“You’re from Colorado. There are so many gorgeous mountains and rivers and sights just outside your window that we don’t really get here. So to you, this is probably just…nice.”
I laughed. “I guess.” I wondered if I should tell her about the guy from the pool.
“So, where’d you run off to last night?” she asked, as if reading my mind.
I decided against it and casually looked at my menu. I didn’t want to alarm anyone about what was probably a rare incident. “Oh, I just went down to the staff lounge to make some photo copies, but it was cl—” I jerked my head up from the menu and looked at Rachel in horror. “Oh, my god!”
I ran through the door to my room and quickly grabbed the folder. I glanced at the clock on the wall before pulling the door open again—10:15 a.m.
I wondered what Sarah considered to be “first thing” and then remembered I had one more stop to make. Sure, I could have made copies at the office, but if I was showing up late, I was going to be prepared. I ran down the exterior stairwell toward the lower deck and ran straight into the room at the end of the deck. I hurriedly made my copies from the only copy machine in the lounge, which thankfully took only a sign-in of my room number.
I was still stuffing the folder into my bag when I ran out of the lounge and back onto the deck. Turning the corner that led to the stairs, I pulled the strap of my messenger bag over me, blocking my view for only a second, when I crashed into someone. Hard. The crash caused the lid of his hot coffee to pop open and the majority of it to spill over his tan linen shirt. I could feel the softness of his shirt and didn’t pull away fast enough to miss the impressive hard, muscular chest. I was only five-foot-three, and this guy had to be about six feet. Extremely embarrassed, I turned and ran. The only thing that seemed logical was to get out of there right away before anything else happened.
“I’m so sorry; I’m in a rush,” I yelled over my shoulder as I ran down the three steps to street level.
“You’ve got to be kidding me…” he yelled after me.
Despite my rush and adrenaline, the voice sounded familiar. It could have been my imagination or the lack of coffee in my system that was making me lose my mind.
I stopped a few feet from the main office just to regain composure and catch my breath. I walked into the office with a look I hoped read that this was my idea of first thing. On a Sunday, at least.
I found a redheaded woman, who looked like she could be reaching seventy, sitting at the reception desk. She looked up at me and smiled.
“Hello, dear.”
“Hi, I’m looking for Sa—Ms. Thornton. I’m dropping off some papers and…”
“I’ll make sure she gets them,” she said, looking down at her magazine and pointing to the edge of the desk, motioning for me to leave my folder. I would have, but I would have liked to solidify my job, and my room and board, as soon as possible.
“Do you know when she’ll be back?”
“She’s gone to the main lodge to hang up some flyers and the camp schedule. The campers are coming tomorrow, and we always post it on the main bulletin in the gym so that they know what activity they’re scheduled for.”
“Of course.” I was still hesitant to leave anything up in the air. I was going to find her.
I started walking down the strip between the club and the camp and noticed something different about the front end of it. But I couldn’t quite place what it was.
The welcome sign, I remembered. It was gone. I started looking around to see if it had flown away and saw Sarah folding it up near the corner of the building. I ran up to her, still carrying my folder.
“Ms. Thornton,” I said, running up to her.
She looked up to acknowledge me and went back to her work.
“Morning,” I said, slowly catching my breath.
She was crouched down and looked up at me with one eye shut from the sunlight. “Is it still morning?”
I looked at my watch: 10:41.
“Here at camp, our mornings start at eight a.m.”
For heaven’s sake, it was Sunday. “Ms. Thornton, I am so sorry. I…” I tried to think of something, an acceptable, logical reason for my tardiness. But the truth was that I had nothing. I wasn’t only at a loss for words of reason, I couldn’t remember how I got there. I was just under eighteen hundred miles from home and practically begging for a job, one I wasn’t convinced anymore I was qualified to handle. The only person I knew was Rachel, who probably thought I was crazy for running out on her. But let’s face it, everyone here was as much a stranger as that guy from the pool. I took a deep breath. “I have nothing.”
She stood from her crouching position. “Look, Amy, I want to help you. I do. And I love your nature art class idea. But I just don’t think you’re ready to handle a group of kids. Especially when part of the program is taking them off camp grounds.” She looked sincerely at me, then looked down at my folder. “I’ll tell you what, leave that with me, and I’ll call you in February to see if we can find a spot for you here.”
I felt defeated. And I had no energy and no compelling argument in me. But I was still creative.
“What are you doing?” I asked looking at the sign.
