Page 34 of You Know You Wanna

REMINGTON

By the next morning, the storm had finally cleared and the air felt crisper than ever. I took a deep breath when Laurene and I stepped out of the resort and onto the grass leading from the door to the Kids Camp, and I even grinned when I realized the scent of wet earth was still hanging in the air.

“God, it’s been a long time since I’ve smelled that so often,” I said.

She glanced up at me, managing a small, curious smile. “There was a time when you smelled this often?”

“Yep,” I said, fondly remembering mornings at my parents’ cabin in the mountains back when I was a kid. “I used to spend every summer outdoors when I was around your age. I loved it.”

“You did?” She frowned, the curiosity turning into doubt as she arched an eyebrow at me. “Is that true?”

“As anything I’ve ever told you.” I reached out to ruffle her hair. “What, you don’t believe that I was a kid once?”

She pushed down a bark of dry laughter that sounded exactly like my own. “As if. I know you were a kid. It’s more that I always imagined you as, you know, you. As a kid. Just a smaller version of who you are now.”

I chuckled. “I was far, far from it, kiddo. I’ll tell you about it sometime if you’d like to hear it.”

Her head tilted to one side as she thought it over. Then she gave me a hesitant smile. “You will?”

“Of course, I will.” I’d never even realized that she knew so little about my past. At this age, she should’ve known all my stories like the back of her hand, but instead, it didn’t sound like I’d ever told her anything at all.

It even sounded like she didn’t think I wanted to. Another pang of regret raced through me. God, why is that happening so often this vacation? Have I really been so out of touch?

“I’ll tell you anything and everything you want to know,” I promised as we walked into the Kids Camp. “How about we talk about it over dinner sometime?”

“That sounds good,” she said softly, her voice hopeful as she turned to look up at me. “I’m sorry about yesterday, Daddy. I just…”

When she trailed off, I nodded my understanding. “I know, baby. It’s okay. You weren’t expecting me to work and I was. I get it. You were disappointed.”

“I shouldn’t have yelled at you.” Her big, innocent eyes filled with remorse and she grimaced. “Do you have more work today?”

“Not today,” I replied, trying to keep my tone gentle. “I will have some more work to do while we’re here, but it’ll only be every now and then. Not all day, every day.”

She nodded. “Do you want me to stay with you today, then?”

I frowned. “I thought you were looking forward to arts and crafts with Jenna?”

“I was.” She cleared her throat. “I mean, I am. We’re doing rock painting for the playground at the camp. She’s got non-toxic paint that’s not harmful to the little kids if they decide to eat it and it’s not harmful to the environment either, so if we paint enough, we’re going to go place them on the hiking trails. How cool is that? It would be like leaving a part of myself behind when we leave.”

“You should go do it, then,” I said. “I’ll be fine on my own and it’s not like it’s now or never. We’ll spend time together later. When you’re done.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive,” I assured her as Jenna came over with a big, welcoming smile on her face. I waved at her, then hooked an arm around Laurene’s shoulders to give her a hug. “Have fun, sweetheart. I’ll see you later.”

“Thanks, Daddy. See you later.” She hugged me back, then bounded over to Jenna, hugging her as well before walking alongside her toward the others.

As I watched them leave, I smiled. Only a week ago, I wouldn’t have thought it possible for her to be so at home here and so excited to participate in the activities, especially those that didn’t involve any kind of screen.

No doubt it wouldn’t be like this every day. I was sure there would still be times that she’d pout about having to go to camp, but today was a good day. Now I just had to hope my luck would hold.

Dragging in a deep breath, I left the kids area and headed for the yoga studio, noticing the damage left behind by the storm. The lawns were covered in branches and leaves, several puddles still sitting in the grass and muddy footprints on all the paved pathways.

When I got to the studio, I was surprised to see that the door was closed and there was a sign posted on it saying that class was canceled for the entire day. One of the waiters who’d served us a couple times rushed by, not wearing his apron but carrying a rake.

I stepped into his path, blocking him with what I hoped was a friendly smile on my face. “Hey, David. What’s going on? Where’s Birdie?”

“Oh, I’m so sorry, sir. Unfortunately, there won’t be any yoga sessions today. She and some of the others went into town to help clean up after the storm. We didn’t suffer nearly as much damage as some of the folks down there, so Alan told them it was okay to let the rest of us clean up here while they went to see what they could help with down there.”