Page 30 of Riverside Reverie

“Who wants to make s’mores?” she asked.

“Hell yeah!” Kai exclaimed with elation, jumping up along with Desmond and Theo to look for sticks in the bush that would be suitable for marshmallow roasting. They returned ten minutes later with a handful of sticks. Theo took a pocket knife out and started carving the bark away, making the ends more pointed.

They were only able to find five sticks, so we had to take turns.

“I can’t remember the last time I had s’mores around a fire,” I murmured, taking the proffered stick from Theo. The marshmallow bag went around the group, and Jasmine grabbed a handful for us. “Not since we were in high school,” I added, looking at her with a wry grin.

“Oh yeah! I remember that,” Jasmine laughed. “You nearly set Camellia’s hair on fire.”

“Hey! That’s not true!” Jasmine gave me a look. “Well, I guess it’s sort of true,” I blushed.

The last time I roasted marshmallows was at Jasmine’s cottage during one of her parent’s yearly Canada Day celebrations when we were fifteen. The Kade’s Canada Day parties were something to marvel at. They hosted their Canada Day blow out at their cottage in the Muskokas, and Jasmine and her sisters were always able to bring a couple friends.

My family never did stuff like that. We didn’t have a cottage, although every few years, my parents would rent one for a couple weeks and my dad would take a much-needed vacation from the hospital. But we never did campfires—heck, I wasn’t even all that sure my dad knew how to start a campfire. He was a city boy through and through.

My mom was also a city girl, she had zero interest in anything outdoorsy—she said she hated bugs too much. They only ever rented cottages that also had pools, because my mother hated seaweed as much as she hated bugs. Essentially, it was a fancy and expensive change of scenery for a few weeks.

I blamed my lack of expertise of roasting marshmallows on my family’s inexperience with anything to do with nature. I’d panicked when my marshmallow caught fire, and tried to wave it around to put it out. Obviously, that meant that I was waving around a gooey flaming marshmallow that ended up flying off my stick and narrowly missing Camellia’s head by a few inches.

“Maybe I’ll roast them for you,” Jasmine teased, and I handed over the stick without complaint.

“That’s for the best. I don’t want to set the forest on fire, or our tents.” I said sheepishly, watching as she popped a marshmallow on the end of the stick and stood to hold it over the flames.

Theo chuckled, drawing my attention to him from across the fire. He was roasting marshmallows with ease. The man seemed to do everything with ease. Once his marshmallow was perfectly golden, he put together a s’more and offered it to me.

“Thanks,” I said, taking it from him. I wasn’t even all that hungry for it—I wanted an excuse for our hands to touch again. But the s’more was the most delicious thing, and I hummed with appreciation as the flavours exploded on my tongue.

Theo cleared his throat, forcing his gaze away from my face. His expression was…affected, and it stirred the desire that had taken up residence in me.

Jasmine nudged me with her elbow, waggling her eyebrows at me. She’d caught it too, so I wasn’t imagining it. I fought a smile, popping the rest of the s’more Theo had given me into my mouth.

Once everyone had a couple of s’mores and the remaining marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate were put away, Talia busted out a bottle of tequila and plastic shot glasses.

“Let’s play a game,” she suggested with a mischievous smile, her eyes glinting in the firelight. “Never Have I Ever?”

Zoey groaned. “I hate this game. It makes me feel so inexperienced.”

“You’re not inexperienced, babe. Trust me,” Kai teased, kissing her forehead. Zoey grinned at him and giggled.

Talia chuckled as she poured tequila into the small plastic shot glasses. She handed them out, and when everyone had their shot glass, she put the bottle down on the cooking stump and returned to her floaty.

“Alright, I’ll start,” she said, getting comfortable. “Never have I ever…Googled myself,” Talia began the game, her gaze going to Jasmine with amusement.

“Ugh,” Jasmine tilted her head back, polishing off her shot. Back in high school, she would sometimes Google her name to make sure the press wasn’t talking about her, especially back when her father was running for mayor for the first time. They were looking for any dirt on him and his family.

Rhiannon surprised me by tossing her shot back too. “What? Ever since Travis Channing’s wedding, I’ve been curious about what people are saying about my photography.”

“I don’t think that counts,” Jasmine said thoughtfully, standing up to refill her shot glass. “You’re essentially looking up reviews on your business, not Googling your name.”

“But my name is my business,” Rhiannon replied, tilting her empty shot glass at Jasmine so she could fill it too.

“Touché,” Jasmine giggled. “Well, I’m sorry in advance then. Never have I ever met a celebrity!”

Baz and Rhiannon both took a shot, and Jasmine handed Baz the bottle and went back to her seat.

“Hey, not so fast Jas,” I raised a brow. “What about that time we met Everly Daniels backstage?”

“Ah shit, I forgot about that!” Jasmine laughed, linking her arm around mine to take the shot like we practiced when we were in high school and trying to look cool. I laughed and took my shot, spilling a little of tequila out onto my chin in the process.

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