All the color left Ashlyn’s face. “You’ve got to be shittin’ me.”
“Honey, that won’t be nearly as bad as the day you muck out the horse stalls in the barn,” Jayden said. “Lay those papers on your cots, and we’ll go out to the bathroom as a group. That way you’ll know where it is.” She led the way outside with all three girls behind her. “The laundry is right beside it, and every other day one of you will be responsible for doing the washing for the group. If you get the bright idea to ruin one of your teammates’ uniforms or a piece of their underwear, then I’ll take the same from your stash. That means you’ll be wearing the same underbritches for more than one day.”
“Good God.” Carmella laid a hand across her forehead in a dramatic gesture. “I’ve died and gone straight to hell with the worst people in the whole world.”
“Last time I checked, God was very good.” Jayden crossed her fingers behind her back. She still hadn’t forgiven God for taking her mother from her. “He’s given all of you a second chance to straighten up your lives. Here it is.” She entered the bathhouse ahead of them to find Novalene already in there with her charges.
“Whinin’ yet?” Novalene looped her arm into Jayden’s and led her outside.
“Oh, yeah,” Jayden answered.
“Mine, too. Is that plate dumper going to be your ringleader when they become friends?” Novalene asked.
“I think my platinum blonde is going to be the hard-ass in the group,” Jayden replied. “How about your girls?”
“The most vocal right now is Lauren. She’s the one who’s been in and out of rehab several times for drugs,” Novalene answered. “I’ve seen worse on the first day, and then I’ve seen miracles by the end.”
“Let’s hope it happens that way this time around,” Jayden said.
Tiffany was the first one out of the bathroom. “That rough old brown paper is going to ruin my hands.”
“And the soap is going to dry my skin.” Ashlyn followed her. “Can’t we at least get our own toiletries out of our suitcases? I use a special lotion, and I need my makeup kit.”
“Sorry, darlin’,” Jayden answered. “Your new cosmetics will consist of a bar of soap and a stick of deodorant, both of a generic brand; a disposable razor if you’ve a mind to shave your legs; and a bottle of generic two-in-one shampoo. They are located in a plastic bag in your footlocker back in Daydream Cabin.”
“Holy shit!” Ashlyn paled again beneath her perfectly tanned skin.
“And one more thing, the only tanning bed comes from up there.” Jayden pointed to the hot sun. “You will definitely have a farmer’s tan by the time you go back home.”
“No makeup?” Tears welled up in Tiffany’s eyes.
“Not even a little bit of lip gloss, but you do have a tube of generic dollar-store lip balm in your footlocker,” Jayden told them. “And for your information, I will be using the same products that you do, so we’re all in the same boat.”
“You get to wear jeans and your own shirts,” Carmella argued.
“You all might remember this when you go home and want to drink and drive, shoplift, or bully other girls,” Jayden reminded them. “We have a few minutes left to go over tomorrow’s schedule or we can go to the barn, and you can see where your first job will be in the morning after you do your exercise routine with Elijah at five fifteen and walk a mile before breakfast.”
“Can we go back to the cabin now?” Tiffany looked like she was fighting tears. “I’ve never been up that early in my life or walked any farther than to the end of the driveway.”
“Except when you’re putting ugly pictures on the internet so early in the morning that no one else is up, right?” Ashlyn asked.
“Or sneaking in past curfew?” Carmella added.
“Neither of you have room to judge me.” Tiffany marched toward the cabin, leaving them behind. Reluctantly, her two cabinmates followed along behind her, with heavy sighs floating out into the hot wind blowing across the yard.
Jayden wondered if her sister gave up her makeup while she was at the camp. If she did, what did she look like? Jayden hadn’t seen her without a full, hour-long makeup job since she was twelve years old and Skyler was fifteen. That was the year that Skyler got strep throat and the world came to an end until she got well. That whole week, Skyler went without makeup.
“Penny for your thoughts.” Novalene caught up to her.
“Is this par for the course?” Jayden asked. “Are they always this prickly on the first day?”
