“Is there a problem, Jack?”
“Nope. Not at all. I mean, no one asks my opinion about these things. Your code is zero-eight-zero-five.”
Maybe I was taking someone’s place. Hazel had sounded desperate when we talked, but maybe I’d misheard the desperation in her voice. Obviously, he had someone else in mind for the position.
I tried to come up with something to say. The man had caught me off guard twice in one conversation. But I chose to stand here like an open-mouthed fish instead.
“If that’s all—” he started, but it felt like the end of a sentence.
The last thing I’d ask for at this juncture was more help.
“No, I’m good. Thank you.” There they were.Words.
He turned on his heel and lugged his banged-up toolbox with him, while I stood frozen among the things I couldn’t live without. I watched him walk past the Camp Starlight sign and down the trail until he disappeared, still trying to make sense of the abrasive encounter.
I didn’t know Jack all that well, but we’d had much less hostile conversations during the month I’d worked here last summer, and he hadn’t seemed to have a problem with me then. Clearly, I’d caught him on an off day. I wasn’t going to let that get to me, so I shrugged it off and removed the last item from my car, ready to reenter the only place that had felt like home in a long time.
I’d traveled farand wide, but Camp Starlight was just special. As if it lived in a bubble in one of the prettiest places in the world. There was a feeling every time I walked into this placelike it was… magic.
The air smelled woodsy-er, the birds sang a prettier song, and s’mores never turned out the same when I tried to makethem on the road. Even the cabin that had been ignored for several months felt more welcoming than any hotel or homeshare I’d visited in the past two years.
I wiped the sweat from my brow as people walked past my pod to get the place ready for the new guests that would be arriving. I would have helped, but I’d just driven something close to eight hours, and I had to get my house in order if I was going to function for my activities in less than a day.
By midday tomorrow, my cabin would be surrounded by campers. There would be liveliness and happy activity as people unloaded their things into one-room cabins.
The place I was staying in was somewhat larger than the cabins our guests stayed in. It had a small kitchenette and a bathroom. With campers coming and going each week, it was nice having our cabins close together so that we could facilitate bonding around the picnic table and firepit.
I liked my location because it was only fifty feet from the bathrooms and communal showers, which my pod members always loved. After all, it was nice to be closer to the facilities. People came here for the camp experience, though bougiefied, and that meant sharing some things. It was worth it for the camaraderie you got from spending time with fellow campers, and it added to the camp experience. And Camp Starlight went above and beyond to make this adults-only glamping experience unique and worth the cost.
For one thing, there was the food.
Hazel and Leo had recruited an amazing chef, Azalea, and she’d found a skilled team that made anything from caprese wraps to shakshuka. The standard fare alternated on a nightly basis, so if you wanted a sloppy joe or a hot dog, odds were you could find them, but most chose the delicacies offered.
There were full bars in the mess hall and the bonfire pit for those who chose to partake in alcoholic beverages, and thebartenders, Lola and Luis, a married couple who owned a bar in town, were happy to serve up immaculate creations.
“Hellooo?”
Sunlight shone around my friend, creating this pretty halo she’d probably hate if she knew about, but as enigmatic as Hazel could be, she was also a softy with a big heart.
“Well, if it isn’t the most gorgeous fighter pilot I’ve ever seen.” I cocked my head in admiration.
She frequently wore jumpsuits and overalls and was never without her aviator sunglasses. This was a big change from my former college roommate, who used to be a little more goth before she found her style. Even if she still liked to sport the chunky black boots and ripped tights once in a while.
I grew up in Maryland, just a hop and a skip away from DC. I’d gone to the West Coast for college to be closer to my mother’s mother, my favorite grandmother, who happened to be in a retirement community in Oregon. The agreement between my controlling parents and me had been that I’d get my degree in business and come back to join the Breckenridge Group once I’d finished my master’s. For the most part, I’d done what they wanted, but that had changed after I’d disappointed them in a big way.
She put her hand on her hip and posed. “I need you for a mission.”
“Really? I thought the mission was for me to come here in your hour of need to fill the role of camp counselor. Speaking of which, was everyone on board with me coming back?”
Hazel quirked an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
“Just curious.”
Hazel didn’t ask me to elaborate. “To answer your question, yes, we do need you. But your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to go pick up marshmallows for tomorrow’sfestivities. Because we’d look like fools if we didn’t have enough for s’mores.”
I laughed. “Well, we can’t have that. Let me finish this up, and then I’d be happy to go.”
“Thank goodness, because I don’t want to.” She tossed a pair of rolled-up socks back and forth as she stared into my nearly empty bag. “You’ve got this packing thing down.”
