Chapter 12
Kellan
I don’t know if it was him seeing me check my anger or something else, but Felix managed to not be an asshole at the end of the day.
What I hadn’t expected was that one word. The kicker was it hadn’t been the first time he said it without noticing.
When it registered that he’d called me honey, I’d been immediately sent back to our second—our last—morning in his big, comfy bed. I’d woken up first, and I’d stretched, feeling all the delicious aches in my body, and then I’d turned to look at the man responsible for putting them there.
Unable to help the urge, I’d run my fingers through his blond locks as I admired him. I’d felt safe and settled, which had never before happened to me with a one-night stand. Technically, he was a two-night stand at that moment, but semantics.
Then he blinked his big blue eyes open and looked at me, all sleep mussed and perfect, and uttered the words “G’mornin’, honey; what time is it?” I’d…. I don’t know.
So, when he touched my arm in the Inn’s parking lot and shook me out of my flashback, I was lost in him again. I knew I was hopelessly in whatever this was with this man, and I just needed to get him to see that we could still be so fucking good together.
I watched him drive off with a little wave, and frankly that wave was the reason why I told myself I could pursue him. I would never, ever do anything against anyone’s wishes. Consent was a key, but I’d also heard the stories of Teague wooing Charlie and how Law and Oak came to be, and… maybe I was hopeful.
T he next morning, we had the speaker from the reservation coming in. It was supposed to be a chill experience, and we would then chat about everything we’d learn from her while we prepared for camping in the cabins and all the activities around the area.
Then we’d come back to the Inn for dinner, and finish the evening with—probably chaotic—s'mores by the fire pit.
From lunch forward, we had more parents joining us. That way one could stay in each cabin with the kids, and we had a couple of spare ones helping with the cleanup.
Law, Nic, and Teague—with the help of some plumbers and such—had renovated all the cabins and even the old shower building. That meant there were actual bathrooms and showers nearby. There would be a mess after the smores, but we hoped nobody would need a shower, at least.
The kids were that dangerous combination of super excited about the s’mores and camping but also tired from the week. That could lead to trouble, which meant every adult was on high alert until tomorrow morning.
After I’d confirmed that Felix was good, I’d made a little detour on my way to the Inn. I still got there before Felix, so I went to make sure everything was in order inside as the kids started to trickle in.
The guest speaker, Rachel Atawakhon, was a lovely thirty-something woman whose passion was stewardship. I was pretty sure that with what we’d learned during the week, including our local ecosystem lessons, visiting the wildlife rehab center, our hikes, and yesterday’s visit to Mulligan’s Firewood where Sean had talked a lot about trees and conservation, the kids would have many a question for her by the end of the talk.
I greeted everyone who had arrived, then eventually heard Tristan yell goodbye to Oak and Felix. Well, if there was ever a cue, that was mine. I went into the kitchen to pick up the travel mug of coffee Dana had prepared for Felix. I grabbed the pastry box I’d stashed on the little table right inside the door.
“Thank you,” I said as I started to back out of the kitchen.
“Good luck!”
Smiling, I went to see where I could find Felix.
He was at his desk behind the counter, looking at me with that annoyingly conflicted way of his.
“Good morning!” I said brightly, then gestured toward the office door. “Mind opening that for me?”
He frowned slightly, then moved to do so. I registered that he had his cane today, which meant he must’ve been feeling better. That was excellent news.
I stepped into the office and put the mug and the pastry box on the desk where he sat the most. Then I turned around to go.
“I hope you have a nice day, Felix,” I said, making my tone as genuine as I could.
When he just stood there, looking from my offerings to me and back, I almost snickered. But I didn’t.
“What’s this, Kellan?” he asked, gesturing at the items.
“Oh, that. Well, I have it on good authority you have coffee here every morning, and I’ve also heard that cupcakes are magic. So… consider yourself magicked.” With that, I stepped out and went back to the dining room.
My heart was beating a bit fast, but at least I’d managed to get out of there before Felix told me off or got too grumpy.
I had a couple of moments to calm down as Josie and I organized the kids to sit on the floor, and our speaker arrived just as we were done with them.
