“Sounds great,” she said with a smile that was definitely forced.

Wes sighed as he watched her head off toward the backyard of the B&B. Was he doing the right thing? How on earth was he supposed to know? It was major decisions like this that always had him feeling at a disadvantage being a single parent. At least when Kelly was alive, they made decisions together; he had someone to discuss things with, bounce ideas off. Somedays he felt completely alone navigating this whole parenting thing.

“She okay?” Sarah asked, joining him at the side of the house. She nodded toward Marissa as his daughter sat on the swing inside the gazebo.

Wes nodded. Sarah had no doubt heard their conversation, with all the windows being open. “She’s just disappointed that she can’t go to STEM camp this summer.” He started to reclimb the ladder, needing to put some distance between himself and the two women causing him varying degrees of conflict. “She’ll be okay,” he said, hoping it was true.

“Is it the one in Long Beach?” Sarah asked.

It didn’t surprise him that she knew about it. He nodded. “Yep.”

“That’s not that far away,” she said.

His spine stiffened. “She’s only nine.” Not that he needed to explain this to her. She didn’t have kids, so he didn’t expect her to get it.

“You were only seven or eight when you started going away to football camp, weren’t you? And those camps were in Arizona,” she said.

How on earth did she remember that? He shook his head. “That was different,” he said as he started hammering again.

“How?”

Was she seriously still standing there, challenging him on his decision-making regarding his daughter? “She’s not ready to be that far away from home on her own yet.”

“She sounded ready…”

“Sarah!” The hammer hit the roof a little too hard, and his voice was a little too loud, but damn, the woman was driving him wild. “It’s a family issue,” he said, quieter but firmly.

She nodded, taking the hint. “Right. Absolutely.”

Wes sighed as he watched her disappear back inside the inn. He felt bad enough. Now he also felt like a hypocrite. Sarah wasn’t wrong. He’d started to go away for camp for a lot longer at a younger age. But his parents hadn’t had the same fears he did as a single dad. His parents had barely had time to even realize whether he was around or not. They’d shown their love with money. He was trying to be the caring, protective father he never had.

Unfortunately, even his voice of reason was starting to sound unfair.

…

She’d overstepped and hadn’t even realized she was doing it. Raising a child wasn’t something she knew anything about, but it couldn’t be easy.

Especially not alone.