She groaned. “I thought you’d be busy and I didn’t want to interrupt you.”
That was such a lie. “Really? That’s the reason?”
“Okay, fine. I didn’t really think this through, which wasn’t very smart, and since Brian already thinks I’m a—” She stopped, glancing at the boys. “I figured this wouldn’t make much of a difference in Brian’s opinion of me. Happy?”
Yes, Robwashappy because that meant she cared abouthisopinion of her. He unstrapped the ladder and found a solid place to foot it. “Do you want me to come up and help you?”
“I can do it,” she said, moving sideways across the roof. “And if you come up and the ladder falls over, then we’re both on the roof and the boys are in charge of the campground.”
The twins seemed excited by that possibility, but Hannah had no problem swinging around and climbing down the ladder on her own. And he didn’t mind the view from the ground, though he didn’t comment on that.
As soon as her feet hit the ground, Melissa’s SUV turned up the road and Scottie braked when he saw them all farther up the hill with the UTV and the ladder. The boys took off running, probably to fill them in on Hannah’s adventures on the bathhouse roof.
“I guess I won’t be asked to babysit the twins again,” she said, brushing old pine needles off her backside.
“On the plus side, you won’t have to babysit the twins again.”
She laughed and helped him lift the ladder onto the rack, then she crossed the road to sit on the stone bench set into the trees between the two cabins while he tied it down. Then, because she was still sitting there when he finished, he crossed and sat next to her.
“Thank you for the rescue,” she said. “Climbing the tree and hopping onto the roof wasn’t a big deal, but on the return trip, the branches didn’t look quite as solid and the gap seemed a little bigger.”
“I would have gotten the boomerang for them.”
“I told them a ball would have just rolled down, but they’re practicing with the boomerang because they saw it in a movie.”
He snorted. “I didn’t think you threw them up in the air like that.”
“Well, I don’t think they’ve really mastered it yet.” She sighed. “So yesterday seemed like a success for you guys.”
“Yeah, it went better than I expected. I guess the next hurdle will be Memorial Day weekend. The trails will be open so we’ll have to police the machines going through the campground. And weekenders will be another learning curve for us.”
“Don’t worry. Dave and Sheila will tell you if you’re doing it wrong.”
Rob laughed. “You know, I think Dave yelled at me once when I was here as a kid.”
“Only once?”
“Well...probably more than once. We got yelled at as a group sometimes. Brian had an attitude even when he was a kid, so adults tended to focus on him. But I think Dave yelled at me once for taking pictures because he thought I was trying to take one of him.”
“So that’s a pattern for you, then?” she asked in a teasing voice.
“You’d think I’d have learned to pay more attention to the background by now.”
“Speaking of when you were a kid, I heard you being called Bobby a lot,” she said, and he groaned.
“Yeah.” He shrugged. “I get that a lot when the family’s all together because I was Bobby from the time I was born until around middle school. I guess I went through a phase where I thought Rob sounded more adult, and by being Rob, I could make my family see me as a responsible grown man and not thebaby. But sometimes they either regress or do it deliberately to get under my skin.”
“I’ve noticed your brothers do it to annoy you sometimes. But your parents and grandparents just seem to forget.”
“Yeah, old habits and all that. They do try, though.”
She smiled. “Just look at it this way—the people who really love you call you Bobby sometimes, and Bobby’s very loved.”
“I like that.” He returned the smile. “I’ve never thought of it that way, but you’re right. The people who call me Bobby love me. Even my brothers, who often do it to push my buttons.”
“I don’t have three older brothers, but I have an older sister, and pushing our buttons is part of their jobs, I think.”
“You said she’s married with kids and lives next door to your parents. What about you? Ever been married?” He just wanted to learn more about Hannah, of course. He couldn’t help himself.