“Good morning,” I told her brightly. “You must be Rachel Atawakhon. I’m Kellan Huntley. Thank you so much for coming to chat with us today!”
A fter the lesson, we had lunch. Rachel gladly joined us at Dana’s insistence, and we chatted a bit more about her tribe, since she’d only scratched the surface with the kids.
Eventually, once everyone was fed in two shifts, Josie and I gathered the campers and took them outside. The excitement was ramping up, and we played some games at one side of the parking lot while we waited for the extra parents to arrive.
Then, we divvied up all the camping gear—mostly sleeping bags and their change of clothes and such—making sure everyone had theirs, and then we frog marched the kids up the hill and to the cabins.
Four kids weren’t attending the sleepover, but they’d be there for the s'mores and other fun things. That meant we had twenty- seven kids to divide into groups. Since there were eight cabins total, we had groups of between three and five kids. Josie and I had really thought it through over the week and went with friend groups or kids that otherwise got along well.
Tristan wasn’t going to attend, but I had Marlie, Juni, and a girl called Libby that was quiet in a way that complemented the others in my group in Oak’s old cabin. Because Marlie would only stay if Ranger could come, we’d asked Juni and Libby’s parents, and they’d been fine with the well-behaved dog joining us.
I had no idea how Nic and Dana were going to keep theirs from guarding us all night. I was pretty sure they wouldn’t even try to keep them at the Inn, if I was honest. Cricket and Steve adored the kids, and they’d been a great herding asset all week during our outdoor activities.
We got everyone set up with their groups, adults, and cabins, and then we gave the groups a few options on activities.
They could either play some games on the patch of lawn next to the now fenced-in pond, just chill and read or chat quietly, or go for a mini hike. It was all very low key to wind down our week.
My group, unsurprisingly, wanted to stay on the back porch of the cabin where they would have a view of some of the other kids playing on the grass. We’d agreed that Oak would bring Ranger over after dinner, but Steve wandered over and plopped down on the side of the porch where it was shady.
The girls all had books, and they were happily concentrating on them. I sat on the edge of the porch and watched the others play.
I dug out my phone and sent a message to Bree, asking if she’d be available for a wine date tomorrow. Luckily she was and said that she’d be over at five with wine if I made her pizza.
I needed to decompress from the week and talk to someone about Felix. Someone who didn’t know him. I knew Oak would’ve jumped at the chance to chat with me about him, but there was a conflict of interest there. Oak would want the same thing I did; for Felix to be happy. I needed to speak with someone who didn’t have a clue about Felix beyond the surface level stuff I might’ve already told them.
W e took the kids down to dinner in two groups again, and I went with mine first. That meant I had a chance to catch a glimpse of Felix before he left.
The parents ushered the kids into the dining room, and I lingered behind.
“So,” I started awkwardly, leaning to the open doorway of the office.
He looked up from whatever he was doing. “What?”
“Did the magic work?”
“What do you mean?”
I wanted to roll my eyes, but didn’t. “I know it wasn’t your favorite, but I couldn’t get you a Gargoyle’s Wing on such short notice. I’ll try again some other day soon.”
It seemed to hit him then. He went through a whole journey with his facial expressions, and it would’ve made me laugh if he hadn’t sighed at the end.
“Look, Kellan, I know what Teague did with Charlie, but that’s not going to work with me. I don’t…,” he trailed off, looking away from me as his brows pinched together.
When he didn’t continue, I shrugged. “Okay, I’ll figure out something else, then!”
“Kellan?” Juni’s mom called from the dining room doorway.
“Yeah, be right there.” I rapped my knuckles against the doorframe and left before Felix had time to shoot me down again.
As I ate the frankly delicious mac and cheese with all sorts of kid friendly sides, I wondered what my “something else” could be.
T hat thought carried me until the next day when Bree, stuffed with my homemade pizza, slumped onto my couch and groaned.
“Good thing I put on leggings.”
I chuckled and poured us both a glass of wine. “Here you go.”
“Thank you.” She sounded so dramatic, it made me chuckle. “How was the camp?”
“It was really good. The parents I talked with this morning were all very pleased. The kids had fun and learned things. The Inn and the cabins still stand. Nobody got seriously hurt and everyone is still alive. Hooray!”
