Chapter 10 #2
I raised a hand to shade my eyes as I scanned the scene. The lake was surrounded by maple and willow trees, my favorite kinds. I could just barely see a couple of lonely docks on the far side.
“This is beautiful,” I said to no one in particular.
Jeff merely nodded next to me. It’s a good thing we weren’t working, as he’d probably accuse me of being distracted by the scenery.
“Yeah, it’s pretty,” Lila said nonchalantly from a few feet behind us. We turned to see her sitting at a picnic table and smiling up at us. “Come on! I need the bags, Daddy.”
“Are you hungry?” he asked.
“Starving. This place is perfect !”
“For what?” he asked, setting their two packs on the bench next to his daughter .
She rolled her eyes. “Duh, for a picnic. And other things.”
He simply lifted his eyebrow but didn’t respond, instead pulling his water bottle out of his waist pack.
“I didn’t even know you could buy, like, harnesses for your water bottles,” I said. “Are you two hardcore hikers?”
Lila’s laughter sounded louder than usual against the peaceful calm surrounding us. “Um, no. Dad usually wears that thing when he runs.”
“Oh, cool,” I said as I sat at the table across from Lila and retrieved my own snacks from my bag. I was about to bite down on a carrot stick when Lila gasped.
“Roxy! You didn’t seriously bring healthy snacks, did you?”
Tilting my head slightly, I looked between the two of them and spoke slowly, “I … yes. I like carrots. Is something wrong?”
“Ignore her,” Jeff said as he rounded the table toward me. I frowned at him and moved over to make more space for him.
“Dad—”
“You packed nothing but sweets, Lila,” he said flatly. “And several cans of pop that are now warm.” His face remained neutral as she scowled at him.
I tried to hold back a laugh. “You guys are too cute.”
She looked at me, her scowl transforming into a suspicious look.
“I like sweets too,” I said, and then she finally smiled at me again before ripping open her bag of chocolates.
She paused mid-ripping. “Wait! We have to set up first!”
Jeff and I looked at her, and he spoke first. “Set up what?”
“Let’s set up the tiki torches over there, and I’ll get the picnic tablecloth and other stuff from the bag.”
I turned slowly to look at Jeff. We shared a look that silently spoke something along the lines of Can you believe this kid?
And it was … peculiar. Since when did I ever share a wordless exchange with Jeff that wasn’t a glare or a scoff? Never. I didn’t even know he possessed other facial expressions.
When I tore my eyes away, he rose and turned to Lila. “ Fine, I’ll set them up. Does it have to be right next to that maple?”
“It’s not that close. Not nearly close enough to start a fire,” I pointed out, trying to be helpful.
He grimaced. “Well, at least there was a reason I hauled four tiki torches on this hike. At least they’re short.”
“You’re the best, Daddy.” She smiled with glee as she dug several things out of the large backpack. I eyed her items, which included the tablecloth, more sweets, a fancy metal genie lamp, nail polish, and several card games, including UNO.
“That’s an interesting collection,” I said as I stood up. “Should I go help your dad?”
She shook her head. “Nah, he’s fine.”
We sat quietly for a moment as we chewed on our snacks. Then, piercing through the still air was the loudest sneeze I’d ever heard.
Lila and I turned to see Jeff walking back toward us, and Lila burst into laughter. “That was the grossest thing ever, but also the funniest!”
I didn’t laugh though, as I studied his face. His nose and his eyelids were a blotchy dark pink as he tensed his jaw. His eyes looked a bit glassy.
“Do you have the sniffles?” I heard myself asking. He just stared at me, and I added, “I mean, obviously you do have the sniffles, but I’m wondering if it’s cold virus kind of sniffles or allergy sniffles.”
“Stop saying sniffles,” he said sharply. “It’s just a little allergy, not a big deal.”
“It looks like a big deal,” I said. “Your nose and eyes are red, and just a minute ago, you looked fine. Normal. Not that I was noticing or looking at you. I mean, you know …” Stop!
You’re rambling . “Anyway, I’m going to guess an allergy.
Ragweed sometimes gets me this time of year. You never know where you’ll find it.”
He sighed. “Not ragweed. Same effect though. It’s tree pollen. The maples and willows. ”
My mouth was probably hanging open for a long moment before I asked, “You have seasonal allergies?”
He nodded.
“ You ?”
“Yes, me. Why does this matter to you?” he asked with narrowed eyes.
“It—it doesn’t. It’s just …”
He was slowly becoming more like a human and not just a robot. And I didn’t like it. At all.
