“I’m sleeping back here,” Bucky announces, standing in the bed of the truck and rolling out an air mattress. “Everyone else, find your own spot.”

“Let’s get this tent set up before it gets dark,” Julian tells me. “I’m no good with this kind of stuff, and trying to do it in the dark would make it even worse.”

I pull everything out of the ripstop bag and have it set up in no time, without any help from Julian. As smart as he is, he sure doesn’t have a whole lot of mechanical aptitude.

“How’d you do that?” he asks, standing next to the setup, scratching his head.

“Easy. There’s really only one way to put it up.” I laugh.

“Well, I’m glad you’re here. Otherwise I’d be sleeping in the sand tonight,” he says, clapping me on the shoulder and heading for the fire with the package of hot dogs he brought. “Hot dogs on the fire, I can handle. Thankfully. Want some?”

He hands me a long fork, and I thread a couple of hot dogs onto it and hold it over the glowing coals. I glance around at the team goofing off in the sand, splashing one another in the water and just talking by the fire. Everyone is smiling. Everyone is having a good time. My chest almost aches.

I have this feeling that I really missed this, but how can you miss something you never had before?

I pull my phone from my pocket and take a picture of my hot dogs hanging over the fire and text it to Frankie. She texts back a picture of Coley, fresh from her bath, wet curls springing from her head. It’s been only a couple of days, but she looks older somehow.

“Who’s that kid?” Julian is peering over my shoulder.

I click the power button and shove the phone back into my pocket as quickly as I can. “A cousin,” I mumble.

I feel like an ass for chickening out of telling him about Frankie and Coley at the dance last night, but his words about the pregnant cheerleader still sting. Maybe I’ll tell him tonight later on, when there aren’t fifty other guys listening in. One thing’s for sure, I don’t want to leave it for Frankie to tell him when she gets here. Maybe if he has some time to get used to it, he’ll be nice to Frankie and not judgmental. I know that would kill her.

“Hey, gather round here, Guardsmen,” Julian yells over the crashing waves and the conversations around us. “I’ve got some news for you.”

“Taylor praaaaaaank!” someone yells, and everyone laughs.