Like Father, Like Son Page 5

  Incredulous, Joe stared at his daughter. Even Kaitlin was spouting this heresy?

  He’d always been driven to win. A job, a deal, a better life. Using Daniel as his role model, Joe had been the youngest kid on his block with a paper route, the youngest player on the high school football team. He’d pushed himself mercilessly in training, knowing the only way into university was through a scholarship.

  When his dream of studying viticulture imploded with Nadia’s pregnancy, he’d simply changed focus, working multiple jobs to support his new family.

  “You mean you’re not even going to try?” he demanded.

  Melissa started to blubber again.

  “Daaad!” Kaitlin put her arm around her friend’s shoulders and glared at him, but there were tears in her eyes, too. “You’re ruining everything.”

  Joe took a deep, deep breath and let winning—today—go. What the hell, there was no way they’d catch up now, anyway. “I’ll try harder,” he promised Kaitlin. “Melissa, how about I carry your day pack?” Through her snuffles, she nodded. “Okay then, put on your sneakers…good girl. We’ll take our time and catch up to the others.”

  “Thanks, Dad,” Kaitlin whispered.

  He took Melissa’s backpack, which was surprisingly heavy. “What have you got in here?”

  “My diary, some candy, a camera, a book in case we stop, my iPod, a change of clothes if I get dirty—”

  “Never mind.” Stony-faced, Joe shouldered the bag.

  “Wait,” squealed Melissa. “I need something.”

  Kaitlin looked anxious. “Your Rescue Remedy?”

  “No, more important than that.”

  Joe shifted from foot to foot while the girl fumbled through the bag on his shoulder. “Let’s catch up to the others first.” Assuming they’d waited. He managed a team of fifteen people at the office and he couldn’t keep five tweens together?

  “No, it’s very important.” She flicked back her hair. “I need my bag on the ground.”

  Reluctantly, Joe relinquished it, watched while she laid out all the contents. “It had better be an asthma inhaler.”

  “Da-ad!”

  Melissa pulled something out and waved it triumphantly. “We can go now, I’ve found Sanderella.”

  For a moment Joe stared at the stuffed toy—a white Scottish terrier with a jeweled collar—then lost his temper.

  “MR. FRASER SENT ME ahead to tell you we’re okay,” Grace said behind Pip. “Melissa ruined everything,” she added bitterly.

  Oh, dear.

  Pip put down the highlighter she was using to write team scores on the notice board outside the main camp office. A leaf was tangled in Grace’s white-blond hair and Pip removed it. “Tell me.”

  “First, I was the only one who took it seriously. Second, Melissa got a blister and decided she was crippled. And when Mr. Fraser got mad at her, she got all hysterical and decided she couldn’t even walk anymore.” Grace was becoming more and more agitated, so Pip gave her the leaf to shred. “Then Amanda and Britney had a fight over who lost the compass, so they’re not talking, and Kaitlin’s not speaking to her dad because he yelled at Melissa and can you get rid of Melissa? Please, Miss Browne?”

  “Oh, dear.” Pip said it aloud this time.

  Beyond Grace, the others emerged from the woods. The Inseparables, as Pip called Britney and Amanda, were using Kaitlin as a human shield while Joe trailed behind, piggybacking Melissa.

  If the girls reminded her of Grumpy after a hard day at the coal mine, then Joe was channeling Thor, the god of thunder. He would have looked intimidating if Sanderella hadn’t been squished against his neck under Melissa’s stranglehold. Catching sight of Pip, she freed an arm and waved as graciously as a homecoming queen.

  Though she knew she shouldn’t, Pip smiled.

  Joe’s expression grew even grimmer.

  “I was about to send out a search party,” she called, only half-joking. The other groups were already showering and getting ready for dinner. “So what happened?”

  Britney and Amanda put a spurt on, each trying to reach her first.

  “Amanda blamed me for losing the compass.”

  “You had it last.”

  “No, I didn’t.”

  “Did.” In her indignation, Amanda forgot to hide her braces.

  “Well, if I did it was ’cause Mr. Fraser told us to go faster,” said Britney. Her freckles were indistinguishable in her dirty face. “He’s no fun.” Out of the corner of her eye, Pip saw Kaitlin wince as she joined them.

