Page 55 of Well Played

Levi poured his coffee and turned to look at me. “What am I getting in the middle of here?”

“Alex wants to have his friends sleep outside in tents for his birthday party tomorrow night.”

Levi shrugged. “Sounds like fun.”

My nose wrinkled. “Sleeping with bugs sounds like fun?”

He brought his coffee mug to his lips with a smirk. “Afraid of a few daddy long legs?”

“Oh my God. I was thinking more about ants. Daddy long legs are part of camping, too?”

Levi chuckled. “You won’t even notice them. They like still bodies, so they mostly crawl on you when you sleep.”

While my face twisted at that thought, my son laughed. “Come on, Mom. Don’t be such a scaredy cat.”

“I’m not a scaredy cat. I would camp…but…we don’t have any tents.” I smiled. “Such a shame.”

Levi grinned. “I have tents. I’m pretty sure my mom still has all our old camping gear. We used to have these grilled-cheese makers that you use over the campfire. They made the best sandwiches. I’ll see if she still has those, too.”

“But—”

“Thanks, Mom!” Alex stood. “Can I go down to Billy’s house to tell him I’m having a camping party?”

I felt like I’d just been bamboozled. I shook my finger at Levi. “You’re helping set them up.”

He laughed. “No problem.”

***

The next night, I watched from the back door as Levi and Alex set up the tents out back. It turned out Levi’s mom had recently tossed all of their old camping gear, but Levi had come home with his truck filled with equipment anyway. All brand-new stuff that he gifted Alex for his birthday—three tents, sleeping bags, lanterns, tarps, supplies to make a fire, headlamps, outdoor cooking utensils. He’d even found the cast-iron grilled-cheese makers he’d loved so much as a kid. And he bought me bug spray. I wasn’t sure who was more excited about tonight’s camp out—Alex or his uncle.

Levi pointed to the ground where the next stake needed to be set and handed Alex a mallet. I loved that he didn’t just set up the tent; he took the time to show my son how to do it.

The doorbell rang, interrupting my thoughts, and two very anxious boys practically knocked me over when I answered. They were definitely eager to get to the yard. Levi walked over to the deck where I stood to give the boys some privacy as they said their hellos.

“Thank you so much for setting all that up,” I said.

“No problem. It was fun. It’s been a while since I did any of that. These days roughing it is getting put up at a four-star hotel instead of a five while the team is traveling.”

I smiled. “I’d gladly take that version of roughing it over this one.”

Levi shoved his hands into his jeans pockets. “Do you mind if I hang around tonight?”

“Mind? I’d be relieved if you did. I was playing with the little collapsible camping cups you bought and couldn’t even figure out how to keep them open.”

He laughed. “You have to twist them a certain way.”

The doorbell rang again, and a few more boys joined the party. Over the next few hours, Levi and I were both kept pretty busy. We made a fire, roasted hot dogs on sticks, grilled-cheese sandwiches in the contraption Levi had bought, and sat around telling ghost stories once it got dark.

Though I’d been reluctant to have this type of party, it turned out to be one of the most fun nights I’d had in a long time. At eleven o’clock, I told the boys to go into the house and brush their teeth and then got them settled for the night. Since there were six of them, Levi had set up a few tents for them to sleep, but they all squished into one. When I was done, I found Levi sitting by the fire, staring into the flames.

“Mind if I sit with you?” I asked.

He smiled. “Not at all.”

“Would you want to sneak a beer?”

“Hell yeah.”

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