In order to bring a little zen back to their little family, Cam decided to bring them to Ocean Beach for a relaxing Sunday outing. Ocean Beach was a very popular place in the summer, even though it was often foggy. Surfing was good and tourists enjoyed visiting the Cliff House and Sutro Baths and viewing the seals at Seal Rocks. Cam liked to come here because dogs were allowed off-leash in some areas and there were fire pits you could reserve for bonfires. Today, the place was pretty deserted.
“I haven’t been to the beach in forever,” Dakota said as they walked toward the water.
“I see our fire pit!” Zinny exclaimed, pointing.
“That’s it, all right,” Cam confirmed.
She ran full speed toward it and the dogs bounded along at her side. Loaded down as he was with a heavy bundle of firewood, towels, food and drinks for the three of them, Cam followed a bit slower. Dakota walked alongside him carrying the beach chairs. When they made it to the pit, Zinny was brushing off a piece of driftwood.
“Gizmo! Zeusie! Fetch!” she yelled as she threw it about five feet. Zeus bounded after it. Gizmo wasn’t really interested in fetching anything, but he ran back and forth anyway.
After about ten minutes of fetch, Zinny busied herself making a sand castle, looking for shells, then running to the surf and screaming with delight when the wave reached her feet because the water was butt cold. None of them took off their jackets. Weather in San Francisco was weird and sometimes winter days could be warm and some summer days were freezing. Today was one of the warmish days considering it was December, but still cold.
By the time the sun started setting, Zinny had exerted more energy than she did all day at school. They’d brought sandwiches, chips, and fruit for dinner and watched the sky put on its nightly show of pink, orange, red and purple. Cam lit a fire, explaining to Zinny the process of arranging the wood and kindling so it would catch and keep burning. As usual, she paid such close attention, he was convinced she could probably build one by herself.
During dinner, a family wandered past. The dad glanced over, then said something to his wife as they continued on with their two kids. Cam gave them a nod and Dakota didn’t think anything more of it.
A little while later, they came back, as people tended to do on beach walks, but they hovered a few yards away.
Cam said to Dakota, “Get ready,” he said, poking at the fire with a stick.
“What do you mean?” Dakota asked.
“That family over there—one of them is a fan who wants an autograph or a picture with me.”
Dakota glanced over. “How do you know?”
“You develop a sixth sense for these things,” he said with a reserved smile.
Sure enough, the dad walked over.
“Hey, you’re Cameron Bowes,” the man said.
“That I am,” Cam said, dusting his hands off as he stood. “And you are?”
“Richard. Richard Deng.” He gestured to his wife to come over, but she shook her head. “And this is my wife, Linda. My kids, Jessica and Tyler.” Richard gestured with more intention and the Dengs came cautiously forward.
“Pleasure to meet you,” Cam said. “This is my girlfriend, Dakota, and her niece, Zinny.”
Dakota smiled hesitantly. Of course this kind of thing happened to Cam, but it hadn’t occurred to her that, as his, ah, girlfriend—Lord, it felt weird to think of herself as that—that she would sometimes be affected.
“I’m a big Dragons fan,” Richard said.
“Hey, thanks. Appreciate it,” Cam said.
“Think we’re going to make the playoffs this season?” Richard asked.
Zinny was showing the kids the sand dollar she’d found earlier. Dakota admired how outgoing she was, much more outgoing than Rose had ever been. It was so wonderful to see her free to be her real self, instead of the sad, hesitant girl she’d been when she’d been at Shiloh Elementary.
“There’s still a lot of hockey left to play,” Cam said, “but, assuming we all stay healthy, I like our chances.”
“I see you’ve got a bonfire all set up,” Richard said.
At that, Linda gave her husband a fierce look, which he seemed to ignore.
“I’d heard you could have bonfires here,” Richard went on, “but we didn’t realize until we got here that the pits had to be reserved…” He trailed off, leaving the unspoken hint hanging in the air.
Cam glanced at Dakota, his brow raised questioningly. He was leaving it up to her. It felt strange because Richard was a fan, but under normal circumstances, Dakota would feel no qualms about including them, so she smiled and said, “Why don’t you join us? There’s plenty of room.”
Richard Deng’s face lit up. “Really? That’s so nice of you. Come on, guys. Our stuff’s just over there. We’ll bring our firewood over. We have stuff for s’mores too.”
Dakota gasped. “Oh, we forgot the s’mores stuff! I got it out but forgot to bring it.”
Linda spoke for the first time. “It was meant to be then.”
It turned out to be a very enjoyable evening. The kids got along splendidly, even as hyped up on the sugar from the s’mores as they were. Richard was in the tech industry and Linda was a pharmacist and the conversation flowed easily. They had plenty of firewood and despite the chilly temperatures, they were all more than comfortable. Before they knew it, it was time to go. Christmas was only ten days away, but school was still in session until the twentieth.
