We come to a fork in the road—literally—I don’t mean that in a metaphorical sense. Toby’s green group heads to the right and Lily’s orange group veers left.
“I guess this is where we part.” Dane places his hand over his heart. “Call me.” He feigns sadness, clutching his white t-shirt, but as soon as we’re a distance away, his contagious laugh bounces off the trees.
“Uncle Dane is funny,” Lily says, clasping her small hand in mine.
“Yes, he is.” I agree and squeeze her hand.
We walk a few steps in silence and I know she’s nervous, but after her first day she’ll have made a ton of friends and be fine.
“Daddy?” she asks.
“Yeah,” I say, continuing down the path surrounded by large earthy green trees that block out the sunlight.
“What if no one likes me?”
Realizing that this is going to be a heavier talk than I anticipated, I stop us on the path.
Bending down, my gaze reaches hers and I can see how worried she is. I wonder why she’s so self-conscious? Lily has always been eager to meet new kids and make new friends. She’s never feared the unknown, which is something I’m sure she inherited from her mom. This side of Lily, the tentative side, is me.
“Everyone will love you,” I assure her.
Her eyes cast down to that bracelet. When Lily was three, she had a blanket that she never went anywhere without. On the advice of some other dads in the Single Dads Club, I tried swapping it out with something else. I chose a bracelet. The ratty and worn bracelet now tied around her wrist, hanging on, literally, by a thread. Mistake number one thousand and thirteen I’ve made with Lily.
Her small head nods and she’s still not looking at me.
“Hey now.” I tilt her chin up with my finger. Usually my smile alone makes Lily giddy.
“Excuse me,” a voice sounds from next to us.
Lily and I both look up and I can’t stop my gaze from running over her body. Caterina is like a mirage that keeps appearing.
“Lily?” she asks and bends down to Lily’s level. “I have a cool bird feeder craft for us to do. Do you want to join us?”
Lily inches closer and her hand stays securely fastened to mine.
“I’m sorry, she’s not usually shy,” I comment.
Cat barely grants me a fleeting look before concentrating back on Lily.
“Come on. I promise we’ll have fun.” She holds her hand out, but Lily doesn’t take it.
“Can my dad come?” Lily asks and this time Cat’s gaze meets my eyes.
Only for a brief second and then she turns away. I know I’m a little older than the guys she usually dates, but I’ve been told I’m easy on the eyes. This girl was shoving her naked breasts in my face six years ago and now she’s acting like she doesn’t have a clue who I am.
Something primal unleashes inside me, roaring to life. Maybe it’s ego or maybe it has more to do with the spectacular woman Caterina has grown into, but I’m suddenly really fucking perturbed that she doesn’t seem to remember me.
“Sure,” Cat says in a small voice.
Her blonde hair is short and sassy now, unlike the long braid she had the first time I met her. I thought all girls hit puberty by eighteen, but she’s developed more curves—her breasts straining her t-shirt and her shorts hugging the swell of her ass. As I’m busy checking Cat out, Lily takes her hand and the two stroll down the path toward a log cabin.
There’s a few other counselors in the room with kids mostly Lily’s age. I don’t see Mallory anywhere and the thought that perhaps I should try to switch her into her group comes to mind. Maybe it would set her at ease.
But after a minute Cat gets her started on the craft and Lily is busy chatting with the boy across from her. She hasn’t sought me out, so, I walk over to say good-bye.
“I’m going to go to work. I’ll be back for you at the end of the day,” I whisper in her ear.
“Bye, Daddy.” She kisses my cheek and quickly turns to tell her new friend about her Uncle Dane and all the bad words he says.
Great. She’ll teach all the kids the bad words during camp.
Unable to let the need to make Cat acknowledge our shared history go, I decide to approach her before I leave.
Her back is to me and she’s talking to another one of the counselors. The redhead she’s talking to notices me and her gaze flicks from Cat to me. Finally, Cat looks over her shoulder and turns to face me, though she takes a step back. She probably thinks I’m some pervert dad who keeps eye fucking her.
“Can I talk to you a sec?” I ask and she dries her hands with the paper towel she’s holding and heads out the door, not bothering to wait for me.
“Caterina Santora?” I ask and she nods, her expression blank without an ounce of acknowledgment in them.
“Yes, you’re Lily’s dad.” She places her hand out in front of me. “Nice to meet you. So she’s not normally this shy?”
She really doesn’t seem to recognize me at all. It’s probably better that way anyway. At least I know she won’t be taking my bad behavior out on my kid.
“No, that’s rare. I’m guessing first-day jitters maybe.”
She nods. “Well, she’s adjusting well now. The camp has your number so I’ll call you if there are any problems.” She moves to step away and I know she probably has a million things to do, but I can’t help trying to figure out if she really doesn’t recognize me.
“Yeah, okay.”
She smiles and starts walking back to the cabin.
“It’s Marcus,” I call out and her footsteps stop.
She slowly turns around and a small smile graces her lips.
“Marcus Kent,” I give her my full name, waiting for some form of recognition.
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Kent. Don’t worry. We’ll take good care of Lily.”
Then she disappears inside the cabin.
I get nothing more from her. Zip. Zilch. Nada. No hint of remembering who I am at all.
“Marcus!” Dane yells and I look up the hill to find him staring down at me, his phone in his hand.
I trudge back up the hill, my mind a jumbled mess. Dane’s watching some video when I get up there.
“See these Ninja Warriors? I’m thinking of building Toby one.”
“One what?” I ask while we make our way to the parking lot. “An obstacle course?” Seriously, where does he come up with this shit?
“Yeah, to get him away from the electronics.”
“A broken arm is a better option?” I shake my head to myself.
“Come on. My kid’s more coordinated than that.”
“Why don’t you just have designated electronic time?” I ask, digging in my pocket for my keys.
As we approach the parking lot, I see that most of the moms are standing in clusters chatting. Garrett gave me a heads up about this. They’re here for one of two reasons. They’re gossiping or they’re waiting for the single dads.
“You know I hate rules,” Dane comments.
My eyes zoom in on a mom who definitely knows me, Krystal. She’s a single mom of three boys. She’s nice and all, but too up in everyone’s business for me. Plus, Krystal’s assertive and I’m not big on a woman who goes after what she wants like she’s a lion hunting her dinner.