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I’d felt things changing between us, but I hadn’t expected to feel so exposed around him.
Just as he did when we were kids, Blake always saw me. Not the front I tried to put on or the brave mask I wore so often, he sawme.
Therealme.
Broken, tired, alone. The girl holding on by a thread.
I wasn’t exactly that girl anymore—I was stronger.
Hardened.
I was a survivor.
But it didn’t matter because as he watched me across the fire, it felt like Blake could see straight into my soul.
“Oh, no, no, no, na feasta,” Troy’s voice rang out loud, startling me.
I didn’t risk glancing back up at Blake. Instead, I joined in with the rest of the song, trying to think about anything but the boy who once saved me, and how it might have been more than a coincidence that we found our way back to each other.
Seven years later at a camp for kids just like the ones we’d once been.
* * *
“There she is.” Troy approached me as everyone around us mingled. “How are you enjoying camp so far? I’ve been hearing good things about you.” He smiled, and I felt myself shrinking into my hoodie, not used to such compliments.
“Of course, you have. She’s a natural.” Blake slung an arm around Troy’s neck and smiled directly at me. “Right, Penny?”
I nodded, unsure if there was a hidden meaning in his words.
“We change lives”—Troy grinned—“but I never thought we would reunite two lost souls either. It’s a beautiful day, people. Live. Love. And be happy.” He clapped Blake on the back and gave me a small nod before leaving us.
“What was that all about?” I asked Blake, not sure I liked the idea of everyone knowing about our history.
“Don’t mind Troy. He’s just a big old teddy bear,” he replied.
I glanced round the campfire, aware of the tension crackling between us.
The girls had long abandoned me to sit with their friends—new and old—and Marissa was busy talking to Sam. She denied there was anything between them, but I’d caught her checking him out on more than one occasion.
“Come on.” Blake motioned to the lake in the distance. I hesitated and he let out a quiet laugh. “It’s fine, come on. Please.”
“Won’t anyone notice we’re gone?” I asked following him, remembering Tina’s warning about counselors taking their relationships too far.
“We’re just talking. It’s fine. You can trust me, Penny.”
I was transported back eleven years to a time when a broken girl had given her trust to a boy with grass-stained jeans and dirty Chucks.
So much had happened since then.
“So Troy is an interesting guy,” I said, trying to evade the memories flooding my mind.
“He’s great. He really gets the kids and the work. He’s just a little free-spirited. I think he and Tina were hippies back in the day.”
“He called us lost souls? What did he mean?”
Blake swept a hand through his tousled hair and exhaled a long breath. “I’ve known Tina and Troy for a long time. They know some of our history.”
Something flashed in his eyes, causing me to tense, and my mind immediately went to a place I didn’t want to remember.
