I shivered and shook my head. Needless to say, I didn’t feel the same. That was one thing I was never doing again. I blinked back the stinging in my eyes. “I just wanted to be fearless for once.”
“I thought you were crazy for jumping off a cliff, but that’s the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard.”
I frowned at him.
“Amy, I’ve never seen courage like yours. You blindly hopped into a car and traveled cross-country to a town where you don’t know a soul, hoping to land yourself a job and a place to stay. As if that wasn’t enough adventure for one day, you went strolling around at night, trying to ward off bums from private property.” He smiled at me. “Then, just when I thought I’d seen it all, you challenge Jeff back at Sarah’s office, the most arrogant, self-centered jackass that I never see anyone mess with, and you actually won.” He let out a breath. “Amy, whatever your reasons are for coming here, even if you don’t know what they are, you’re following your heart. Only brave people follow their hearts when they don’t know where it’s leading them.”
I stared at him and finally blinked. I couldn’t tell you which emotion I was feeling was stronger at that moment: the amazement in Rick’s poetic observations or the hope I was starting to see in myself. It was astonishing what people thought of you without ever saying as much.
“I was wrong about you. What if I’m wrong about all this?” I said.
He looked at me thoughtfully for a moment, then stood. I imagined from that look that the only way I’d find out is if I stuck around long enough.
I kept my arms tightly wrapped around my knees. Rick bent down and pulled on my arms to loosen the grip. “C’mon. Let’s walk.” He took my hand and helped me to my feet. We started walking back toward Bays House.
“Are there really sharks in that water?”
He laughed. “No. At least nowhere near we were.”
CHAPTER 17
Monday morning Rachel and I had gotten up early to help with last-minute detailing for the kids’ Fourth of July show. The weather was beautiful: sunny, and not a cloud in the sky. I felt excited for the kids; the mere idea of having to move the show to the gym in case it rained would have been devastating. Rachel, along with Jeff and Lindsey, helped unfold white party chairs along the beach that stretched out fourteen feet away from the stage. Peter and a few other counselors were helping the kids get ready. And I had to make some final detailing to my backdrop, since I’d needed to let the paint dry overnight.
The kids all did a fantastic performance. They sang their patriotic songs, marched their patriotic march, and a few even gave short speeches on what the holiday meant to them. Sarah was most proud of that one.
Jeff had even given me an approving nod when he saw my backdrop additions. “Not bad, Ame.”
Rick was caught up talking to parents—mostly the fathers, who had shown a lot of interest—about water sports. Rick was patient and spoke to everyone. I’d even noticed how he’d specifically referred to each child individually. I watched him for a minute, then blinked away as he’d caught my eye. Again.
By three o’clock in the afternoon, the concert was over. Proud parents were gathering up their campers as we hurriedly cleared out chairs, banners, and carts. I’d looked around, feeling proud for having had a small role in putting the scene together. And, if I was being truthful with myself, I was thankful for having the time to get to know Rick because of it. As he crossed my mind, I casually scanned the crowd for him, but he had disappeared shortly after Haley showed up to help with cleanup. And she was nowhere in sight either.
Rachel came up to me, sweaty and exhausted. “Oh, man. I’ve got to get out of this heat. You want to walk back with me?”
“Not just yet. I’m going to help finish up here, then grab a cold drink and head back to take a nap.”
“A nap?” Rachel frowned and pretended to be taken aback. Then her expression turned serious. “Actually, a nap sounds really good right now.”
I must have been looking around the beach again, because Rachel caught my distraction.
“If you’re looking for Rick, I just saw him out front with Haley. She was helping him take the front sign down.” Rachel rolled her eyes, “Well, standing around and watching him was more like it.”
“Oh, no,” I insisted. “I was just trying to decide where to put these drapes.”
Rachel eyed me for a moment, as if to tell me that I didn’t need to make up excuses with her. “I’ll see you back at the room.” She waved and ran off down the boardwalk.
I was thankful to her for dropping the subject, but I couldn’t shake the disappointment that washed through me at every thought of them off together. I forced myself to brush it off and scanned for a task to engross myself in. I wasn’t going to get myself in this depressing frame of mind. Not again.
My eyes landed on the empty stage. I hopped on, deciding I would take down the striped blue-and-white stage curtains off the downstage columns they were tied to. I hadn’t been the one to hang them or tie them to the poles with the hard and rough solid blue poly ropes. The ropes were tightly tied around the drapes. I pulled and pulled, finding some loose holes and digging around until I was able to detangle the first set. There were three more, and each one seemed tighter than the last.
Suddenly I felt someone jump onto the stage next to me. I spun my head around and found Jeff facing the audience, which would now only be the camp and club staff cleaning up.
He cupped his hands around his mouth. “Hey everyone! Fourth of July fireworks party on the beach tonight.” He pointed to the left of the beach. “In front of Dan’s Crab House.” A few people cheered, and Jeff jumped off the stage to continue to give people details of the party. I wondered how a careless self-centered jerk like him could be hired year after year to work with children.
A few moments later, I finally loosened the strings off all the drapes and pulled them off the downstage columns. I bent down to start gathering the fabric when I felt a tug of the other end of it behind me. Thinking it was Jeff again, I spun around angrily and found Rick leaning against the backstage column with his legs crossed at the ankles, holding up one end of the drapes. I couldn’t decide if it was the heat getting to me or the lighting or if I just had lost my mind, but he looked incredibly sexy. His hair was almost a shade darker slicked back and wet, as if he’d recently run water through it. Probably to cool off.
“Need some help with these?” His green eyes were smiling at me. His tanned skin looked as smooth as ever.
Yeah, it was definitely the heat. I needed to lie down.
