hour in our heated pool and he won’t be able to help himself from giving us a full spread.”
No surprise there. Nicky’s smile stiffened. Here George had assured her that Luke was a good friend, not the kind of person who would run to their competitor in exchange for a comfier bed and hot towels. Now she just had to hope she could keep the prospective donors from deserting them, as well.
* * *
Luke felt something twist in his chest as he saw the disappointment flicker in Nicky’s dark eyes. Not that the rest of her face gave that much away.
“Well, then, I guess Camp Spirit’s loss is Ace Sports’ gain.” She flashed him a crisp, professional smile, which somehow managed to make him feel even worse. What else had she expected him to do? George was in the hospital. The closest hotel was an hour away.
Luke ran his hand across the back of his neck. “Actually, Torchlight News has a policy of never exchanging publicity for perks. The paper will pay for my stay.”
“Well, I’m sure you’ll find it quite comfortable.” Nicky’s smile never faltered. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m taking a group canoeing this weekend and need to take a boat to the campsite to make sure everything is in order.” Before he could say anything more, she turned on her heel and disappeared into the woods.
Neil chuckled. “She’s a pip, isn’t she? I pity the poor fool who ever tries to tame her. Now, how about you and I go take a tour of Ace Sports’ new facilities? Maybe try out the pool? Or are you more of an archery man?”
Luke blew out a hard breath. Shooting off a few arrows sounded like exactly what he could use right now. In fact, he had his wooden bow stashed in the back of his car, just in case he was able to get some target practice in at the archery range. But, between the admission that he’d never actually been an Ace Sports counselor and where he was crashing overnight, he’d somehow just managed to make Nicky even more upset than she was already. He had to fix this.
“Maybe later.” He glanced down the hill, searching for some sign of her among the trees. “Thank you again for your help. I’ll find my own way back in a bit and check in with your front office later.”
Luke started down the hill, half jogging and half climbing. She’d been in such a hurry she’d just run off straight through the trees instead of bothering with the winding path. Same old Nicky. Sure, the past decade had softened some of the angles. But that fire in her eyes hadn’t dampened for a moment.
He lost sight of her at the beach, behind a rack of canoes, but saw her again by the docks. She disappeared into the boathouse. He followed, took a deep breath and slid the door open. The boathouse was built like a barn with thin docks forming two separate channels. Faint light filtered through the windows, bouncing off the water and sending refracted light across the walls. Two identical four-person speedboats sat side by side. The door swung shut behind him. “Hello? Nicky?”
A figure rose from the back of the nearest boat. A dark raincoat now engulfed her body. The hood framed her face, casting shadows down the curve of her neck. Dark curls trailed along her cheeks. His heart caught in his chest. All these years, Nicky had been like a phantom at the edges of his memory—and here she was even more beautiful than he’d remembered.
How much did she remember? Did she remember the long conversations on top of the cliff? How he’d opened his heart to her? How close they’d gotten? Or had everything they’d shared been destroyed by how he’d left, then been lost under an avalanche of time?
Her eyes opened wide. Then they narrowed, filling with a look that bordered on frustration. He took a deep breath and reminded himself that he’d walked out of her life for a reason. He’d needed to protect her then. He needed to protect her now. “Sorry to just barge in like this. We didn’t really didn’t get a chance to talk back there, and I wanted to make sure everything was okay.”
“Yeah, I’m just busy doing the work of two people, trying to get ready for tomorrow.” She shrugged. “Obviously, I’ll feel better when George is back on his feet again. I’m guessing you didn’t get a chance to talk to him?”
A bitter taste rose to his tongue. Yeah, he’d talked to George, for all of two seconds after he’d pulled him from the blaze. Just long enough for George to remind him he’d once been a liar and a thief who’d tried to steal the camp cash box. Which was the exact opposite of what he’d have ever expected from the old man, especially after George had pressed upon him how important it was to him personally that Luke come up this weekend. It made no sense.
“Not really. Just a few words. Do you keep anything special in your camp cash box? I thought he said something about my going back for it, but obviously I couldn’t.”
She blinked. “No. Just a couple hundred dollars in petty cash. Nothing worth running into a fire for. Maybe you misunderstood him.”
He shrugged. “Probably.” She turned to the boat. He crossed the floor in three steps. “Wait. Before you go, I owe you an apology.”
She didn’t even look at him. “Don’t worry about it. Please. You’re hardly the first person Ace Sports has lured away. Just make sure you double check your invoice carefully.” She slapped a button on the wall and the garage-type door rolled open. “Now, if you could close this door after I leave, I’d really appreciate it. The remote isn’t working and it’s going to rain.”
Why were they still talking to each other like virtual strangers? For years he’d pictured what it would be like to see Nicky again. He’d imagined her crying. He’d imagined her yelling. He’d even imagined her tumbling into his arms. He’d never imagined her just brushing him off.
She glanced back over her shoulder. Her eyes met his. Huge. Fathomless. Filled with questions she didn’t seem ready put into words, yet which still somehow managed to reach into his chest begging him for the answers. She slipped a key into the ignition. The engine roared to life.
“Nicky, wait.” He crossed the floor quickly, feeling all the words he wanted to say get mixed up and jumbled inside him. Thunder rumbled in the distance.
“I’m sorry, but I really must go.” The boat inched forward. She didn’t even look at him. “I’ve got to get the camping site ready for tomorrow and the storm’s moving faster than I expected. I’m short-handed as it is—”
He grabbed the corner of the windshield. “I’m sorry I never showed up at the lookout that day and just left you standing there waiting. I never should’ve left without saying goodbye. As for telling you my name was ‘Louie’ instead of ‘Luke’ so you couldn’t find me, and pretending I was really a counselor at Ace Sports...that was pretty low.”
A long pause spread through the tiny boathouse, filling his ears with the sound of water lapping against the boat. Her hood fell back. Her eyes were wet with unshed tears. Her lower lip trembled. He slid his hand down the windshield and onto the console, inches away from hers.
But she kept both hands on the steering wheel. When she spoke, her voice was as clear and strong as the sound of the final whistle. “I don’t know what to say to that. Except, thank you for finally being honest. I thought I’d recognized you earlier, but I didn’t know what to think, especially when you said you’d never worked at Ace Sports.” She blinked hard. “I accept your apology. But I honestly don’t have time to talk about this right now. I just really have to go.”
“Okay.” He let go of the boat and crossed his arms. “Then I’m
