Everyone has their own stories, Jayden thought as she watched Tiffany hit the ball way out into left field and make it to third base. She’d had a best friend from kindergarten to eleventh grade. Lee Anna had long red hair and was as tall as Tiffany, and she and Jayden were inseparable. Then Lee Anna slept with Jayden’s boyfriend right before the junior-senior prom. Jayden had already bought a dress and was so excited about going to the prom with Kyle. Then overnight he called to break up with her and say that he was taking Lee Anna to the event. That was only a few months after her parents’ divorce, when Jayden’s trust meter was at an all-time low. After the trust issues that came with that, and the way that Skyler treated her, she had learned to keep everyone at arm’s length.
Can you trust Elijah? the voice in her head asked.
“If either of you hadn’t chosen a job working with kids, what would you have wanted to be?” she asked to get her mind away from the past and from Elijah.
“I would have been a race car driver,” Novalene answered first. “I love to drive fast with rock music playing as loud as I can get it.”
“You’re joking, right?” Jayden’s eyes felt like they might pop right out of her head, roll down the steps, and land out there in the dirt.
“Nope, not in the least, and Elvis Presley is my favorite. Lord, that boy could sing, and he looked like sex on a stick.” Novalene fanned herself with the back of her hand. “I saw him once in concert out in Vegas.”
“Did you throw your panties at him?” Jayden asked.
“Damn straight I did. My sister and I both did. Mine were black lace and hers were red satin.” Novalene laughed. “I can see that I’ve shocked the sin right out of y’all. Now it’s your turn to answer that question, too.”
Diana raised her hand. “I’ll go next. There were times when I got tired of Mama telling me that my brothers got to stay out later and do more than I did because they were boys. So, if I could be something other than a teacher, which Mama thought was a good, safe route for me to take, I would have gone into the army and trained to be a sniper. I go to the shooting range every month. I’ve earned my expert marksman status.”
“Do you really think you could shoot someone?” Jayden asked.
“I could have this morning.” Diana smiled. “But we’ll never know whether I really could or not, because that ship sailed a long time ago. My folks would have dropped graveyard dead if I would have even mentioned joining the army. Your turn, Jayden.”
“Is this a therapy session?” Jayden asked.
“Could be,” Novalene answered. “I sure never told anyone that I drive ninety in a seventy-five-mile zone and listen to Elvis so loud that it shakes my car. They’d send the boys in the white jackets after me.”
“Before I tell y’all what I might have been, what do you think the answer will be?” Jayden wondered how folks—other than her sister—might see her.
“I think you’re stalling and that you are playing the role of the therapist,” Novalene said, “but I’ll go first. You would have been a chef in a big fancy restaurant.”
“No, she would have been a baseball player,” Diana disagreed. “She’s been watching the game out there pretty close. She would have been like Geena Davis in A League of Their Own. Matter of fact, she looks like Geena. She even has the same smile as Geena. But Jayden has freckles and Geena doesn’t.”
“Geena probably did, too, but the makeup covered them,” Novalene argued.
“Maybe so,” Diana agreed. “But I also think she would have been a writer, maybe of romance novels. She’s watching the game, but her eyes are also on Elijah. What was your major in college? Did you teach before you became a school counselor?”
“I majored in English, and I taught three years before I got offered the job of counselor,” she answered.
“Then I’m right about her being an author. She’s had heartache in her life, so she could touch a reader’s emotions.”
“Bingo! Give Diana a prize.” Jayden grinned. “She got pretty close. I’m not sure I could tell a story good enough for someone to read. I always thought I’d like to be an editor, but I’m a counselor and that’s probably what I’ll be until I retire.”
“Diana, how old are you?” Novalene asked.
“I turned gray before I was thirty, so you might think I’m older than I am. I don’t mind tellin’ you that fifty is in the rearview mirror for me—way too old to join the army now. But don’t ask me about my weight. Only me, my doctor, and God know that number. I threatened to make the nurse that weighs me once a year sign an affidavit in blood—hers not mine—that she would never utter that bit of information out loud, write it on any piece of paper other than the doctor’s notes, or even think it after I left the office,” Diana said.
