One Night Only (Season 1: Deni's Story)

Chapter Seventeen

Mom is surprisingly chill about my request to ghost her for the afternoon. "I have work to catch up on and a book to read," she tells me when I relay my plans with Hunter. "Go have fun."

This is a far cry from the helicopter parent she was even before my music career began taking off. The Mom of that parallel universe would have asked about the safety of being on a pedal boat, how far from shore we planned to take it, if there would be life jackets on board, whether there was a map of the lake with the spots we'd be going to marked out just in case, and when I expected to be back. I'm becoming a fan of Canada Vacation Mom, even if she does have rules against me being connected to the outside world.

So it's with her apparent blessing that I make the trek next door to Hunter's camp again early that afternoon, after I've showered, changed into shorts and a vintage cropped tee, and eaten enough for lunch that Mom doesn't get on my case. Hunter is already down at the beach when I arrive, putting life jackets and bottles of water in the boat.

"Hey," he greets me. "You're right on time."

"Would you have left without me if I'd been late?" I quip.

Hunter's gleeful smirk lets me know he recognizes the sass I just threw out and that he welcomes the challenge.

"I might have invited Alfie instead, since he seems pretty cool," he claps back. "Want to take that handle on the corner and help me bring this into the water?"

I reach for the handle. "Alfie is definitely cooler than me, but he might have a hard time reaching the pedals."

"Good point. How are you at that?" He looks me up and down, as if trying to determine my height—or lack of it—for himself.

I arch an eyebrow, pretending I'm not amused. "Oh, burn. Don't start in on my height unless you plan to pedal this thing on your own."

"Me, start in on something? I would never." He attempts to look angelic, but he doesn't quite pull it off.

"You only get one pass with the short jokes before I absolutely wreck you. Consider yourself on notice."

"You know, I believe you. And you look kind of terrifying right now."

"Good. You should be terrified." I nod my approval. "Now are we taking this thing out on the lake or what?"

"I'm not sure now. Will I make it back alive?" His shoulders shake from trying to hold in a laugh.

"If you behave."

"No promises, but I'll try my best. Scout's honor." He raises his hand as though swearing an oath, which results in me giving him my most dubious look. "What?"

"I'm not sure I believe you were a Scout." I don't know why I say that, other than there being something about Hunter that demands I tease him for no reason, the same as he does to me.

"Why's that?"

I shrug. "I've never known someone who was." This technically may not be true, since I've met a lot of people in my life, but none of my friends were.

"No one?" he asks. "You should get out more."

"I get out plenty." If only he knew. "Or is 'out' not the same thing as 'oot'?"

He makes a face. "Nice try. I do not say 'oot,' and you know it."

"You do a little."

"Get in the boat, Cali. We'll talk about your accent once we're on the lake."

"I don't have an accent," I inform him.

"I heard you pronounce 'roof' as 'ruff' last night. You have an accent."