  “Give him a chance,” Pip said, but mentally she was reviewing her options. Maybe Joe would be better overseeing a boys team.

  “I don’t like him,” complained Amanda. “Can I move to another group?”

  “But you can’t go to a team without me,” protested Britney, obviously forgetting they hated each other. “Miss Browne, I want to move, too.”

  “Go get showered and changed,” Pip instructed. “We’ll talk about this later.” Nothing was going to get resolved when everyone was tired and hungry.

  Kaitlin lingered behind. “Are you mad at Dad?”

  “No, it’s probably my fault for not thinking about this more.”

  “You know,” said Joe, coming up behind her, “the last straw, Miss Browne, would be for you to start making excuses for me.”

  “Did Grace tell you I was injured, Miss Browne?” Melissa inquired eagerly, sliding off Joe’s back.

  Pip put her hands on her hips. “Where are the trainers I asked you to wear?”

  “I didn’t want…I mean, I didn’t know these sneakers would give me a blister.” Big fat tears started rolling down her round cheeks.

  Pip was unmoved. “I know your tricks, remember?” Immediately Melissa looked sheepish. “Next time you do what you’re told or stay behind. Now apologize to Mr. Fraser.”

  The girl bowed her head. “Sorry, Mr. Fraser.”

  “Are you telling me you faked all those tears?” Joe rasped. He smelled of fresh sweat and Melissa’s novelty raspberry perfume, and there were partial footprints of dried mud on the pockets of his jeans. Pip resisted the impulse to brush his rear. Better not to draw attention to the dirt.

  Mistaking Joe’s inflecion as admiration, Melissa brightened. “Yeah, I just think of something sad and—”

  “Go get cleaned up with the others,” Pip interrupted, watching Joe. Following Pip’s gaze, Melissa realized her error and left at a fast trot, unconsciously adding insult to injury.

  Kaitlin ran to catch up to her. “That’s a mean, mean thing to do. I carried your day pack and everything.”

  Both adults waited until the girls disappeared from sight and the sound of childish arguing faded. “Maybe this is your fault,” Joe stated. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I thought she’d behave with someone she didn’t know,” admitted Pip. “She must feel comfortable with you.”

  “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

  “It was a big task giving you girls,” she soothed. “I’ve got boys. How about we swap?”

  He glanced at the chart with the team placements and his eyes narrowed. “You know, I’m kinda tired of being your pity case, Miss Browne.”

  “It’s not pity, it’s sympathy. There’s a difference.”

  “If I change teams I won’t be with Kaitlin, though, will I?”

  “No, but on the upside you won’t be with Melissa.”

  Joe’s jaw set as he went through an internal struggle, then he sighed. “I’ll stay where I am.”

  There was no easy way of doing this. “Mr. Fraser, let me be blunt.”

  “You mean you have another style of communication?”

  Pip ignored that. “Amanda and Britney aren’t sure they like you.”

  “Really? I’m damn sure I don’t like them.”

  She was startled into a laugh, and quickly smothered it. “I can’t let you lead a team you can’t manage.”

  “I was on a learning curve today, but I�
�m a quick study. Give me one more group activity. If the girls want to change teams after that, I’ll swap.”

  “Except your next group activity is doing the dishes,” she said ruefully. “I’m afraid the last ones home get a penalty.”

  “There you go feeling sorry for me again. Did I suggest that was a problem?”

  “No, but—”

  He gestured to the chart. “Your team’s at the top and yet you’re prepared to take on my losers.”

  “They’re not losers. All they need is the right…” Realizing she was on the verge of being undiplomatic, Pip changed tack. “I am quite good at this, you know.”

  He finished her original sentence. “The right leader? Okay, Miss Browne, I’m challenging you to a duel. If I can convince those girls to stick with me, we’ll take you on. Regardless of how the other groups perform, my team’s going to beat yours.”

  “Let me get this straight.” Pip folded her arms. “You’ve yet to convince your team to keep you, you’ve come in last tonight, and yet you’re still arrogant enough to challenge me? I have to tell you, Mr. Fraser—”

  “I wish you’d call me Joe.”

