of a wild child.” Charlie shook his finger her direction. “Herschel and Agnes had their hands full with this one.”
“Indeed.” Rick’s tone implied he was already aware of her past.
Had her parents shared stories with him about her flighty assent to adulthood? The thought made her grit her teeth. Well, she would show them all she was firmly grounded now and that meant she wouldn’t be easily pushed around. “Being well behaved doesn’t have to mean following stuffy, ‘old school’ rules.”
“Manners aren’t ‘old school.’”
“But ‘ladies first’ is. Boys and girls are equal here. We should take turns.”
“Duly noted.”
Summer pressed for a firmer answer. “Does that mean you agree?”
One end of Rick’s mouth twitched. “It means I’ll treat everyone here fairly.”
Once again, Summer felt as though she was the unnamed subject of his sentence. She popped off a quick curtsy. “Then, if you’ll excuse me Mr. Rick, I’ll return to my charges.”
Rick bowed gallantly. “Ms. Summer.”
With her back turned to him, Summer allowed a smile to play on her lips. She may have been a wild child, but the definitive word was child. Rick Warren probably sprang from his mother’s womb in dress uniform. He was clueless when it came to kids.
She’d give him a week—tops.
CHAPTER THREE
“OKAY, MEN. HAVE ANY OF YOU ever been in a canoe before?” Rick surveyed the group.
Austin’s hand went up. “My grandpa’s got a fishing boat. I go with him a lot.”
Rick pointed to the boats lined up on the shore. “Is it a canoe?”
“Naw—”
“No, sir,” Rick corrected.
“No, sir,” Austin repeated. “It has a motor on the back.”
“Well, in a canoe, your arms and the paddle are the motor.”
He gave each of the boys a paddle and demonstrated how to hold it. They moved into waist-deep water and practiced rowing until he was satisfied they’d all gotten the hang of it. “Today, you men will be in the bow of the boat—that’s the front. The counselors will be in the back, which is the stern. The person in the back can guide the canoe by using the paddle like a rudder.” He showed them what he meant, then he had the boys stand and walk, practicing using their oars like rudders.
“You never stand up in a canoe,” he warned. “It’s easy to flip over, but if that happens just swim to the nearest bank. We’ll pull the canoe over to that spot and then start again. This cove isn’t very big. We’ll never be too far from the shore.”
“What if somebody’s not a good swimmer?”
That Daniel wasn’t a swimmer had been noted on his camp application. Rick read the fear in the boy’s eyes and made a mental note to find time to work with him individually on his swimming. “Good question, Daniel. Lots of people who aren’t swimmers enjoy canoeing. That’s why everybody needs to put on one of the life jackets over there.” He pointed to the orange life vests hanging on hooks on the side of the shed. “The life jacket will hold you up, so all you have to do is kick and move your arms to propel yourself through the water. And if anybody would rather not go out in the canoe, that’s perfectly acceptable, too. But if you want to give this a try, go get on a life jacket and then line up and we’ll divide you up into groups.”
All of the boys, including an anxious-looking Daniel, hurried to don the jackets and get in line.
Neil made quick work of grouping them so weight would be more or less evenly distributed among the boats. “Y’all can decide who’ll paddle first,” he explained, “and that person will be in front. But don’t worry. Everybody’ll get a chance to be in the front. And we have an hour, so you’ll each get a long turn and maybe more than one.”
“Willard, Ryan and Daniel will go with Mr. Charlie.” Rick pointed to the first canoe. “Evan, Jimbo and Austin will go with Mr. Neil in the second canoe. And Howie, Carlos, Reggie and Mitchell in number three with me.”
As the boys rushed to their places, Rick heard the hum of chatter behind him. The girls were coming to the beach area already. He’d hoped to get the boys onto the water before they showed up. He wanted their entire attention without any distractions—or any need to show off.
Summer Delaney in a swimsuit flashed in his mind, and he dared not turn around. Damn it. He shook his head, trying ineffectually to rid