“I can’t just go. I work here.”
“Hilarious,” I say. Then, a second later, a wave of fear crashes over me. “Is it ... is Mel okay? Is that why you’re here?”
“She was, as of twenty minutes ago,” Luke says, and he’s back to not looking at me. “But she does want to see you again.”
I’m too confused to feel relieved. “Did you tell her the truth?”
“Which part?” he asks.
I take a moment to answer, try to keep my expression even when I say, “All of it.” It’d make her hate me, but she deserves to know the truth. I deserve her fury.
“I’m not going to do that to her,” Luke says. “At least not while she thinks we’re together.”
“But we’re not together,” I point out.
“She thinks we are,” he says. “And I’m not telling her anything different.”
My mouth drops open. “You’re just going to keep lying to her?”
“She’s happy.” He repeats his words from yesterday morning.
“It doesn’t matter if she’s happy. It’s a fucking lie.”
I can’t believe how long Luke managed to fool everyone into thinking he was some kind of saint.
His eyes narrow, and he looks down at my T-shirt. “Don’t you work with children?”
“So?” Self-conscious, I try to cover more of the unflattering shirt and the embarrassing ALL WE DO IS WIN, WIN, WIN NO MATTER WHAT logo emblazoned on it. On the back, it says WINCHESTER SUMMER CAMP MORE, which you’d think would be the more pertinent information, but apparently not.
“So you shouldn’t curse.” He stands up straighter and looks around. “Who’s in charge, anyway?”
“If you hang on a moment, I’ll go get the manager.” It’s meant to be a threat, but that apparently goes over Luke’s head.
“Thanks. That’d be great,” he says.
I disappear into one of the offices tucked into the back of the rec room. “Can I get your help with something?” I ask Diana, and she pops up from her desk.
“Sure. What is it?”
I’m genuinely surprised to see Luke still there, leaning against the wall and scrolling away on his phone. I point him out to her.
“Luke!” Diana says as we approach him. “Nice to see you again.”
I gape as she and Luke shake hands.
“Jessi, this is our new science coordinator, Luke Cohen. He’s a biochem major at State.”
Shit.
“Luke, Jessi’s one of our best team captains. She’s been here since the start of the summer.”
Shit, shit, shit.
Luke doesn’t extend his hand, and neither do I.
“Let me just grab my phone,” she says, “and then I’ll take you to your cabin ... classroom ... whatever you want to call it. We like to call them stations.”
“Got it,” Luke says, following her back to her office. As I watch them go, Luke pulls out the green fabric hanging from his back pocket. The same green T-shirt I’m wearing, matching logo and all.
