“If we have time.” Then he put up a hand. “I know. Not funny. Come on. Follow me. I saved you a special bearproof tent.”
“They make those?”
He stopped and turned, almost making her crash into him. The smell of her perfume did crash into him, and the sweet spiciness of it wasn’t at all what he expected. Dammit. He did not want to like anything about this woman, including how she smelled.
“Gabi, have you ever seen a bear?”
“No.”
“Have you ever seen a picture of a bear?”
“Of course.” She rolled her eyes.
“How about their teeth?”
“Um…”
He smiled, then turned back down the pathway. “There’s no such thing as a bearproof tent.”
Chapter 3
“You said we had a tent.” Five minutes later, Gabi stared at a twelve-by-twelve-foot plywood platform surrounded by pines. She’d grudgingly admit that the clearing was gorgeous—tall, tall trees, pine needles carpeting the ground, and a cacophony of bird sounds coming from every direction.
But there was no tent.
“It’s in the storage shed.” Luke pointed at the boards, right now covered with pale orange needles. “But it’ll go right here.”
“Who’s going to put it up?” She hated the words as they came out of her mouth, already having a pretty good idea what his answer was going to be.
“The girls should.”
Gabi laughed nervously, picturing her four girls having to figure out how to put up a tent. It was so not going to happen, even with her help. She’d never put one up in her life, either.
“Does it come with directions?”
“Nope. Just a lot of parts. But I’m sure they’ll figure it out. Tents aren’t all that complicated.”
“So you’re thinking that on day one of arriving here at Camp Echo, these girls should have to figure out how to build their own sleeping structure?”
He rolled his eyes. “They’re not building a sleeping structure. They’re putting up a tent.”
Then another thought struck Gabi. If there were no cabins, then what about bathrooms? “Just out of curiosity, where are the restrooms?”
She saw a tiny smile sneak over Luke’s face as he pointed a little farther down the trail. “Follow me.”
They walked for about thirty steps over a small rise, and Gabi almost tripped when Luke stopped and pointed.
“There you go.”
Gabi took a quick, appalled breath when she saw the three-by-six-foot wooden hut set just off the path. It looked like someone had gone a little wild with a paintbrush not long ago on its sides, so it was fresh and colorful, but good Lord, it was an outhouse. An outhouse.
“That’s. Not. A restroom.”
“Oh, but it is.”
“We were told—”
“Look.” Luke put up both hands. “I don’t know the person who made these arrangements, and I don’t know what you all did to end up here, but what we’ve got is what we’ve got. Nobody at Briarwood would have been told there were cabins or restrooms. We’ve got tents and outhouses. The only reason the dining hall is an actual building is because the health department requires floors and windows where you serve food.”
“Charming.”
“Piper said she made some—what did she call them?—female adjustments inside. I don’t know what that means, and I don’t want to, but they should be fine for your girls. There are two stalls, two doors, and five of you. This is what camping’s all about, Gabi. You’re lucky you don’t have to teach them how to go out to the woods to deal with things.”
“Even more charming, thank you.” Gabi put her hands on her hips, looking around in consternation. She did know the person who’d made these arrangements—knew her very well—and she could imagine the abject glee Priscilla was feeling right now as she sat in her first-class seat sipping white wine, picturing Gabi arriving at this camp where there were no cabins, no real bathrooms, and no—
“Wait a minute. Where will we shower?”
Luke hooked a thumb toward the lake. “In there.”
“Not funny.”
“Not lying.”
She narrowed her eyes. “You know what? If the construction crew hadn’t rolled up to our dorm the moment we pulled out, I’d be tempted to load the girls right back in the van and head back tonight.”
He shrugged, like he couldn’t care less what she did, and somehow that made her even angrier. “Your call.”
She sighed, picturing the hard-hat signs tacked up on the doorways. Dammit. She was so stuck.