“If you want to be a sniper, you should teach shooting classes instead of counseling kids,” Novalene told Diana.
“Another thing I wish I’d done was get married and have kids,” Diana said.
“It’s not too late for that,” Novalene told her. “Don’t wait until you’re sixty like me and too old to have kids. I regret that most about my life. Kids and grandkids would have been nice right about now. Maybe that’s why I love these mean little girls so damn much. They’re surrogates for what I don’t have.”
Diana shrugged. “I’ve thought about both of those, but . . .”
“But what? Have you looked into it?” Jayden asked when she paused.
“This really is group therapy.” Diana chuckled. “It’s your turn, Jayden. How old are you?”
“I was thirty-one last month,” Jayden admitted. “Thanks for thinking I look like a young Geena Davis, too. I always felt like an ugly duckling because I was tall and gangly, and there wasn’t a delicate thing about me.”
“Ugly ducklings often turn into beautiful swans,” Novalene declared. “You have a good heart, woman. You are strong. I saw a quote once that said something about us all needing to surrender to the beauty of revealing ourselves to ourselves, to realize that our beauty comes from within, not from without.”
“I saw that same one. The whole thing hangs on the wall in my office. Doing that is a daily battle for all of us, but most of all for these girls. Looks like our session is over.” Jayden pointed to eight girls and one handsome fellow walking away from the makeshift baseball field. “I bet they’re starving tonight, and speaking of that, I’d better hustle on over to the dining room and help Mary get the pizzas ready to serve.”
Everyone has a story, a daydream, or even a regret, she thought as she stood up. “Thanks for the visit. Novalene, I don’t think you should drive the second van to church next Sunday.”
The older woman chuckled as she got to her feet and headed over to the Moonbeam Cabin. “I doubt any of these girls would love Elvis like I do, anyway, and even as tough as they think they are, they’d be cryin’ their little eyes out for me to slow down once I got into my zone, as the kids these days say. Maybe that’s where I went wrong with Lauren. I should have taken her for a ride, and then she would have thought this place was right up there next to heaven. I’ll see y’all at supper in a few minutes.”
“Pizza, pasta, and pie with ice cream tonight,” Jayden said as she hurried across the yard, making it to the dining building in time for Elijah to open the door for her.
“Don’t get downwind from me or the girls,” he said. “All of us will be glad for showers tonight.”
“Looks like you had a good time, though.” Jayden went into the kitchen and grabbed an apron. “Do you do this every Sunday?”
“Nope,” Mary answered for him. “Sometimes he gets them into a horseshoe competition or some other game. It teaches them sportsmanship.”
“And teamwork,” he said. “Can I help with anything? It’s five minutes before the siren goes and I have to see that their toes are on the edge of the sidewalk.”
“What does that teach?” Jayden asked.
“Obedience, which helps them learn to listen to rules, and that help
s them hopefully grow up and live long enough to be productive citizens. When their boss tells them to do something, they do it, and in turn, it teaches them to like themselves for doing a good job,” Elijah answered.
“Or when the law says that they don’t drink and drive, they obey and maybe don’t wind up killing someone and themselves,” Mary added. “So, everyone wins, but most important, the girls do.”
Jayden nodded in agreement. She had always preached that going to school wasn’t just to learn to read, write, and do math. Getting up and going to class taught them how to be on time for their jobs when they were adults. Listening to lectures taught them to pay attention so they could learn the ins and outs of a job. All of it together made them learn responsibility.
Elijah left the kitchen when the siren echoed out through the land.
Jayden covered her ears.
Mary giggled.
“I liked the hymn this morning better than this. Why can’t we call them to dinner with a country music song?” Jayden asked.
