“Willard, tell them the rest now.” Charlie nudged the boy with his elbow.
Willard blew out a long breath. “When y’all were arguing, you thounded jutht like my mom and dad did before they thplit up.” His eyes teared up, and he blinked several times. “It thcared me.”
His words gripped Summer’s lunch and squeezed. “Oh, Willard, I’m so...so sorry. We should never have argued in front of you like that. We were acting childish.”
“Yeah, bud, I’m sorry, too.” Rick’s low tone was filled with regret. “We weren’t being very good role models. It won’t happen again, I can assure you.”
Rick’s eyes met Summer’s on the last four words, like he was assuring her at the same time. Did he really think that poof! they would just start to get along all of a sudden? Or...could it be he had listened to her, after all, and was considering leaving?
“I’m really enjoying the camp, Mithter Rick. You’ve taught uth lotth of cool thtuff already.”
“Thanks, Willard.” Rick’s triumphant smile made Summer’s jaw tighten. Guess she had her answer.
“You can go now, son.” Charlie patted Willard on the back as he directed him to the door. “Remember, it takes a big man to say ‘I’m sorry.’”
“Yeth, Mithter Charlie.”
Charlie closed the door behind the boy and then turned toward Summer and Rick, his scowl easy to read this time. Pure aggravation etched lines all over his face. “Now.” He shook his finger at the two of them. “I don’t know what this spat between the two of you evolved from, or maybe it’s just an innate dislike for each other, but either way, I don’t give a tinker’s dam. We’re here for one reason and one reason only, and that’s to make this camp a success. These kids are going to have a summer to remember, and it isn’t going to be remembered as the summer the assistant director and the girls’ head counselor raised a ruckus.” He moved behind the desk, and Rick shifted around to stand by Summer. Charlie shooed them with a hand gesture toward the door. “Go kiss and make up or whatever you need to do to get along for the rest of the time ’cause I won’t tolerate any more of this nonsense. You understand?”
Summer nodded. “Yes, Charlie.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Now get out of here.” Charlie sat down in his chair and leaned back. “I’ve got work to do.” He propped his feet on the desk and popped the newspaper open.
Summer and Rick left the office in silence. She didn’t know what Rick was thinking, but she felt a pout coming on. For the first time in her life, Charlie had uttered a cross word to her.
What made it worse was that she deserved it.
CHAPTER SIX
RICK PULLED HIS T-SHIRT OVER his head as soon as he walked into the cabin. He threw it and the folder over the end of the couch and marched straight to the kitchen for a bottle of water from the fridge, rubbing it across his chest and the back of his neck before opening it and downing its entire contents in a couple of swigs.
Damn! Summer Delaney had a knack for making him angry. The little spitfire seemed determined to make his time at Sunny Daze as miserable as possible. She’d gone to Charlie to complain about him, he was sure. What had he done this time to irritate her so? Well, whatever it was, at least she’d gotten her own ass chewed out, as well. He tossed the empty bottle into the trash can.
Speaking of ass-chewing... He pulled out his phone and punched his dad’s number.
“Nolan Warren speaking.”
“Hey, Dad.”
“Oh, hello, Rick. Thanks for calling back. From the sound of things, you had your hands full when I called earlier.”
“A skunk took perfect aim at one of the campers and me, and it’s been downhill since then.”
His dad gave a grunt of disapproval. “That is unfortunate indeed. But you’ve lived through worse.”
“Yes, sir. That I have.” He paused. Not one for idle chitchat—or idle anything—his dad wouldn’t have called for no reason. Rick was relatively sure he knew what it was.
“How are the nightmares?”
Yep, there it was. The inevitable discussion about his post-traumatic stress disorder that always left him feeling like he had a hideous flaw in his character. “Not nearly as aggravating as the girls’ head counselor I’m having to work with,” Rick answered. “Who happens to be the owners’ daughter,” he added in an effort to redirect the conversation.