“Listen. I’m wet, and I’m cold, and I’m pissed off. You want answers? Go ask him.” She flung the life jacket toward the boat shed. “I’m going to take a shower. I’ll see you at lunch.”
Marti trudged barefoot past the group and down the long path to her cabin, stubbing her toe again along the way.
* * *
Adam climbed out of the canoe and slid the paddles neatly inside. He chuckled as he picked up his coveted sandals. He unhooked the dry bag. Marti stormed off so fast she forgot her camera. He’d hang on to it for a while, just to make her have to ask for it back.
Marti was pissed again, but he didn’t mind. Before, she hated him for no good reason. This time it was on his terms. He couldn’t resist dumping her and her high-and-mighty attitude from the boat. All in all, it had been a great day. The loons were spectacular, and the whole fiasco with his sandals and flipping the boat were the most fun he’d had in a long time, well, at least since skinny dipping last night. He couldn’t shake the two images of Marti. The one of her naked in the moonlight, the other with lake scum coating her hair; both were equally entertaining.
He pulled the canoe further up the beach. A bunch of the kids talked in a huddle nearby.
“Hey guys, what’s up?” he asked.
“Nice job dumping Marti! Priceless, man!” Ryan said.
“Boy is she pissed,” Kyle said.
“What can I say? I have a gift,” Adam boasted.
The girls stared, but didn’t say a word.
“What?” Adam asked. He had ticked off one girl, and now the whole gang turned on him. He never had this problem at concerts.
Brooke spoke first. “Are you really Adam Jamieson?”
Shit. He looked skyward. She told them. Marti needed a way to strike back, and this was it.
“She couldn’t keep it to herself,” he said.
“Oh my god,” Kayla said, “I never would have guessed it. You look so different with short hair.”
Kyle snapped his picture.
“I don’t think she meant to say it. She was so mad she just blurted out your name without realizing,” Haley said. “But for the record, I thought you were Adam Jamieson a couple days ago.”
Adam grimaced. Great. His days of being a regular guy at camp were now over. He’d miss it. Being an equal with the others had been so nice. He knew from experience that they would treat him differently now. Even if they weren’t fans.
“I’ve got to put this away.” He trudged to the boat shed and hung up his life jacket. The kids followed. Kyle took another picture.
Adam glared at him. “Seriously?”
Kyle lowered the camera. “Sorry, dude.”
And then the questions started.
“Why are you here?”
“Why’d you cut your hair? Was it so we wouldn’t know who you were?
“Are your brothers, Peter and Garrett, here too? But we haven’t recognized them?”
“Will you play for us?”
“Are you going to be in the talent show? ‘Cause man, you totally rock.”
“Can I get my picture with you?”
“I can’t wait to tweet this.”
“My friends aren’t gonna believe this.”
“Would it be weird if I asked for your autograph?”
Adam sighed. These were his friends and he liked them all a lot. He didn’t look forward to playing the celebrity with them.
“Okay, let me explain.” He led them to a nearby picnic table, where they all sat down. He looked at their faces and saw everything from idle curiosity to idol worship.
“Listen, I’ll tell you everything, but when we’re done, I’d really like to go back to how things were before. If that’s possible,” he added.
“Dude, not possible,” Justin said.
He sighed again. “Okay, here goes. Yes, I’m Adam Jamieson, and I’m in a band with my brothers, Peter and Garrett. We’re on a long break, which never happens, so I had the chance to come here.”
“Why would you want to come here of all places? Wouldn’t you rather go to Fiji or Paris or someplace exotic?” Kayla asked.
Kyle reached over and flicked her in the arm. “Kayla, shut up and let him talk.” She gave Kyle a murderous look. He ignored her.
“The reason I came here is because I love photography. More than just about anything. Plus, I’ve never been to camp, and I knew this was my last chance.” And it might end a lot sooner than he hoped.
“Don’t you love playing in the band?” Brooke asked, looking disappointed.
