Glow (Glimmer and Glow #2)(14)
“Do you have a license to carry that five iron, ma’am?” Jim asked, stepping forward with his hand extended in greeting. Alice glanced dazedly at the golf club she gripped like she’d forgotten it was there. She grimaced and unpried her hand, shaking with Jim.
“It was the first likely candidate I saw in Dylan’s closet.”
“I’ve always preferred a seven iron for a fight myself, but I can see how the five might give you a little more maneuverability in a pinch,” Jim joked.
“You wouldn’t have needed either if you’d done what I’d asked you to do and stayed put,” Dylan reminded quietly, leaning against his desk with forced casualness.
That wild, cornered-animal look leapt back into her eyes. “What if you needed help? I couldn’t just wait up there without knowing what was going on!”
“I told you I could handle it myself, Alice,” he said, his pointed stare meant to remind her of what else he’d asked her to do. She looked a little abashed, but clearly was not subdued.
“So what is going on?” she asked, shifting on her bare feet and glancing at Jim.
“Nothing much. And unless you can fight the aftereffects of an electrical storm with that golf club, there’s nothing here to do,” Jim said.
“The storm set off the alarm?” Alice asked, lowering Dylan’s club slowly. “But the storm has been over for hours.”
“Maybe it was some kind of residual electrical burst,” said Jim. “Hard to tell.”
“The point is, everything is fine,” Dylan said. She pulled her bathrobe tighter around her, as if she had just become aware of her disheveled appearance. Dylan didn’t care for the way Jim stared at her face fixedly, a slightly bemused expression on his face. Again, Dylan experienced that sharp urge to hide her. “The house was never breached. Why don’t you go back upstairs? I’ll be up in a minute,” he added when she furtively met his stare from behind the partial shield of her spiky bangs.
“Yeah, okay,” she agreed huskily after a moment. “I guess that alarm clock is going to go off soon.”
“Have to work early in the morning?” Jim asked.
“Yeah,” Alice replied.
“There was some pretty serious flooding a few miles south of town in the vicinity of Chandler Creek. I hope you don’t have to drive far to work,” Jim said concernedly.
“Oh no. I’m just down at the camp.”
Dylan resisted an urge to roll his eyes at her giving Jim exactly what he’d angled for with his fishing. She gave Dylan one last fleeting glance and walked out of the room.
*
THE next morning her kids were still riding high from being the top team in accumulated points after the first week at Camp Durand. It was a good time to have everybody so cheerful, because the morning mandatory activity was the zip line challenge—the activity Alice had struggled with most during her training. Alice was terrified of heights. Worse yet, she’d been paired up for the zip line during training with Brooke Seifert, who had been Alice’s nemesis since the first day she’d arrived at camp.
Today Alice was more fortunate.
“At least I don’t have to do the zip line myself this time around. And, I’m with you instead of Brooke,” Alice said quietly to Kuvi Sarin as they walked side by side through a meadow toward the woods, the twenty kids from both of their teams spread out around them. Kuvi was her cabin mate and friend. She was warm, genuine, funny, and smart. Except for the smart part, she was pretty much the exact opposite of Brooke Seifert.
“Brooke’s team got paired up with Thad’s for this challenge,” Kuvi said wryly. “She’ll be in heaven.”
“From what I saw yesterday, so will Thad,” Alice replied under her breath. Kuvi gave her a sharp, knowing glance. Yesterday, Alice had spied Thad and Brooke kissing in the woods. She’d immediately told Kuvi what she’d seen. The accidental sighting had shocked her, because in the past Thad had only publically demonstrated a platonic interest in Brooke. In fact, Thad had previously not even attempted to hide that he was very interested romantically in her—Alice. She considered Thad a great guy and a friend, so what she’d seen between him and Brooke had left her feeling confused and disturbed. She’d been subtly avoiding Thad all day. Why was he purposefully misleading his friends when it came to Brooke? Was it because he knew how much Alice disliked her?
“Hey,” Kuvi whispered. “You promised yesterday that you were going to tell me where you have been disappearing to at night.”
Alice glanced around warily, assuring herself that their conversation wasn’t being overheard. Until yesterday, Kuvi had assumed she was sneaking away from their cabin at night for trysts with Thad. Alice had never admitted to that, but Kuvi and Dave Epstein—their other friend—had just assumed a relationship between them, given Thad’s obvious attraction to Alice.
“I’ll tell you tonight, after the night supervisors take over,” Alice said quietly. “I promise,” she added when she saw the question and concern in Kuvi’s eyes. Kuvi nodded.
Alice wasn’t exactly looking forward to confessing for the first time that she was having an affair with Durand Enterprises’ CEO. Kuvi was sure to tell her that she was out of her mind. If they were discovered, the ramifications for both Alice and Dylan could be serious. But part of her was relieved at the prospect of telling the truth as well. She respected and liked Kuvi too much to keep lying to her.