Family Camp (Daddy Dearest, #1)(17)

Travis felt his cheeks heat. He avoided meeting Cindy’s gaze. His sister was way too sharp. “Just a camper. His name is Geo. He’s fostering those two kids.” For now, came the bitter voice in Travis’s head.

“Ah,” Cindy said knowingly.

“‘Ah’ what?” Travis took the plastic tablecloth from a bag and spread it on Devil’s Island’s one picnic table.

Cindy shrugged. “He sounds like a good guy. I should have known you wouldn’t be that attracted to just a pretty face.”

“Cindy,” Travis warned, looking around nervously.

Cindy rolled her eyes at him, but she shut her mouth. She was the only one in their family who knew Travis was gay. And not because he’d told her. She’d figured it out on her own. Despite her insistence that no one would care, Travis didn’t appreciate her talking about it in public.

Joe came up and slapped Travis on the back. “Hey. I thought you were going to work with the campers, and I was on snack duty.”

“Do you mind if we switch?” Travis asked. “And after we’re done here, I’ll lay the fire.”

Joe shrugged. “Sure, bro. I’m on it.”

Joe wandered away to keep an eye on the campers, and Travis and Cindy finished laying out the picnic fare—wrapped sandwiches from the camp kitchen, healthy chips, granola bars, and fruit. Travis worked on dislodging water bottles from their tight plastic wrap.

“Anyway, he’s not that good a guy,” Travis said, unable to resist picking up the conversation.

“He’s not? Why?”

Travis swallowed the taste of bile in his throat. “I met him on the road coming to camp. He’d run out of gas, and I helped him out. He told me he was fostering the kids temporarily. Which means they’ll go back in the system. Again.” He huffed in anger. “So, yeah, be a great dad, be all nice and hilarious and warm and…and cute. And then dump them. Because that won’t be even worse.”

Anger, hot and thick, clogged his throat. Why was he even talking about this? Frustrated, he ripped another case’s plastic with his bare hands. He just needed to stop thinking about it, period. He shouldn’t have gone in the canoe with them. But he’d seen Jayden take off, and Geo looking sort of forlorn standing there with just Lucy and… he’d been stupid.

“Really?” Cindy asked, dumping out another box of granola bars. “What did he say about it, exactly?”

“Said he was fostering them for now. It doesn’t matter. It’s none of my business.”

Cindy was silent for a moment as they worked, then she said, “Remember when we had baby Nelson? We had him six months, then the courts awarded custody back to his birth mother who was fresh out of rehab. That was so hard on everyone, but especially Mom and Dad. They’d gotten so attached. We all had.”

Travis did remember. He’d been, what, thirteen? Not an age where he’d especially bonded with the baby, but still. He remembered Nelson’s chubby dark face. He’d had the most beautiful eyes and long, long eyelashes. He’d been such a sweet, quiet, loving baby. Travis remembered how upset everyone had been when they’d had to give him back. Travis had been upset too but, selfishly, he’d mostly been afraid. Like, if the courts could take Nelson away, maybe they could make Travis go back too.

It had taken months for that fear to fade. In fact, it hadn’t faded until his own adoption was final later that year.

Sheesh. He hadn’t thought about that in a long time.

“I remember,” he said.

“Well, my point is, it’s not always the foster parent’s choice about who stays and for how long. You don’t know what the story is with those kids. Do you?”

Travis pressed his lips tight. No, he didn’t.

Cindy came over to him and gave him a hug. He was stiff at first, but she didn’t move away, and he relaxed and put his arm around her waist. He rested his chin on her hair. “You’re still short.”

She laughed. “Sure. String Bean.” She rocked him for a moment. “I don’t like to see you upset, Trav. I understand why something like that would get under your skin. But why don’t you just ask him?”

“I’m not upset. Like I said, it’s none of my business.”

She shrugged. “Maybe not. But you do care, and it’s bugging you. So just ask him. Stop making assumptions in your head.” She pulled away far enough to tap his forehead. None too gently either. “As you do.”

“Do not,” Travis said automatically.

She snorted.

“Hey, Cindy, can I have a granola bar?” A cute little girl in pigtails eyed the table hungrily.

Cindy smiled at her. “Just wait a couple more minutes, okay? Travis is going to start a fire and then we’ll call everyone up to eat.” She winked. “But I’ll save a granola bar for you.”

The little girl smiled. “Thanks!”

“I’m on it.” Travis was glad for an excuse to end the conversation. But he couldn’t stop thinking about what Cindy had said as he gathered wood for a fire.





“I guess now I know why I’ve never been able to catch Travis’s eye.”

Geo was examining a clump of moss with Lucy, getting her to feel its texture with her little hand. He stood up and eyed Bridget warily. “Um…it’s not like that.”