The Last Single Garrett

by Brenda Harlen

  The little girl’s eyes filled with tears. “I don’t wanna take it.”

  Desperate to figure out a solution to the dilemma and get back on the road, Josh asked, “What’s your favorite treat?”

  Emily blinked, seeming surprised by—and perhaps a little wary of—the abrupt change of topic. “What?”

  “If your mom lets you pick a favorite treat, what would you choose?” he prompted.

  “Skittles.”

  “Gummy bears,” Hanna chimed in.

  “What do you like?” he asked Charlotte.

  “Kit Kat.”

  “Okay—let’s make a deal,” he suggested. “I’ll go back into the store to get some Skittles, gummy bears and a Kit Kat bar if Emily chews and swallows the other half of the pill.”

  “Maybe you should get the Skittles first,” Emily bargained, after considering his plan. “Then I can put the candy in my mouth right away to get rid of the taste of the medicine.”

  “Alright,” he relented. “I’ll go get the candy first.”

  When Emily had finally taken the medicine and the kids were settled back in the truck with their candy—Emily in the middle seat now, as per his sister’s suggestion—he glanced over at Tristyn and saw her looking at him.

  “You just bribed a five-year-old,” she commented.

  “And you disapprove,” he guessed.

  “Actually I don’t,” she said. “In fact, I’m impressed with your quick thinking.”

  He shrugged as he pulled back out onto the highway. “Isn’t there some saying about sugar helping the medicine go down?”

  “Look at you—quoting Mary Poppins,” she teased. “Although the recommended dosage is a spoonful and I don’t want to think about how many spoonfuls of sugar are in that candy.”

  “The candy got the job done,” he pointed out. “Now, fingers crossed, we won’t have any more mishaps between here and Sparta.”

  “Fingers crossed,” she agreed.

  The Dramamine didn’t just help settle Emily’s tummy, it made her sleepy. Before they’d driven another half hour, she was conked out. A short while later, Hanna was asleep, too. Charlotte, on the other hand, was wide-awake and growing increasingly impatient with the journey. Her steady and repeated requests of “How much longer?” had Josh clenching his jaw and his hands strangling the steering wheel. Still, he answered patiently every time. Tristyn tried to distract her with word games and stories, but Charlotte was nothing if not focused.

  Then Hanna woke up and had to go to the bathroom. Again, they were nowhere near a rest stop and Josh’s entreaties for her to “hold it just a little longer” were met by Hanna’s increasingly frantic assertions that she had to go “now.” He finally gave up on making it to a rest stop and pulled onto the shoulder of the highway so that she could use the toilet in the RV, but by then, it was too late. So Tristyn found a change of clothes for Hanna and put her dirty clothes in the bag with Emily’s.

  “Looks like our plan for once-a-week laundry is going to need to be tweaked,” she commented.

  Josh nodded as he pulled the vehicle back onto the road. “I’m thinking a lot of this plan needs tweaking—if not outright scrapping.”

  “It’s only day one,” she said.

  “Are you trying to reassure or discourage me?”

  “There’s always a steep learning curve with kids.”

  “Maybe too steep,” he said.

  “And you should be prepared for the possibility that they’ll test you a little bit,” she warned.

  “Are you saying that the last few hours haven’t been a test?”

  She shook her head. “Not a deliberate one, anyway,” she clarified. “Motion sickness and bladder limits are just facts of life.”

  “Facts I never considered before I agreed to make this trip,” he admitted.

  When he finally saw the sign for Halliday RV Park & Campground, he wanted to exhale a grateful sigh of relief—but he knew there was a lot of work still to be done. First he had to check in, then follow the map he was given to their allocated hookup spot, which was partly shaded by a stand of evergreen trees and had its own picnic table and fire pit.

  “I didn’t think we were ever going to make it,” Josh said, when he’d finally parked the vehicle.

  “We probably should have done today’s trip over two days,” she acknowledged. “But then we wouldn’t have made it in time for the race.”

  “We’re here now,” he said.

  “Finally,” Charlotte said emphatically.

  “I saw on the map that there are toilets and shower facilities over by the playground and pool,” Tristyn told him. “Why don’t I take the girls there to wash up while you take care of the hookup?”

  It wasn’t a quick process, but by the time Tristyn got back with the girls, he was done and ready to put his feet up and relax with a cold beer. But apparently that wasn’t an option. As she explained, the girls had been cooped up in the truck for hours and needed to burn off some energy, so she gave him the choice of taking them to explore the campground or make dinner while she went exploring with them. They both knew there wasn’t a choice to be made, since Josh was a pretty lousy cook.

  Tristyn made spaghetti for dinner, because it was easy and all the kids liked pasta. Of course, Charlotte wanted meatballs, Emily wanted meat sauce and Hanna didn’t want any sauce. She served the spaghetti with a garden salad and garlic bread. Charlotte picked the cucumbers out of her salad, Emily pushed aside the cherry tomatoes and Hanna ate only the cucumbers and tomatoes. Josh, at least, cleared his plate—and a second.

