Family Camp (Daddy Dearest, #1)(12)

He expected Jayden to say, “I don’t wanna go swimming,” like he’d been saying for the past week. But Jayden held his tongue. Interesting. Stryker and Aiden had shown him the lake. Maybe they’d already changed his mind about that.

Go peer pressure!

“So what do we do now?” Jayden asked, hanging precariously off the top bunk.

“We need to fill out the activity sheets. Pick all the cool stuff we wanna do.” Geo’s tone reeked with enthusiasm.

“Max!” Lucy said decisively.

“Oh, yeah. Jayden, remember the guy who helped us out with gas? Travis? He’s a counselor here. Neat, right?” Geo scratched his forehead with his thumbnail, cringing internally. “And he’s got his dog Max with him. He said we could go up to the lodge and say ‘hi.’”

“Cool.” Jayden jumped off the bunk and went to the door.

“But first we have to fill out the forms.”

Jayden turned around, rolling his eyes.

Geo got all three of them sitting cross-legged on the double bed. The camp offered a nice variety of activities and the sheet was well-organized and colorful. But making selections was an exercise in futility and required Geo to pull stores of patience out from the depth of his very soul. Jayden wouldn’t agree to do anything. No to softball. No to hiking. No to crafts. No to cooking. No to canoeing. No to archery. Swimming lessons were particularly contentious.

“I don’t need no lessons,” Jayden said, crossing his arms. “I can go out to the float by myself.”

“It says here that you have to pass a swim test before you’re allowed beyond the roped area. And the floating dock is in deep water. Do you know how to swim? Have you ever taken lessons?”

“No. But I can do it,” Jayden insisted stubbornly.

“Well, there are free lessons here. I bet you could take a couple of lessons with Trish and then pass the test. Want me to sign you up?”

Jayden crossed his arms and scowled. “Bet Stryker and Aiden don’t gotta take lessons. I’ll look like a baby.”

Geo felt a pang of sympathy. Jayden was so desperate not to let go of an inch of his pride. “Sweetie, Stryker and Aiden have to pass the swim test like everyone else. I bet they took lessons from Trish.”

“Maybe when they were little.”

“You’re so smart, I bet you’ll be swimming circles around them in no time. You’re part shark, right? Got a fin back here?” He tickled Jayden’s back, but Jayden wasn’t amused.

Geo gave up on the argument. God, he was such a wuss. He was a teacher, for God’s sake. He could handle recalcitrant kids at school like a boss. Why was it so much harder to deal with his own kids?

Because it matters that they like you. That’s why.

He filled out Lucy’s form after getting a few hesitant nods from her. He signed her up for crafts, pee-wee swimming lessons, and put them both down for the cooking class. Maybe that was something they could do together.

“Go see Max?” Lucy asked as he was writing their names on the forms.

“Yeah, let’s do it.” Geo wasn’t thrilled about having to face Travis Mayhew again so soon. The man made his knees weak, goddamn it. And then iced him out, which was all kinds of fun for the ego. But he remembered the way Lucy had been so engaged with Max. He’d never seen her that engaged with anything other than her dolls.

So he’d play nice—for Lucy’s sake.





Chapter 6




Travis was in the main hall talking to an eager camp mom about the Goat Rocks hike when Max let out an excited bark.

“Max, stay,” Travis ordered.

Max ignored him and took off. Travis turned to see his bundle of golden fur run up to Geo, Lucy, and Jayden, who’d just come in the double screen door from the porch.

“Excuse me,” Travis said to the mom. Disappointment and a hint of desperation flashed in her eyes before he turned away. Moms. Some years he thought he’d have to barricade his door at night. Hopefully, this year wouldn’t be too bad.

Max stood in front of Lucy, his tail spinning like a propeller as he licked her face. Lucy threw her arms around his neck and hugged him, her face buried in his coat.

Travis’s annoyance at Max’s disobedience vanished. Max wasn’t jumping up on her, which meant he was being careful, despite the ferocious wagging of his tail. And how could Travis admonish him when he was giving that little girl so much joy?

“Hey, Geo. Hey, Jayden.” Travis held out a fist to Jayden and the boy bumped it. He stared at Travis with a new awe. Stryker and Aiden must have told him about the Padres. “What’s up, my man?”

“I dunno. Nothin’.” Jayden glanced up at Geo. “There’s nothin’ to do around here. Can I go find Stryker and Aiden now?”

Travis finally looked at Geo. Geo gave Travis a wide-eyed look and waved the activity sheets in his hand. “Yup, not a thing to do. Jayden is, unfortunately, not a fan of your curriculum. This is his first time at camp, so—”

Travis huffed. “Let me see.”

He took the forms from Geo. Lucy’s and Geo’s were filled out with quite a few check boxes. He resisted the urge to look over what Geo had marked on his form to see if any of the activities were ones he led. It doesn’t matter. Jayden’s form had his name at the top—and not a single checkmark.