“You’re the one who wanted me to go to the stupid camp, now you’re saying I can’t stay and be a part of it? Mrs. Dorsey said that she’d bring me home since she’s going to pick up Drew anyway.”
Asher knew that there wasn’t really a good reason to say no to his daughter, other than he wanted to. Although her delivery left a lot to be desired, she wasn’t wrong. He had insisted that she go to the camp, and now that she wanted to stay and participate it wasn’t really the best move to say no.
“Who are your friends?”
“That’s Rayna, she’s so nice. I think she has a crush on Drew, but he’s clueless, just like you. And the girl in the wheelchair, that’s Angel. She has a YouTube channel where she reviews movies, I’ve followed her for years. And the girl with braids is—”
“Who’s the tall kid?” Asher cut in.
“Oh my God, father!” Blake rolled her eyes dramatically as she crossed her arms in front of her chest. “You are so extra!”
Asher might be “extra” but he wasn’t leaving until he knew who the tall kid was.
“It’s Noah. He’s Drew’s best friend! And he works at the camp. He’s Amanda’s husband Justin’s little brother.”
He remembered Amanda mentioning that her teenage brother-in-law was going to be working at the camp when he’d called to sign Blake up. He didn’t like the way she’d laughed at him, but he knew he had to pick his battles. And this was not the hill he was going to die on.
“Fine. You can stay for dinner and the campfire.”
“Thanks, daddy!” Blake chirped before turning around and skipping away from him.
It was “daddy” now. A few seconds ago she’d referred to him as “father.” Keeping up with her mood swings was going to give him emotional whiplash.
He turned and was walking back to the car, when he got a text from Jenna, asking how Blake’s day went.
He pressed the call button and lifted the phone to his ear. She picked it up on the first ring.
“Hey pumpkin!” He could tell by how happy she sounded and the pet name that she’d used that she thought it was Blake calling.
“It’s me. Blake is staying for dinner and the campfire.”
“She is?!” His ex sounded as shocked as he’d been. “Did she make friends? She said Drew was going to introduce her to his friends.”
He knew that Jenna was disappointed that she couldn’t talk to Blake, so he tried to give her as much detail as he could. “Yeah, she was in a group with him when I came to pick her up. She said that she met a girl named Rayna, who is nice. And a girl that does movie reviews on YouTube named Angel and Drew’s best friend, Noah.”
“Noah, huh?”
He wasn’t sure how his ex had picked up on the fact that it was obvious their daughter had a crush on the tall kid, but she had.
“Yeah.”
“Okay, well, that’s good. Right? I mean, you said that Drew is a good kid. And Logan would make sure that he has good friends, right?”
Asher could hear the nervousness in Jenna’s voice. They were both concerned about their daughter and the group of friends she’d had at home. The last thing either of them wanted was for her to fall into the wrong crowd here.
“Drew’s a good kid.” He wasn’t ready to sign off on Noah so fast.
Jenna chuckled.
“What?”
“She’s going to be fourteen.”
“So.”
“I was fourteen when we met.”
Shit.He hadn’t’ thought about that. Now he wanted to go back and tell her that she couldn’t stay for the fucking campfire.
