“Does she need to leave her lifejacket on?” asked Kyle.
Riley nodded. “I don’t think she’ll go in the water, but let’s leave it on just in case. I’ll hook this to her collar and then you can let her down.”
She attached the leash and Kyle set Daisy down—although it was more a case of Daisy leaping from his arms the moment he relaxed his hold.
Daisy sniffed the ground for a few seconds, but then, rather than run off, she got on her hind legs and danced around at Kyle’s feet, making him laugh.
“She likes me,” he said, bending to pet her and baby-talk to her before taking off toward the other boys when Justin called him.
“That she does,” Riley agreed, walking behind Daisy as she sniffed rocks, grass, a few stray bushes, then pulled against her leash with a backward glance that said Come on. Riley let the leash out, and wasn’t surprised when Daisy went to the outskirts of the group where they were resting.“Funny girl,” Riley teased the dog.
When Daisy had finished her business she went back to the group and once again wanted to be the center of the boys’ attention—which they eagerly supplied even though they were supposed to be listening to the guide talking about the Congaree National Park.
Not wanting to get the boys in trouble, Riley scooped up Daisy and stood beside Justin, listening to the brief talk about how the forest around them boasted the tallest specimens in the United States of at least fifteen different varieties of tree.
“Anything I can do to help?” she whispered to Justin when he moved away to start unpacking a cooler.
She wanted to be useful. Or maybe she just wanted an excuse to be near him, to watch him with the boys and marvel at this unexpected side to him.
Someday Justin was going to be a great dad.
The thought was like a punch to the uterus. Justin would be a great dad, but that was nothing to do with her. She didn’t want it to be anything to do with her. She’d never be a mom—wouldn’t risk failing a child the way her father had failed her. And after Johnny’s betrayal she’d given up all thoughts of being a mother.
But she couldn’t quite shake the image of a little boy with sparkly blue eyes, a quick grin, and his dad’s dark sun-streaked hair...
“You being here is enough.”
Justin was answering her question, unaware that her mind was casting him in a paternal role. Thank goodness!
“Just relax and enjoy the scenery,” he said.
Not wanting to be in the way, and needing a moment to shake the image, Riley led Daisy to the water’s edge to let her get a drink, then followed her as she explored their immediate vicinity.
Keeping a hold on Daisy’s leash as the dog sniffed the ground near a wild rhododendron, Riley let her gaze go again to Justin. He was busy with the kids, leaving her free to watch from behind her sunglasses without worrying that he’d catch her.
The kids adored him. That much was easy to see. And no wonder. He knew each kid well, called them by their names, and obviously spent time with them on a regular basis.
Seeing him with them had brought to light the fact that there were a lot of things she didn’t know about Justin. Other than that he was a great coworker, a fantastic orthopedic surgeon, a phenomenal lover, and that she enjoyed being around him.
Justin had motioned to the guide that he was ready, and the young man lined up the boys. Justin squirted sanitizer into their hands, then inspected them prior to letting the boys move along in their makeshift lunch line. Stan handed each kid a bagged-up sandwich, while the guide joined them and let each one pick a piece of fruit and a bag of chips. Each boy had their own water bottle with their name printed on it, which they’d had tied to their kayaks during their float and had removed at some point.
“All right, mateys—what do we do with our trash?” Justin gave the kids an expectant look that said they’d reviewed this often in the past.
“Bring it all with us,” one said.
“Not leave any trace of it,” another said.
“Eat it!” Stephen said, giggling, causing all the boys to burst into laughter and his dad to frown at him.
“Good answers,” Justin praised, then eyed the giggling boy. “Except Stephen, who has to eat his trash or walk the plank.” He winked at the kids. “The rest of you bag it up for us to take back with us.”
“Yes, Captain Brothers!” they said in almost perfect unison, giggling as they said it.
Kyle tugged on Justin’s sleeveless shirt, where it was poking out from beneath his lifejacket. “Stephen doesn’t have to really eat his trash or walk the plank, does he?”
Justin laughed and rubbed the boy’s head. “You think I should let him off the hook?”
Kyle nodded. “This one time, Captain.”