“Is that why you aren’t married or dating? Is Daniel the one who got away?” Christine asked.
Emma wasn’t sure how to answer. She’d have to admit a few things to herself first. “Catching up with an old friend has been nice. Unexpected. Maybe inconvenient given everything that’s been happening, but nice all the same.”
“There is never a good time for love. Your life gets spun up and twisted in a thousand different directions once you add another person into a central role,” Christine said. “But it’s worth it. And for the record, I called it.”
Jennifer rolled her eyes. “You can’t claim this set-up. There has to be an expiration date for pairing up a couple.”
Emma pressed cool fingers to her blazing cheeks. “You were matchmaking with me and Daniel?”
Christine shrugged. “I clearly wasn’t as overt as I thought I was.”
“Back in the day, we all thought you two were more than just friends,” Margaux said. “And now you get a second chance. You should take it. I would, if I could.”
Emma wouldn’t state all the reasons she and Daniel could never end up together. His job. Her job. The distance. The women would balk and call those excuses. They wouldn’t be wrong. Daniel was exactly the type of strong, moral man she’d dreamed of for a husband as a little girl. Christine had been correct in her assessment of Emma’s feelings all those years ago.
If she protested too much, she’d accidentally reveal to the women she was up to something else by keeping him close. It served her purpose to let the trio believe in her second chance at love. And verbalizing all the reasons why they wouldn’t work out would only break her heart in the process. Until she had her memories, she couldn’t give her whole heart to someone. She’d shied away from romance for that very reason. “So, it’s settled?”
The women all flashed a thumbs up.
Emma should have been relieved. Instead, her stomach sank. She hated lies of any sort. But she’d go along with this one for the sake of uncovering the truth.
“Let’s head back to the bunk before it’s too dark to see anything,” Christine said.
Emma stood, glad for the reprieve from her personal life, and strode ahead of the group. She greedily gulped the fresh air.
A tiny spot of light flashed and then another. Carefully, she picked her way along the perimeter of the building and away from the artificial light. Fireflies flickered and a memory flashed. Collecting tiny bugs in old peanut butter jars. Liz would circle and dance with her arms outstretched, twisting like a ballet tornado to distract the insects for easier catching. Emma would leap into the air, launching with every muscle honed during dance class, and extend the jar up. It didn’t work. But their childish giggles carried on the wind.
The screen door snapped shut.
Emma jumped back to the present. Daniel hadn’t said not to be alone in the dark, but she didn’t need a badge for the common-sense advice.
“Ready?” Margaux asked.
Emma forced a smile and nodded. Uncertainty roiled her stomach. The other woman asked about the current situation, but Emma read through the lines. Was she ready for what would happen at the end when she had answers? The truth would have a great cost for Emma to pay.
Daniel hadn’t intended to keep his distance last night. He’d needed action and trusted Emma’s safety with all her cabin mates present. He’d gone back to his cabin, retrieving the spiral notebook to hunt for clues.
Reading the journal had taken all his time and attention and then some. The pages were filled with the typical waxing poetic descriptions of young love he’d expected. A rosy picture of a bright future that broke Daniel’s heart for the reality. Owen had outlined steps from attending college together to getting married that would never materialize. Reading the journal of what wasn’t meant to be was difficult as Daniel struggled for emotional distance.
Daniel had needed a break and several re-reads to find clarity. He worried bias colored his perception as annoyance mixed in with the flowery prose. Another person had vied for Liz’s attention. Not in a romantic way, at least not in Owen’s perspective, but in a demanding, seeking, cloying fashion.
Margaux interrupted every moment Owen found, once catching them mid-kiss. The frustration in the angry scrawling letters screamed across the page. Had Owen lured Margaux back for retribution in some way? He was a man determined to get justice. But had someone else gotten in the way? Had another learned the situation and sought to squeeze Margaux for money and eliminate Owen?
The mystery of the angel investment lingered. Why would someone hand over a giant sum of cash to save the camp if not to clean their soul? While Daniel had no specifics, he knew anecdotally that Margaux’s family was the wealthiest. So why would they endow the camp? Their daughter had aged out of the program by then.
Daniel wanted to chat with Emma, away from the others, and bring up what he had learned. She was a notorious early riser. He set a chair in front of her cabin door after not sleeping all night. And promptly fell into a deep slumber. Or he must have. Because he woke up on the ground.
“Daniel? Did you sleep out here?” Emma asked.
With a grunt, he pushed himself upright, spitting the dirt out of his mouth. “Not the whole night. I’ve been out here for an hour, maybe two. I wanted to catch you since you wake up so early.”
“Sometimes it’s because I never really slept.” She rubbed her hands together.
He peered at her but didn’t spot any dark circles under her eyes.
“Can we talk?” she whispered.
He nodded.
