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“I thought we established I’m not dumb.” Her mouth quirks. “It’s okay, Spence. Not everyone can be funny.”
“Hey.”
“I’m just kidding too.” She tips her chin up. “Try to keep up.” She turns and steps around the broken glass, leaving the lantern and me in the dust. “I need to show you the cabins,” she says over her shoulder. “Then we can get out of here.”
“Sounds good,” I say, then I follow her even thoughgetting out of heredoesn’t sound good. The thing is, I actually like being around Tess. I like when she’s wild, which is most of the time. And when she’s serious, which is rare. She’s generous. Funny. Fun. Now that I think about it, Ialwayshave fun with her.
Butfunis not what this is about for her. And neither is getting deep. She makes that clear every time I try to have a substantive conversation. She’s not interested in getting to know the real me.
To Tess, I’m a rigid robot with a set of chopsticks in my car. She sees us as two people who have nothing in common, but who get along well enough to complete a job together. She doesn’t expect anything more than for me to be the man the town council mandated. I’m a mandate.
Not amanshe wants todate.
Been there, done that.
My chest constricts at the too familiar feeling of not being the one who’s chosen.
Yeah. You should probably be over that by now, Spencer.
“Come on,” Tess says without looking back. The path we’re taking splits into two, like a flag lot, with two oversized log cabins on either side. When we reach the top she says, “Here we are.” Then she leads me into the cabin on the left. She flips a switch just inside the door. Suddenly the whole room floods with light. “Nice, right?”
I know Tess is asking about the cabin, but the first thing I check out is her face. Sure enough, her cheeks are pink, shining from all the night air and excitement. But she’s also staring at me, waiting for a real answer.
“It’s great,” I say, before realizing I haven’t actually surveyed the space. So I make a big show of walking around, taking things in. Noticing details.
As it turns out, the oversized cabin is actually made up of four smaller rooms, with a group bathroom on the right. The entire structure was clearly made to appear rustic inside as well as out. It’s all rough wood and beams patched together, like a cabin on the prairie. The bunks are modern, though, with iron frames and thick twin mattresses. I know we’re supposed to bring our own sleeping bags, but a plaid blanket is folded at the bottom of every bed. At the top sits a pair of pillows.
“Two whole pillows for everyone?” I raise an eyebrow, and my lip curves up. “Pretty decadent, Tess.”
“We’ve got a big budget, thanks to Fix.” She’s busy admiring the effect herself. Then she turns to me and grins.
“This is where you’ll be sleeping every night for the rest of the summer. Well, you, five male counselors, and about fifty boys. For most of them, this will be their first sleep away experience, so I wanted things to be extra cozy.”
“Mission accomplished.” I nod, appreciatively, but she’s not looking at me. Her eyes are roaming the cabin. Soaking it up. She reaches out to prop a fallen pillow. Then she smooths a blanket. She looks proud. She should be proud. “You do good work,” I say.
“Jill helped. Jill and her boyfriend, Owen. They foldeda lotof blankets with me.” She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, and all the self-consciousness from earlier is gone. She’s in a groove now. I like this groove. “Jill is ridiculously good with kids,” Tess says, finally turning toward me again. “She volunteered to lead nature hikes here on the weekends, so we’ll still get to see each other.”
“You two met at The Clumsy Goat, didn’t you?”
“Yep.” Tess’s shoulders creep up. “I worked there… just the one summer…” Her voice trails off, and a shell of self-consciousness settles over her again. Probably my fault. I’ve teased her one too many times about having one too many jobs.
“I love that place,” I say, trying to swing us back to the positive. “We should go there, sometime. To The Goat, I mean.”
And not just because I could invite Frank.
“Sure. Maybe. At some point,” Tess says. But she doesn’t sound convinced. Guilt plows through my gut. I need Frank to see me out with her, but I don’t want to use her. Having a conscience is a liability. And dangerous to my bank account.
“Of course it will be my treat,” I add, to ease my conscience. “As a thank you for getting me this job. And I’ll be able to afford it. You know. Since I’m making even more money now.”
“That’s the problem.” She winces. “You and I won’t have any free time for a while.”
“Yeah. You’re right.” My heart sinks.
How did this major cog in my dating wheel escape me?
Over the next month, Tess will be working here full time. Like around the clock. Night and day. And I’ve got three jobs. THREE. It’s not like there will be a ton of opportunities for Frank to see us together around town. I never planned to lie to my brother and flat-out claim Tess and I were dating. But Ihadput all my eggs in the basket of Frank drawing his own conclusions.
What a bunch of dumb eggs. Inside an even dumber basket.
