Kaden waited for a while to make sure Dad was gone, took a quick peek out the window, then gave Yo-Yo a shake.
“Dad was here again. You slept through it,” Kaden said.
“What?” Yo-Yo said. He took out the earbuds and a thin trickle of music could be heard.
“My dad. He was here. Just now,” Kaden repeated.
“Really? Did you talk to him?”
“No. I wasn’t expecting him to come here and I didn’t know what to do.”
Yo-Yo stood up and looked out the window through the binoculars.
“I don’t see his truck.”
“He didn’t drive in. He walked.”
“Are you sure it was your dad?”
“Yeah. He called my name. And I recognized him from the other night.”
“The other night?”
“Yeah. That’s what I wanted to tell you about. Dad was at the cabins Thursday night when Gram was at the board meeting.”
“Wow! So you’ve finally met him.”
“No. He was in Cabin Five and didn’t know I was home. It’s not that I don’t want to meet him, but every time I see him, I freeze. I’m just afraid of meeting him.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. I was all ready to meet him and then Gram said he wasn’t ready to meet me, and now I’m even more nervous about it. I think he is, too. I told you he left me the backpack. Well, he left a ball and glove, too, and Thursday, a photo album with pictures of him and me when I was a baby. It’s like he wants to meet me, but . . .”
“Well, if he was here, he must be ready to meet you now.”
“Yeah, but I’m not sure I’m ready.”
“It’s not too much different than standing up to Luke. You just have to act confident, even if you’re not.”
“I guess.”
Yo-Yo looked at his watch. It was past five. “We’d better get going. My mom’s going to be picking me up soon.”
Kaden took the binoculars from Yo-Yo, put them in the chest, and closed the lid. But Yo-Yo opened it back up. He reached inside and pulled out the cell phone. “Maybe you should take this with you. You know, just in case.”
Kaden took the phone and stood there looking at it in his hand. Then he shook his head and put the phone back in the chest.
“No, I won’t need it,” he said, and they headed down the stairs.
Kaden returned the rope with its rock to its hiding spot, and as he walked back under the tower, he picked up the stick his dad had dropped.
“Is it the one from the muddy spot?” Yo-Yo asked.
“Yeah,” Kaden answered, but let the stick fall back to the ground. “No point in putting it back. It won’t tell me anything if he walks in.”
“You could set up a trip wire booby trap. I’ve seen them on TV. You’re walking along and all of a sudden a rope goes around your ankle and before you know it you’re hanging upside down from a tree.”
Kaden said nothing but led the way down the path and over the barricade. As they walked down the road, Yo-Yo kept up with a stream of possibilities.
“Maybe you could dig a hole and put rattlesnakes in it and then cover it all up with branches. Or set up some invisible laser beams and if someone steps through them, they set off an alarm.”
“You watch too much TV,” Kaden said.
“Yeah, well, somebody has to.” Yo-Yo grinned.
The two boys reached the back of the junk cabin, crept along the far side, and peeked around.
The white pickup was in front of Cabin Five. Mrs. Strokowski’s SUV was in front of Gram’s cabin and Emmett’s truck was behind the SUV. Emmett was talking with Mrs. Strokowski through the car window. Gram was nowhere in sight. Neither was Dad.
“I’ll stay if you want me to,” Yo-Yo whispered.
“Thanks,” Kaden said, “but I have to do this alone.”
Yo-Yo and Kaden walked around the front of Cabin One and headed toward the SUV.
“She came out on the porch and said she had company, so I told her I’d just wait in the car,” Mrs. Strokowski was telling Emmett as the boys walked up.
Kaden stood by Emmett, purposely keeping his back to Gram’s cabin. Yo-Yo climbed in his mom’s car, and as the SUV drove out of the circle drive, he opened the window and yelled out, “Good luck. See you Monday!”
But Kaden hardly heard. He stood there wondering if Dad was inside watching him.
Emmett turned to Kaden. “You know your dad is in there,” he said quietly.
“Yeah, I know,” Kaden said. He had been thinking about his dad but suddenly he wondered about Emmett. Emmett usually walked up to the cabins. This time he had driven. “Why are you here? Did Gram call you? Is something wrong?”
“No, I got here just a second before you did. Mrs. Strokowski called me to find out where you and Yo-Yo were. I think she’s a little intimidated by your grandmother. So I thought I’d better come up. I didn’t know your dad was here until I got here.”
At the word “dad,” Kaden tightened up again. Emmett took his hand for just a second and gave it a big squeeze. “You’ll be all right.”
“I know,” Kaden said. He took a big breath and let it out slowly. “I’m ready.”