When they got home, Dakota got Zinny ready for bed while Cam put away all the beach stuff. Zinny was now ensconced in one of the downstairs bedrooms. She hadn’t liked being upstairs all by herself. When Cam and Dakota told her they would be sharing a room now, Zinny didn’t bat an eyelash.
“Koko, that was the best day ever,” Zinny said as she got out of the bathtub and dried off.
“I think so too,” Dakota said.
“I wish Nana could have come. She likes s’mores,” Zinny said.
Dakota frowned, feeling a little betrayed. And yet, Zinny couldn’t be blamed for loving her grandmother.
“Maybe we should have invited her,” Dakota said reluctantly.
Later after they’d both kissed her goodnight, Dakota and Cam went to the kitchen. Cam was hungry and Dakota made him a sandwich. The man never stopped eating. She figured he must burn about eight thousand calories a day.
“Zinny said she wished we’d invited Ellen,” Dakota said.
Cam nodded. “She misses her. She told me so.”
“She did? Why didn’t you say something to me?”
“I didn’t think you’d like it,” he answered.
“I don’t, but that’s beside the point. You should have told me. She’s my responsibility and I need to know what’s going on with her.”
“Sir, yes, sir,” he said, performing a mock salute.
“No need to be sarcastic,” she said while he took another bite. The sandwich was half gone already.
He sighed. “I’m sorry. You’re right. But if you expect me to report back to you every little thing Zinny says to me, you’re going to be disappointed. I see now that because her comment involved Ellen I should have told you. But otherwise, can you please trust my judgment?”
Dakota immediately felt remorseful. She’d been a jerk to him just now. “No, I’m the one who’s sorry. I’m upset and I’m taking it out on you, which isn’t fair.”
“Apology accepted,” he said, getting up and putting his plate in the dishwasher. “Now, what are you going to do about it?”
“I’m going to trust you from now on.”
“No, I mean about Zinny missing Ellen.”
“Oh, that,” she said.
With the little tiff resolved, Dakota’s thoughts returned to the Ellen Problem. As much as she wanted to strike back at her, she couldn’t help but remember her teenage friend Macy. Macy’s parents had been divorced and it hadn’t been an amicable divorce. As a result, they engaged in a series of petty skirmishes designed to irritate each other. The mother would purposely tell the father the incorrect time for school events. The dad consequently would be habitually late to pick Macy up. Often they would refuse to talk to each other, relying on Macy to relay messages back and forth. Dakota had hated that Macy was the collateral damage to their little war when she had done nothing to deserve it.
So, as angry as Dakota was with Ellen for ratting her out to CPS, she couldn’t let that get in the way of Zinny’s relationship with her grandmother. Zinny’s well-being was the most important thing and she didn’t deserve to be caught in the crossfire.
Dakota got up and met Cam halfway as he was coming back to the table. She needed his arms around her and he obliged. If he gave her a thousand million hugs, she would never get tired of them. It was as if his superpower was to share his strength and to relieve her tension.
“I’ve actually been meaning to email Ellen and see if she wanted Zinny to come stay with her during half of your four-day Christmas break. I just hadn’t gotten around to it.”
Cam smiled. “That’s a great idea. It’d be good for everyone. Ellen and Zinny could celebrate the holiday together and you and I could get some alone time. Speaking of alone time, I need to shower off all the sticky beach stuff. Wanna join me?”
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
“Speaking of Christmas,” she said as they walked toward the master suite, “we should decorate the house. Get a tree at least.”
Cam stopped short and faced her. “Oh, shit. What a great idea. That’d be awesome. I haven’t had Christmas in this house since the divorce.” He looked like a little boy right now and it was freaking adorable.
“That’s so sad,” Dakota said. “Why?”
“Well, Morgan pretty much took everything in the divorce, including the Christmas stuff.”
Dakota had practically forgotten Cam had been married before. He never talked about his ex-wife, which was a good thing, she supposed, but she was curious. Based on what Dakota knew, Morgan didn’t sound like she was a very nice person.
Cam was still talking. “But basically, I was also just too damned lazy to go buy anything myself. The most I ever did was display the various Christmas cards I got on the fridge. So are you up to the challenge? I mean, I’ll help as best I can, but as good as I am at hockey, that’s how bad I am at decorating.”
“Want to give me a budget?” she asked.
“The sky’s the limit,” he said.
“Really?” She had visions of walking through Target with two carts filled with wreaths, ornaments, lights, stockings…the works.
“Sure. Do the house up right. Get whatever you need to make this place look like Santa’s wet dream.”
Dakota laughed in spite of herself. “That is so gross,” she said, slapping him on the chest. “I can’t believe you said that.”