocolate on the two of them, he had to wonder if they’d gotten any in their mouths. “We might need a hose.”