She snorted and sipped her wine. “I think that’s the best case scenario, right?”
“Pretty much.” I made myself even more comfortable, stretching my legs out. “How’s everything with the Hunk?”
“You do know my husband has a name, right?” she asked, smiling slightly.
“I know, but why use it when he’s so… hunky .”
“We’re… okay. I don’t know. He’s doing his best, I’m doing my best, we’re trying to make it work. I hate the thought of ending up in a marriage where we cling onto something just because we want to see the kids off to college, but….”
But that was where they were heading.
I sighed. “That’s… shitty. For everyone.”
“Yeah.” She took a gulp from her glass, then looked at me. “So, how were things with Felix this week?”
I smiled, but the expression melted away pretty quickly.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, immediately honing in on my emotions.
“I need to figure out another way to woo him,” I blurted out my main issue. Well, current issue.
“Okay…? What did you try already?”
“Cupcake. Not his favorite though,” I added the last bit quickly, then frowned. “But he said it wasn’t going to work like it did for Teague and Charlie.”
Bree hummed. Something in the sound made me look at her.
“What?”
She scrunched her nose in the way that told me she was trying to pick her words carefully. After taking yet another sip, she looked me square in the eye and asked, “At what point will you consider that he doesn’t want to be wooed? That maybe he doesn’t feel the same?”
I blinked at her. I knew she was brutally honest and that was one of her better qualities, but it also hurt to hear those questions.
It made sense, of course. It did. Because it had all been in the back of my mind, too. The grouchiness, the meanness as he tried to drive me off. I had thought that maybe it was just who he was now, but then I knew for a fact that he was still friends with other people.
“I’m not saying it’s you,” Bree hastened to add. “It might be that he’s not ready for anyone at all.” Then she grimaced. “But it could be you, too. Like… maybe you remind him of the past too much?”
And that was something I hadn’t thought of before, and it made horrible sense for a moment. Then I shook my head.
“I don’t think so. I don’t know what his hangup is, exactly, though. We were magic together, Bree. We had plans to get together again. I know what it looks like when a guy just changes his mind and this isn’t it, not even with the whole past hanging over him thing.” I gestured with my free hand and drank some more wine.
“Okay, so let’s say you’re continue wooing him,” she said, shifting gears. “What else might he like?”
I opened my mouth, but then closed it. “That’s it!” I looked at her as if she’d just solved a puzzle. “I don’t know. Because he isn’t the same person he was five years ago and frankly neither am I. But the problem is that I don’t know enough about what he might like now to figure it out.”
Bree reached to grab the bottle to refill our glasses. “Well, there’s your starting point. You figure out what he’s like now.”
I nodded eagerly, then frowned. “But how do I do that?”
Her smile turned sneaky. “You ask him to hang out with you. As friends.”
I was hungover as hell the next morning, but I didn’t care. I knew for a fact that Regan had made certain cupcakes for the Sunday crowd, and I made my way to the bakery to pick up one. I also got some of their amazing soft pretzels I’d gotten addicted to, and some eclairs because apparently those were Felix’s other favorite and I liked them too.
With the pastry boxes in tow, I drove across town to Felix’s house. I wondered if he’d truly changed enough to not like people at all and needing the peace and quiet after all he’d been through, or if the location of his house was somehow a reflection of the barriers he’d clearly put around himself.
Self-preservation was a helluva drug. I should know that. Mine would kick in pretty soon if Felix wouldn’t give me any rope. I could only humiliate myself to a point before it became too much, after all.
I parked my car next to Felix’s and got out. He was sitting on his front porch and frowned at me and the pastry boxes.
“I thought I told you that wouldn’t work on me,” he grumped.
“Aren’t you thinking highly of yourself,” I snarked back. “These are mostly for me, but I happened to be in the neighborhood”—a total lie, this wasn’t a neighborhood as much as it was the edge of town where nobody went without purpose—“and thought that my good friend Felix had a nice coffee maker and I just happened to have all these pastries.” I walked up to him and smiled. “See, I was being altruistic. But mostly I just wanted good coffee, pastries, and some friendly company.”
He tried to hold back from smiling, but I could see it in his eyes. He was smizing. Tyra Banks would’ve been proud.