Page 20 of Beyond the Rainbow (Pride Camp 2025 #11)

·Luggage is tagged and taken to cabins.

· Campers receive a welcome kit (name tag, camp map, water bottle, and schedule).

Welcome kits had been prepared for all thirty-six campers. The luggage tags, festive decorations, and all other paraphernalia were in the large box marked Day One, which waited in the campground dining room. They were ready.

He shot a glance at Colin, who was still sleeping peacefully, then got up and wandered outside to the cabin’s small porch and sat down on the steps.

The sun was coming up, and the air was crisp, carrying the scent of damp earth and pine.

A soft mist curled around the trees, broken only by an owl’s distant hoot and the breeze rustling the leaves.

Joshua wrapped his hands around his coffee mug, letting the warmth seep into his fingers as he took a slow sip. This was the calm before the storm—the last few hours of quiet before the camp was filled with laughter, shouts, and the boundless energy of thirty-six excited campers.

A faint creak behind him signaled movement inside the cabin. A moment later, the door swung open, and Colin appeared, looking rumpled but alert. His hair was a mess, and he squinted against the early light as he took in Joshua sitting on the step, coffee in hand, already deep in thought.

“You’re up early,” Colin murmured, his voice still thick with sleep.

Joshua smirked, lifting his mug in a small salute. “You know me—once my brain starts going, there’s no turning it off.”

Colin grunted in agreement and dropped down beside him on the step, rubbing a hand over his face. “You making coffee for the whole camp, or just you?”

Joshua handed him his coffee mug, and Colin hummed in satisfaction as he took it and sipped. “Oh, man! That’s good.”

“Let me get you one of your own,” Joshua said, starting to rise. But Colin grabbed his arm and pulled him back down beside him.

“Just sit here beside me for a minute. This may be the only moment of peace we get today. Let’s enjoy it.”

Joshua hesitated, then let Colin pull him down, their knees touching.

For a moment, the storm inside him—the nerves, the checklist, the worry—went quiet.

They sat close together on the steps, sharing Joshua’s mug of coffee, watching in contented silence as the sun rose over the trees until the soft pat of footsteps drew their attention.

“Morning,” Nate said, his voice soft and somewhat muted in the morning air.

“You ready to go?” Joshua asked. “Is David up yet?”

David was to drive Nate to the meetup spot where all thirty-six campers would gather before boarding the bus that would carry them to Camp Pride. He would remain on the bus to supervise the campers while David hurried back to help prepare for their arrival.

“Yeah—he’s dressing like a glam L.L. Bean ad.”

“So, no lion tamer suit?”

Colin lowered his head, laughing as Joshua nodded toward the cabin door. “There’s coffee in there.”

“Nope,” Nate told him, perching on the bottom step. “That restaurant we were at last night opens at six, and we’re headed there for breakfast. That’s why we’re up so early.” He nodded toward his husband, who was trudging toward them, his shoulders hunched under his stylish windbreaker.

“How’d you sleep?” Colin asked the Professor.

David shot him an aggravated look. “I may need to look up a mattress store.”

Colin snickered as David took Nate’s arm and lifted him off the step. “Let’s go rabble-rouser. I’m hungry and annoyed. I want breakfast.”

Nate waved at Colin and Joshua as he and David strolled across the lawn to where their car was parked. “See you when the bus arrives,” Colin called after them.

When David returned to the campground, he joined Colin, Joshua, Trent, and Jeff in setting up the long table that would contain all the items to be handed out to the campers at check-in.

He had stopped on his way back to camp and picked up two dozen doughnuts and a dozen pastries, and everyone happily munched on David’s treats while drinking their morning coffee.

By seven thirty, they were ready, and the five men were perched on the log benches surrounding the six campers’ cabins, waiting for the bus to arrive.

Joshua smiled as he looked around, taking in the colorful banners fluttering in the breeze. Everything was ready. Everything was perfect. He took another bite of his pastry just as David’s phone rang, interrupting their quiet, peaceful interlude .

“Hey, sweetums,” David said in greeting, then stood listening, his face morphing into a scowl, his grip tightening around his phone. When he finally spoke, his voice was sharp, clipped. “Nate, slow down! Is everyone all right?”

Joshua leapt to his feet, feeling Colin rise alongside him. “What is it?” Joshua asked.

David held up one finger, asking him to wait.

“Nate, just calm down. Hang on a second.” He lowered the phone, then dropped his head and heaved a huge sigh.

“OK,” he said, lifting his head after a moment.

“The bus broke down. They’re about halfway here.

The driver does not know what’s wrong. The damned thing just quit, and they can’t get it started. ”

“Oh, fuck me!” Joshua blurted out, raking a hand through his hair as he spun away. Of all the ways this could go wrong, this one hadn’t even made the list.

Colin spat out a muttered curse. “OK. How far out are they? If we leave now, we can?—”

“I’ll drive,” Trent cut in. “My van is empty.”

Joshua spun back around. “Oh, hell no. I’m not leaving those kids stranded. We need every vehicle we’ve got.”

