Spending the evening with them would probably be a good way to get out of his own head, but he didn’t want to be a third wheel on their date night. “I’m good. I’ll probably just catch up on some admin work.”
He could tell by the way she was looking at him that Hannah wanted to ask more questions about his time with Kenzie, but thankfully she restrained herself. She’d probably get the details from Kenzie later, but he’d be gone by then and wouldn’t have to hear about it.
When Rob showed up, they went through the entire thing again. The invite to dinner. The questions about his trip south that danced around the questions they really wanted to ask. His insistence he just wanted to be left alone to catch up on work.
After a restless night’s sleep, he was awakened early Thursday morning by the smell of bacon. It was a relief because he’d been worried they’d head to Corinne’s Kitchen to fuel up on a big breakfast and some gossip.
With a hefty to-do list for the day, most of the conversation at the table was centered around who was doing what. There were a lot of nitpicky tasks outside—a final check of the pool, using the weed trimmer to do a last minute sprucing of the sites, bundling wood and the like—that both Rob and Hannah seemed inclined to do. It didn’t bother Danny at all to volunteer to finish up in the store. Being alone suited his current mood.
He’d signed for the frozen foods delivery and was in the process of putting it away when the door opened and Stella trotted in with Brian right behind her. Danny’s spirits were instantly lifted by the very enthusiastic greeting from the dog, and then he took his brother’s hand, pulling him close for a half hug, half backslapping.
“How’s Siobhan?” was his first question.
Brian beamed. “She’s great. The morning sickness has mostly gone away, and everything looks great with the baby.”
“That’s great news. And Oliver?”
“Also great.” Brian chuckled. “Waiting’s not his strong suit, so he started out really excited to be a big brother, but now he’s a little bored with the process.”
“Once it gets closer, he’ll get excited again.”
“So.” It was only one word, but Danny knew from the way Brian said it, and the way he leaned against the refrigerated case with his arms folded, what was coming. “Rumor has it Mom and Dad met Kenzie.”
“Of course,” he said dryly. Once three of them had found love, they’d all turned their “you need to settle down” energy Danny’s way, so finding a woman in his house was going to make the rounds. But he really hoped they hadn’t been too detailed about it. “I took her down there to thank her for her help with the book. We went to the bookstore and had dinner and all that. Just a quick getaway.”
“Sure.” Brian didn’t look convinced that was the entire story. “How much does Kenzie factor into how willing you were to come up here and cover for me?”
“Kenzie had nothing to do with my decision to come up here in your place,” he said honestly. He would have had Brian’s back no matter what. “But it was nice to get to see her whenever she was free.”
Brian nodded. “She’s not free very often. I don’t think I’ve ever met somebody who works as many hours as she does.”
That was certainly the truth. “Speaking of work, I need to finish loading this freezer.”
His brother looked into the freezer case that had held ice cream last year. It still did, but there was also a pile of frozen microwave pizzas. “Wait. Frozen pizzas? When did that happen?”
Danny nodded toward the microwave they’d put on a stand next to the coffee machine. “Testing out offering them to campers who don’t want to grill in the rain, or riders who stop by off the trails and just want a snack. As long as you and Rob don’t eat them, there’s a decent markup, so why not?”
“Interesting. I haven’t seen Rob yet, so I’ll run him down and let him know I’m here.”
“After I finish this up, I’ll probably grab my stuff and hit the road.”
Once he’d found a way to fit the stack of frozen pizzas next to the various ice cream products—from popsicles, ice cream sandwiches and Hoodsie Cups to those premade sundae cones—in such a way kids wouldn’t have to rummage around and make a mess, he was sick of frozen products. The cold drinks were already in the refrigerated case, and the coffee station was stocked.
There wasn’t much else he could do in the store, so he went back to the house and packed his bag. It didn’t take long, and when he was done, he found the other three out on the playground, cleaning the equipment.
“I’m headed out,” he said after giving Stella a thorough tousling. “I think everything’s good to go in the store.”
“I appreciate it,” Brian said. “More than I can say.”
“We all do.” Hannah hugged him, and then they all laughed when Stella tried to wiggle her way between them. Any affection was meant for her.
Rob shook his hand. “You know if you get writer’s block again, there’s still some wood to split. Not a lot because you really worked through some issues up in the pit, but some.”
Danny laughed. “I think I’ll stick to my treadmill.”
He gave Stella a final belly rub and then left them to washing the swings and climbed into his truck. After adjusting the temperature controls because it was a warm day, he pulled to the end of the campground drive and sat there for a minute.
He was tempted to turn right. Corinne’s Kitchen wasn’t too far up the road, so he could run up there and see Kenzie one more time.
