“What’s making you smile like that?” his dad asked before giving him an arched eyebrow look over the rim of his coffee mug, as if he thought Ben might be smirking at his mother’s concern for him.
“I was just thinking about the woman I met yesterday. She helped me clean the cut, that’s all.”
“Really?” His mother didn’t even bother to hide her piqued interest and he wondered just what kind of smile he’d had on his face—the amused kind or the sappy, slightly goofy kind. “Where did you meet her?”
“At the Northern Star. I guess they hired her to help out around the place and she’ll be living in a camper on the property...or something.” He added the last part just to make it sound like he didn’t know too much about her.
“Oh, her name’s Laney, right?” his mom asked, and then continued without pausing to give him time to answer. “We haven’t met her yet, but it’s been all over town that Josh hired somebody to take some of the workload off of Rosie. She’s been taking care of that lodge—and the family—for so long, I’m not sure how she’s going to take having somebody else doing any of the work.”
“I’m sure Rosie will get used to not having to make beds or scrub toilets pretty quickly,” his dad said, and Ben nodded his agreement.
“Well, maybe,” his mom said. “Women tend to like things a certain way, you know.”
“We know,” they said together, earning them each a withering glance from her before she gave in and laughed.
“How old is she?” his mom asked, dashing his hope she’d move on to a new subject. “She must be single if she can live in a camper for the summer, right? What does she look like?”
With both of his parents looking at him expectantly, Ben almost didn’t dare open his mouth. What did she look like? She had blue eyes that really stood out when her cheeks were pink with embarrassment. Her hair was long and he wanted to run his hands through it and see if it was as soft as it looked. She was pretty and she was funny and, though he wasn’t absolutely sure, he had to agree with his mom that Laney was most likely single.
“She’s pretty, I guess. About my age. I have no idea if she’s single or not. I didn’t talk to her very long.”
He stood and carried his plate to the counter while his mom made a vaguely disappointed sound. Maybe he’d run into Laney again and get to know her better, or maybe he wouldn’t. But he knew from growing up in Whitford that he didnotwant his mother or any other woman in town involved in it.
But as she shooed them out of the kitchen so they could get to work on the shed roof—and let her watch shows she streamed on her tablet while she took longer than necessary to clean the kitchen—Ben admitted to himself he wouldn’t mind running into Laney again.
And since she’d be living on the Northern Star property for the summer, he wouldn’t have to try very hard to make it happen.
* * *
Rosie had warned Laney that Sundays had a tendency to get interesting around the Northern Star. Technically checkout time was at eleven, but some campers left at the crack of dawn to avoid traffic, some stayed until eleven and a few would even stay later. And if they asked up front, Josh would allow campers to pack up and park their trucks and campers along the edge of the field—out of their way—and then ride for the day, if they wanted.
It was a lot, Laney thought, as she waved goodbye to the next-to-the-last of their departing campers—a family of four who’d had some trouble packing things back into their SUV the same way it had all come out. It was almost noon, but they’d been very apologetic, so she’d told them to take their time. She’d already picked up on the cardinal rule of the campground—if you were good people, the rules were fluid. If you weren’t, the rules got a lot more strict and included a late checkout fee. While Laney preferred things to be cut and dried rather than up to her discretion since she wasn’t the boss, that wasn’t how they did things here.
Now there was just one more cabin to be vacated and they’d have no guests until Friday. The week after would see the end of the school year for most of New England’s schools and then they’d be busy all week, but it was still mostly weekend business at the beginning of June.
She was about to go and check on the couple in the cabin, but then she heard him yelling something and decided to give them a few more minutes.
“Laney!” She turned to see her cousin, Nola Kendrick, walking toward her.
Laney smiled, relieved to have an excuse not to think about the grumpy guest in the cabin for a few minutes. “Hey, Nola.”
“Are you busy right now? I thought everybody might be gone and we could sneak a quick lunch together. Most places have checkout at eleven.”
“We have a couple on their way out of the cabin, but I’m giving them a little extra time because he seems to be having a bad time of it.” And she was definitely hungry. “I can grab a quick lunch, though I’m not sure what I have.”
“I brought turkey sandwiches from the diner.” She lifted the bag Laney hadn’t paid any attention to. “On wheat bread with mayo and cranberry sauce, like we used to eat when we were little.”
The shared memory warmed Laney’s heart and made her feel less alone than she had in a long time. Born the same year, Laney and Nola had been as close as cousins who only saw each other once or twice a year could be. Nola’s mom, who was Laney’s mother’s sister, had met her future husband at a concert in Old Orchard Beach and run off to someplace in Maine none of them had ever heard of to marry him. Their visits to Rhode Island had been somewhat regular until Laney’s grandmother died and then they’d dwindled away. Luckily, Facebook had eventually come along and Laney and Nola had reconnected.
Maybe Nola was part of the reason she’d taken a chance on this job, Laney thought as they walked toward her camper. She not only got to earn money while living the simple kind of life she wanted, but she could spend time with somebody who’d known and loved the younger version of Laney Caswell.
Once she’d grabbed them each a cold drink from inside, they sat in her folding camp chairs in the shade of her awning to eat.
“I ordered two Adirondack chair kits online,” Laney said. “Hopefully they’ll be delivered soon and I can build them before your next visit, so we’ll be more comfortable.”
“I’m sure you could have borrowed a truck if you wanted to go buy a couple of chairs.”
“I know, but they’re a lot cheaper if you build them yourself. And it’ll be a fun project for me.” She took a bite of the sandwich, and then chewed slowly to savor the taste. Once she’d swallowed, she looked at her cousin. “This is even better than when we were kids.”
