“It’s not selfish,” he said. “It’s human.”
She breathed out, shaky. “You make it sound so simple.”
“It’s not,” he said. “I know that. But it doesn’t mean you don’t get to want it.”
They sat like that for a while, the porch light humming, the sky darkening fully. The campground settled deeper into the night around them.
Krista let her head tip sideways until it rested lightly against his shoulder. He didn’t comment, just shifted enough to make it easier, his cheek brushing briefly against her hair.
And in that quiet, she finally let herself want it all—the life here, the dreams out there—with this man beside her.
Joe cleared his throat softly. “I almost forgot,” he said, reaching for his phone. “Jackson texted me. He knows a spot that might match Isabel’s description. Wanted to know if we’re up for hiking it tomorrow still. Told him I’d get back to him.”
Krista sat up a little straighter. “I’d like that. I might only be able to get away for an hour, but…”
“It’s just the distraction you need right now?” Joe guessed.
“Exactly.”
By the time they’d finished their drinks, Walt had returned. They settled in around the table as a family would, eating Joe’s delicious jambalaya and settling down for the evening.
“I’ll see you tomorrow?” Krista asked finally, walking back toward her truck, ready to head to Joe’s tent while he went to her apartment.
“Bright and early. We’ll get that hike in. Then you can take some foodie shots around Maple Falls while I work at the Hideaway.”
“It’s a date,” Krista replied, meeting Joe in the small space between where their vehicles were parked.
Joe leaned in and gave her a quick kiss, the kind that could’ve lingered if they weren’t standing outside her grandparents’ house.
Later that night, under the stars with the fire crackling around her and the scent of woodsmoke rising in the air, Krista snapped a photo of Joe’s tent, with the stars above, the arms of the Milky Way twisting into infinity.
She didn’t know everything about photography, and it was just on her phone, but she thought she’d done a decent job.
She quickly sent the photo to Elsie and Joe for her evening update titled:Joe’s Tent Under The Stars.
A moment later Elsie replied.
Elsie: This is gorgeous!!!
Joe: Yeah, beautiful job, Krista. Your best photo yet.
Elsie: Can’t wait to see the foodie pics tomorrow. The Pumpkin Pie Bakery is sponsoring!!!
As she settled in for the night, Krista thought that she might not be able to have everything. But she could have tomorrow. And for now, tomorrow was enough—especially if it meant Joe’s hands on her again, that low, steady attention that made her forget the rest of the world existed.
She just had to stop thinking about what came next.
THIRTY
JOE
Monday, Day Four of the Summer Swap
Bright and early the next morning, the weather was doing its best impersonation of the perfect summer day with plenty of sunshine, tranquil blue skies, and just enough breeze to soften the heat.
Joe wouldn’t have blamed Krista if she wanted to back out of the hike. She had a million other things on her mind. Alice, the campground, the Hideaway, the growing to-do list he’d glimpsed on her phone. It would’ve been easy for her to say she didn’t have time to go chase clues from a decades-old diary.
But he also knew she needed this.
