Page 9 of Summer Ever After

Chapter Three

Beth felt so stupid.

Not just because she’d shown up at work on her day off looking like a paranoid mess, but because of who she had run into. Of all people, it had to be Aaron.

If she hadn’t been so afraid, she would have died of embarrassment.

He’d been kind about it, though. So steady. So calm. And she was sure he didn’t mean to make her heart race for entirely different reasons, like he always did, but here she was, still feeling the heat of his hand on her back as he led her into the security building, still hearing his voice in her head, low and gentle: I believe you.

God.

After the dining hall and the quiet support of Zoey and Elle, Beth had tried to leave. Truly. She’d stood in the dining room with her keys in hand, the pie still settling in her stomach, telling herself she was being ridiculous. But Zoey and Elle were having none of it. Maybe because they could still see the fear in her eyes. Maybe it was because her hands were still shaking.

Either way, she was thankful. Deep down, she hadn’t wanted to be alone yet.

Now, two hours later, she was sitting on the carpeted floor of Zoey’s office with a toddler in her lap while a seven-year-old braided her hair.

“Benji, honey, that’s my hair,” she said gently as the two-year-old started tugging at the ends of it like reins.

Paige, Zoey’s seven-year-old daughter, stood behind her, working hard on twisting her hair into what felt like knots. She tried not to wince, but every now and then, the girl would tug hard.

Emma and Evan, Elle’s twins, were engaged in a whispered war over a juice box and the last pack of fruit snacks that their mother had given them before heading out on some sort of emergency. There were always emergencies around the camp.

Like leaving her alone with four kids under eight. It was chaos. Happy chaos. Distracting chaos. And, oddly, Beth was grateful for every single second of it.

She’d watched the kids before, these four along with Hanna and Owen’s son James, or Scarlett and Levi’s son Samuel. And then there was the latest, Aurora Page, who was Aubrey and Aiden’s daughter. She was only a year old and by far the easiest to watch out of the group.

Not that she babysat them officially. Sometimes she only got to see them for a few moments at a time, when one of her bosses brought the kids to work and got called off somewhere for some reason.

Paige combed her hair and asked, “Are you going to be my new babysitter? You’re nicer than Uncle Owen or Uncle Liam. They say ‘don’t touch that’ a lot. Uncle Owen lets me braid his hair though.”

Beth laughed and joked, “Only if your mom starts paying me in pie.”

Just then, the door creaked open and Aaron stepped inside, his wide shoulders filling the frame of the doorway. Suddenly, she felt as small as the children. His eyes landed on her instantly, and then on the kid still putting knots in her hair.

She watched humor and kindness, a softness, reflect in his posture.

“Well,” he said, his voice dropping into that low, warm register that made everything inside her vibrate, “I see you’re getting your hair done real pretty.”

“Uncle Aaron.” Paige dropped her hair and rushed over to jump into the man’s arms. Beth’s heart did a little somersault. The man was really great with all the kids. She would often see him giving one of them a piggyback ride or pushing their strollers around on his rounds.

Benji spotted Aaron and immediately squealed with delight. “Guitar man!”

Aaron grinned and crouched down beside them, still holding Paige in his arms. “That’s right, little man. And what’s your favorite song?”

“Baby Shark!” the toddler shouted.

Aaron made a mock grimace. “That one again? You’re killing me, buddy.”

Beth giggled, and Aaron looked over at her with a smile that wasn’t quite teasing, but softer, like he was just glad to see her smiling again.

A moment later, Zoey walked into the room with a bottle of water and a cup of coffee balanced in one hand and a diaper bag slung over her shoulder.

“Oh good, they haven’t mutinied or mutilated you, yet,” she added with a wink. She set the coffee down and walked over to take her daughter from Aaron as she gave him a look. “You okay to walk our girl to her car now?”

He nodded. “Brett’s already on-site. I’ve been given the go-ahead to follow her home.”

She wanted to argue that she didn’t need him to follow her all the way home, but then, as if sensing it, Zoey glanced at Beth, her expression a little firm. “You know you can stay as long as you want. My office is your office.”