I make thekids shower before Josh comes over. The camp stink is real, but they both look (and smell) mostly presentable when Josh walks in the door at 5:30. He’s visibly nervous, which makes me love him even more. I’ve never seen him quite like this.
Ava and Benji pop up from their game of Uno to reintroduce themselves. They were both hopped up on the pre-camp adrenaline last time they saw him, so neither has a clear picture of him in their mind.
“It’s nice to see you guys again,” Josh says. “I’ve been looking forward to it all summer.”
“Do you really have ten godchildren?” Benji asks while holding his hand out to shake Josh’s.
“It’s true,” Josh says with a smile.
“Do you know all of their names?” Ava asks.
“I do,” he says, before realizing the kids want the full answer. “Lucy, Max, Theo, James Jr., Emma…Olivia, Mia…Noah, Liam, and Riley.”
He has to pause a bit to think on the names in the middle but gets all ten. Benji and Ava are impressed. It’s easy to forget the sorts of things that impress kids.
“Mom says that all summer you’ve been asking her fun questions to get to know her. What’s your favorite thing that you’ve learned?” Ava asks.
Josh’s experience as the cool uncle and godfather comes in handy as he considers how to answer this question. He chooses a crowd-pleasing fact.
“Your mom likes to pretend she’s all serious,” he says, getting down to their level and looking them in the eye. “So, my favorite thing I’ve learned is probably that your mom loves fart jokes.”
This makes them both cackle and say, “So true.” Ava claims that twelve-year-old boys don’t even find fart jokes as funny as I do.
“Just part of what makes me so special,” I say to my adoring fans.
“I was wondering,” Benji starts, having held in his curiosity for long enough, “if there are any projects left to do that I could help with. Especially any that I could use some power tools for.”
Josh makes a thinking face, and I can tell he’s going through his mental to-do list to dig out some mostly kid-safe options.
“Absolutely. I need to put some shelving in your mom’s office, so we could use the drill for that. And there are some old boards on the deck out back that we need to cut using a miter saw. I also have a cool paint sprayer we can use on the shed out back,” Josh responds.
Benji’s eyes light up at the thought of working on projects and using tools. Some parents may worry, but Benji is usually so responsible that I expect him to wear safety goggles, a vest, and gloves without being asked.
“That’s the way to Benji’s heart,” Ava playfully observes. “By the way, I really like my room. Thank you. The whole house is pretty awesome, actually.”
“I had a lot of fun fixing things up and spending time with your mom,” Josh adds.
“She’s the best,” Benji says, sidling up to me for a hug.
We spend the next few hours hanging out, eating dinner, and unloading the car. Thankfully, Josh went to camp when he was young, so he’s not shocked by any of the clothes, pillows, and blankets that fall out of the SUV trunk. Everything about the evening together feels perfectly normal. Nothing is forced. Sure, there are some clumsy moments for each of us, but that happens in every family.
At 9 p.m., I send the kids upstairs to get ready for bed and spend a few minutes with Josh before he heads out. He gets a fist bump from Benji and waves goodbye to Ava.
Josh and I sit on the front porch swing, and I curl up into him.
“I can’t even describe how I feel right now,” he says, pulling me in tight and tender. “Tonight was perfect.”
“I think maybe in a few days you can spend the night,” I say. “Or we could do a camp-out at your house. They would love that.”
“There are so many things I want to show them in Canopy. You didn’t tell me they were so outdoorsy. Ava will love the scenic outlook on the trail just south of town. And Benji? James and I will take him to the best fishing spot he’s ever seen.”
I know him. I can see his thoughts moving a mile a minute, formulating fun plans for us. He’s got the same childlike excitement he had the first time I brought him a BLT for lunch and this grand adventure of ours began.
“They really like you, Josh. It’s so obvious. You have to be able to tell,” I say, looking at him in those big brown—and now glassy—eyes.
“I feel like I was meant to be a part of this family. It’s going to be the honor of my life if you guys decide to keep me around,” he says.
“We’re not going to let you go anywhere. Well, tonight we’re sending you home, but in the long run, I think you may be stuck with us.”
