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A year younger than I was, this was Marissa’s fourth summer in Hocking Hills. She was qualified in everything from canoeing and rappelling to knots and orienteering and had just graduated from the University of Akron with a physical education degree.
I was both relieved and glad she had been the person to find me standing in the dusty parking lot.
“Okay, I think we’ve all heard enough of Troy’s voice for the evening”—Tina stood and commanded everyone’s attention—“so I’d like to switch things to serious for just a second.”
A chorus of mocking boos echoed in the balmy air.
“Okay, okay, this won’t take long. Firstly, you’re here to work,” she said. “This isn’t a vacation. The days are long and the pay sucks, but work hard, be the best you can, and you’ll be rewarded. Secondly, tonight is the exception. Enjoy the food and lukewarm beers because starting tomorrow there’s a zero-tolerance rule. Anyone caught with alcohol or drugs in camp will be marched out of here quicker than Troy gained his twenty pounds.
“Finally, this isn’t prison. Make the most of your downtime between camper groups, but no funny business. And, yes, I mean what you think I mean.” She leveled everyone with a reproachful look. “No screwing around with each other. Not in your cabins or out by the lake where you think no one can see you.”
Someone wolf-whistled, and Tina’s eyes narrowed in their direction. “Trust me. It won’t be the first or the last time. It’s only a few weeks, people. Save it for after the summer.”
“My wife, everyone. The country’s solution to birth control.” Troy stood beside Tina and grinned. “Now that we have that out of the way, how about a song?” He lifted a guitar off the ground and slipped the strap over his neck, letting his fingers strum the strings gently.
Troy led the group in song, and I lip-synced along to the ones I knew. The quiet, self-conscious person inside of me wanted to slip into the shadows and remain hidden, but that wasn’t why I was here.
I was here to heal. To move forward. To take back the life that the Freeman group home had so cruelly stolen from me. So I pushed down all my fear and apprehension and started to hum quietly along with the rest of the group.
Caught up in the campfire songs, I didn’t notice the two figures approaching until Tina leaned over to Troy and whispered something in his ear. They both glanced at the new arrivals, and he nodded, all the while strumming the strings.
Tina rose from her makeshift seat and went to greet the two shadows. The song ended, and the three of them came to join the group.
As they sat across the fire, opposite Marissa and me, I realized they were two guys. There was something vaguely familiar about the taller guy, but it was dark, the fire still raging between us, and I couldn’t quite make out his face.
And yet…
No.
It couldn’t be.
My pulse quickened as I strained to make out his features. Although I couldn’t get a good enough look to recognize him, something stirred in the recesses of my heart.
I felt it with every fiber of my being.
But it wasn’t possible.
Was it?
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost, Penny.” Marissa nudged me again, only this time when I turned to face her; she wore a look of confusion while I desperately tried to fight back the panic rising in me.
“I… I’m not sure. The tall one … he looks familiar.”
“You mean Blake?”
Blake?
My heart stuttered, beating in double time.
And then crashed.
For a moment, I was certain it stopped beating.
Everything stopped.
My entire existence narrowed to the boy—the man—sitting across the fire from me.
I couldn’t breathe.
