Her dad and Nathan were finishing washing the dishes and breaking down the steam table when she went out back.
“Hey, Dad, Rob and Hannah invited me over for a cookout tonight, so I won’t be around for dinner. There are plenty of choices in the freezer to pop into the microwave if you don’t want to take something home with you.”
“I’ll probably heat up some of that lasagna from the freezer,” he said easily. Then he looked sideways at her. “That writer going to be there?”
“Since he’s staying with Rob and Hannah, I guess he probably will.” She tried to say it casually, which was ridiculous. She was thirty-four, not sixteen, and she didn’t answer to anybody.
But this wasn’t a typical father-daughter situation. Frank’s livelihood depended on Kenzie not falling in love and running off with a man who didn’t live locally. It wasn’t something they talked about, but they both knew it.
When she’d moved home—without Hunter—after the funeral, Kenzie had downplayed the breakup. Losing her mother had caused enough heartbreak so it was easy for her to hide the pain of her boyfriend choosing Boston over her, and the loss of all the dreams they’d had for their life together. But she hadn’t wanted to add to her father’s sorrow, so other than crying a lot of tears on Rhylee’s shoulders, Kenzie had kept it to herself.
Before Frank could ask any more questions about tonight, she went back out front and did a final check to make sure everything was ready for six o’clock tomorrow morning. Of course it was. She’d been doing this job a long time, so she didn’t even think about it anymore.
What shedidthink about was Danny. Whether she was wondering about his book or thinking far more intimate thoughts about him, he was on her mind a lot. And now she was going to have dinner with him and his family. She was a little worried about Hannah, who probably knew her well enough at this point to see that being so close to Danny flustered her.
When she pulled into the campground driveway a few minutes before five and parked next to Danny’s truck, her heart was pounding. She was planning to take her time walking around the house so she’d be able to calm down, but she’d barely gotten out of her car when Danny walked out the front door.
“You’re just in time. Rob just put the steaks on, and he asked me how you like yours cooked.”
She shrugged. “I’m not picky. Medium’s what I shoot for, but I don’t mind it more or less done. I appreciate the invitation.”
“I can’t celebrate finishing the book without you. It wouldn’t be done at all—or maybe it would be done, but really bad—without your help.” He started heading around back, and she walked next to him. “I want to kidnap you and take you home with me so you can help me write mynextbook.”
Despite knowing he only wanted her for her brainstorming skills, Kenzie’s entire body flooded with heat at the thought of Danny taking him home with her. “Or you could move up here and spend time outdoors in between writing jags.”
He laughed, clearly taking her suggestion as a joke, so she laughed along with him. “Oh, hell no. Even though it’s only two hours north of where I live, it’s a lot colder here in the winter. And I’m not about to give up DoorDash and super-fast internet and everything else civilization has to offer to get sucked into splitting wood and babysitting campers.”
Even though the entire conversation was meant in jest, thehell nostuck, echoing through Kenzie’s mind.
“Kenzie!” Hannah spotted her as soon as they rounded the corner of the house and headed their way. “I’m so glad you came. I spend so much time with Kowalski men, and I adore them, but it’s such a treat to have another woman around sometimes.”
“Hey, Kenzie,” Rob said. “How do you like your steak cooked?”
* * *
They ate at the picnic table in the backyard. It was a little chilly, but at least the bugs hadn’t shown up yet. And Danny didn’t mind because he got to sit close enough to Kenzie so their legs kept touching.
It was a small thing—the kind of contact he wouldn’t even notice if he was sitting next to anybody else—but he’d take what he could get.
Rob and Hannah were telling stories from last spring, when the Kowalski brothers decided they could run a campground simply because they’d spent time there almost every year growing up. It was working out okay, so far, but the experience had definitely added to their stockpile of amusing anecdotes.
Danny had heard the tale of Rob falling in the pool the day Hannah arrived at the campground more than once, so his attention was free to wander. Usually his focus would pivot back to whatever book he was working on, but with a manuscript just turned in and Kenzie sitting next to him, his mind naturally wanted to think about her.
Mostly he thought about what would happen if he kissed her.
Not here, in front of his brother and Hannah, of course. That would be awkward. But maybe on one of their walks, he could pull her into his arms. They could share their first kiss by a riverbank, or next to a pond.
But then he remembered there wouldn’t be any more walks. The book was done, there were no more plot problems to solve, and he was going home.
Kenzie’s knee bumped his—not in a casual way, but deliberately to get his attention. He turned his head and found her smiling at him.
“Rob asked you what’s wrong with your food.”
“What?” He looked at his brother, frowning. “There’s nothing wrong with my food.”
Rob snorted. “You’ve been sitting there staring at your plate for like three minutes. I don’t even know if you blinked.”
Danny certainly wasn’t going to share what he’d been thinking about, so he scooped up a forkful of pasta salad and shoved it into his mouth.