“We’ve tried everything from something like bells ringing to an old-fashioned telephone sound, but nothing reaches all the way out to the barn or the bathrooms like the siren. This way they don’t have an excuse for not getting lined up,” Mary explained.
“That makes sense.” Jayden slid two pies out of the oven and put two more into it. “Now that some time has passed, how are you holding up?”
“Fine.” Mary took the lids off the pasta dishes and stirred the pot of marinara sauce. “We’ve had wild ones before, and it’s not uncommon to lose one or two in a season.”
Jayden thought of all the times she’d had to send a kid to the school nurse because they were too high to even pay attention to their teacher and had been sent to her office. Maybe Skyler was right to teach in a parochial school, where there was more emphasis on God. But she sure wasn’t right with God when Mama died, or else she wouldn’t have been so mean about things.
Jayden had never seen the girls as dirty or sweaty as they were that evening when they lined up for supper, not even after they’d cleaned horse stalls or when they had gone through the morning exercise regimen.
“Little bit of dirt on your forehead,” she whispered to Tiffany when she was the first one through the line.
“Yep, and I earned it when I slid into third base,” Tiffany said. “Ashlyn broke two fingernails and Carmella’s going to have a bruise on her hip.”
Ashlyn held up her hands like trophies. “Worth it because we won by a run. We might get a rematch before we leave here so we can whip them again.”
“What about you, Carmella?” Mary asked.
“I hate anything that makes me sweat, but to show up that other team, I’ll gladly play another game,” Carmella answered. “Can I, please, have another helping of that baked ziti? I’m starving.”
“Of course.” Mary scooped up another big spoonful, put it on her tray, and whispered to Jayden, “I bet we don’t have much to put in the hog’s bucket tonight.”
“That will make Tiffany happy.” Jayden moved on down the line and started pouring sweet tea and water into glasses. “She’s only got one more day and then she’s done with that job.”
Elijah picked up a glass of tea and winked at Jayden. “Too bad Lauren didn’t stick around and get to know the hogs.”
Did that wink mean that Elijah was flirting with her or was he just being nice?
Jayden’s girls were second in line for showers that evening, and more than ready to get all the dirt, sweat, and grime washed away. She wasn’t a bit surprised when they headed out the door as soon as they saw the Sunshine girls returning to their cabin. She figured they’d stand under the water as long as their time allowed, but they were out in record time. When they came back, they dropped their shower bags on the porch and sat down in the red chairs.
“I would have thought y’all would have had all the outdoors you wanted for one day.” She slid into the last chair and enjoyed what little night breeze blew across her face.
“We want to talk,” Ashlyn said.
“About what?” Jayden asked. They had had group therapy right after supper and all three of them had been pretty quiet.
“Lauren got what she had coming, but none of us three have ever not been given another chance,” Tiffany answered. “It’s kind of scary.”
“Learning to be accountable, to stand up and take responsibility for what you’ve done and not blame it on someone else, is very scary, but those things are what adults do. Little kids blame everything on someone else,” Jayden said.
“What does that mean exactly?” Carmella asked.
“You stole a tennis bracelet, which was worth enough to be considered grand larceny and could have gotten you at least a year in juvie. You did it. Your parents didn’t do it. Your friends didn’t do it, even though you might have been trying to impress them with your badass ways. You did. So, you should say that you did and take full responsibility. None of you are children anymore. You’re bordering on young adulthood, so own your mistakes and take your punishment.”
Tiffany sucked in a lungful of air and let it out slowly before she spoke. “I took the pictures of those girls, and I posted them. It’s on me, but my friends were in on it, too. They told me that I couldn’t be a part of their group if I didn’t do it. It was kind of like an initiation. When I got caught the first time, they said I’d failed and if I really wanted to be included, I had to keep trying until I didn’t get caught. When I failed the second time, I had to steal something. They gave me a shopping list of what each one of them wanted. I got a pair of diamond earrings from one store, a two-thousand-dollar purse from another one, and an expensive makeup kit from the third one. I got caught at the last store.”