“Of course. I love the band, and it’s hard not playing guitar every day. But having a chance to come to here is like a dream come true.”
“Wow, and I would have thought it was all the screaming girls,” Justin said. Kyle and Ryan nodded agreement.
Adam ignored their comment. “I don’t get much opportunity to be a regular guy. I didn’t know if I could go incognito or if people would recognize me right away. At least I got three days out of it.”
“You cut all your gorgeous hair off, just for three days of going undetected.” Haley sighed.
“Yup.” He rubbed his hand over his short hair.
“Boy, are the girls gonna be mad when they see you,” Kayla said.
“I think he looks better like this,” Brooke said. “Older, sexier.”
Adam smiled and shook his head. Their comments would be repeated soon enough in all the fan mags. “I know word will spread through camp now, and I get it. I’m a novelty, but I really want you guys to try to think of me as the guy you met three days ago. This is who I really am. I just happen to be in a band.”
“Just a band?” Kyle said, his face showing offense.
“Okay, the best freakin’ band that’s ever hit the planet!” Adam grinned.
“Oh yeah, now we’re talking!” Kyle high-fived him.
“If it’s okay with you guys, I’d like to try to keep this on the down low. I know stuff like this leaks to the press really fast, and as soon as it does, I’ll have to leave.”
“No, I don’t want you to leave!” Haley reached out and grabbed his arm. She looked down and realized what she’d done and pulled back.
“Neither do I. I love it here, and I love you guys! I never get to do stuff like this. Ever. This is the most fun I’ve had in a long time, and I’m totally serious.”
“More fun than performing in Times Square on New Year’s Eve?”
“Darn close.”
Justin leaned in. “Here’s what I think.” Everyone huddled closer. “I say we keep this quiet. Don’t tell anyone else. Not Mike, not Melody or Brian, and definitely not the other kids.” Everyone nodded agreement. “No tweeting it, no Facebook posts, nothing. At least not till camp is over.”
His friends looked at each other.
“I’m in,” Kyle said.
“Me too,” Haley said. And around the table it went, with each one agreeing to keep Adam’s identity their private secret.
“You guys are awesome. Seriously. Do you mind if I cry?” Adam grinned. They’d just given him a new lease on life and he wouldn’t forget it.
* * *
Marti’s day went from bad to bizarro. She arrived late for lunch after a marathon shower that included washing her hair three times. She finally found her group at the furthest table from the entrance.
She squeezed in on the end next to Kayla. “What’s up with the new table?”
“We decided we’re going to help Adam, I mean AJ, keep his identity a secret. If we sit where people can’t easily see him, they won’t have a chance to recognize him and blow his cover.” Adam sat in the middle with his back to most of the room.
“Unbelievable,” Marti muttered and rolled her eyes. Just what Adam needed, hero worship from their friends.
Later in the afternoon, while the guys played cards in one corner, the girls hung out on the pillows in the cozy nature center with the Scrabble board. Kayla decided it was her mission to convince Marti to stop thinking of Adam as
a loser.
“Why are you so hell bent on not liking him?” Kayla asked. “I don’t get it.”
“He isn’t who he seems.” She pulled at the fringe on the edge of a pillow.
Kayla formed the word lover. “What do you mean?”
“He comes off as all friendly and like he cares about us, but he doesn’t. When he’s not here, he has handlers who take care of everything for him. I bet he never even has to go get his own soda.” Marti added her tiles to the board and created the word asshole.
“That’s harsh,” Haley said.
“Hey AJ!” Brooke hollered across the room. “Do you ever have to get your own soda?”
Adam tossed a card on the table while tilting his chair back on two legs. He cocked his head and sneered.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Brooke said to Marti. “So what, he has people who do stuff for him. He hasn’t acted like he’s ‘all that’ while he’s been here. I’d say it’s been the opposite.”