  They’d made a deal that Tristyn would do the cooking and Josh would take care of the cleanup, but since he’d spent most of the day driving, she volunteered to handle his chores—just this once. He suggested that one of them could wash and the other dry, but she immediately nixed that idea. The kitchen, though beautifully designed and well-equipped, was still small—too small for two adults to navigate without bumping into one another.

  By the time she’d finished, it was nearly eight o’clock. Josh reported that both Hanna and Emily were almost asleep in their respective bunks, while Charlotte was settled into hers with a reading light and a book, but even she was struggling to keep her eyes open. Tristyn folded the dish towel over the handle of the oven and went to say good-night to the girls.

  When she returned to the kitchen, she saw that Josh had opened a bottle of wine and poured two glasses. He held one out to her. Tristyn eyed the offering warily.

  “I haven’t poisoned it,” he assured her. “If nothing else, today’s adventures confirmed that there is no way I’d be able to do this without you.”

  “If that’s a thank-you, you’re welcome,” she said.

  “To the conclusion of day one,” he said, and touched the rim of his glass to hers.

  “And the power of Dramamine,” Tristyn added.

  Josh sipped his wine. “I just wish Charlotte had thought to mention the car sickness thing before we left Charisma this morning.”

  “She’s seven,” she reminded him. “She didn’t withhold the information on purpose—she probably didn’t even think about it until Emily said that her tummy hurt.”

  “Well, I’ll definitely find a pharmacy and get some of the children’s Dramamine before we have to hit the road again.”

  “Or at least another bag of Skittles,” she said.

  “Why don’t we go outside so our conversation doesn’t keep the girls awake?” Josh suggested.

  She nodded and followed him, closing the door quietly behind her.

  They sat side by side on the top of the picnic table, with their feet on the bench. It was the height of tourist season and the camp was almost filled to capacity, so there were plenty of other people around—some sitting around fires, roasting marshmallows and sin
ging camp songs. But though it wasn’t quiet, it was peaceful, and the display of stars winking against the black night was absolutely breathtaking.

  Except that Josh was having trouble focusing on the stars in the sky with Tristyn sitting so close, her enticing feminine scent clouding his brain and stirring other parts of his body.

  “Can you see the Big Dipper?” she asked.

  He tipped his head back to search for the constellation, then nodded.

  “Do you see anything else you recognize?” she asked him.

  “Orion’s Belt,” he suggested. Although he didn’t know much more than that it was a line of three stars, there were so many stars he figured those three had to be up there somewhere.

  But Tristyn shook her head. “You can only see Orion’s Belt in the northern hemisphere between November and February.”

  “How do you know so much about the constellations?” he asked her.

  “I took a few courses in astronomy and astrology in college, just for fun.”

  His idea of fun at college had obviously been a lot different than hers, and he suspected that mentioning that now would destroy the tentative peace they’d established. “What else do you see?” he asked instead.

  “The Little Dipper, with Polaris at the tip of the handle. Then there’s Cassiopeia, Cepheus and Draco—all circumpolar constellations.”

  “How do I know you’re not just making all these names up?”

  She laughed softly. “I guess you don’t,” she admitted. “But you don’t need to know the names of the constellations or what stars they’re comprised of to appreciate the view.”

  “You’re right about that,” he agreed, watching her watch the sky.

  I’ve been wondering when you’re going to stop watching and actually do something to get the girl. The echo of Jane Garrett’s words both taunted and tempted him. But making a move on his best friend’s cousin would be crazy. Especially as Tristyn was the type of woman a man could really fall for—and Josh had no intention of falling.

  She lifted her glass to her lips and sipped her wine. “I know this view isn’t all that different from my backyard at home,” she admitted, “but it feels like a different world—to be surrounded by nature instead of the city.”

  “I’m really glad Charlotte suggested that you come with us,” he confided.

  “It’s only day one,” she reminded him.

  “True,” he said. Then, after another minute had passed, “I have to admit that I’ve been wondering about something.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Why you agreed to this trip.”

  “I’ve been wondering the same thing myself,” she acknowledged.

  “It could be that you couldn’t resist the opportunity to spend some time with me.”

  “I spend more time with you than I want to at GSR,” she noted.

  “But we’re rarely alone at the office,” he pointed out.

  “And we’re not alone now.”

  “For all intents and purposes we are.”

  “I’m not interested in your intents or purposes,” she said.

  “You’re interested,” he said. “You’re just pretending not to be.”

  “You’re delusional,” she countered.

  “What did Rafe say when you told him you were coming on this trip with me? Or didn’t you tell him?”

  “I told you, I’m not discussing my relationship with Rafe with you.”

  “But a few dates isn’t really a relationship, is it?”

  “What do you know about relationships?” she challenged.

  “Not a lot,” he admitted. “In fact, probably about as much as I know about kids.”

  “You did okay today.”

  He shook his head. “I couldn’t even get them out of the condo without your help this morning.”

  “You were managing,” she said generously. “You were just a little behind schedule.”

  “And you managed to get us back on schedule—or very near,” he noted.

