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here?” The look on her face was priceless, like I was out of my mind. I couldn’t help but laugh. She looked away when I did and wandered out in the meadow, the sun slowly setting and shinning on her hair, highlighting it with waves of warmth and light.
    I grabbed the Dutch Oven and walked over to the small fire pit. I started to throw wood and light a fire as she walked over. Her face was filled with an apprehensive look, wary of whatever was going on. This girl was guarded, that was for sure.
    “What are you doing?”
    I looked up at her as I moved the wood around, getting the fire to light. “Making dinner.”
    She lightly kicked the Dutch Oven, the hard cast iron not moving. “With that?”
    “Yep.”
    “What is it?”
    I got up and brushed off my hands. “It’s a Dutch Oven. Once I get the fire going I’ll use it for dinner.”
    She nodded but I could tell she was still unsure about it all. I went back to the truck and grabbed the cooler and the small bag I had brought. I set it by the fire pit and then went back and grabbed the camping chairs. The fire was going strong and I grabbed what I needed for the Dutch Oven.
    “What are you making?” This girl was full of questions.
    I tried to hide my smile. “I thought this was nothing new to you.”
    She huffed and sat in the chair. I turned only to immediately hear a loud shriek. I quickly turned back around to find Jolene had fallen through the chair, the bottom of the canvas seat giving out on her.
    “Are you okay?” I rushed over to her but when she glanced up at me with, her eyes narrowed, a pissed off look on her face I couldn’t help but burst out laughing. I tried to hold it back but I couldn’t.
    “Are you seriously laughing at me right now?”
    I tried to talk through my laughing but it was difficult. “I’m sorry but that look.”
    She continued to sit there and stare me down as my laughter died down, not even a hint of smile on her face.
    I finally had calmed down enough to see through the tears in my eyes. I swiped them away as she cleared her throat.
    “Ty.”
    “Yeah.”
    “Can you help me?”
    “Are you stuck?” I was totally egging her on. Someone had to.
    She looked away. “Get me out of this damn chair.”
    I went and took her hands, but before I pulled her up I said, “Hey. Look at me.”
    She reluctantly moved her head toward mine, our eyes connecting.
    “Good thing this is only a thing between friends, otherwise this would be really awkward,” I told her.
    Our eyes held each other’s for only a few seconds before she busted out in laughter, finally finding humor in the situation. I pulled up her up and she slightly stumbled into me, our chests flush. Our hands were still meshed together held between us. I could instantly feel the heat between us and I felt her take in a deep breath. On the exhale she said, “Yeah, good thing this is a friend thing.”
    Her words broke the spell we were in and I dropped her hands, taking a step back. We both stood there. I put my hands on my hips and licked my bottom lip. I watched Jolene’s eyes zoom in on my lips. It was undeniable there was something between us. Acting on it was a whole different situation.
    I went back to the Dutch Oven, breaking whatever weird zone we were in, and put the ingredients in, setting it in the fire pit and covering it with hot coals. She took the offending chair and put it in the back of the truck. No words were spoken and I was starting to wonder if every time we got together it would be this hard, because it seemed that so far every time we met, something went wrong.
    And now we only had one chair. I grabbed the cooler and sat on top. “You can use the other chair,” I told Jolene.
    “You sure it’s not going to break?”
    I smiled. “Hopefully not. Guess you’ll have to sit and see.”
    She stared down the chair. “Hmm. Let me have the cooler, you sit in the chair.”
    I laughed and got up offering her the cooler with a wide sweep of my hands,