Page 68 of Summer with the Single Dad

“You should definitely come,” Clint piped up. “Brooke will be there. I think she’s offered to help run the concession stand for part of the time.”

“She is,” Talia confirmed. “She said she’s going to slip me some extra popcorn.” Her dark brows bobbed up and down playfully.

“I’m taking tickets for the bouncy castle for ninety minutes,” Wyatt chimed in. “And Dom’s running the ring toss, right?”

“For ninety minutes,” Dom confirmed, tugging the hood of his hoodie over his man bun and shoving his hands into his pockets.

“And I’m on child-minding duty while these guys volunteer,” Clint added. “Then I’m manning the photobooth for ninety minutes. And Jagger is helping out at the face painting tent.”

“Wow, it’s a real family affair. Huh?” Justine said just as the big, yellow school bus whipped around the corner, the tires making a sizzling sound on the wet asphalt.

“Many hands make light work.” Wyatt wrangled his two boys, kissed the tops of their heads, and helped the younger one climb up onto the bus when the door opened. “’Mornin’, Mr. Figgs,” he said to the bus driver.

“Good morning, McEvoys.” The bus driver’s green eyes slid to Justine. “And good morning, friend of the McEvoys.”

Justine’s cheeks warmed, and she smiled and waved. “Good morning, Mr. Figgs.”

One-by-one, the children climbed onto the bus, greeted Mr. Figgs, then once they were all seated, waving at their dads, the bus pulled away.

If the walk to the bus stop was awkward, the walk back was ten times worse.

Dom and Wyatt were in front, talking quietly with their shoulders rounded, hands in their pockets, as the rain drenched their hoodies, while Bennett, Clint and Justine walked behind.

“So, you two are baking all day?” Clint asked.

Maybe Justine was too much in her head and had sex with Bennett on the brain, but the way Clint asked her that felt like such an innuendo.

“Yeah. Four dozen cupcakes and four cakes,” Bennett replied, shaking his head. “What idiot agreed to do that?”

Clint snickered. “A big idiot.”

“Gee, thanks.”

They reached the fork in the road. Dom and Wyatt jerked their chins in farewell before heading into the pub, but Clint paused. “You going to check on cabin five?”

“I checked yesterday and Cam came over. He figures what’s going to warp has warped, and we can probably start pulling out all the damaged flooring, trim, and cabinets this weekend.”

Clint’s head bobbed. “De-hums are still going.”

“Yeah, figured we may as well. No guests have complained so far. Doesn’t hurt anything.”

“Any word on the trailer for Justine?”

Oh right! The trailer. She was supposed to move into a more permanent temporary home, away from Bennett and his daughters. A tightness she didn’t like formed in her chest.

“Arrives tomorrow.” Bennett’s eyes found Justine’s and she could have sworn she saw a flicker of sadness in that deep, dark blue. Was that just wishful thinking on her part? Was she projecting her own melancholy and seeing things that weren’t actually there? “But I figure I’ll park it up on top in the gravel across from our house. There’s no good spot to hook it up down here and I can run an extension cord from my house. So she has power.”

Clint’s eyes glimmered like he knew a dirty little secret and he was also trying to keep a smile from curling his lips, but wasn’t doing a very good job of it. “Makes sense.” Then it was like a lightbulb flicked on in his brain and he snapped his fingers. “That’s who you remind me of.”

Obviously, he meant Justine. She hiked her brows a little.

“Lucy Liu.”

Justine rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Uh, no. But thanks for the compliment.”

Justine absolutely did not look like the stunning Lucy Liu. She wished.

“No, seriously. You do. Same face shape. She has freckles too. You totally look like Lucy Liu.”

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