Page 50 of Head Over Heels

“I amallfor not-sleeping in beds,” I say, letting my hand drift down to cup her breast.

“You know that’s not what I meant.”

“Just for two nights. If you hate it you’ll never have to do it again.”

“I already hate it,” she says.

“I need your help,” I admit. “I want to take Katie camping. That’s what dads do. They teach their kids to do the stuff they love. I love camping. And I want Katie to love camping. And I think it’ll be a lot easier to do it the first time if you help me.”

“I call bullshit,” she says. “You’re the manliest man in manland. You run a sporting goods store. You can do anything you want to do.”

What I said isn’t the whole truth. I also want Liv to come with us because, well, because I want her there. I want to share what I love with her, too.

I am not, however, above exploiting the Katie element for my own gain. “I can’t explain to a five-year-old girl how to pee in the woods without getting her shoes wet.”

Liv closes her eyes and drops her head back, and I’m pretty sure I’ve won, at least that round. I go in for the kill—or that’s my plan, anyway.

“I’ll pay you. Double overtime.”

She rolls her eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“You’ll be working the whole time. And it’ll be weekend time.”

She shakes her head. “Seriously, Chase, don’t be stupid. I’m not taking your money.”

“But you’ll do it?

She sighs heavily. Closes her eyes. Opens them again.

“Yeah. I’ll do it.” Her expression is bleak.

I feel a little bit sorry for her. But not really. Mostly I feel elated. It’s been way too long since I’ve camped, and I’ve always wanted to take Katie. It wasn’t the kind of thing I ever could have convinced Thea to let me do, to give me Katie for that long and to trust me not to screw it up.

I push away my old frustrations—Thea’s gone now, and there’s no point in thinking about the past. I’m going to take my girls camping, and we are going to have a great time.

Well, Katie and I are going to have a great time. I’m not 100 percent sure what Liv’s going to think. But either way, we’ll have fun. Either Liv will fall in love with camping, too—or it’ll be the perfect revenge for the placemats and napkins and dishes and fancy food and the beautification of my guest room.

“When are we talking about?” she asks, her tone more “firing squad” than “night under the stars.”

“This Saturday and Sunday nights? I’ll get someone to cover for me Saturday so we can hike Saturday and be at the site in time to pitch the tent by dark.”

“Hike?” she demands. “Like,hike,hike? With a backpack?”

There might be a note of panic in her voice now. And I’m evil, because I’m enjoying it.

“Yeah. What’d you think I was talking about?”

“Car camping.”

I shake my head in disgust. “That’s notrealcamping.”

“It felt pretty real to me the one time I did it.”

“Oh, so youdodo camping,” I tease.

“Ididcamping, one horrible time.”

“But if it was car camping you didn’t do it right. So you don’t know. You might love it.”

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