Teardrop Shot(9)

When things left with the campers, even if they went to their cabin, the chances of getting them back were small. There was usually a Thursday night cabin raid every week. It was disguised as a camp-wide activity, but it was really to help us snoop and grab whatever had been taken from the facilities.

“—Mary and Grant will help keep everything clean, but you know, help them out with that, and then you’ll close the courts at midnight too.”

Midnight. Five am to midnight. I’d have no life. Or bathroom breaks.

I groaned. “This isn’t legal. Keith’s not paying me enough for those hours.”

Owen grinned, leaning back next to Hadley. He stuck his foot up, resting it on the coffee table. “You can close it during meals, and I’m sure the campers won’t always be there.”

Speaking of, I still didn’t know who was coming. I opened my mouth to ask, but we heard a shout from outside.

“Yo! Charlie.” The screen door pushed open and Trent came inside. “It doesn’t smell that ba—”

He saw Owen and Hadley, and I braced myself for Hadley to leap-frog over me. She didn’t. She stayed put, just smiling at Trent as both she and Owen said their hellos.

“Hey, guys.” Trent chuckled, crossing to sit in the last open chair in the small room. An old fishing net hung above him with three light bulbs in the middle like a chandelier. He looked up, saw it, and cursed. “I forgot how kooky this place was.”

Hadley laughed. “There’s an old reel by the toilet. It holds the toilet paper now.”

I smiled. Yeah, the place was odd and quirky, but there were good parts—the view outside the front door with the lake right there, the entire side wall covered in old hooks to hang things from. I saw a line of crystal lights strung through them, and I would bet money Keith had never done that before.

Trent and Owen and Hadley caught up for the next thirty minutes, but after a while, everyone fell silent. It was as if they’d rehearsed it, because all three turned to me, waiting, silent.

It was my turn.

I felt the back of my neck heating up. I felt bad for not sharing, but I couldn’t do what they wanted. There were no words to describe what I’d gone through, so instead, I threw Newt under the bus.

“Before this, I was informed I’d been dumped by my recent ex’s grandpa, then propositioned in the same sentence.”

I waited.

Owen frowned.

Hadley blinked a few times.

Trent merely smiled.

“Uh—what?”

I nodded at Owen, who spoke for Hadley. “He offered to pop in his teeth if I wanted some revenge sex. I turned him down.”

Hadley’s mouth was now hanging open. For the booty shaker she was, I had blown her mind.

Oh yeah. “And I was fired, so ta-da. You’re all caught up with me. When’s dinner? Is Betty working back there still?”

“Wait.” Hadley’s eyebrows bunched together. She lowered her feet and leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. Scooting to the edge of the couch, she asked, “A recent ex? As in Dam—”

“Oh.” I waved that off. “That’s old news. This was a new guy, but again, I think the grandpa part was the most traumatizing point of that story. And we’re here, so everything’s good now.”

I wanted to run.

It wasn’t the best way to end a conversation. It wasn’t even a polite way. In fact, it was probably rude and awkward, but in my state, it was the best I could do. So there I was, pretending I wasn’t there, and they were all staring at me, because…I was there.

This wasn’t working.

I cleared my throat. “About Betty…”

“Oh. Uh.” Owen took the bait, always the respectful one. “No, actually she isn’t here either. She and Helen are off-island. Keith and Trent are handling the welcome reception tonight, but we’re in the kitchen for the weekend.”

“Just you guys? How many people are coming for this three-week thing?”

“Maybe around thirty?” Owen seemed to be asking Hadley.

She shrugged.

“I think that’s right,” Trent said. “Yeah. Plus their extra staff.”

I did the math, which surprised even me. “So, what? That’s, like, forty people you have to feed? Forty-two, adding Mary and—”

“Well, only half the staff is here, but yeah. We’re twelve total.”

“You guys are taking care of all of them?”

Hadley shrugged, getting comfortable on the couch again. “We’ll be fine. You fed two hundred people alone one time, remember?”

Shit. I had. “We’re lucky I didn’t burn down the main lounge.”

That had all of them laughing, remembering when the grill caught fire. Keith had moved me out of the kitchen after that. I’d gone back to the camping staff personnel team. I think everyone was relieved, particularly the firemen from town. The fire captain came out once after that for an event, and when he saw me in the kitchen, I swear he paled.

I’d thought he was getting the flu and told everyone we were going to get sick. They’d stocked up on antibacterial soap and hand sanitizer and thought that’s what had stopped it from happening. Nope. It’d probably been that the fire captain was not contagious, just terrified of me.