Marti didn’t want to argue, but they didn’t know the things she did. “He was lying to everyone all this time. That’s wrong. You don’t lie to people you care about.” She hugged the pillow on her lap.
Kayle dropped her tiles and said, “That’s not exactly true.”
“Yes it is. He lied about his name, where he lived, playing guitar. I can go on and on.”
“No, it’s not that, I’m saying that people lie all the time. That doesn’t mean they don’t care about people.” Kayla drew fake circles on her jeans with her finger.
“What are you talking about?” Haley asked.
“I’ve been sort of keeping a secret from you guys too.” She cringed.
“Are you a famous rock star too?” Brooke joked.
“I wish. No, remember the first night when we played two truths and a lie? I said that I have a twin.”
“Was that a lie?”
“No. That was true. The lie, or maybe I should say lack of truth, is that my twin is here at camp.”
Marti sat forward. “Really? Why haven’t we spotted her? I mean a twin would be easy to see.”
“My twin isn’t a girl,” Kayla said, then waited for their reaction.
“Your twin is a brother?” Haley said, clearly surprised.
“Hey guys, Kayla has a twin brother here at camp!” Brooke called across the room again.
The guys looked over, curious. She had their attention now.
“Seriously?” Kyle said. “I thought you were hell bent against going there.” He shook his head in annoyance.
Kayla shrugged. “It kind of came up.”
Marti looked at Kyle’s wavy brown hair and then at Kayla with her long brown hair the exact same shade. She noticed they both had the same shaped nose. “Kyle is your twin?”
“The one and only.” Kyle laid his cards on the table in victory.
“That is so cool. This is like the greatest day ever,” Haley said. “In one day we find out we have a famous rock star and a set of twins in our group.”
The guys got up and joined them. Kyle sank into the couch. The others grabbed pillows and joined the girls on the floor. Marti scrambled up the words she’d made.
“Now I get it. Before, I thought you guys really liked each other because you kept picking on him, and he kept bugging you, but he was only being an annoying brother.” Brooke laughed. “That is priceless.”
“Why did you keep it a secret?” Marti didn’t see what the big deal was about having a twin here. Kyle was nice, friendly and not a jerk or anything.
“Because she didn’t want me to get in the way of her hooking up with some guy. Like I’d really care.” Kyle lay back and put his feet up on the couch.
“Now it makes sense. Last night you didn’t want to skinny dip. Not because you chickened out, but because you didn’t want to swim naked with your sister,” Justin said.
“Ew,” Haley said.
“Exactly. Swimming nude together ended when we were three. Not about to start that up again. Freud would have a field day,” Kyle said.
“My point,” Kayla looked pointedly at Marti, “is that sometimes we have our own reason for keeping a secret, and it’s not about hurting or deceiving anyone.”
“Thank you!” Adam said. “I’m not the dark bastard she thinks I am.”
“We know.” Brooke patted his leg and batted her eyes.
Marti could imagine Brooke shifting her attention from Justin to Adam in a heartbeat, and her stomach grew queasy. Didn’t the hot girl always end up with the rocker? She glanced at Justin. By the way he concentrated on a snag in the rug, Marti knew she wasn’t the only one to suspect that Brooke might switch her affections.
Chapter 8
Later that night, while the others were out raising hell, Marti found herself alone and miserable. Somehow she felt that joining them would be saying she approved of Adam. And she didn’t. He could do whatever he wanted, and the others could all adore him, but she didn’t have to participate.
Stir crazy and trapped in her thoughts, she decided to take a late night walk. The camp shut down by this hour, and she doubted she’d run into anyone other than her friends sneaking around.
Her mind wandered back to Adam. She worked hard to keep problem people out of her life, and while Adam hadn’t actually done anything terrible, everything he represented was bad. She knew that eventually he’d turn the lives of everyone around him to shit.
She ended up down near the lodge. She sat on a bench overlooking the lake for a while, but her frustration and anger churned, tightening her nerves like a drum. Why couldn’t she ignore Adam and stop letting everything he did annoy her? In the scheme of life, he didn’t even matter.