Gabi eyed him for a long moment, knowing he was hoping she’d do exactly that—give up on this stupid camp before she’d been here a whole hour. He was obviously pissed that she and the girls were crashing his summer, and probably there’d be nothing he’d like better than to see them turn around and head right back to Briarwood. He’d obviously pegged them as prissy rich chicks who couldn’t handle his camp, anyway, so their departure would just prove it.
For some reason, that ticked her off more than the rest of the situation, which was really saying something at this point.
“We’ll be staying, thank you.” She felt her chin rise. The girls would build the damn tent. And she would help them. They’d figure out the bathroom situation later. “If you could show me to the storage shed and point me to the tent pieces, we’ll get started.”
“Gladly.” He paused, then turned to head back up the pathway. As she followed him, Gabi looked around, seeing nothing but trees.
“So where’s your tent?”
He smiled, turning toward her with a wink. “I have a cabin.”
* * *
“Okay, let’s lay out all of the pieces and see if we can make sense of this.” Gabi pointed to a pile of poles twenty minutes later. “Waverly and Sam, how about you group the poles by size, and Madison and Eve, you spread out the canvas?”
“I’m not touching that.” Madison shook her head and crossed her arms. “Who knows where it’s been?”
“It’s been in a storage shed. That’s where it’s been.” Gabi pointed. “Now spread it out.”
Madison let out a disgusted sigh. “Do we have gloves or anything? Eww. My father will be furious if he hears about this.”
“You really think so?” Gabi raised her eyebrows. “Madison, want to know something I know about this current situation?”
“No. Not really.” Madison pointed at the pile of canvas. “Because clearly, you knew shit about this entire situation.”
Gabi nodded, seeing Eve’s eyes go wide at Madison’s words. “I’ll give you that, actually. And I’ll excuse the language and attitude this one time because we’re all exhausted and out of our element. But here’s the thing. Guess who did know exactly what we were in for here?”
Sam snorted. “Pritch-bitch, that’s who.”
“Exactly. And stop calling her that. But guess who else knew?” Gabi let her eyes land on each of the girls. “Every single one of your parents or guardians. Priscilla would have had to be honest with them, and would have needed their approval.”
She let the words sink in for a moment. Then she smiled tightly. “They all gave it, or we wouldn’t be here right now.”
“Impossible.” Waverly’s voice was small. “My mother was completely freaked about the whole thing. She said she didn’t approve it at all.”
“Sorry, Waverly. She did.” Gabi pointed toward the parking lot. “I’ve got the permission forms in the van, if anyone needs to see proof.”
For a long moment, the muttering ceased as all of the girls took in what Gabi was saying. Yes, it appeared that Priscilla had known exactly what she was getting them into. The parents had known, and Luke and Oliver had known. The only five people who hadn’t known they were spending a month in outhouse-hell were Gabi and her girls.
“All right. Let’s get moving.” She finally spoke, motioning to the tent pieces. “If we’re going to get this thing built before dark, we’d b
etter get to it.”
The girls grumbled, but a few minutes later, they’d assembled the pieces into some semblance of order, and were trying to figure out which poles to slide into which flaps when Luke appeared.
He crossed his arms, studying them with a half-smile on his face. “How’s it going, ladies?”
“Well.” Madison winked. “We could use some help, actually. None of us have ever really done the tent thing.”
“Huh.” Luke didn’t move. “Well, I’d say it’s high time all of you learned, then.” He turned to Gabi. “May I have a word?”
She followed him up the pathway, and when they were out of sight of the girls, but could still hear them, Luke turned, crossing his arms. She wondered if he always spent so much time in that position, or if she was bringing it out in him.
He raised his eyebrows. “Think it’ll be up by nightfall?”
She raised her eyebrows to match his. “It might, if we could get some help.”
He looked at her for a long moment, then finally spoke. “Here’s a question for you. What exactly are your hopes for this summer?”
“What?” Gabi blinked, shaking her head. “That’s a pretty broad question.”
“Yep.”
