“Kids, these are your hosts for the camp. I'm going to let them introduce themselves to you.”
Taken aback, Colleen decided she probably should be first given that Tucker looked like he wanted to run away. He wasn't the greatest in situations where he had to be the center of attention.
“Well, my name is Colleen. And this is my coworker, Tucker. We work for a toy invention company, and we're super excited to show you guys some of our inventions and help you come up with some of your own.”
The kids just stood there, staring at her, blankly. She realized what she had just described probably sounded a lot like school, and these kids definitely weren't interested in school right now.
“Hi, guys. My name is Tucker. As Colleen said, we work for a toy invention company, we have some really cool things to show you guys. We will be having some classes later in the week. You can draw your own inventions, and we’ll talk about some of our more successful ones.”
Again, she could swear that she heard crickets even over the ocean waves behind her. This was not going well.
“Hey, kids! I’m Dawson. I own this beautiful inn behind us. And we're gonna have tons of fun this week. We're going to do some fishing, playing in the ocean, do some fun outdoor games. We're going to eat some amazing food, and there will be all kinds of prizes!”
The kids let out a big roar, some of them clapping and laughing. Colleen looked at him, thankful that Dawson had gotten them excited.
“What prizes?” Colleen whispered in Dawson’s ear.
He shrugged his shoulders. “I don't know. We'll figure it out.” She couldn't help but laugh.
“Colleen, why don't you show us where the kids will be staying?” Amy said.
Colleen nodded and waved for everyone to follow her. Dawson followed along closely while Tucker stayed back, probably thankful to get out of the situation for a few minutes.
“So this is the bunkhouse…”
“This looks like a barn!” a young boy shouted out. He looked to be about eight or nine years old, scruffy brown hair, freckles across his nose and a huge gap between his teeth. He was adorable but looked like a throwback from the 1950s. She expected he was the type of little boy that liked to hang out in the creek beds, looking for worms and muscadines.
“Well, it is a barn…”
“Gross. We're staying in a barn? We’re not animals!” a little girl shouted out.
“Actually, it's very nice…”
The kids couldn't hear Colleen over their very loud whining. She wasn't sure she would ever have children after this.
“Hey, kids, listen up!” Dawson said, his voice commanding. The kids all stopped talking and looked up at him. “I built this place with my bare hands. It's the nicest barn you're ever going to see in your lives complete with brand new bunkbeds. Now, I can get the tents out of my garage and we can do a camp out, or you can check this place out and see what you think. Is that a deal?”
“I don't want to sleep in a tent! I’m scared of bugs!” the same little girl said.
“Then why don't we check this place out first?”
The kids nodded as Dawson walked over and slid the barn doors open. Colleen could hear the kids gasp when they saw what a nice place it was. With soaring beams and beautiful chandelier style light fixtures hanging from the ceiling, it was no barn. It might've looked that way on the outside, but no animals were ever getting in here.
The kids started running around, tossing their bags onto whichever bed they were choosing. Colleen let out a sigh of relief as she turned to Dawson. “Thank you so much for taking control. I didn't know what to say to these little rugrats.”
Dawson laughed. “I guess I'm good with kids because I have a very immature brain.” She slapped him on the arm lightly.
“No, you don't. But you are good with them. It's a shame that…” Before she could stop herself, the words had just popped right out of her mouth. Knowing that Dawson had lost his only child, she couldn't believe she had stuck her foot in her mouth so badly. “Oh my gosh, Dawson. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to say that…”
He smiled. “It's okay, Colleen. I know what you meant. It is a shame. I feel like I would've been a pretty good dad. I guess I won't ever know.”
The sadness that washed over her almost made her cry. She loved her own father, of course. But she would've been happy to have a father like Dawson, and she wished there was a way he could experience that. But for now, she had to focus on the camp. There were fifteen little crazy people running around the barn, and she had to reassess whether she knew what in the world to do to keep them all entertained for the next week.
Dawson leaned back against the heavy Adirondack chair and blew out a long breath. He was exhausted. Absolutely fatigued all the way to his core in a way he’d never felt in his life. Kids took a lot of work!
Now that it was night time, he appreciated a few minutes of solitude. The only thing he could hear, besides the distant giggling in the bunkhouse, was the ocean waves in front of him. He loved having a deck right beside the ocean. No place on earth felt more peaceful to him.
“Glass of wine?” Julie said from behind him. He hadn’t even heard her pull up.
“You know I'm not a wine guy,” he said with a chuckle.
Julie walked closer and put a can of beer in front of his face. “Yes, I know that.” She sat down in the chair next to him, reaching over and rubbing his arm. “Long day?”
“Extremely. Those kids are so full of energy. It was actually a lot of fun.”
“I’m glad you had a good time. Lucy said they ate way more food than she thought they would so she's going to have to cook more tomorrow.”
“Yeah, we didn't have nearly enough. Some of those boys eat twice what I do in a day!”
“I never had boys, so I wouldn't know, but my girls ate a lot. Constant snacking, as I remember.”
He took a sip of his beer. “It was fun. We did a bunch of competitions, gave away some prizes. Colleen and I weren't exactly prepared for that, so she snuck away in the middle of the day to get a few things. It's amazing what kids will do for a pack of gum or a stuffed animal.”
Julie laughed. “Well, it sounds like you had an eventful day. I kept Vivi for a little while, worked at the bookstore. Finally wrote another scene for my novel.”
He looked over at her and smiled. She was so beautiful. She just had that girl next-door look that every guy dreamed of. And she really was like that, so down to earth, funny and kind. Like his perfect partner sent straight from heaven. He flashed back to his conversation with William and wondered if she would ever be interested in marriage again.
“I miss you,” he said. She looked at him, her eyebrows furrowed together.
“I’m sitting right here.”
He reached over and squeezed her hand. Sitting there with her, in two big Adirondack chairs overlooking the ocean, was the best place he could imagine on earth. When he let his mind run away with itself, he could imagine them sitting in those very same chairs watching grandchildren run around and play on the sand. “I mean I miss that we don't get to spend so much time together these days. I'm busy with the inn, and then this camp. You're busy with work and that new grand baby. Everything just feels like it gets more complicated by the day.”