was here. Being pregnant, and then a mother, may also change her. Hopefully, we can find some common ground to build a sister relationship on,” Jayden answered. “Here we are. Y’all got any last words of advice for me about this camping business?”
“Endure until the end, and then we’ll all go home,” Novalene said.
“Except for you,” Diana said. “You are home.”
“Yep, I am.” Jayden nodded.
Elijah kept one eye on the path from the camp to the campsite, and his ears open to hear the first sounds of the old work truck rumbling his way. He was more excited to see the last day of a session than he’d ever been before, and that was all because Jayden had said she would be there. He would have time alone with her to explore all these new feelings he had.
“Please, God,” he muttered, “let my bad luck streak be over.”
“Hey, girls, we need sticks to build a fire,” he yelled. “Tiffany, Bailey, Quinley, and Carmella go that way”—he pointed and then swung his finger around—“and the rest of you head out that way. We’ll build a fire when you get back.”
As they all headed off, he heard this distant rumble of a vehicle. He stood up and waited until Jayden parked; then he jogged over to the truck. Just seeing her throw her long legs out of the door set his pulse to racing. Tomorrow evening, he would finally have her all to himself, and he was downright antsy with anticipation.
“I was about to send up smoke signals.” He dropped the tailgate down and hoisted a cooler full of steaks up on his shoulder.
“Skyler called me.” Jayden slid another cooler toward the end of the truck bed and followed him over with it to the other side of the firepit. “I’ll tell you about it later.”
“Good or bad?” He hoped that woman hadn’t upset Jayden.
“All is good,” she told him.
“That’s great.” He stopped long enough to give her a chaste kiss on the cheek.
“PDA.” Novalene pointed at them.
“Yep, and after y’all all get gone, there’s going to be more of it.” He grinned.
Diana brought over a paper bag filled with food. “I’m very happy for both of you.”
“Thank you,” Jayden said. “It’s crazy how eight weeks have turned so many lives around.”
“That’s the gospel truth,” Diana agreed. “I can’t wait to get home and get on my new job. I’m so excited about it. If it hadn’t been for all y’all and the long talks we’ve had, I would have never decided to do this.”
“Wish you the best of luck, but I wouldn’t mind it a bit if you sent along some suggestions for ladies to take your place for the summer session next year,” Elijah told her.
“I’m already putting out feelers.” Novalene set down a plastic bag of bananas. “A couple of my friends are retiring at the end of the year, and they’re old dinosaurs like me who believe in discipline. They might be a good fit for this place.”
“Thank you!” Elijah said. “Here come the girls with the sticks we need to build a fire.”
“I thought that tow sack in the back of the truck was filled with firewood,” Novalene said.
“It is,” Elijah replied, “but they need to feel like they helped. Get ready to taste the best campfire beans in the whole world.”
Diana pointed to a huge can of pinto beans sitting on top of one of the coolers. “You can fool all those hungry girls that walked three miles to get out here, but I see where they’re coming from.”
“But you don’t know my extra ingredients,” Elijah told her. “A little salsa, some barbecue sauce, and a touch of brown sugar and bacon. They’ll be good with cowboy steak and potatoes rolled up in foil and tossed around the fire. It don’t get no better than this.” He slid a sly wink over toward Jayden. “Either food or company or girlfriend-wise.”
“Is that right? What about when we get home tomorrow?” Jayden whispered just for his ears.
“That, darlin’, is something altogether different than food,” he murmured.
“What’s different than food?” Tiffany asked as she dropped an armload of sticks into the firepit. “All right if I have one of those bananas? After that walk, I’m starving. Hey, Jayden, we picked wildflowers along the way and put them on Dynamite’s grave. They’ll be wilted in the morning, but we plan to put fresh ones on when we walk back. When we come at Christmas, we’re going to bring some artificial