say yes?” Ella asked.
Cole paused, looking at Jess, eyebrows raised. “That’s part two of the story, Ella. We’ll have to wait and see how it works out.” He stood up and grabbed the marshmallow sticks. “Okay, who wants s’mores?”
For the next twenty minutes, Jess scrambled to open up packages and break up crackers and chocolate as the kids lined up with their goopy marshmallows and Cole did his best to reload their sticks and keep both kids and marshmallows from falling into the fire.
For the first time in hours, she was too busy to think about the letters waiting in her cabin, and she was grateful for the distraction. She couldn’t think of a better way to keep thoughts of Smugglers’ Gully at bay.
When the kids had all eaten their requisite s’mores and were out in the field playing a game of capture the flag, Cole sat back down next to her.
He bumped her shoulder softly with his. “Hey, princess.”
She smiled. “I do not have two left feet. Or hideous taste in music. Just saying.”
“Good to know.” He laughed. “Are you insinuating I was telling a story about you?”
“The princess from Bostonia? I know. It’s a stretch.”
“Pure coincidence. I’ve been telling princess-of-Bostonia stories for—a long time.” He looked away, toward the kids, like he was embarrassed that admission had just left his mouth.
Cole looked at her, then quickly away. “I’m glad Ma stole my chocolate.”
“Me, too.” She laughed quietly. “I can’t believe these kids are heading home in the morning. I feel like I just met them.”
“I know. Doesn’t take long to get attached, does it? I’ll be sad to see them go, but we’ll be so busy with the wedding tomorrow that I’m afraid we’ll be too busy to notice they’re gone.”
“You guys weren’t kidding when you said you’d work right up until the last minute.”
“Well, we can’t really afford to have empty cabins, so…here we are.”
“It was really nice of you guys to let Daniel and Hayley have their wedding here for free.”
Cole poked at the fire, spreading out the logs so they’d presumably start to fizzle out. “Daniel and Hayley are family.”
“Well, they’re not really fam—”
“They are.” Cole looked her directly in the eye. “You all are.”
Jess held his gaze for a moment, but then had to look away. The intensity was almost frightening, but not in any way she’d expected. A warmth started in her chest and ebbed outward, feeling like she imagined it might feel to float in a Caribbean cove with white sands under her and a warm breeze tickling her toes.
“So you’d totally slay dragons for us? And all that?”
“I’d be more likely to have to save you from a bear or a moose, but yeah.” He put his arm around her shoulder and squeezed. “If a dragon shows up, put me on speed dial.”
She laughed. “Looks like Marcy’s the most dangerous thing around here, but you’re the one who needs saving there.”
“True. Okay, my next story will be about the princess who saves the prince.”
“I like it.”
“Good.” He slid his arm off her shoulders and poked at the fire again. “Hey—what are you doing before the rehearsal dinner?”
“I was thinking about making an appointment with my claw-foot tub. Why?”
He grimaced, but quickly wiped the pained expression off from his face. “Ma assigned me wings duty since she ran out of oven space. Just wondered if maybe you’d want to come down to my cabin for a little while and help me cook.”
“Cook?” She tipped her head. Oh boy. In her current state, being alone with Cole in his cabin was just about the worst idea she could think of. She’d either end up in his arms, or she’d end up asking him to hide her in the forest so Smugglers’ Gully could never catch up with her.
“Cook.” He had a half-smile. “Unless you have better ideas.”
“No.”
The word came out in a fast staccato that had him backing up a couple of inches. His smile faltered, and Jess immediately felt horrible.
“I didn’t mean that the way it came out. Sorry.”
“Sure.” He stood up, started gathering wrappers into a small trash bag.
She took a deep breath. “I’d love to come help you cook wings. I would.”
“But?”
“But—nothing. I’ll be there.”
He looked at her then, hard and intense, but also mystified. Then he turned and poked at the fire again, pouring water on the embers that were left. “Jess, I don’t know what happened. I don’t know when it happened. And I don’t know when or