“Yep,” the older woman answered. “Today has opened their little eyes. Tomorrow, more than just your tray dropper will be crying by bedtime, and then things will begin to get better.”
“One baby step at a time?” Jayden asked.
“Oh, honey, one-half a baby step if we’re lucky.” Novalene waved as she followed her crew back to the Moonbeam Cabin.
Jayden didn’t go inside the hot cabin when she got back but sat down in one of the double Adirondack chairs on the porch. Skyler should have told her more, but if her sister had, then she would be at home in her apartment instead of at Piney Wood. That was a guaran-damn-teed fact. Yet now that she could look ahead with hope of helping these girls, she was glad she’d come.
Elijah rounded the end of the cabin and sat down beside her. “How’s it going?”
“About as expected. Strip any teenage girl of her makeup, fancy jeans, and phone, and they think the world has come to an end. Right now, they don’t even know if the sun will come up tomorrow,” she answered.
“By the time it does, they’ll have done thirty minutes’ worth of exercise and walked a mile.” He chuckled. “Are you going to walk with them? You aren’t required to join them. The other counselors just wait until I bring them all back for breakfast.”
“I’ll be right there with them,” Jayden answered.
“Skyler didn’t—” he started.
Jayden held up a palm and butted in before he could say another word. “I’m not my sister.”
“I can already see that.” Elijah grinned. “What’s this thing between the two of you anyway? She never even mentioned having a sibling.”
“She had trouble even acknowledging that I was her sister to her friends. I was the ugly duckling.” Jayden didn’t know why she was telling him such personal things and wished immediately that she’d just brushed off the comment. “Most of the time, I imagine both of us wish we were only children. What about you? Brothers? Sisters?”
“Brother, but he died of a brain tumor when he was sixteen. I was three years older and had just reached my duty station near Atlanta when I got the news. We didn’t even know he was sick, and then six weeks later he was gone. Then a couple of years after that, my folks were both killed when a drunk driver hit them, so Uncle Henry and Aunt Mary are the only family I’ve got left,” he said. “And you realize ugly ducklings grow up to be swans, right?”
“I’m so sorry about your brother.” Jayden swallowed a lump in her throat at the idea of losing another loved one, almost not noticing the sweet comment he’d made about a swan. She and Skyler had never gotten along, but she’d never wished that Skyler were dead. Her father had always favored Skyler and still did. She seldom saw him these days, but again, she hoped there’d be more time in the future to maybe mend fences with both her sister and her dad.
“I still miss them, but I’m grateful that I’ve got Henry and Mary,” he said. “At least you’ve still got your dad.”
“We don’t get along so well,” she admitted and then wondered again why she was talking to a complete stranger about her personal life.
“Why? You don’t have to answer that. It’s way too personal.” Elijah stood up.
“My folks divorced when I was in high school. He moved to Virginia with his girlfriend, who later became his wife. Skyler was in her sophomore year of college, so she didn’t have to choose where to live, but I did, and I chose Mama and my grandfather, who had come to live with us when Granny died. He
never quite forgave me for that.” She wasn’t willing to tell Elijah that she’d never felt like her father really loved her like he did Skyler.
“Did you go to the same college as Skyler?” he asked.
“Nope, I went to a juco only a mile or two away and lived at home. Then I went to the university that was only five miles away and still lived at home,” she answered.
And I’d be living in that same house now if Skyler hadn’t sold it right out from under me, she thought.
“So y’all kind of grew apart?” Elijah suggested.
“You could say that,” Jayden agreed and changed the subject. “Why did you leave the air force? You were pretty close to putting in twenty, weren’t you?”
“After we lost the other three members of our team, I and a few friends all decided that we didn’t want to enlist again. It seemed like a big voice was yelling at me that if I didn’t get out, I’d be next,” he told her.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“Hard work right here at Piney Wood has helped me move on. Maybe it’ll be your salvation, even if it wasn’t Skyler’s. I always got the feeling she was just here for the money,” Elijah said.