“You look confused, Roxy,” Lila said. When we didn’t answer her, she shrugged. “Let’s quit this boring conversation and play Skipbo or UNO!”
We turned to her, and for a moment, I thought Jeff was actually going to laugh. But as usual, he kept his emotions tightly under wraps.
And that was probably a good thing. I didn’t need to get to know him better. Today was just an outlier—it wasn’t like I’d be spending more time with him and his daughter. Next time, I’d make sure I had an excuse ready to say no.
Then it dawned on me. Why would Jeff take us here?
“Wait, Jeff, you led us here on the hike. You must have known about the place already.”
“We went here in the summer,” Lila said around a mouthful of food.
“But … you knew you were allergic to the trees in this clearing, yet you came here anyway?” I looked at his rigid posture in disbelief. “I mean, why are we even hiking in the woods at all if you’re basically allergic to the woods?”
“I took an allergy medication.”
“Which never helps,” Lila whispered loudly.
After a long moment, he said, “My daughter wanted to go hiking.”
“The answer is because he’s a great daddy,” Lila said, coming over to put a lanky arm around his waist. “I mean, at least when he lets me have sweets,” she said, bouncing away back to the table .
She convinced us to play UNO after that, and I yawned as I drew six cards.
“I pick … yellow!” Lila shouted gleefully. “I know you don’t have that color, Dad.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Oh, really? Were you looking at my cards?”
Hearing no cheeky response from Lila, I lifted my gaze. She was staring at me. “Roxy, you OK?”
I tilted my head in question. “Yes, of course. Why do you ask?”
“You were pretty fired up earlier when we made you draw cards. We got to see your competitive side,” Jeff said, his concerned face betraying his light tone.
“You didn’t even blink when I just gave you the Draw Two and Draw Four together.”
“Well, I don’t know. I guess I got used to drawing cards?” I covered my mouth to hide the yawn I knew was coming. “I’m a little tired. Just a tiny bit. Anyway, let’s play. I’ll get you back on my next turn, Lila.”
“You’ll have to reverse first!” she said with a grin.
Jeff’s expression was still serious as he studied me. “You seem more than a little tired. You’re not sick, are you?”
“No, no, I’ve just been busy, lots of late nights recently. And someone’s been making me come to the office early several days a week for meetings.” I looked at him pointedly.
He didn’t respond but merely laid a Skip card down, causing Lila to groan.
I found myself smiling, oddly finding the afternoon somewhat enjoyable despite spending it with my nemesis.
Maybe nemesis was too strong a word.
After we finished playing several more games, we decided to head back—even the eight-year-old was getting tired of eating only sweets and wanted a real meal.
On the trek back to Jeff’s car, I became clumsy with exhaustion.
After a few near-falls, he started calling out, “Watch your step,” whenever there was anything, even a thin branch, in the path in front of us.
I bristled but stayed quiet, as it was hard enough to concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other.
Once we arrived at his house, Lila leaped at my chest and put her surprisingly strong little arms around me. “Thanks for coming, Roxy! I hope we can hang out again soon.”
I just smiled at her. I liked the girl. Quite a lot, actually, but I wasn’t about to make any promises to spend more time with her and the man who couldn’t stand me. And vice versa, of course. I still didn’t like him and never would.
As Lila walked off, I heard his abrupt voice as I grabbed my bag out of the SUV. “Roxanne, get some rest this weekend.”
“Can’t. You wanted me to review those three reports by Monday,” I grumbled.
“Take a few extra days,” he said quietly.
My jaw dropped, and my eyes bounced back and forth between him and the floor of the garage. “Well, that’s … unexpectedly nice of you.”
His eyes betrayed nothing as he stared at me for a moment. Finally, his brisk tone returned as he replied, “We need to be rested to be able to perform well at work.”
I narrowed my gaze. “Not so nice then. Got it, sir.” I saluted him, knowing it was childish but unable to stop myself as I turned on my heel to head home.
He had a point. I knew it. But would it kill him to be nicer about it?
I shook my head, deciding a nap would be just the thing. As I entered my apartment, I looked around at the clutter piling up. I should tidy up tonight.
I grimaced at the pile of laundry nearly spilling out of a basket as I entered my bedroom. After a long day outdoors, the last thing I wanted to do was clean—or even think about cleaning. Would Danny be online tonight? I hoped so. Sometimes he was around on weekends, sometimes not.
But my brows furrowed as I realized something quite odd: I hadn’t thought about Danny or our project today even once, until now.