She sighed quietly. “My goal right now, quite frankly, is to survive the night without being eaten alive by whatever creatures are lurking at the forest edges. Beyond that, I don’t yet know.”
He smiled, and she wished it didn’t look so good on him. “You want some advice?”
“If it’s about putting up the tent, yes.”
“It is. And it’s simple. You really need to make the girls do the work.”
“Why?” She fought not to bristle. Who was he, to tell her how to treat her own students? He didn’t know her or them.
He shrugged. “Listen, it’s not my place to judge, but it looks to me like whatever got them sent here was bad enough that somebody thinks they deserve four weeks in hell—because that’s what this’ll be to them. And we both know you can’t leave, because you’ve got nowhere else to take them. You coddle these girls while they’re here, you’ll bring the same girls back home in four weeks. But you ease off the princess-glove treatment, and maybe you’ll actually bring back better ones. And it’s bound to work better if you start on day one. That’s all I’m saying.”
Gabi stared at him for a long moment, crossing her own arms this time. The nerve.
“With all due respect, you don’t know these girls, and you don’t know me. I appreciate your advice, but if it’s all the same to you, I’ll make the decisions. We’ll get the tent up.”
“Your call.” He put up his hands in a classic just-trying-to-save-you-here pose, which just irritated her more. “Good luck,” he said, then turned, but not before she saw his incessantly irritating half-smile.
She’d show him, dammit.
“Princess gloves, my butt,” Gabi muttered as she headed back to the tent platform. “I’ll show him some princess gloves.”
As she came back over the little rise, she could see the girls sitting on the platform, not one of them moving a muscle to get the tent put together.
Dammit.
She was used to their complacency. She saw it every day. She fought it every day. But right now, in the middle of the woods, with darkness and critters creeping in within the next two hours, that complacency ticked her off like nothing had since … well, since last Friday when she’d found out her entire summer had gone down in flames.
She hated to admit Luke could be right, but looking at them all sitting on their butts waiting for her to do their thinking for them suddenly made her downright furious. They’d gotten themselves into this mess. They needed to deal with the consequences.
Consequence number one? Putting up the damn tent.
“Jeez, Gabi. Nice of you to come back.” Madison put up her hands as Gabi walked back into the clearing. “It’s getting dark.”
Gabi raised her eyebrows, nodding slowly. “So why aren’t you putting up the tent?”
“We can’t figure it out,” Waverly whined.
“Well”—Gabi took a deep breath—“if you want somewhere to sleep tonight, it looks like you’re going to have to. I need to go make some phone calls in Oliver’s office. While I do that, you put up the tent. Questions?”
“You’re leaving?” Eve gasped, looking around at the poles and canvas strewn all over the platform. “You can’t just leave us here.”
“Can. Will. Am. Luke said the bears don’t generally start roaming around until dusk, but I guess I wouldn’t want to test that theory if he’s wrong. The sooner you have a place to sleep, the better, right?”
Luke had said no such thing. For all she knew, bears slept in their cozy caves all night. But the girls didn’t know that. Leaving them with their mouths hanging open, Gabi turned around and headed resolutely up the hill, not glancing backward once.
She had no phone calls to make, but the girls didn’t know that, either. Her two best friends from Briarwood were on a kayaking expedition off the coast of Maine, or she’d have called them. She’d have pressed her speed-dial button and told them about her hellish first hour at Camp Echo … about a camp that probably should have been closed down years ago … about tents whose holes were so big that she was bound to qualify for her one-gallon blood donor pin within a week … about a tall, dead-sexy camp handyman so full of himself that he was already trying to tell her how to do her job.
She slapped at her arm as a mosquito landed, then eyed the van. Fine. She’d wait out the girls in the BMW. It was going to take every ounce of effort not to drive the thing right back down the driveway without them, though.
As she got to the parking lot and slid into the driver’s seat, Luke’s voice made her jump.
