Page 29 of Forgotten Romance

You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.

My eyes meet Davey’s wide ones. There’s a split second of what-the-fuck-have-we-done that passes between us before he shakes it off.

“I’ll take this.”

He goes to grab Van, and my head falls back toward the lumpy white sky. I can still save this. I can.

Only story time turns into Kiera and Van nonstop arguing over which book to read, and then Van keeps trying to join in our card game and scatters the Uno deck everywhere. Kiera gets angry that he isn’t playing properly, and when I snap at her for throwing her cards, she bursts into tears.

Van follows, because why the fuck not, and I’m seconds away from following them too.

The headache building behind my eyes isn’t helping matters.

“Fire. I’m making a fire.” It’s the only thing I can think of to salvage this. The body heat must have built up in the tent because it’s fucking freezing outside. I zip my puffer jacket up my chest and duck my face into my scarf as I go in search of wood I can use. There’s a fuckload of bare branches that will be perfect for this kind of thing, and I wonder if being cold will be a problem. I’ve never done this before, but I bought kindling and some matches, so I’m already one up on Bear Grylls.

YouTube is my friend, and it takes me half the box of matches before anything happens, but I finally get a small flame. Which goes out quickly.

“Fuck my life,” I say, squeezing my eyes shut for a moment.

“Hey …” Davey’s hand rests on my shoulder as he crouches beside me. “Everything okay?”

“Me? Yeah. Fine.”

“You seem stressed.”

“Stressed?” My voice jumps up a notch. “Look where we are. This is beautiful. And I’m with my amazing family. What on earth would I be stressed for?”

Davey smiles kindly at me as he takes the matches and gets the fire lit. “Kids are a lot.”

“Why don’t they appreciate this?” I huff.

“Who said they don’t?”

I gesture dramatically back toward the tent. “All they’ve done is complain.”

“They’re little people with big emotions. Their bodies are too small to hold all that in, so it spills out. We’re lucky to be the safe space where they can do that.”

I flick a confused look toward him but can’t handle this conversation right now. “Just … sucks.”

“Why are we here, Mack?”

“Family weekend. We haven’t done one of those in forever.”

He presses his lips tighter, like he’s trying not to smile. “But why, during winter, did you think this is where we should spend the weekend?”

So I didn’t think it through—it’s not like I need that pointed out to me. Instead of answering, I shout over my shoulder, “Who wants marshmallows?”

Kiera and Van immediately answer the save me cry and come tearing out to join us. The lingering look Davey gives me tells me this is far from over though.

After a burned lip, two burned fingers, Van’s scraped palms, and a barely edible dinner, we climb into the tent for bed. The kids are out quickly, but I lie there, listening to the wind tossing things back and forth outside, with Kiera’s foot in my face, and stare at the canvas overhead, dreading another day of this.

Davey’s hand finds mine, and he gives it a light squeeze. I look over at where Van is sleeping over his neck.

“This … this was okay … right?” I whisper.

Davey’s indulgent look is back. “I loved it.”

I can’t stop the scoff that leaves me. “That’s an exaggeration.”

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