Page 7 of Daddy’s Little Camping Trip (Found by Daddy #14)

Quill

As bad as I thought sleeping in the tent would be, it was four million times worse. Every single twig that snapped and leaf that fell and footsteps that walked by… I was sure it was a tiger or something that couldn’t even possibly live here, but my imagination ran wild.

I hadn’t been as smart as my tentmate who brought a lantern, so all I had to light the way was my cell phone, and even that was starting to die.

So I lay in the dark, listening to my roommate’s soft snoring, knowing he was in some blissful dreamland while we were about to get murdered by raccoons or clawed to death by bears or electrocuted by lightning or something even more awful.

To add to all my hyper imagination was the fact that the ground was not comfortable, and this sleeping bag was meant for a sleepover on a nice cushy carpet or maybe a cot, not the solid earth.

And there was a fly. I thought they slept at night.

Apparently, they didn’t. Every time I thought I could get a little peace and quiet, they’d buzz past my ear.

My tentmate did get up and head to the bathroom several times, leaving the tent open to add biting mosquitos to the fun.

An expert camper should have known better.

Morning could not come quick enough for me. And sure, part of that was because I was excited…excited that I would see G again. We were going to have breakfast together.

I did finally doze off, only to wake up as something scurried across my hand. Or maybe it was my imagination. But, in any case, I sat up and screamed in panic.

I was so grateful my roommate was already up and out because the last thing I wanted to do was wake them up too.

Time to get cleaned up for the day. I dug out my toiletries and headed to the only sanctuary of this place—the bathroom, with the running water and, in theory, showers.

But I’d checked them out, and they were worse than the high school gym locker room showers back when I was a teen.

I wasn’t overly comfortable with using them.

Maybe once I got to know people and was sure the bathrooms remained an animal-free zone, I’d feel a little more comfortable, but my shower was going to have to wait.

I brushed my teeth, washed my face, and looked in the mirror at my new luggage—bags under my eyes. I wished that I had brought some concealer or a magic spell to make my dark circles go away, but I was looking as good as I was going to.

When I got back to the tent, Winter was there. Happy, happy, happy. Whistling away. And apparently unaffected by all the mosquitos who had snacked on me all night.

“Do something fun this morning?” I asked.

He looked at me, smile bright. “I did. I walked out a way and listened.”

We were very much not the same.

“Oh, that sounds so peaceful.” I was trying to be supportive and hoped I didn’t come across as insincere because no part of listening to nature when you were trapped in it sounded like fun to me.

“You heading to breakfast?” I dropped my toiletry bag into my suitcase and zipped it up.

“I’ll be down in a bit. I think I want to journal a little about what I heard this morning.”

I went on my way and smelled breakfast before I reached it. Bacon. I already knew I loved breakfast. Didn’t matter what else they had, I loved it to pieces.

Looked around, found G, and walked over to sit with him and his friends.

I sort of knew Hudson from the playroom, and his daddy, Bridger, who I hadn’t met, was familiar to me, which wasn’t surprising.

It was a small world like that. We chatted as we ate our bacon and biscuits and scrambled eggs.

It was actually the perfect meal for the morning.

At first, I had been sad that we had company, but I really liked Bridger and Hudson and was glad they joined us. That didn’t mean I didn’t want some alone time with G. Of course I did, but this was fun too.

After breakfast, we met around the campfire, which was currently extinguished, to get our next activity.

“Today’s first activity is done in partners,” Ms. Lily said. “You can be two littles. You can be a daddy and a little. Two daddies. If you feel more comfortable in threes, that’s fine, too. Everybody should come get a clipboard, and it’s self-explanatory.”

I looked at G.

“Would you like to play with me?” he asked.

Oh my gods, would I?

But instead, I let out a very quiet, “Yes, please.”

Went up and got the clipboard, and sat down.

“Looks like it’s just a scavenger hunt,” he said.

I read through the list. Most of it I could find just from the little exploration I had done the day before. But then, as I reached the second half, I realized…it was game on.

“Is there a prize?” Because I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t motivated by winning, at least for activities where I was part of a big group.

“Yes. For first, second, and third,” he confirmed, scanning down the sheet on the clipboard.

“Then we’d better go.” I grabbed his hand and started leading him toward the first clue. It was a little golden star above a purple moon someone had tacked to a tree. It looked like it had been there for eons, not just there for the game.

We went there, wrote down exactly where it was, and then moved on to the next clue, and the next, and so on.

I didn’t think I could have that much fun outdoors.

But trying to find things, especially the small little architectural elements, was fun.

I spotted a particular doorknob, and one oddly colored shingle on a roof.

They really wanted us observant, or to work as a team, or just to spend a lot of time together.

It didn’t matter which. I was having fun.

“What’s the last one, G?”

“It says calla . Do you know what that means?”

“There’s a lily named calla. Maybe we just need to go back to Ms. Lily.”

We ran so fast, but there was a couple in front of us.

“We lost,” I said and leaned in to his side.

“We don’t know that.”

“I’m sorry. Number four is wrong.” She handed them back their clipboard.

We still had a chance.

“Okay.” They went on their way, and we stepped up to her.

“Do you think you have all of them?”

“We did a good job, Ms. Lily,” I said.

She took the clipboard and looked it over, ticking them off one at a time.

“You’re the grand prize winners!” The grand prize being a patch that said the game and grand prize. It was cute enough. But I found that out later. In the moment, everything was about the victory.

I squealed, squeezed, and hugged G, not even thinking it through. Before I could pull back after realizing my mistake, his arms came around me too—tight.

But then it was time for the next activity, and I sat with Winter and Hudson, and we made a craft.

It was kind of cool, even if G didn’t participate.

He left to “take care of something.” He did promise to be back soon, at least, so I didn’t worry that he didn’t want to hang out.

The crafts were made with sticks and no glitter because ears.

We used twine and paint and lots of glue. And it was fun.

I laughed, enjoyed getting to know Hudson and Winter better. But my mind was always wandering back to G, and wishing that I’d been able to spend this time with him too.

I was in too deep, and I’d only met the guy.

What was it about this daddy?