Unable to relax, and finding her shoulders tense, she stood and wandered, ending up at the nature center. Soft lights from the turtle tank glowed through the window. She tried the door and the handle turned easily, allowing her into the intimate comfort of the woodsy room. Orange and yellow embers smoldered in the stone fireplace. The bubbling fish tank was the only interruption in the quiet night.
Marti eyed the piano behind the couch. She approached, raised the cover and slid her fingers across the smooth ivory. She sighed, pulled out the bench and sat. She stared at the glistening coals in the fireplace. Her emotions matched them: fiery hot, dangerous, and wanting to inflict pain. What was wrong with her? She placed her hands on the piano keys, exhaled a deep breath and played a chord.
Yes. The sound of the piano always made things better.
Slowly, she played one chord and then another. Each time, the sound resonated through her and released a bit more of the vice-like strain that plagued her.
Marti closed her eyes and leaned into the next chord, and the next, until they magically evolved into music. Tentatively, her fingers found the notes. The more she played, the better she felt. She didn’t need to think about Adam and how much his presence reminded her of so many unpleasant memories with her dad.
Her shoulders relaxed as she played her favorite classic. She started light and gentle, her fingers tinkling the keys, and then let the emotion of the piece sweep over her. As the crescendo built, she let the anger and frustration she’d been battling come with. She lost herself as her hands moved over the keys.
* * *
Adam and the rest of their group, minus the stubborn-ass Marti, snuck away from the main lodge where Kyle found a key and they raided the kitchen walk-in freezer. Marti missed out on some amazing ice cream concoctions. Her loss. Ryan took pictures of the whole thing for prosperity.
With full bellies, they passed the beach when Adam heard something. “Hold up for a second.” He stopped and listened. “Hear that?”
“What? I don’t hear anything,” Brooke said.
He shushed her. “It sounds like a piano.”
“Oh, I hear it too. It’s probably one of the counselors playing their iPod,” Kayla said.
“Probably,” Adam said. They started up the walk again, but that sound nagged at him. There was an emoti
onal element that drew him in. “Hey guys, I’m gonna go check it out. I’ll catch up in a minute.” For whatever reason, Adam felt the need to explore the source of the melody. He never realized what a strong presence music was in his life until he was away from it for a while.
“Do you want us to come with?” Haley asked.
“Nah, I’m good. Go on ahead, I’ll be right behind.”
“Okay,” Kyle said as they took off.
Adam headed back toward the lodge listening to the muffled piano music. He knew there was a piano in the main lodge, but they’d just left from there. He didn’t see any buildings with lights on.
The music grew louder as he neared the nature center, and he remembered the piano inside. Maybe Kayla was right that it was a recording, but the intense power of the performance drew him in.
Quietly, he took the steps and entered the dark room. Because of the lack of moonlight from outside, his eyes needed a minute to adjust. Intense, passionate music filled the air. He stepped further into the room and spotted a dark figure at the piano. The person swayed as they played the most amazing piece he’d ever heard. As his eyes grew accustomed to the low light, he realized it wasn’t Tony or even a guy.
A quick flip of the piano player’s long hair caught his attention. Like a slap of cold water, he realized the musician was Marti. Momentarily stunned, his jaw dropped. This girl continued to surprise him.
His eyes adjusted to the dark shadows, and he spied like a voyeur as she passionately pounded the keys, her hands moving at lightning speed up and down the keyboard. The music escalated with the increasing tempo. She swayed to the masterpiece, oblivious to the rest of the world. Clearly, she was as lost in the music as he was lost watching her.
The piece built in tension and energy until it transported Adam to another place and world. He could tell it did the same for Marti as she took her aggression out in the form of a pulsing, pounding, musical masterpiece.
And then, with slow gentle chords, she caressed the keys to a whisper and then, silence.
Snapshot (The Jamieson Collection) Page 10