  “Aren’t my organizational skills one of the reasons you and Daniel hired me at GSR?”

  “They’re why Daniel wanted to hire you,” Josh admitted. “I added my vote because I like the way you look.”

  She shook her head, but she was smiling a little.

  “Seriously, though, you handled Emily like a pro today. I was happier cleaning up puke than trying to soothe a distressed little girl.”

  “I’ve got a lot of experience soothing distressed kids,” she reminded him.

  “The number of little Garretts running around seems to increase at every holiday,” he agreed.

  She nodded. “There were fourteen at the Fourth of July celebration,” she told him. “Harper and Ryan’s baby will be number fifteen, and Lauryn and Ryder’s will be sixteen. My cousins in Pinehurst have eight more between them, but they don’t visit very often.”

  “Do you have any thoughts of adding to that number?” he asked.

  “Someday,” she said lightly. “I’d never thought of marriage and motherhood as life goals—there were so many other things I wanted to see and do. But recently, I’ve started to see the appeal of sharing my life with someone.”

  “Do you think Rafe is that someone?”

  “You don’t take a hint, do you?”

  “I’m just curious if he’s the type of guy you see yourself settling down with someday.”

  “I don’t know,” she admitted. “He’s a really great guy—and a fabulous cook.”

  “But?” Josh prompted.

  She shrugged. “Maybe there is no ‘but.’ Maybe he’s perfect for me and we’ll get married and have half a dozen kids and live happily-ever-after.”

  “There is a ‘but,’” he insisted. “If you really believed Rafe was perfect, you wouldn’t be here with me now.”

  “I’m not with you,” she argued.

  “And the ‘but’ is chemistry,” he continued, as if she hadn’t spoken.

  “What?”

  “There’s no chemistry between you and Rafe.”

  She frowned. “How can you make a statement like that?”

  “Because I saw the two of you together.”

  “For all of about five minutes,” she pointed out.

  “And it was obvious to me in the first two of those five minutes,” he told her. “And confirmed when he left the picnic and you stayed to watch the fireworks with your sisters.”

  “The fireworks are the best part of the Fourth of July.”

  “If you and Rafe had chemistry, you would have been happy to make your own fireworks.”

  She shook her head. “Not everything has to be about sex.”

  “Maybe not,” he allowed. “But I don’t see that there’s much hope for the future of a relationship if you don’t want to get naked with your partner.”

  “Forgive me if I choose not to take relationship advice from a man who’s never had a relationship that lasted more than a few weeks.”

  “Maybe I haven’t had a long-term relationship,” he acknowledged. “But I’ve had a lot of great sex along the way.”

  She stood up, shaking her head. “You truly are a Neanderthal.”

  “Anytime you want me to drag you back to my cave to show you what you’re missing, just let me know.”

  “A charming invitation, to be sure,” she said drily, “but I think I’ll pass.”

  He shrugged. “Your call.”

  She turned and walked back into the RV without even saying good-night.

  He couldn’t blame her for being annoyed with him—not when he’d deliberately antagonized her. But it had been a matter of self-preservation. Sitting under the stars and chatting about family and future plans with a woman should have sent him into a panic
. Instead, because that woman was Tristyn, it had felt comfortable and easy.

  And feeling comfortable and easy about those kinds of things could lead a man down a dangerous path.

  Chapter Eight

  “It’s not right,” Josh grumbled from beneath the pillow he’d pulled over his face, “that the person with a private bedroom should get to invade the public space where someone else is sleeping.”

  “Wake up, Grumpy Bear,” Tristyn said.

  “Grumpy Bear?”

  “It’s what Lauryn calls Zachary when he’s in a mood.”

  “I’m not in a mood,” he denied. “Unless sleeping is a mood. In which case, I’m definitely in a sleeping mood, and you’re ruining that mood by banging around in the kitchen.”

  “I made coffee,” she said.

  He reluctantly moved the pillow aside and sat up to take the proffered mug. He sipped the strong, hot brew and blinked, attempting to focus. “What the hell are you wearing?”

  “They’re called pajamas,” she said drily.

  His gaze skimmed over her—from the notched collar of the long-sleeved, button-front shirt to the matching full-length pants. Aside from the fact that they were pink with a subtle white stripe, they looked more like a man’s pajamas. Or an old lady’s. “You sleep in granny jammies?”

  She frowned. “These aren’t granny jammies.”

  “They are so granny jammies.” He lifted the mug to his lips again.

  “Well, I thought—since I would be sleeping in close proximity to three impressionable young girls—that I should wear something...modest.” She returned to the stove and dropped a slice of egg-soaked bread into one of two pans already on the burners.

  Now that the first jolt of caffeine had hit his brain, he could hear sizzling. He sniffed the air and sighed happily. “Where are the girls?”

  “They were up early, so I let them go into my room to watch the TV there so they wouldn’t wake you.”

  “Then you came in here to bang around in the kitchen and do that yourself,” he noted, shoving back the covers.

  “I’m making breakfast,” she pointed out. “If that’s too noisy for you, I’ll let you go hungry tomorrow.”