“What makes you think that?” Jayden looked up at him.
“Just the way she acted, I guess.”
“She’s always been materialistic, but hopefully she did help the girls she worked with to be better people,” Jayden said.
“We’ll hope.” Elijah rolled his neck to get the kinks out. “See you in about ten minutes in the dining room. I’ve spent the last couple of hours up under Henry’s house, helping him redo some plumbing.” He waved over his shoulder as he headed toward the dining building.
That he’d been in the service was evident in the way he squared his shoulders and walked out across the yard. She drew her brow down as she tried to remember what Skyler had said about him—maybe something about him being a drill sergeant?
“Is it time to go eat?” Tiffany slumped down into one of the other chairs.
Jayden checked her watch. “Five more minutes until y’all line up.”
“How come I have to sit with those other girls? Why can’t I sit with my own team?” she asked.
“That’s so you can get acquainted with the members of the other teams. There are cabin teammates and dining teammates, and then there’s a combined team effort when y’all are all together for exercises and the morning walk. I understand that you’ll gradually build that up to a two-mile jog by the time you leave,” Jayden answered.
“The news just gets better and better,” Tiffany pouted.
“Don’t ask the question if you don’t want to know the answer. I won’t lie to you or sugarcoat the truth, either. Do you think you’ll eat what’s put before you tonight?” Jayden hoped that Tiffany could find the strength to get over the eating disorder.
“Yes, ma’am,” she answered without hesitation.
One small victory at a time, Jayden thought as she got up and stepped off the porch. Something akin to a fire siren blew and startled her so badly that she almost dropped to the ground and covered her ears. All the girls poured out of the cabins to see what was happening.
Elijah yelled across the yard when the noise stopped. “That’s your call to eat three times a day, and you will also hear it in the morning. It means you have two minutes to line up and be ready.”
The girls ran across the yard and put their toes on the edge of the sidewalk, then looked to each side to see if there was six inches between their shoulders.
Elijah smiled at Jayden as she passed him. “They’re learning fast.”
“Looks like it.” She went on inside and tried to ignore the little shiver that danced down her spine when she was near him. She’d been attracted to tall, dark, and handsome men before, but in the end it all came down to trust and her lack of it. According to her own self-therapy, her issues came from the fact that her father had proved untrustworthy when he cheated on her mother.
There was no way she’d encourage anything with Elijah Thomas. She had only eight weeks to spend out here in the wilderness, and then she was going back to her city life. Jayden Bennett did not belong in a barren place like this, even if it was beautiful in an eerie way, so why start something she could never finish? And besides, why would she trust Elijah? She hardly knew him.
“What are you thinking about so strongly?” Novalene handed her a glass of sweet tea when she came into the dining room.
“They’ve lined up pretty well out there.” Jayden took a long sip of the ice-cold tea. “I’m hoping that’s a good sign.”
“The best sign will be if your girl doesn’t dump her food on the floor again. Right now, they’re all probably trying to decide if juvie would be worse than this,” Diana said from the adult table.
“If she does dump her food, Carmella and Ashlyn might smother her to death in her sleep tonight.” Jayden smiled.
Diana shook her head. “If she or any of the other girls at her table pull a stunt like that, we’ve all decided that the tablemates, not the teammates, will clean it up.”
“Sounds good to me,” Jayden said. “What’s that delicious aroma coming from the kitchen?”
“Pot roast, and Mary made a big chocolate sheet cake,” Diana answered. “I always gain ten pounds when I’m here. If I had a lick of sense, I’d walk with the kids every morning, but I’m too lazy for that.”
“I’m too old for it.” Novalene giggled.
“Besides, I don’t care if I gain ten pounds. I figure I’ll run it off when I get home and go back to school,” Diana added. “What about you, Jayden? Are you going to get up and do the walk?”
“Yep, and I’m going to eat what I want,” Jayden answered. “I always go to the gym before school, anyway, so I’m used to getting up early. This won’t be any big thing, except on weekends. Those are my days to sleep in, but I don’t figure two months of giving them up will kill me.”
