to the bathroom to get ready for bed and ten minutes later, after checking the perimeter again, I crawl into my tent. Crickets chirp and animals scurry in the forest as I close my eyes to rest them. It’s strange how coming back here isn’t quite so hard anymore. Haven and I have been making good memories, happy ones, and tonight, neither of us are going to forget it in a hurry.
Minutes tick by and sleep pulls at me, but I’m reluctant to let it take me over. I take a deep breath, and when I hear rustling that sounds like footsteps, my senses go on high alert. I unzip my tent and spot a figure moving toward me. I’m about to take whoever it is to the ground, and ask questions later, until I realize it’s Haven.
“Hey,” she says, her voice a low, sleepy murmur.
“Are you okay?” I ask, and glance around the woods. Has something spooked her? Other than crickets chirping, my ears meet with silence.
“I couldn’t sleep.” Her warm scent reaches my nostrils as she comes closer, and I breathe her in. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“You didn’t. Get in here.” I open the tent and she crawls in. “What are you doing wandering around?”
“I wasn’t. I wanted to crawl in here and sleep with you. I wasn’t going to wake you.”
I open my sleeping bag, liking that she wants to be close to me. “Crawl in,” I say. She does and I move in beside her, thankful that I have an oversized bag that easily sleeps two.
“I’ll sneak out before the kids wake up,” she says, her voice a soft whisper.
She turns to her side, and I drag her to me. She gives a contented sigh, and her hair tickles my nose as she drifts off. I doze beside her, the warmth of her body pulling me under. The next thing I know, birds are chirping in the distance, and I open one eye, and then another. A smile touches the corners of my mouth as I take in the sleeping woman beside me. Neither one of us moved in our sleep.
I inch back, and she moans. Since I don’t have the heart to wake her, I unzip the tent and leave her to sleep. I’ll let the kids know she decided she wanted the tent and I hung out inside with Carter and Jared.
Inside, I find the guys stirring, and I head straight to the coffee maker. “What the hell are you guys doing up so early?”
“Busy day,” they both say, and I stare at them. “You both have two hours before you have to check in on the set.”
“I’ve taken up jogging,” Carter says with a grin. I look him over. The guy is in great shape, and clearly lying through his teeth.
“Yeah, same,” Jared says and sticks out his gut, which is nothing but rows and rows of muscles.
“Fine, don’t tell me then.” Come to think of it, even before Haven arrived, the guys have been getting up early and leaving the old homestead. There are no secrets between us, so maybe they really have taken up jogging. “I suppose you’re not going to tell me what you three were talking so quietly about last night either.”
“If you have to know, we were telling Haven that you’re a boring old man, and she’d be better off with one of us.”
They both snicker as I pour them each a cup. I hand them over and as they swill the coffee, I brush off last night, chalking up their conversation to nothing other than the guys getting to know her. She is, after all a movie star, and they were probably just interested in meeting some of her friends—not that she really has any. She said so herself.
“Thanks for coming last night,” I say.
“When I’m out on my run this morning,” Carter says. “I’ll keep my eye out for that kid.”
“I appreciate that,” I say. “Would you guys be back from your jog around eight, to take Haven to the set? I need to stay back and see to it that the kids get home okay.”
“Yeah, no problem.” He sets his mug on the table with a clunk. “I get that Haven is in some kind of trouble,” Jared says. “I don’t need to know what it is, but we’ve got her back.”
I nod, gratitude filling my soul. Honestly, it’s good to be back, good to be around my family. I can’t even imagine