  “I have to tell you, Joe—you’re dreaming, mate.”

  He grinned. It made him dangerously accessible and way too attractive. “Now who’s being arrogant?”

  Pip shrugged. “Okay, you’re on. On the proviso that the losing team leader takes the punishment for their whole crew. We’ll work out terms when you’ve convinced Britney and Amanda to stay.”

  “Miss Browne, you have a deal.” He held out a hand and she shook it with a strange sense of exhilaration. He hadn’t a hope in hell of winning this, but something in his reckless self-belief appealed to her.

  “Call me Pip.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  “I GAVE YOU GIRLS a hard time today,” Joe said. “I’m sorry.”

  Kaitlin blinked. Dad never apologized if he didn’t mean it. And she knew he didn’t mean it because he was smiling. Dad never smiled when he apologized.

  She looked at the others to see if they realized something was wrong, but they were nodding as if they’d been in the right, when they’d kinda all been brats. Except Grace.

  Kaitlin was a little jealous of Grace for keeping up with Dad longest. And it turned out that Melissa had been pretending. Right now, Kaitlin wasn’t talking to her best friend.

  “Here’s an idea.” Dad leaned back against the stainless-steel bench—stacked high with dirty plates and enormous pots—that ran the length of the camp kitchen. “I’ll do the dishes for those prepared to give me another chance.” He tossed dish towels to Amanda and Britney. “But you two are definitely transferring to another team, right?”

  They glanced from him to the mountain of dishes and back again. “No,” they chorused.

  “In that case, relax.” Dad tied an apron around his hips as if he did the washing up all the time. But he’d never used the kitchen when he lived at home. Mom always said it was her domain. “Not you, Melissa. I figure since I carried you most of the way home, you don’t qualify as a hiker.”

  “But that’s not fair.” Melissa started to cry.

  “If you’re going to do that,” said Dad, “at least stand over the sink and fill it for me.” Everyone laughed. Kaitlin’s mouth fell open. Dad could tell jokes? “Miss Browne offered to put you on another team,” he continued, “but I’m also offering a second chance.” No longer smiling, he held out another dish towel. “What’s it to be?”

  Pouting, Melissa took it.

  “Okay, girls, learn from the master.” He began handling the plates like a juggler, faster and faster, not dropping one, as he stacked the commercial dishwasher.

  “How do you know how to do that?” Kaitlin asked.

  “I washed dishes through school.” Dad moved on to the pots, attacking them with such vigor that Melissa had trouble keeping up with the drying. “Next time, we’ll soak the pots in hot, soapy water before we clean anything else. That loosens the gunk so you don’t have to scrub as hard.”

  He grabbed a bottle of vinegar from the pantry and splashed some in the rinse water.

  “Yuk,” said Britney.

  “Adds sparkle to the glasses,” Dad said. “And the hotter the water, the quicker they dry.” He finished rinsing the glasses, flicked the last one to make it ping, and grinned at them. “Done! How long was that?”

  Kaitlin marveled at this strange man who was her father, while Grace checked her Swatch watch. “Twenty-five minutes.”

  “And that’s just with me and Melissa. I reckon with all of us, we can do it in fifteen, maybe less. We’re gonna thrash Miss Browne’s team.”

  Everyone looked at him doubtfully. It was left to Kaitlin to explain. “Dad, no one beats Miss Browne. She always wins. And this year she’s got the best boys.”

  The other girls nodded in confirmation.

  Her father’s gaze swept over them. “Hell, you’re right. I forgot you’re only girls. What was I thinking?”

  Kaitlin stiffened. So did everyone else. “He probably doesn’t mean that the way it sounds,” she said, wishing that Mom was here. Mom always played the peacemaker when Dad said stuff like this. Kaitlin felt a sharp stab of homesickness.

  Dad shook his head. “Boys will always beat girls. They’re stronger, faster—”

  “I can beat any boy in a running race!” Britney was so white with rage her freckles were 3-D. “I’m the fastest in the school.”

  “Then how come you walked today?” Dad asked.

