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“It’s fine.” Sure, Dad had threatened to kick Tiffany out, but he didn’t do it. I didn’t want Manning to feel worse than he probably already did because of that night. “I brought you something.”
He looked over at me. “What is it?”
I pulled the flyer out of my back pocket, unfolded it, and gave it to him.
He used his sleeve to dry his temples. “‘Young Cubs Sleepaway Camp,’” he read.
“It has all the info for being a counselor,” I told him.
He scanned the page. “Except what it pays.”
“Eleven dollars an hour.”
“Eleven?” He sounded surprised. “That’s high.”
“The days are eight hours long, even though you’re kind of working the whole time. Even at night.”
“But you get to do stuff outdoors, right?”
“All that stuff I said, like canoeing and fishing and more. There’s also campfires. You even sleep in the cabins with the kids.” I was rambling, but I couldn’t stop. “The cut off to apply was last week, but she said you should try anyway because she thinks they’re understaffed.”
“She?”
“The receptionist at the Y,” I explained.
He peered at the flyer more closely. “YMCA puts it on? My sister and I used to go to our local Y after school.”
By the way his stance and expression eased, I guessed that was a good thing. The problem was that camp started soon. I didn’t know much about construction, but our new neighbors’ house didn’t look quite finished. “The next two weeks we have training and meetings for the counselors. Then we leave. It doesn’t look like you’ll be done in time.”
He folded up the flyer. “Can I keep this?”
I nodded. “The first meeting’s tomorrow night at six-thirty.”
He picked up his pack and slid out a cigarette.
“You probably can’t smoke there,” I said. “At least not where anyone can see.”
“I’ll manage.”
“So you’ll come?”
He studied me a moment. “You want me to?”
I squinted at the house. A flock of birds formed a “V” above us. Did a cloud want to float aimlessly? Did a sky want to be blue? I didn’t know. I couldn’t control my want for him. It just was. “Yes,” I said.
“How come?”
“I feel safe when you’re around.”
His eyebrows lowered. “Is it dangerous up there?”
“No, not at all,” I said quickly. “I mean, there might be bears.”
The wrinkles between his eyes vanished. “You think I can protect you from bears?”
“I . . .” I couldn’t tell if he was teasing me or not. If anyone could take on a bear, it’d be him. “No? Maybe?”
He laughed, a rare sound that made me relax.
“Why is that funny?” I asked. “You’re as big as a bear.”
“Maybe to you, Birdy.”
I couldn’t contain my smile, even if I wanted to. “The meeting’s at six-thirty.”
“You said that already.”
“We could meet there ten minutes early, and I’ll introduce you to the director. Or I was going to have my mom take me, but I could go with you instead?”
He leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms. “What do you think, Lake, that I can just pick you up in my truck and take you somewhere?”
Yes. Yes! A thousand times yes. I had never wanted anything more. “Why not?”
He shook his head, looking away. “Have you talked to Tiffany about this?”
Like a wet blanket, the mention of her name dimmed my mood. I stuck my hands in the back pockets of my jean shorts. “Can I ask you something?”
“Probably shouldn’t.”
“Do you like her?”
He paused. “That’s something I should discuss with her, don’t you think?”
My throat felt dry. I didn’t care. I wanted to know. “She discussed it with me.”
He studied me. “Oh yeah?”
“I’m not going to tell you what she said.”
“I didn’t ask you to. I’ll talk to her about it.”
I sighed up at the sky. Nobody ever told me anything. “But it’s not fair. You and I were friends first.”
“Friends?” he repeated. “Do you think that’s appropriate?”
I frowned. “I thought we were.”
“Your sister and I are friends. You and I—yeah, we are, too. But you have to think about how that looks. When you introduce me to the director of the camp, maybe say I’m your sister’s friend. You know?”
“No, I don’t know,” I lied, just to hear what he’d say. “How does it look for us to be friends?”
Manning exhaled deeply. “I’m older and wiser. Just trust me.”
Of course I understood why we had to keep our friendship to ourselves. It wasn’t anything to be ashamed of, but not everybody would understand it. That meant that to other people, there was only thing linking us: Tiffany. “Are you going to ask Tiffany to go to camp?”
“Yes.”
“But why?” I asked. “She thinks camp is for losers.”
“Because it would be good for her. Think about it. She’s not working right now, maybe a little aimless.”
“A little?”
“Maybe she’ll end up liking it.”
I looked over my shoulder at the house, surprised nobody at home had thought of it. It was a good way for Tiffany to make some extra cash and get some space from Dad. But it meant I’d be giving up a week alone with Manning. I turned back to him. “Is that really the reason you want her there? Or is it because it looks bad for you and me to be friends?”