“Just remember, the gym is air-conditioned and has a roof, so if it rains, you don’t get wet. Unless there’s lightning, the girls will be walking every morning, rain or shine,” Novalene said. “Here they come. Let’s see what happens.”
Jayden wasn’t a bit surprised when Tiffany dug right into her supper and even went back for a second hot roll. When the girl got finished eating, her tray was so clean that it looked like it wouldn’t even need rinsing. She crossed the room and asked, “Is it all right if I go to the bathroom before I take the hogs their supper?”
“That will be fine,” Jayden agreed. “I’m going with you.”
When they reached the bathroom, Tiffany went into a stall and closed the door.
Jayden heard a gagging sound and slung the door open.
Tiffany whipped around to glare at her.
“Why are you doing this?” Jayden asked. “You are a beautiful young lady. What can I do to help you overcome this problem?”
“My friends hate fat girls, and I’m not going to gain weight. I don’t want any of your help,” Tiffany hissed. “You can’t be with me twenty-four hours a day, woman.”
“No, I can’t, but I can do something even better,” Jayden said. “Get back to the dining room.”
Tiffany crossed her arms over her chest. “What if I refuse?”
“You can go talk to the judge.” Jayden felt so sorry for the girl that she wanted to cry. She’d felt ugly most of her life, so she could relate to Tiffany, but she’d be damned if she let the girl see pity in her face. “If you don’t beat me to the porch, then Elijah will be taking you to the Brewster County Jail tonight.”
Tiffany waited until Jayden started to jog, and then she ran full-out to the door. When Jayden got there, the girl had bent over at the waist and was trying to get her breath. Carmella and Ashlyn pushed their way out onto the porch, and Jayden motioned for them to sit down on a bench.
“Tiffany is having some trouble with bulimia—we all need to join forces and help her overcome it,” Jayden said.
“You’re crazy.
That’s unhealthy,” Ashlyn said.
“And drinking isn’t?” Tiffany found enough breath to shoot back.
“So”—Jayden shifted her focus from one girl to the other—“from now on, one of you will stay with Tiffany at all times. If she goes to the bathroom, one of you will be with her, and the stall door will be open. If she takes the slop bucket out to the hogs, one of you will go with her. If she tries to throw up, you will tell me. If you don’t, you can go with Tiffany to Alpine to the jail to await whatever your folks want to do with you.”
“What about when we do our individual jobs in the afternoons?” Carmella asked.
“Then I’ll be with her. She needs to learn to love herself and not care what other people think of her. We all need to help each other work through whatever problems we have,” Jayden said. “You two can figure out who is going with her tonight to the hog lot. I’m going inside for another glass of tea.”
“I’ve only been doing this for a few months. I can quit anytime I want,” Tiffany declared. “I don’t need any help.”
As Jayden went into the dining room, she heard Carmella say, “I hate you, girl, but I’ll take the first shift, and if I catch you even biting one of your fingernails, I will kick your sorry ass all the way to the jail myself.”
Chapter Six
Elijah picked up a framed picture on the bookcase in his small living room and stared at the seven guys in it. He could almost feel the sweat running down their faces in big drops, the heat pouring down upon them, the sand that stuck to everything—boots, hair, bedsheets. They had been playing football, shirts and skins, and his team—the skins—had won, but they were all smiling and posturing for the picture.
Now three of them were gone—Matty, Tommy, and Derrick. In the blink of an eye one hot summer day in the sandbox, they were dead, and he felt like he was the cause. If he hadn’t had to put fuel in the helicopter, he could have gotten there in time to save Matty. His younger brother was the smart one, the one who was going to be a doctor someday, so Elijah should have been the one to die young. If he had been home, maybe his mother and dad wouldn’t have died in that auto accident. He was like a bad luck penny that kept turning up. He wiped the dust from the top of the picture frame and set it back on the bookcase. He crammed his ball cap on his head, got a bottle of beer from the refrigerator, and went out into the darkness for a walk.
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