Family Camp (Daddy Dearest, #1)
Eli Easton
Chapter 1
The wail that came from the back seat was at a pitch Geo had never heard before in his life. It was an ungodly sound somewhere between an ambulance siren and the call of peacocks.
Geo’s hands clenched on the steering wheel, and he took his foot off the accelerator, glancing in the rearview mirror. “What is it? What’s wrong, Lucy?”
Yeah, good luck being heard over the cacophony coming out of her mouth. Her little face was pinched up, eyes screwed shut, mouth gaping like a portal to hell.
Shit. Shit.
Geo’s Honda Civic jerked and sputtered, as if it, too, was reacting to the sound.
“Jayden?” Geo asked, trying to sound calm. “Can you see what’s wrong with Lucy?” Geo scanned the side of the road for a place to pull over. They were on the last stretch of their drive, and the two-lane mountain road up to Big Bear was winding and narrow with no shoulder to speak of.
“I dunno.” Jayden gave the kind of bored shrug only a twelve-year-old boy could master. “What’s wrong with you, Lucy?”
Unsurprisingly, this had no effect on Lucy. She continued to wail.
Shit. Shit.
It was several minutes of eardrum-bursting torment before a dirt pull-off appeared to the right. By then, the car’s engine was making little hiccupping noises, which Geo refused to acknowledge. One crisis at a time.
He put on his flashers and pulled over. For a moment he just clutched the wheel, heart racing. Then he undid his seatbelt and turned in his seat.
“Lucy? Honey? What’s wrong?”
She waved her arms in the air, both fists clutching her dolls.
“Is the seatbelt pinching you? Is your tummy upset? What’s the matter, sweetie?”
Geo steadily did not look at Jayden. He was pretty sure Jayden wouldn’t have done anything to hurt Lucy. From what he’d seen in the rearview mirror, the boy had been ignoring her. And Geo. And the car they rode in on, for that matter. He wasn’t exactly excited about this trip. Showing any suspicion of Jayden, even in a glance, would be death at this stage of their relationship. Geo knew that.
“I think she lost one of her dolls,” Jayden pronounced.
Geo blinked. He looked at the dolls being waved in Lucy’s clenched little fingers. There was Dad doll—an old Ken with molded blond hair, black pants, and a blue knit sweater. Mom doll was there—a brunette Barbie in a yellow dress. In Lucy’s other fist was the pre-pubescent girl doll—Cindy or Candy or Corny or something like that, with her straight blond bangs, flat chest, and sailor dress. And he thought he saw Baby doll too, an inch-long nugget in a pink flannel blanket.
“No, they’re all there.” Geo reached between the seats and patted Lucy’s leg, trying to soothe her. “Honey. It’s okay.”
“Not the dog,” Jayden said challengingly.
Shit. The dog.
“Did it fall on the floor?” Geo asked, feeling a tendril of panic.
Jayden shrugged.
“Could you please look?” Geo forced himself to ask nicely.
With a sigh, Jayden undid his seat belt and leaned forward to look. Lucy continued to wail.
Shit, shit, shit. Please, God, don’t let the dog doll be lost.
So far the day had been a can of crap served steaming hot with a sauce of fuck-my-life. Jayden and Lucy had been crabby getting up early this morning for their trip, no matter how much excitement and enthusiasm Geo had laced into the conversation.
We’re going to Family Camp! It’s going to be so much fun!
The drive from Fresno to Big Bear Lake and Camp Evermore was a long five hours. It had been made longer and infinitely more stressful when Lucy went missing at a rest stop two hours ago. They’d searched and searched, Geo going repeatedly into the women’s restroom to look, too worried to even care about the glares he got.
Images of Lucy, only five years old, getting picked up by some random pedophile, sex trafficker, or serial killer, stuffed into another car, and driven off, made him physically ill. He had the entire staff at the rest stop helping him.
She doesn’t really talk. And she might hide. I just turned around for a moment to get Jayden a juice from the machine.
Yeah. Parent of the Year Award right there.
He’d been about to call the police and beg for an Amber Alert when Lucy was found—sitting behind the counter of a closed information booth, quietly playing with her dolls and lost in her own little world, as usual. She seemed oblivious to what she’d put him through.
That had been two hours ago. If she’d left the dog doll behind at the rest stop, there was no way he could drive all the way back and get it. It wasn’t even about money, or about the wear and tear on the Civic, or his own patience. He didn’t think either Jayden or Lucy would tolerate being in the car for an additional four hours today.
So maybe this hadn’t been the greatest idea he’d ever had—driving five hours to Family Camp when he’d only had the kids for six weeks. But he’d been so determined to give them the perfect summer, built up all these rosy plans and bucolic visions. He’d tried too much too fast.
Please, God. Please, Geo prayed, his heart sinking. Just one little break today. That’s all I ask. I’ll give up the jelly beans in my desk forever.
He waited until a car passed on the busy mountain road before getting out and going around to the back-passenger door. He opened it.