“No, Josh, we don’t,” Trent insisted. “The kids won’t be stranded. One or two of us will stay with them and the bus while we bring the others back to camp. How many campers are on that bus?”

“Thirty-six.”

“OK. It’ll be a tight squeeze, but my van should hold about a dozen of them plus their luggage.

That means three trips.” He pulled his keys from his pocket.

“Once I drop them off, you guys can start signing them in and doing all the Day One stuff that’s on the list.” He shot a glance at Colin.

“You come with me. You can stay with the bus. Maybe figure out what’s wrong with the fucker. ”

Colin nodded. “I do not know a single damned thing about fixing buses,” he told Trent. “But I’ll do what I can.”

“Just keep Nate and the kids entertained,” David told him. “I know you’re good at that!”

Colin nodded, then leaned in to press a quick kiss to Joshua’s cheek. “Hold down the fort,” he told his husband, then turned and trotted after Trent.

David informed Nate of the rescue plan. “Colin and Trent are on the way,” he told his husband.

“Don’t let the kids fret over it. Maybe sing a couple songs with them or something.

” Then he laughed. “Sure, babe! This seems like the perfect time for ‘Ninety-nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall’. Go for it.”

“Oh, lord god,” Joshua moaned.

“Josh, it’ll be fine,” Jeff told him. “Trent will be back with the first round of campers in a half hour or so. Let’s be sure we’re ready.”

“This was not how Day One was supposed to go,” Joshua moaned, then glanced up. Overhead, thick gray clouds had begun to creep across the sky, dimming the morning sunlight. A low, distant rumble of thunder rolled in the distance. “Oh, for fuck’s sake!”

David noticed it too, frowning as he glanced up. “Shit. If that turns into real rain, we’re gonna have to move check-in inside.”

Joshua groaned. “Of course we are!”

“Relax buddy,” Jeff said with a quick grin. "It’s just water.”

By the time the first vanload of campers arrived, fat raindrops had begun to splatter against the dirt paths, turning them into slick patches of mud. The wind had picked up, rustling the trees, causing the banners they’d hung so carefully to flap wildly in the storm’s breeze.

“OK, nope. This isn’t gonna work,” David muttered. “Dining hall. Now!”

“Everybody grab something and move!” Jeff called, pulling the welcome kits into his arms as Joshua snatched up the sign-in sheet.

Just as they reached the porch of the big dining hall, the skies fully opened up, releasing a torrential downpour.

The campers climbing out of Trent’s van shrieked with laughter as the cold rain pelted them.

David shoved his box into Jeff’s arms and dashed back along the path leading from the parking lot, waving the disembarking campers toward the dining room. “This way!” he yelled. “This way!”

The campers dashed toward the porch, some howling with laughter and kicking up mud as they dashed for the dining hall, others huddling under their backpacks, doing their best to stay dry.

Joshua and Jeff were setting up the check-in area. “Well,” Joshua said, his hair already damp from the rain. “This is definitely not how I pictured Day One going.”

Jeff snickered. “At least there are no raccoons.”

Joshua scoffed out a laugh. “Not yet, anyway.”

Outside, Trent threw David a wave and climbed back into his van. “Back in a few,” he yelled while David shepherded the dripping campers toward the dining room.

Jeff had managed to locate a cupboard filled with towels, and he now handed one to each camper as they entered the room. “Here you go. Head right over there for check-in.”

David entered the dining hall, dripping water from every surface. He stopped next to Jeff and removed his soaking wet jacket. “If a single woodland creature shows up today, I’m quitting .”

Jeff shook with laughter as he offered David a towel. “Nothing like a little monsoon to get things off to a great start.”

Meanwhile, back at the bus, Trent had arrived to pick up the second load of campers.

In the time since the rain began, a veritable river of water had spread between his parking spot and the bus, making it nearly impossible to get the campers and their duffle bags across the stream without becoming soaked.

Colin assigned himself the role of luggage bearer and carried each camper’s baggage while the campers slogged through the huge, muddy puddle to the waiting van.

The last of the campers in this group, a lanky teen with bright green sneakers, stared at the rising puddle between them and the van. “Soooo… do we wade or build a raft?”

“Just move,” Colin grumbled, throwing the camper’s duffle over his shoulder.

He could feel cold water running down his neck, while behind him, Nate’s high, clear voice warbled out: “If one of those bottles should happen to fall …” Colin drew in a deep breath and paused for half a second.

OK. So this is hell. He squinted into the rain, his shirt plastered to his skin, and tried to laugh as Nate’s voice echoed behind him.

But all he could think of was Joshua—somewhere back at camp, trying to smile through this misadventure.

When he reached the van, he helped the camper in through the back door, then handed him his duffle.

Trent stood beside him, silent and totally drenched.

“How they doing back at camp?” Colin asked as Trent closed the door.

Trent walked past him and climbed into the van. “Oh, you know: A little wet. A little miserable. I think Josh is just one disaster away from running off to join the circus.” He slammed the van door and drove off, leaving Colin standing, soaked to the skin and snickering, in the pouring rain.