‘What happens on camp, stays on camp.’
Spencer’s murmured reply sent a thrill through her. She’d thought about that car park kiss more often than she wanted to admit, but there had only been messages between them since, and she wasn’t sure how much longer she could handle the slow burn.
They reached the waterfall without incident. The camp staffer turned from hiking guide to photographer, bringing everyone together for a group picture in front of the cascading water.
‘Hold on,’ Clem called, looking over her shoulder at the Year 5 boys balancing on their tiptoes behind her. ‘Thomas, Lachie, Mack, come sit down the front with me. Scootch over, girls.’
Her heart went out again to homesick Lachie when she saw the other boys put a hand over their mouths and noses.
More kids followed suit, pinching their noses as if the non-existent odour was unbearable. ‘Ewww, something stinks around here,’ one of the boys stage-whispered. Harriet must have heard it too, because she fell into step beside Lachie on the walk back to camp doing her best to make him laugh.
‘She’s a good kid,’ Spencer said. ‘You must be proud.’
‘Absolutely. Sometimes I wonder how they even turned out like this.’ She laughed. ‘If I’m honest. I think it’s mostly theirnature, not my parenting skills, that’s made them into such great girls.’
They walked a little longer, the campground coming into view over the treetops. ‘From an outsider looking in, and a guy who’s taught thousands of students, I’d say you’re doing a top job.’
‘Ha, you don’t know the half of it.’
He stopped then, and with a quick look down the path, checking that the camp guide up with the front walkers wasn’t staring back up the hill at them, and the tail walkers were focused on the gravel track ahead, he dropped a kiss on her lips.
‘I can only work with what I know, and my verdict is sexy, strong, terrible in a kayak but great at making coffee and being a mum. I’m looking forward to finding out the rest as we go along.’
Clem blinked with surprise as he resumed walking, her legs not the only part struggling to keep up.Strong and sexy.Did he even realise he was saying all the right things? It was going to be quite the challenge to keep hold of these professional boundaries he was so intent on maintaining!
Spencer settled back into his deckchair, trying to remember a school camp he’d enjoyed more, and took a sip of tea.
‘I can’t believe I haven’t made an effort to visit these mountains since moving back,’ Clem said, tipping her head back to gaze at the stars. The tin mug of jasmine tea wasn’t Spencer’s usual drink, but it was warm in his hands, and heated his insides better than the camp fire they’d extinguished an hour earlier to help hurry the students into bed.
‘It’s pretty speccy,’ he said, keeping his eyes on her. There was something about her gold puffer jacket that lit up her face and hair, even in the dim glow from the cabins. They’d dragged the chairs into a clearing a hundred metres or so away, wherethey were close enough to hear any wandering students who veered off the path between the cabins and the toilet block, but were screened from view.
‘The stars are something else. And that fresh air.’ Her chest rose and fell as she filled her lungs. ‘I thought Penwarra was pretty pristine, but there’s something about this place that makes the air seem crisper, cleaner.’
‘Altitude, maybe?’ He passed her the cheese tray.
‘Smart alec.’ She grinned, popping a stuffed pepper into her mouth. Her other hand dangled over the chair, brushing against his, and he picked it up, running a finger over her smooth skin, tracing the bands of her rings and then squeezing the length of each finger.
‘Erghhh, you can do that all night and I’ll sit here, lapping it up.’ A contented groan slipped from her lips and while it was an entirely PG sound, in response to a completely innocent hand massage, the noise made him want to pull her into his lap and make her gasp in a more intimate way.
Jeepers, keep your head, man.
He folded Clem’s hand into his before he got even further ahead of himself than he already was.
‘We should have a chat before things go any further.’
She laughed. ‘I hate to break it to you Mr Hawkins, but I know about the birds and the bees.’
The more time they spent together, the more he discovered her sense of humour, and he hoped she’d approach this weird conversation with the same light-heartedness.
‘Who’s the smart alec now? I mean about the TV show. If I were to start a new relationship right now, completely hypothetically, it would have to stay under wraps until the show finishes airing. It’s written into my contract. So there could be no public dates, no slow walks along the jetty hand in hand, no photos together on either of our socials.’
Really selling it, wasn’t he?
‘How long’s the embargo last?’
‘Up until the final episode in December.’
‘I’m not really one for the limelight anyway,’ Clem said softly. ‘But I’m not sure if sneaking around is really my strong suit. I’ve got two little girls who don’t miss a trick, and from the number of times you’ve called into the cafe recently, it’s clear neither of us is practised in the art of cloak-and-dagger shenanigans.’
