“We’ll cheer you on from well outside the sidelines,” Siobhan said, shaking her head.
“My first year playing, a bunch of us ended up on each other’s shoulders, like playing chicken in the pool, trying to be taller,” Keri said, her mouth curved in a nostalgic smile. “And Leo grabbed my butt.”
“It was an accident,” her father-in-law said. “And I wastrying to keep your butt from hitting the ground. You were falling, so you should have thanked me.”
“For grabbing my butt?”
“Beep beep,” Oliver said again, and they all laughed.
“On that note,” Siobhan said, straightening and taking Oliver’s hand in hers. “Say good-night, Oliver.”
They all said good-night, and then Brian watched them walking hand in hand toward their camper. The little guy was so tired he stumbled on some rocks in the dirt road and Brian was going to get up and offer to carry him, but Siobhan easily swung him onto her hip and kept going.
He relaxed back into his chair, though he didn’t look away until she’d opened the camper door and set Oliver inside. Then he turned his focus to adjusting the straw in his tumbler lid so he wouldn’t have to look around and see if his family was watching him as he watched Siobhan and Oliver.
If this is what it felt like for reality television stars to have camera crews in their faces twenty-four-seven, they weren’t getting paid enough.
“Oh, no,” Steph said, and the urgency in her voice caught Brian’s attention. He and his brothers had worked with their aunt Terry to make sure every single possible wedding emergency had been thought of and taken care ofbeforethe family arrived. “Tell me somebody brought the volleyball. I don’t even know who keeps it. Where does the volleyball live?”
Mary laughed. “I have the ball. It lives in the closet in my RV, which means if you all decide to forget to invite your old grandparents one year, no volleyball.”
Brian chuckled as everybody rushed to assure her that would never happen. She knew that, of course, but she probably liked hearing it. And he was also glad she keptthe volleyball because locating it had never occurred to him. It wasn’t an actual volleyball, but a slightly larger and softer ball because they played volleyball with the same intensity they did everything else and the real version really hurt when you took it to the face.
Kind of like an unexpected and unwelcome attraction to your ex-wife’s sister and the adoptive mother of the son you didn’t know you had, he thought with a self-derisive snort.
“Do you disagree, Brian?” Keri asked, jerking his attention back to the conversation going on around him and the fact he’d missed a chunk of it. He had no idea what he was or was not agreeing with.
“I was thinking about something else,” he said, but then he realized he didn’t want them wondering what else might be on his mind. “I was supposed to place an order this morning, and I forgot and I was just giving myself hell.”
Keri nodded and everybody moved on with the conversation, except for Rob, who’d watched him place the order. He shot his younger brother a look that basically meant he better keep his mouth shut or else, which earned him a challenging raised eyebrow and a questioning head tilt.
After another few seconds of glaring that risked attracting the attention of their parents, Brian picked up the long metal stick they used for poking at the fire. He moved the burning logs around, settling them in a way that would help them burn down more quickly.
It had been quite a day and all he wanted now was for everybody to go back to their campers and cabins so he could go to bed and stare at the ceiling half the night, wondering what the hell was happening to his life.
Chapter Nine
The sun was still coming up when Siobhan slowly slid out of the bed without disturbing Oliver. He was sprawled on his back, covers thrown off and his arms over his head, as usual.
She wasn’t surprised to be up so early. They were early risers anyway, thanks to the daycare and work commute. And after a rough first night and then a day spent outside in the fresh air, she’d slept early and deeply.
As quietly as possible, she hit the brew button on the Keurig, wincing at how loud the final blast of liquid sounded in the stillness. Oliver didn’t stir, though, so she made her way to the dinette without turning on any lights.
It probably would have been smarter to stay in bed and try to force herself back to sleep. Keeping up with the Kowalski family took a lot of energy. But the opportunity for some quiet time alone with a leisurely cup of coffee was too good to pass up. Thinking maybe she could spot some small campground critters before everybody started moving around and they skittered back into the woods, she hooked the end of a curtain panel and pulled it back.
The only campground critter in sight was Stella, who was trotting around, sniffing the ground as if to scope out whether any four-legged visitors had wandered aroundher property while she was sleeping. When Brian came into view, strolling behind the dog, Siobhan dropped her hand and let the curtain fall back into place.
She almost laughed at herself, hand over her chest as her heart raced. Then, unable to resist, she hooked the very edge of the curtain with a single fingertip and pulled just enough to see Brian again.
He had on a gray zip hoodie and jeans, and she could tell it was unzipped because he had his hands in the pockets. Even though he was facing away from her, his shoulders looked relaxed, and she wondered if he was doing the same as she was—sacrificing sleep in exchange for starting the day off like this.
Then he bent to pick up a stick and nothing short of her son waking up and screaming for her could have made her look away from the sight of denim stretching over his backside and thighs.
What was wrong with her? Was it all the fresh air going to her head? The pollen? Had she inhaled too much bug spray? There had to be a reason she was peeking out her window at the crack of dawn, ogling her sister’s ex-husband’s butt.
Still, a disappointed sigh actually escaped her when he straightened. Sure, it was wrong to indulge in admiring the way he filled out his jeans, but the occasional guilty pleasure was good for a single mom.
Then he turned to look at her camper and she gasped, yanking her finger back. The curtain closed and she prayed it hadn’t moved enough to catch his eye.
