He greets us the same way he always does. Wordless pull-ins, one by one. Taller than last year, we’re the same height now. His shoulders are broader.
Jace looks at the woman who he came with. “Is she your step mom or something? No offense, you just don’t look half-black.”
Pink floods his cheeks, and he shakes his head. “Nah. She’s just a friend who was nice enough to give me a ride.”
Jace arches a brow. “Right, just a friend.”He raises his hand to form air quotes.
Logan shoves him. “Don’t make it weird, man. It’s not like that. She’s old enough she could be my mom.”
We reach the front of the line and hand over our paperwork. Same stack we’ve filled out every year. Parent contact, emergency release, temporary guardianship.
Jace hands his over. “Jace Lopez.”
Logan steps up. “Logan Hales.”
Wes offers his. “Wesley Carter.”
I pass mine across. “Ford Markov.”
Good to know their full names now. This is the first year we’ve all arrived at the same time.
The counselor flips her clipboard and runs her pen down the list. “All of you are in cabin B-12.”
We step aside.The first summer here, we were all placed in the same cabin. It’s never changed after that. They seem to like to keep repeat campers together. We grin at each other. At least we won’t be stuck with people we don’t know.
I shift my pack and glance toward the road again. No sign of her yet. Jace’s head turns the same way. Logan, too. Wes says nothing, but his eyes track the next car as it pulls up. None of us say we were looking for her. But we are.
I guess we should head to the cabin to drop off our stuff and then we can linger near the front for her in case she comes in.
“Is there something super interesting about the drop-off?” She says close to my ear.
My heart picks up as we all whirl around.
Frankie steps back, baseball cap turned around, her hair tucked up messy under the rim. A few stray curls poke out. Her brown eyes shine in the sun with specks of gold in them. She’s gotten a little taller, too, but nowhere close to any of our heights. There’s more muscle in her legs and arms. Her tee’s knotted at her side, not tight, but enough to flash a sliver of skin at her mid-drift. And... her chest is more defined than it was last year.
Heat shoots up my neck and I swallow hard as my pulse only gets faster.
She’s so damn pretty.
Jace rushes forward and pulls her into his arms. “Frankie!”
We follow suit, surrounding her in a group hug.
She laughs from the center. “Okay, okay, let me breathe! I missed you, too, but you’re all sweaty.”
We break apart. Frankie steps back from the hug and adjusts the bill of her cap.
“My dad dropped me off the second the gates opened.” She points over her shoulder back at the entrance. “Let’s get your stuff put away.”
We all nod and follow her as she turns to go to the area with the boy designated cabins. There’s far more of them than there are ones for girls.
She falls back to walk in the middle of us. “I’ve been here for hours. Figured I’d get the first pick of bunks, but no luck. Same three girls as last year. God, I can’t stand them.” She scrunches her nose. “I swear Brielle snores like a lawn mower.”
Jace laughs. “That’s brutal.”
Frankie shrugs. “They’re fine when they’re not talking. But they always talk.”
We reach B-12 and we head in. She stops at the door, and I glance at her with a questioning look.
