Chapter Eleven
Rob wasn’t surprised when Hannah returned to her camper after sampling some of the desserts. Well, she sampled most of the desserts. The blond brownies, though? She devoured two of those before declaring she wasn’t going to eat again for at least two days.
He wasn’t sure why it made him so happy that she’d enjoyed one of his grandmother’s signature baked goods, but he couldn’t deny it pleased him when she’d asked Gram for the recipe.
Of course, she’d offered to text it to Hannah, and there was a moment of awkwardness when he realized Gram texting Hannah would give all the women in his family access to her number.
He’d panicked and tried to intervene, promising to get the recipe later and pass it on.
They overruled him, of course, and the message was sent.
Once Hannah had thanked them both again and headed back to her camper, his grandmother shook her head.
“You’re gone for that girl.”
“Do not give her number to Mom,” he said, not bothering to deny her words. “Please, Gram? Don’t even tell her you have it. Actually, if you give me your phone, I can delete it so you won’t even be tempted.”
“Don’t you worry about my phone,” she said, giving him a look that let him know she might not have her wooden spoon with her, but if he tried to take her phone, she’d grab one of the plastic serving spoons and give his knuckles a good whack.
“Sorry. It’s just that Mom’s got ideas in her head, but when we bought this place, we made a pact not to have ideas where the campers are involved, so it’s a bit of a mess and I don’t want Mom to...help.”
“If there’s one thing I know about Kowalski men, it’s that you can all use a little help when it comes to figuring out relationships.”
“Oh no,” he said, and then realized he probably shouldn’t have said that out loud. “Hey, Joey got you a great-granddaughter.”
“Yeah, with some help.”
“And Danny, Brian and I are just focused on the campground right now.”
“Mmm-hmm.” She looked as if she had more to say, but Danny walked up behind her at that moment and wrapped his arms around her shoulders.
“Delicious desserts as always, Gram,” he said, and then he dipped his head to kiss her cheek.
“Thank you.” She sighed. “I should start rounding people up. It’s been a long day and we’ve got a long drive back, but from the time I say it’s time to go to the time we actually leave is at least an hour.”
“You need an air horn,” Rob said.
She laughed. “Don’t think I haven’t considered it.”
Once she’d gone to start nudging people, Danny looked around. “I’ll stay and give you guys a hand putting all those picnic tables back, and whatever else you need.”
“Appreciate it.” He looked around, thankful his family was starting to deal with the leftover food. There was a solid several hours of stuff to take care of before he could relax for the night. “Oh, what now?”
Steph was coming their way, and she looked annoyed. “It’s impossible to catch all four of you together, you know.”
“You’ve got the best two here anyway,” Danny told Steph, and she rolled her eyes. “But why do you want all four of us together?”
“Because I want to talk to you guys about Kyle and me getting married here, even though he had to work today so it’s only me doing the talking.”
Married? Rob knew they’d been engaged for months—there had been a family party to celebrate it, of course—but considering how much time she spent on Instagram and Pinterest, he’d assumed Steph would be going all out for her wedding.
If somebody had suggested she get married at the campground, he would have laughed and he would have bet she would have laughed, too.
“Why would you want to get married here?” Danny asked. “I get that we had a lot of fun here growing up, but you want it for your wedding?”
Steph blew out a breath. “You don’t remember Kyle, do you?”
“Yes, I remember Kyle. He’s the guy you’ve been dating for almost two years and you’ve brought him to all the family stuff, and—oh yeah, we went to a football game together.”
“No, smart-ass. I mean from when we were kids—or teenagers, actually. Kyle and I met here one summer. He was my first kiss.”
Rob’s mind was blown. “What? You had your first kiss during a Family Camping Trip of Doom?”
“Yeah.”
“First Kiss of D—”
“Stop it.” Steph held up her hand. “And don’t even think about saying Wedding of Doom.”
Rob was surprised the fact they’d crossed paths with Kyle at the campground in the past hadn’t come up before, but maybe it had—just not when he was around.
Though Danny didn’t seem to know it, either.
Also, he didn’t think they’d seen Kyle since Christmas, which was before they’d decided to buy the place.
Once they had, they’d barely had time to sleep, never mind reminisce with the family.
“Brian told me you’ve already got a week blocked off for the family in August, so it won’t be a big deal,” Steph continued, as if it was settled. “We’ll just get married then.”
“We know you, so we know ‘it won’t be a big deal’ is a big lie,” Danny said. “It’s going to cost you.”
“You can’t charge me extra for getting married here when we’ll all already be here.”
“It’s called event hosting and people charge a lot of money for that.”
“I’m your cousin.”
“We’ll give you a family discount,” Rob said, and Danny snorted, no doubt because Rob had implied he’d have to pay to stay in the small cabin.
“I’m serious,” Steph said. “He only has his brother and sister-in-law, and his grandfather, so we’d probably rent them a big RV and they’d only need one site.”
“You really want your wedding to be here?” Danny asked.
“We really do. We’ve talked about it a lot since you told us you were buying the campground and we think being here with our families and having a few chill days with people we love in a place we love and where we met is what we both want.”
“Then we’ll make it happen,” Rob said, and tears filled her eyes. “Though I want to go on record right now about that word chill. I might have a small sign that says it so every time you try to go bridezilla on us, I can hold it up.”
“I’ll even make you the sign.”
“And maybe two separate group chats? One for wedding planning that doesn’t include us, and one that does but only has details relevant to us.
” Rob really wanted to get started on that cleanup because there were still campers milling around, helping put stuff away.
They absolutely weren’t the ones supposed to be doing the work.
“I have to get back to it. I do have to talk to other people besides family, you know.”
