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Penny
“That’s it,Lucy. You can do it. Just a little farther. Reach, REACH,” I yelled, willing her to stretch a tiny bit farther to grab the ledge.
My words seemed to give her the strength she needed. With one last push, she extended her arm, stretching as far as possible until her fingers touched the ridge of the wall, and she managed to get a firm grip on it.
“Go, Lucy!” I cheered her on. “Pull yourself up.”
Her small hands held on for dear life as she struggled to find a foothold in the wall to hoist herself up.
“Come on, Brannon, Lucy is almost over the wall.” Blake clapped his hands with gusti. “We can’t have the girls beating us. We’re men, Brannon. Men.”
I shot him a questioning look, and he grinned across the obstacle course at me. It was the second time this week our cabins had been paired together to participate in activities. Although the cabins completed most of the activities individually, some—like raft building, the obstacle course, and games day—fostered teamwork and sportsmanship by pitching one cabin against another in friendly competitions.
Blake continued to shout words of encouragement to Brannon while pride swelled in my chest as Lucy kicked herself over the wall and tumbled down the other side into the mud pit. Her shrieks caused the other girls behind me to laugh.
I turned to face them and said, “Is that how we support our teammates? Get over here and cheer our girl on.”
They jumped into action, joining me to cheer on their cabinmate. Erica, although she had participated in the activity, stood positioned away from us slightly and didn’t join us.
“Erica, we all cheered for you,” I said, hoping she would find it in herself to show Lucy some support.
She shrugged, refusing to meet my gaze. “Yeah, so? I didn’t ask you to.”
Unwilling to get pulled into an argument, I ignored her.
Five days in, and I was still no closer to thawing the ice between Erica and me and the other girls. Brianna—Erica’s only friend—had even warmed up a little, participating in all of the camp activities, although she still seemed wary of me.
Lucy reached the end of the course, and we all rushed over to her to celebrate her achievement. As the smallest and youngest girl in our cabin, the obstacle course had worried her. The huge grin on her muddy face showed just how important it was for her to be able to complete the course.
“Boys, what do we say?” Blake led his group over to us. They all wore disappointed expressions but followed his orders, offering my girls a reluctant murmur of ‘well done’ and ‘good job.’
Blake stepped forward and bent slightly to address Lucy. “Good job, little one.” He held his hand out for a high five, and Lucy beamed as she swatted her hand down on his. “Now, who wants s’mores?”
Their excited cheers were enough to send the nearby wildlife scampering, and Blake caught my eye.
Something passed between us.
I don’t know if it was the lingering adrenaline from the activity or the pride of watching Lucy beat Brannon on the obstacle course, but we shared a moment.
The air seemed to grow thin between us. That invisible thread that had always connected us stretching and shifting. But the excitement I’d been swept up in only minutes earlier quickly morphed into confusion. The same confusion I felt whenever our eyes collided around camp.
Blake was trying to tell me something. Or, at least, that was what it felt like, but I wasn’t ready to find out what.
I was still adjusting to him being here.
In my life.
In mypresent.
Fifteen minutes later, Blake had the fire burning, and twelve happy campers were feasting on charred s’mores. I helped myself to a bottle of water out of the cooler and sat on the overturned trunk slightly away from the main circle, letting the kids have some time to themselves.
“I think there may have been a little bit of cheating going on earlier,” Blake said, joining me. “It’s the only explanation. Team Weston never loses.”
I smiled. It was impossible not to when Blake was being playful—something I’d realized was a big part of the new Blake.
Watching him interact with the kids, with the other counselors, and even with Troy and Tina over the last few weeks, I’d seen it. He was charismatic, a total charmer, but he was also warm like the sun and people gravitated to his light.
“It had to happen at some point.” I grinned. “Besides, my girls rocked it.”