  There was an embarrassed silence.

  “Look, it’s okay.” He untied his apron and tossed it over the back of a chair. “I get it. Girls just haven’t got the mental stamina.”

  What was he doing? Kaitlin shuffled from one foot to the other in an agony of embarrassment. Amanda’s braces were bared in a snarl. Everyone was going to hate him again.

  “We can do anything boys can do,” said Grace, “but they have Miss Browne.”

  “I know,” Dad said humbly. “But I have cunning and I know how boys work.”

  “How?” Grace asked. All the girls were fascinated.

  “Boys,” he explained, “have one big weakness. They can’t resist a dare. If they start beating us, then we’ll make up points by daring them to take part in extra games we know we can win. Like being the fastest to do dishes.”

  Kaitlin was still confused. By the look of it, the others were, too.

  “We find out what everyone’s skilled at and make up games around those skills,” he explained. “Britney’s fast, so we’ll have running races.”

  Kaitlin got a squirmy feeling. “I’m not good at games,” she muttered. He knew that.

  Melissa clutched Sanderella. “Me, neither.”

  “Everyone’s an expert at something,” said Dad. “Kaitlin, you’re a math whizz. I’ll ask one of the other teachers to put together a quiz.”

  “I’m not good at math or sports,” said Melissa. The tears in her eyes were real, Kaitlin could tell. She took her best friend’s hand and squeezed it.

  “We’ll find something,” Dad promised. “What about skinning a bear?”

  Smiling through her tears, Melissa shook her head.

  “I can scale and fillet a fish,” said Grace. The other girls laughed and she blushed and mumbled, “Daddy taught me.”

  “Great,” said Dad. “They’ll never see that dare coming.”

  Everyone giggled except Kaitlin, who regarded her father with a mix of awe and concern. Did he honestly have that faith in them after today? Or was he just being crazy?

  Miss Browne came into the kitchen. “You guys are taking ages. You need extra help?”

  “That’s because we didn’t—” Kaitlin began to explain, but Dad cut her off.

  “We were talking about additional games for our little competition. Gives both teams the chance to win extra points.”

  “So they’re keeping you, then?” Miss Browne waited for everyone’s nods. Most teachers sucked up to pa
rents, but she always put the kids first. Kaitlin loved that about her.

  “For example,” continued Dad, “seeing which team gets the dishes done first.” Behind Miss Browne’s back, he winked. This time Kaitlin giggled with the others.

  “Bring it on,” said Miss Browne.

  Later, when Kaitlin was hugging him good-night, Dad whispered, “Katie, I don’t know anything about girls, so I’m relying on you to help me learn.”

  “Truly?”

  “Yeah, babe, truly.”

  She hugged him again. “Dad, why do you want to beat Miss Browne so much?”

  “I guess I’ve got something to prove.”

  Kaitlin nodded wisely. There was only one reason boys showed off in front of girls.

  He really liked her.

  IT WASN’T UNTIL AFTER the kids had been sent to bed that Joe finally found time to make his difficult phone call. He walked a couple hundred yards away from the lit camp buildings toward the dark woods. When she answered, he began with a studied cheerfulness, “Hi, Sue, I hear you and your folks stopped by the rehab—”

  “Why didn’t you ask me for help with Uncle Adam?” she demanded.

  Joe had his answer prepared. “Because you’ve already got your hands full with the kids, not to mention a new husband.” His cousin fostered babies and had recently married the uncle of one of them.

  “You hurt my feelings, Joe, you know that?”

  He blinked, taken aback. Sue was like him—self-contained. But she’d changed after her grandmother Sarah’s death, changed more when she’d met Rick.

  “Sue,” he said helplessly, walking past the sparse trees on the outskirts of camp into deeper woods. The full moon was only a glimpse of silver through the redwood canopy. He’d known her since high school, where they’d been best friends until Joe had made the mistake of falling in love with her.

  Her rejection had been unintentionally savage—a guy nervous about losing his virginity didn’t want his first love getting cold feet after he’d stripped to his boxers.

  Of course, the recent discovery that they were cousins gave them a whole new perspective on that episode. Thank God they’d never done more than kiss.