When a hysterical giggle rose in her throat, she clamped her hand over her mouth to stifle it. She’d learned over the last couple of days that the soundproofing in campers wasn’t great, and being caughtlaughingwhile spying on Brian would just up the awkwardness factor to an untenable degree.
Once her amusement at her herself was under control, though, she couldn’t summon the willpower tonottake another little peek. Not touching the curtain this time, Siobhan leaned forward until she glimpsed him through the gap where the two curtain panels almost met. He’d put his hands back in his pockets, and he was standing very still, looking at her camper. Not at the window or the gap in the curtains, thankfully, but at the camper as a whole.
His expression was quiet and contemplative, even as Stella trotted in a circle around him with the stick in her mouth. Siobhan knew he was thinking about Oliver in that moment, and it chased away her inexplicable attraction to the man outside her window, grounding her back in reality. More than likely, the little boy who was sleeping behind her and was her entire world also belonged to him.
Slightly shifting her body away from the window, Siobhan sipped her coffee and waited for Oliver to stir. Once he woke up, he was going to go nonstop all day, so she cringed at every sound and every voice as the campers around them started their day.
By the time they joined the family for breakfast, which had sounded like a good idea last night when she said they’d be there, Oliver was fully in high gear and Siobhan was already pre-exhausted. It was going to be a very long day.
It helped that Cat, who at twelve was a bit of an island age-wise, decided to hang with Nora and Oliver rather than fighting to be included by her older brother and cousins. Once her son was sitting at the kid-sized picnic table with them, Siobhan served herself and sat in the empty chair Hannah nodded her head toward.
Brian’s future sister-in-law had set the chairs a little apart from the group, and Siobhan figured she either needed a little distance from the breakfast chaos, or she wanted to have a private chat.
“I can see why they basically shut the rest of the campground down for this,” Siobhan said as she settled her plate in her lap. “This is not a quiet family.”
“I’m pretty sure we could take these chairs across the street, past the fields and down to the river, andstillhear Leo and Ron,” Hannah agreed. “They’re all good people, though.”
“They are. It just takes a little getting used to.”
“I’m still new to the whole Kowalski family thing.” Hannah chuckled. “Technically, I’m not even part of it yet, but I will be. Rob and I haven’t set a date yet, but there’s already been talk about next year’s Family Camping Trip of Doom.”
“Are you okay with that?”
“I think so. My family’s in California, but they enjoy camping, so it might be the most fun way to do it. But we’re also considering eloping because—” She stopped talking and just swept her hand over their view of all the Kowalskis milling around.
“Has he run that by Lisa yet?”
“Oh, hell no.” They laughed together, drawing the attention of the people they were talking about.
And, of course, Mike and Lisa hadn’t sat down yet, so they dragged their chairs over and joined them—probably because they looked like they were having fun. Siobhan would have liked to continue talking with Hannah, but she made sure none of that showed on her face.
After having a discussion with Stella about a child-sized picnic table not also being dog-sized, Brian was oneof the last to fill a plate. He glanced in their direction, but thankfully opted to sit with Joey and Ellie. Siobhan wasn’t sure if it was because of her or because he wanted to stick close to Stella and her insatiable appetite for whatever the humans were eating, but she was thankful for it.
“Are you still living in Boston, Siobhan?” Lisa asked. “I didn’t think to ask Steph when we were planning other than she told me about what time you’d be arriving.”
“I’m a little north of the city now. A questionable oversized closet in a questionable neighborhood with a somewhat strange roommate is fine when you don’t have a child. A miserable commute is the tradeoff for being able to afford a decent apartment in a nice neighborhood.”
“And what do you do for work?” Mike asked. “Something in banking, right?”
“I’m a loan officer with one of the big national banks.” She wrinkled her nose. “I really,reallyhate my job, actually, and I was thinking about quitting before Oliver came into my life. Once I had him, I stayed for the stability and then ended up accepting a promotion with better benefits. You can put up with a lot for financial security once you’re not the only one to take care of.”
A lot of the parents nodded, but she didn’t miss the fact that Lisa opened her mouth to say something until Mike gently kicked her in the ankle. The conversation moved on, veering in a different direction, but Siobhan couldn’t help wondering what Brian’s mother had been about to say.
Some kind of assurance that Siobhan wasn’t alone anymore? A promise that she’d have their support going forward? Or maybe she was going to accuse Siobhan of knowing all along, but deciding to come forward to get the child support payments.
No, she told herself. She’d gotten to know his family and if any of them—especially his mother—thought she was trying to work an angle of any kind, they wouldn’t be shy about saying so. It had probably been nothing more than telling her she wasn’t alone anymore and her husband reminding her that nothing was official yet.
It was something Siobhan herself was having trouble remembering whenever she was caught up with the family activities. Even after they’d moved on from breakfast, though, she had a hard time shaking off the feeling that she should be holding more of herself—and Oliver—back.
There was the breakfast cleanup and then she and Steph took a walk around the campground with Oliver and Nora. They had the kids with them, so they couldn’t really talk about anything personal, which worked for Siobhan. Oliver might be oblivious to the drama going on around him, but there was a good chance Nora would repeat every word she heard. Probably at the worst possible moment, too.
Right now they were all living in a strange limbo, focusing on the vacation and the wedding, while avoiding the gigantic conversational elephant in the room.
Over the course of the morning, there was the usual milling around, with people dropping in and out of conversations. Siobhan tried to get Oliver to sit in the shade of their awning to play quietly for a while, but he was having none of it. Some of the other kids had already mentioned the pool, and he was afraid he was going to miss it.
By the time Oliver had worn himself out in the water, he was cranky and overstimulated. It was a mood Siobhan shared as she showered the pool water off of him in the tiny camper bathroom.
“I want chicken nuggets.”
