Page 2 of Don't Let Your Mind Go There

They both had dirty-blonde hair, green eyes, and their facial features were almost the same. They were both more on the quiet side. They kept a lot to themselves, but they were also very communicative when they wanted to be.

Of course, I loved them all the same, but if I had to choose one of them to spend three weeks alone with, I’d choose Dad. He was definitely the most fun.

He was also the one who understood me. He knew things about me nobody else knew, and there were things I only talked to him about.

And vice versa.

Dad trusted me with many things. Things not even Mom knew about him. To be fair, everything we kept hidden from Mom and Ronan concerned only us.

The feelings we had for each other were our biggest secret. It had been for over two years now, but other than admitting to those feelings, nothing ever happened between us.

On this trip, I was determined to get closer though.

“Tate.” Dad’s voice sounded impatient. “Let’s go. We’ve already wasted plenty of time today.”

I snapped out of my thoughts and followed him to the front of the store where he paid for the waters and chocolate bars, and as we exited the store, Mom came around the corner.

She smiled as she saw us. “No more stops. I promise.”

Dad chuckled and put his hand on her lower back, and I followed behind them as they walked across the parking lot to get to the car. “Good. I won’t stop another time.” He handed her the Snickers. “Here.”

“Thank you, darling.”

I wasn’t a jealous person. Seeing Dad being so sweet with Mom didn’t bother me. Why would it? They were married. Had been for almost twenty years.

Still, I wanted to get closer to Dad.

I needed to see how far I could take things with him, and how secretive we could be. I knew Dad wanted that too. He just hadn’t found the courage for it yet.

Once we got in the car, Ronan took off his headphones and raised a brow at Dad. “You know, it’s primarily Mom’s fault it’s taking us so long, but you’re taking your sweet time too.”

“I know.” Dad didn’t argue. “I shouldn’t be stressing anyway. We’re on vacation. We should all take it nice and slow. We’re not in a rush.”

We really weren’t.

But I was eager to see the campsite, and the cabin we’d stay in for the next three weeks.

2

TATE

I had looked at the campsite’s website before coming here, and in real life, it was even more impressive as on the pictures and videos that I saw. The campground was tucked away between big trees, and the cabins were positioned thoughtfully to offer privacy while embracing the nature that was all around.

Our cabin had the number four on it. Coincidentally, four was my lucky number because we were a family of four, and I often caught glimpses of that number in random places. Strangely enough, I always looked at my phone at exactly four oh four almost every day.

It had to mean something.

After getting everything out of the car, we headed inside the cabin to look around and get a feel of the space we were about to spend three weeks in.

“Which room will Tate and I sleep in?”

I looked over to where Ronan was standing. He was pointing into one of the bedrooms, and I wondered if there was a difference between the two.

“I don’t mind which one you kids sleep in. They should be the same,” Dad announced from the kitchen.

“This one doesn’t have an en-suite bathroom. I figured you’d want that one,” Ronan said, looking over at Mom.

“Ooo, I’ll take it. I won’t say no to an en-suite bathroom,” she admitted with a grin. “Does it also have a bathtub?”

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