Page 183 of Daddy’s Fortitude

“Then you’re in for a treat. Picnics are the best.”

Ammo had no idea how she could say picnics were the best. He was sitting on an old blanket on a lumpy piece of ground. There were bugs around their food. Ammo was used to the outdoors. He liked being outdoors.

But he didn’t quite understand the choice to eat outdoors. Eating was a necessity, it wasn’t really something that he did for fun.

But Aimee seemed to be enjoying herself, and she was eating well for once. She sat next to him on the old blanket, munching on a ham sandwich that he’d made her.

So he decided it was worth it.

He could feel himself starting to relax. Honestly, the walk here had been slightly stressful, trying to keep her safe. He’d had no idea that a simple hike in the woods could be so dangerous. She was like a babe set free, she had no concept of danger or self-preservation. It was insane.

He had his work cut out from keeping her safe, that was for sure.

“Isn’t it so pretty here, Daddy?”

“Not as pretty as you are,” he said.

“Oh, Daddy, you always know just what to say.”

Reaching for her, he lifted her into his lap and held her there for a long moment. He decided that he rather liked having her sitting on him all the time.

She just settled in and kept eating her sandwich, then moved on to one of the muffins. They both finished eating, then sat for a while in peace.

He kissed the top of her head. “We better get back, baby. Webb will be back soon and wondering where we are.”

Aimee sighed. “Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just sit here like this without any worries all the time?”

“One day, you won’t have any worries.”

“Daddy, I’ll always have worries. But some worries are bigger than others.”

They were. He lifted her off him, putting her down on the blanket before he stood. She stood as well.

“I’m just going to go look at the water, all right?” She skipped off toward the creek before he could stop her. “I won’t go close.”

“Stay at least a foot back,” he warned.

“Oh, you should see all the pretty stones, Daddy,” she called back to him. “I bet I could skip one across the water.”

He put all the food away as she attempted to skip stones across the water. Each one just seemed to go plop though.

“I just need the right one,” she said, leaning forward over the water.

“Aimee, be careful,” he told her. “You’re going to fall in.”

He took a step toward her just as she slipped, and with a crash, fell into the water.

50

Oh my God, that was cold.

Aimee sat up in the water with a gasp. She couldn’t believe that had just happened. She’d just fallen into the creek. It had actually been deeper than she’d thought. She could see the stone she wanted, and it had only seemed to be a few inches under the water. Yeah, turns out that was wrong.

“Aimee,” Ammo yelled.

Oh, he didn’t sound happy.

She managed to stand even though the stones underneath her were slippery. Ammo reached her, grasping her around the waist, he lifted her out of the water. She shook, both from shock and the cold.