“What does that tell you about your friends?” Jayden asked.
“That they’re stupid bi—jerks,” Tiffany answered.
“What does it tell you about you?” Jayden asked.
“That I’m more stupid than they are since I listened to them.” Tiffany had a wholesome beauty about her when she smiled like she did right then. “But I got to admit, I still want to be in with that crowd. They get invited to all the parties, and they’re all going to the same university that I want to attend, and the boys all want to date them.”
“No one told me to steal the bracelet or the other things I got caught shoplifting.” Carmella gazed out over the yard. “It’s all on me, like Tiffany just said.”
“Why do you think you did it?” Jayden asked.
“The thrill,” Carmella answered.
Jayden thought of Novalene and her love of driving fast with loud music blaring. “Are you sorry that you did it?”
“I wasn’t until I had to come here,” Carmella replied. “If I could go home now, I would find something else to give me that adrenaline rush.”
“Like sex?” Ashlyn asked.
“Nah.” Carmella shrugged. “My boyfriend don’t give me that kind of rush. He’s all about gettin’, not givin’.”
“He your only one?” Ashlyn asked.
“Yep, and he’s probably already with another girl by now.” Carmella finally focused on Jayden. “How old were you when you first had sex?”
“Sophomore year in college,” Jayden answered honestly.
“For real?” Ashlyn gasped. “That means you were like nineteen?”
“Twenty,” Jayden said. She watched the color drain from Ashlyn’s face with amusement.
“Well, then I don’t feel so bad,” Ashlyn whispered. “I been lyin’ and sayin’ I already did it with my boyfriend, but that’s why I was driving drunk the last time I got caught. I drank so I wouldn’t be scared to do it, and then I caught him kissin’ another girl, so I got in my car and started home. The policeman pulled me over and”—she raised a shoulder in half a shrug—“it was the third time they’d caught me. Lord knows, I’d been driving drunk lots more times than that.”
Jayden waited for the next confession or question, but instead Tiffany
pointed out into the yard and whispered, “What is that thing? Carmella, you’ve got to catch that, and I have to draw it.”
Just like that, the serious moment was over, and they were all headed out into the yard. Flip-flops that they’d been issued as shower shoes smacked on their feet as they chased down a lightning bug. They’d gone from talking about heavy topics to giggling like a bunch of little girls as they tried to catch the flickering yellow bit of light.
“All this after less than a week. We’re finally making progress,” Jayden muttered through a smile as she watched them.
Elijah appeared out of the dusky darkness and propped his elbows on the porch rail. “What’s going on out here? I figured I’d worn all of the girls out with that ball game.”
“They’ve discovered lightning bugs, or maybe I should say a lightning bug. I only see one,” Jayden answered. “Carmella wants to capture it alive, and Tiffany wants to draw it.”
“That’s strange. If we see fireflies at all in this part of the country, it’s usually in the spring, not hot summer,” Elijah said. “Look over there between Daydream and Moonbeam.” He pointed. “There’s two more.”
“Maybe it’s magic that’s happening just for my girls tonight,” she said.
“After this morning, you deserve some magic.” Elijah nodded.
“We got it,” Carmella yelled. “And it’s alive and look, Jayden, it’s still blinking.”
“There’s two more over there.” Jayden pointed toward Moonbeam Cabin, but by then there was nothing there.
“Guess they fell in love and have gone on their honeymoon,” Elijah teased.
All three girls stared at him as if he had an extra eyeball in his forehead.
“Lightning bugs flash their lights to attract mates,” Jayden explained.
“My poor little bug is a reject,” Carmella said, “and now I’m going to freeze him, so he’ll never have a wife or children.”
Jayden bit back a smile. “Could be that it’s a girl lightning bug and she’ll never know true love.”
“I don’t care if it’s a girl or a boy—it’ll be fun to sketch the thing,” Tiffany said. “Let’s get it in the freezer before it flies away. We’ve only got five minutes before bedtime.”
The Daydream Cabin Page 14