“Leaving already?” He walked out of the admin cottage and toward the van. The same amused smile was still on his face, and she hated that her eyes were so appreciative of the way his five o’clock shadow outlined a sculpted jawline. Thick, dark brown hair completed the package—the kind that begged for a woman to run her fingers through it.
She swallowed, ripping her eyes away. Then she held up the keys. “You caught me.”
“I really thought you’d last at least one more hour.”
“Nope.” She shook her head. “I’m outta here. They’re all yours. You’re not afraid of a few teenaged girls, are you?”
“Deathly. Any man in his right mind would be.”
“Well, I’m sure you’ll figure it out.” She put the key in the ignition, and he immediately strode to the window, placing his arms on the frame.
“You’re not really leaving.”
“Try me, mister.”
He smiled. “You can’t leave.”
“Why not?”
“Because you’d feel too guilty, for one.”
Gabi shook her head. “At the moment, no.”
“Maybe.” He tipped his head. “But about ten miles down the road, you’d reconsider. You know you would.”
“Not so sure about that. Did I mention I was the one who was supposed to be flying out on vacation tonight, not the headmaster?”
He pulled his arms off the van, like he was mildly disgusted, but trying to hide it. “Such problems.”
“I’m just saying.”
“I heard you. And I imagine the princess posse had other plans, as well.”
“They’ll recover.” She put on her seat belt like she really was planning to take off. “So will you. I’ve changed my mind about staying. I was told to deliver them to camp. You’re camp. So have fun, keep them alive, and I’ll be back to get them in four weeks.”
He smiled, and her stomach did a weird jumpy thing she hadn’t felt in a long, long time. “Right. Well, you have a good trip home, then.”
Gabi felt her eyebrows pull together. He was calling her bluff. Well, she’d show him. She’d call his right back. She’d head on down the road, and she wouldn’t come back till dark. See what he and the girls thought of that.<
br />
“Okay.” She put the key in the ignition. “Good luck. You’ll need it.”
“Gotcha.” He slapped the side of the van, then turned to head toward the admin building. “Don’t get lost.”
Gabi turned the key. Oh, she’d get lost, all right. She’d take this van right to a hotel with power and Wi-Fi and food, and she’d stay there, dammit.
Except that the van wasn’t starting.
She was only bluffing, but the damn van was not starting.
She turned the key, turned it back … turned it again. An ominous click-click-click was the only sound she heard. Where was the beautiful purr of the engine?
“Problem?” Luke emerged from the doorway, and was it her imagination, or was he biting his cheek?
Gabi popped the hood and got out, like she had a clue what she’d do once she got to the front of the van. She propped the hood up on its lever, then scanned the engine compartment.
Then she closed her eyes in abject frustration.
“Where’s the battery, Luke?”
“In the camp safe.”
“What?”
“Oliver said we had strict instructions not to let your little hotwiring artist take off with the school van. Again. So I disabled it.”
Gabi crossed her arms. “You disabled me.”
He shrugged. “Side benefit.”
“Luke, seriously. You can’t hold us hostage here.”
“Not hostage. Just helping. Running these roads at night looking for runaway teens is nobody’s idea of fun. If you need the battery, just ask. We’ll put it back in.”
“I need the battery.”
“Nah. You don’t, really.” He smiled, locking the admin cottage door. “Nothing’s open in town after six. There’s nowhere to go.” He turned toward the pathway. “Have a nice night, Gabi. Make sure those girls don’t have anything edible in that tent when you’re done, or I guarantee you’ll have visitors.”
Gabi shivered as he walked away, then crossed her arms over her stomach.
If the girls had any food in that tent, she’d leave them out as bear bait.
Chapter 4
“Gabi, what’s that noise?” Waverly’s panicked voice came from somewhere near Gabi’s feet. It was two in the morning, and not one of them had fallen asleep yet. Gabi’d spent a full four hours fuming over Priscilla’s directive to have Luke and Oliver disable the van once they’d arrived, and by the time the girls had finally constructed a canvas and pole structure that resembled a tent, it’d been well after dark.
She's Got a Way Page 3
