Okay, I consider myself a strong, solid woman. I can hike through the woods in a monsoon at night without fear. I hold my own when I wrestle my brothers. I face hundreds of teenagers on a daily basis during the school year. But one look at Adam with his two-year-old niece curled up in his big arms? I’m melting.
Unkie Adam? More like Hunky Adam. When he tightens his arms around her, I have to strangle a squeal in my throat before it escapes.
“That’s Stevie.” Adam kisses the top of her head. “She’s my girlfriend.”
I’m past melting. I’m boiling. I have to pretend to be a normal person, though. Adam’s sister is watching me. “What’s your name?” I ask her daughter softly.
The little girl is brave now, blinking up at me with huge brown eyes. “Sammie Sue.” She recites her name perfectly. Is she for real? I’ve never met a cuter two-year-old.
“Guess what?” I lower my voice to a whisper like I’m sharing a secret. “My name is Stevie Saoirse Sullivan. We have the same initials.”
Her tiny frown and puckered eyebrows tell me she has no idea what I’m talking about. “Where you phone?” She holds out a pudgy, expectant hand.
I love her.
“No, Sammie.” Ruth scolds. “You can’t have Stevie’s phone—”
A male voice screeches from the direction of Adam’s bathroom, cutting her off and making me startle. Sammie hides her face against Adam’s chest.
“Gah!” Crispin bellows from the back of the cabin, unleashing a string of curse words.
Adam covers his niece’s ears, smirking at his sister and me. “My water heater is tiny. I’m sure there’s nothing left after Stevie’s marathon shower.”
“Hey!” I swat his chest even though he’s right. The water was just so toasty, and I had mudeverywhere.
He shrugs. “He can handle it.” He tilts his head to the side when the hollering continues from the bathroom. “Or maybe not.”
Ruth snickers, and for a minute or so we listen to Crispin fighting for his life in the shower.
“So ... what happened out there?” Ruth cringes at the window, which is clouded with solid sheets of rain. “How did you get here?”
I sigh. Can I admit that I got lost? I don’t want to, but there’s no way out of it. Here goes. I take a long breath. “I got ... turned around. We went to an area I don’t normally go. After all the rain we’ve had, the trail looked different, I don’t know ...”
Adam frowns, and I can’t meet his eyes. I’m not ready to face the music. He was right. I was wrong.
Ruth’s worried expression matches her brother’s. “But what were you doing out there?”
“I took Crispin on a sasquatch tour,” I say with a wince, unsure how much Adam has told her about me. I pull the towel out of my hair, running my fingers through the tangled ends to straighten it. Adam’s red bottle of ten-in-one shampoo, conditioner, body wash, mouth wash, floor wax, and engine oil might’ve murdered my hair. It smells like cedarwood, though. That solves that mystery.
“Oh, cool!” Her eyes fill with light. I have her full attention now. “So? Did you see anything? I follow your podcast, by the way, so I’m totally invested in this.” She cringes. “But I gotta admit I bet on Boyfriend—”
“You what?” Adam cuts in, nearly dumping his niece off his lap when he turns to his sister.
She shrugs. “A few days ago I called the diner and placed a bet.”
Adam tips his face to the ceiling, like he’s praying for release.
“Oh, calm down. It’s not like I bet on her finding Bigfoot.” Ruth swats her hand at him, turning to me and settling in for story time. “Tell me what you saw on your tour tonight.”
“It wasn’t a tour.” Crispin saunters into the room, toweling off his hair with a shiver. “It was a date.”
Adam straightens.
“I’m sorry, what?” I shake my head, squinting up at him in confusion.
Crispin is drowning in Adam’s T-shirt. “Easily the worst date of my life.” He gestures to the storm raging outside.
“No.” I wave my hands palm down in front of me. “It wasn’t. What are you talking about?”