Page 12 of Daddy's Little Camping Trip
“Put your sunblock on, then you don’t miss any spots—and I’ll check back in with you every hour to make sure you reapply.”
I thought about that for a second and quickly decided that was by far the best option ever—mostly because his hands were going to be on me.
I’d never been so grateful for someone not buying the spray sunscreen. It didn’t work as well for me, but also, it was a hands-off application. His fingers along my shoulder blades—yeah, I was there for that.
He came behind me, sat down, and slowly, methodically, covered my skin with the sunscreen. There was nothinginappropriate about it. It was all very much part of the application process. It still felt amazing.
“When you go play with your friends, I’ll get your attention in an hour.”
“Sounds good,” I nearly saidGood, Daddy,but I had to stop myself.
I got up, waved to him, and then raced over to where a bunch of the littles—including my tentmate—had gathered. They were digging a hole, and I was fascinated by it, trying to figure out what exactly they were doing. I had guessed everything from trying to make a little lake to needing the sand they were in to pull rocks out to build something to looking for treasure.
I was wrong on all of it.
They were building a moat for Dog and Duck and Doug. And then, in the center, we built what we called the castle. It was really a big ol’ mountain of rocks and sand and mud. This wasn’t what you’d call a sandy beach, but it sure was fun.
When we were done, we smashed it, making sure that the ground was safe for people to walk on. That was the best part. Building was cool, but knocking it down was always for the win.
And then we ran into the water.
It was warm. Much warmer than I had expected when I heard we were going to the lake. We jumped in, splashed, laughed, even did some handstands—and time flew by.
The next time I looked over to see if G was still talking, he held up the bottle of sunscreen.
I got it.
Don’t wanna burn.
Daddy is calling me.
I wanted to suck the words back in. Calling him Daddy to other people—that was not the way to go. Especially not when we hadn’t talked about that at all.
But none of them seemed to notice and just waved at me as I went back to him.
He helped me and reapplied sunscreen. “What do you want to do now?”
“I’m kind of scared…but also, I kinda really wanna do it.”
“Do it?” He tilted his head to the side. God, did he think I was asking for sex?
“I wanna try… I’ve never done one before.”
“Oh! We can do that.” He smiled.
Were we gonna tip over? Probably. “I’ll be safe—’cause you’re with me.”
“Absolutely.”
He stood up, offered me a hand, and we walked to the water together for our kayak ride.
We didn’t tip back.
We didn’t roll. But there were a few wobbles, just wild enough to get us both laughing.
It was fun. And not once did I ever worry that something was gonna happen to me.
All too soon, it was time for us to part ways and get ready for dinner.
