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Christie had blossomedsince she’d been with Dana. Her once nervous sister was more playful, boisterous. She laughed so much more now; Emmie thought back to the giggles that Wren had coaxed from her.

Maybe she deserved some love in her life too.

Maybe.

8

Wren

Wren was up with the dawn. Sleeping in a tent always had her up early, partly because of the sounds of the campsite, and partly because the sun called to her.

She clambered out of her tent and put some coffee on her little camping stove, and watched the sun rise over the lake as it boiled. Taking a long sip, she felt it warm her and smiled, ready to face the day.

The night before, she’d spent a fair amount of time trying to decide what would make up the prefect date: which viewpoint should she take Emmie to; what should she include in the picnic; how should she best pleasure her pretty girl…

Luckily, the campsite had a convenience store on site. It didn’t include a huge amount, but Wren had already picked up enough to put together some sandwiches, snacks, fruit and cakes. She paused, and then topped up two big bottles of water as well. The last thing she wanted was for either of them to get dehydrated.

Wren knew that Emmie was going to have breakfast with her sister and Dana before the two of them headed off on the longer hike, so she headed over to the 24 hour desks, to check in and see how everything was going.

Over the five years that she’d been running the campout, it’d had gotten big enough that there were enough volunteers to make sure that everything ran smoothly. It wasn’t like their inaugural year, when she’d had to do near on everything herself, and hadn’t had time to take a proper lunch break, let alone plan a picnic.

There was part of her that wanted to imagine her Emmie here together, the following year, despite all her protestations that this was going to be her final year. But perhaps it would be a hell of a lot more fun if she wasn’t worrying about all the health and safety and legal aspects of everything.

Perhaps if she just had one baby girl to think about, it’d be kind of perfect.

Emmie came and found her at the front desk after breakfast, and seemed unsure as to whether or not she should go for a kiss. Adorable.

“I’m totally okay with a kiss in public,” said Wren. “If you are too.”

Emmie had blushed and leaned down to kiss Wren’s cheek. It had been so fucking cute.

The volunteers on the front desk had all stared, wide-eyed, but Wren paid none of them any attention. Even when her best friend, Genevieve, had come skidding to a stop when she saw Wren and Emmie talking, Wren refused to be drawn into it.

No one gave Emmie the memo though, so she was more than happy to chat to everyone. Telling them who she was and what she did, and how excited she was for their little private date walk.

“A date walk?” said Genevieve, looking pointedly at Wren. Wren continued to ignore it. “With our Wren here? That’s adorable.”

Emmie looked between them, an anxious look creeping into her eyes. Wren rolled her eyes at Genevieve and slipped an arm around Emmie’s waist, pulling her close.

“Don’t you worry petal, she’s just teasing me because I’m notoriously single.”

“Oh.” Emmie’s voice was very quiet, and Genevieve was straight over to her.

“Notoriously single is a bit harsh. It’s just that we’re always after her to find a nice woman to date, and now here you are. We’re going to give her a bit of shit about it, but I promise that it’s nothing that you need to worry about.”

“Mind your language around my baby girl,” said Wren, but she was grinning. Gen and she had been friends for too long to let something as silly as teasing get in between them. She noticed that Emmie flushed when she used the endearment, and she paused. “Is calling you baby girl okay? I can stick to petal if you like.”

“I like them both,” she replied, long lashes blinking slowly. And then she looked up, and mouthed ‘Daddy’ and took Wren—who was taking a swig of water—completely by surprise. A coughing fit ensued.

“Are you sure you want her to take you out?” asked Genevieve. “Apparently she can’t have a drink without spluttering.”

“Oh, that was my fault,” said Emmie, and damn if butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth. Cheeky little thing. “Come on then, Wren. If you think you’re up to it, we should head off.”

Her girl had a bit of sass to her. Wren couldn’t help but chuckle.

The path she’d chosen took about an hour each way, and she’d sent the details to Emmie that morning, so that she could share it with her sister, and to double check that it seemed doable.

“Remember,” she said as they set off, “at any point if you need a break, or even if you’re just done, you can say. I won’t be cross or disappointed at all. The only way I’d be disappointed would be if you’re not honest with me about how you’re feeling.”