“That’s funny considering you spent more time talking to Hannah than anybody else.”
“She’s a person who’s not family, which was the point of the cookout—to get to know the campers.”
“I only talked to her for a few minutes, but I feel like I know her from somewhere and I can’t place it.” Steph tilted her head, thinking. “Do you know where she’s from?”
“She’s from California,” he said. He didn’t really know what else to tell her. “She went to UNH, but you were probably finishing up at U Maine while she was there.”
“Huh.” She shrugged. “Just one of those things, I guess. But she seems wicked familiar. It’s totally going to bug me until it comes to me, probably at two o’clock in the morning.”
“Don’t call me if that happens.”
“I totally will,” Steph said, and then she held up a hand. “Wait. I wanted to ask you how we can make a solid aisle so I can wear heels with my dress without the heel getting stuck in the grass and pulling my shoe off in the middle of my grand entrance.”
Danny groaned, and Rob scrubbed his hand over his face. “There are going to be at least a hundred text messages about this, aren’t there?”
Steph grinned. “At least.”
Even though she was so full she could barely move, Hannah walked up to the top of the campground, where the overflow parking was.
It was mostly for parking trailers or guests’ vehicles, but she’d discovered that the upper part of the lot had great cell reception.
It also had a few fallen trees that made for reasonably comfortable seats, so she was able to video chat without being down in the busy part of the campground.
At some point she’d reply to the missed calls from Erika, or at least shoot her a text message, but right now she wanted to talk to her parents. It was probably seeing Rob interacting with his family, but suddenly she was very aware of the distance between herself and home.
Her mother answered on the second ring, her warm smile filling Hannah’s screen. “Hannah! How was the barbecue? Did the fruit salad turn out okay?”
“Everybody loved it,” she said, blinking twice to clear away the moisture that filled her eyes when she heard her mom’s voice. “And I got a recipe from Rob’s grandmother I can’t wait to try. Blond brownies, but unlike any blond brownie you’ve ever tried before.”
“You’ll have to make them for us when you get home.
Your father went to help his friend John hang some drywall, and then next weekend, John’s going to come over and help your dad fix that leaky spot on the garage roof.
You know how they love their beer and power tools but, assuming he comes home instead of to the emergency room, I’ll tell him about them. ”
Hannah laughed, and it eased the ache of missing them. “He does love his power tools. I’m sorry I missed him, though.”
“So tell me about the people you met today. Did you make some friends?”
It was such an elementary school question to ask, but it opened the door and that was how Hannah spent the next twenty minutes telling her mother about Rob Kowalski.
“He sounds wonderful, honey,” her mom said, but Hannah could hear an undercurrent of concern. “But you don’t really know him. Did you tell him who you are? Does he listen to the podcast?”
“I haven’t told him about the podcast, and I doubt he listens to it.”
“But you don’t know.”
They’d all reacted differently when Improbable Causes went viral.
Her dad and Jenn were proud and happy, though they didn’t totally understand the podcasting business model.
Erika had focused on the potential dollar signs.
Hannah’s guilt over causing the victim’s loved ones fresh pain had colored everything.
And her mom had run on pure anxiety. As the harassment increased, so had her fear for Hannah, and the decision to travel to New Hampshire for three months alone hadn’t helped.
But it was what Hannah needed—time away from how everybody else had felt so she could focus on her own feelings. She wanted to be away from the pressure of what more money could mean for the people in her life and the chaos of heightened emotions. She needed to figure out what she wanted.
“He’s not allowed to have personal relationships with the campers anyway, Mom,” she said, hoping to put her mother’s mind at ease. “I don’t want to get him in trouble with his brothers.”
“That’s for the best, since you live here.”
“I know.” Of course she had to go back to California. She had their truck and camper, for one thing. Her family was there. Erika was there. Her apartment and their office were there.
“Have you talked to Erika lately?” her mom asked in an overly bright voice. Clearly she also wanted to change the subject away from Rob, which was perfectly fine with Hannah.
“I’ve talked to her a couple of times, but nothing in depth. I haven’t decided what I want to do yet, which frustrates her.”
“Understandably. What you do affects her.”
“I know. But I also know if I get pushed into doing something I’m not comfortable with for her sake, it’ll come between us—both professionally and personally. I want to be sure before I make a decision.”
“That’s one of the reasons you’re such a good team. Erika would just dive off a cliff, but she has you to check the depth of the water first.”
Hannah laughed because that was a pretty good description of their relationship. “But sometimes, after I’ve checked the depth of the water and know it’s safe, I still need Erika to give me a shove off the edge.”
“You’ll know when the right answer comes to you. You’ll feel it.”
The certainty in her mom’s voice comforted Hannah because she was right. Hannah liked to think things through, but she put a lot of stock in her intuition and when the right course presented itself to her, she’d know.
“Thanks, Mom.” She shifted on the log because fallen trees weren’t actually that comfortable to sit on for very long. “I should go. I ate so much I’m going to fall asleep on the phone, and this log is probably a worse bed than it is a chair.”
Her mom laughed and blew her a kiss. Once they’d disconnected, Hannah stood with a groan and slid her phone back into her pocket. Next time she came up here for a chat, she’d bring a pillow with her. Or just drag her camp chair up the hill.
She’d just arrived back at her site when she heard a vehicle accelerating up the main road and a horn beeping, followed by another. It sounded like Rob’s family were starting to head out, and she smiled as she imagined him flopping face-first on his bed, utterly exhausted.
Imagining Rob on his bed wasn’t going to lead her to anything but more sexual frustration, so she went inside and grabbed her book. After settling into her nest, she tried to convince her brain the story was more interesting than imagining things she really shouldn’t allow herself to think about.
But the book wasn’t that good.