Aelin glanced up at him, then linked her fingers with his for a beat before letting go.
After the deer moved on, they continued up the hill and found a garter snake and two small frogs. When they were about to turn back, Bailey pointed through the foliage and grabbed a Ziploc bag from the box Aelin carried.
Bailey left the trail and plucked a deep purple berry from thebush and held it up, then dropped it in the bag.
“She found them.” Aelin grinned and tromped after her into the brush.
_____
There were at least a dozen chairs set up on the patio around the firepit after dinner. The huckleberry pies sat cooling on cinder blocks, and the paper bowls and spoons were ready on the table.
Mariah crouched, setting up her phone on a tripod to record. She turned to the teenage boys grouped behind the picnic table. “You guys ready? You’re up first.”
Ryan had been skeptical when Aelin told him about the variety show. His family had always been into sports. All of them would rather wear a cup two sizes too small than stand up in front of a group and sing or dance. She’d insisted it wasn’t about being good, but he’d seen enough from her to know that her version of “just okay” wasn’t the norm. He had her double back flips and slalom skiing to prove it.
The boys nodded and disappeared behind the cabin. Once all the adults and kids were seated, Mariah hit play on her phone, and they reappeared in wigs, tutus, and oversized sunglasses. One of them—Tucker?—had even gone to the trouble of stuffing a bra with water balloons. They lip-synced and danced their way throughBarbie Girlto no lack of hoots and hollers from the audience. Aelin couldn’t stop laughing as they mimicked Barbie and Ken, strutting and posing like they were in a music video from before they were born.
The group erupted into cheers when the boys struck their final pose. Aelin shot him a look that said, “I told you this would be amazing,” then hopped up to wrangle Amaya and Bailey.
Ryan grinned as they took their places. They wouldn’t lethim be in the cabin when they practiced, and he didn’t even know what song they were singing.
Bailey held the sheet music with Amaya standing next to her. Aelin started the accompaniment on her phone, and it was like someone hooked up a vacuum sealer to his lungs and pressed start as they began to sing. He always enjoyed their choir concerts, but hearing them sing, just the two of them, gave him chills.
He’d only known Bailey a short time, but after coaching her at camp, she was quickly becoming one of his favourite kids. She was quieter than Amaya. More careful. She reminded him of her mom.
The girls bowed to applause when they finished, and Amaya’s cheeks were cherry red when she went back to her camp chair.
It was so good. All of it. The lake, the friends, the food, the card games. Ryan’s throat grew thick as he looked around the camp ring and committed to making more of an effort to drive up and spend time with his own family when they got back.
Tomorrow. Dread hit his stomach.
Mariah stood and motioned for Aelin to join her at the front. Aelin shook her head, but Mariah wasn’t letting it go.
Aelin blushed as she groaned and finally acquiesced. That look on her face had Ryan’s full attention. She grabbed her sister’s arm and lowered her voice. “What are you doing?”
Mariah grinned. “I found our music. I couldn’t resist.”
Aelin’s eyes widened. “The music? I haven’t done that in years!”
“Neither have I. That’s what’ll make it hilarious.” Mariah cleared her throat and turned to the audience. “Okay, this is a dance we made up one summer to Club California.”
“It was on a cassette tape that came with this Barbie doll Mariah got for her birthday when she was six,” Aelin explained. Her parents were already laughing.
Mariah motioned for Leo to press play, and Aelin fell intostep beside her sister, their feet shuffling and arms flailing, both of them barely able to suck in a breath through their laughter.
Mariah attempted a high kick and nearly toppled into the fire pit. Aelin grabbed her arm, and they transitioned into some sort of train move. It was the only way to describe what their hands were doing.
Her family was wheezing by the time the music died, and the teenage boys still in cotton-candy-coloured wigs quite possibly gave the loudest applause of the night.
Aelin collapsed into her camp chair, her mascara smeared. “So. That was a thing I did.”
Ryan stayed glued to the canvas. Because if he moved, he was going to reach over and kiss her.
“Tucker!” Leo tromped into the circle, panting. “I ran up to get my phone and the door to the cabin is locked.”
Tucker looked around as if there was some other kid in their small group with his same name. “Yeah. Mom always says not to leave the doors unlocked.”
“At home, Tuck. Not when the cabin door is ten feet from us.”
