didn’t mean anything by it.” He caught up, falling into step beside Rick. “Summer’s a great girl. Y’all need to work things out.”
Hell-pee-roo. “It’s that obvious, huh?”
Kenny shrugged. “Just to me. It’s my job to watch what goes on around here.”
If the comment was meant to make Rick feel better, it didn’t. He didn’t say anything and hoped Kenny would take the hint and leave him alone.
But the security guard seemed bent on providing consolation whether Rick wanted it or not as he followed him down the path. “My girlfriend and I broke up for a couple of months ’bout two years ago. This girl I’d gone out with in high school showed up in town, and I—”
“Shhh.” Rick grabbed Kenny’s arm and motioned with his head toward the cove and the sound he’d heard in the distance—a vehicle of some sort...from the grinding, most likely a pickup truck. A sound familiar in these parts, for sure, but he hadn’t heard one anywhere around since the camp opened.
He and Kenny raced down the path to the beach.
Headlights shone through the trees that bordered the beach on the far side of the cove. In the darkness, it was impossible to make out more than the vague outline of a pickup.
“Fisherman?” Rick asked.
“Nah.” Kenny shook his head. “Parkers, most likely.”
The sound of a door slamming drifted across the water toward them.
Kenny pulled his flashlight from his belt and tried to scan the far bank, but the light wasn’t quite strong enough to reach that distance.
The door slammed again and headlights flashed back on. They soon disappeared, backing away from the trees.
“Too much beer. Taking care of nature’s call. Been there myself lots of times.”
Rick’s gut told him that wasn’t the case. “He wouldn’t have come so far off the main road.”
“Well, whatever was taking place, it was off camp property and not really our concern.” Kenny dropped the flashlight down through the leather loop on his belt and headed back up the path.
Rick followed him. “It was close, though, so keep an eye out and an ear to the ground tonight.”
“I’ve told you before, it’s my job to keep watch over this place.” Kenny chuckled. “I’m real good at what I do.”
* * *
SUMMER WOKE IN A COLD SWEAT. Shivering, she drew the blanket closer under her chin, trying to remember the dream that could cause such a reaction.
Or maybe it wasn’t the dream. Maybe it was waking up for the second night to the strange surroundings of Tara’s bedroom, wondering what had happened that shattered her friend’s world. Ginny had heard from her, at least. She said Tara would be back in the morning, but Ginny had added that she was crying when she phoned.
While Summer was definitely concerned about her friend, more likely it was Rick Warren who was haunting her dreams. Waking up without him for the third morning and facing the fact that waking up with him might not be a possibility ever again made her shiver just thinking about it.
Selfish.
The word he’d used to describe her squeezed her heart and then moved down to squeeze her stomach just for good measure. She got up before she puked in Tara’s bed and went to the bathroom to apply a cold washcloth to her face. It kept her from throwing up, but didn’t stop the pain.
She eyed her reflection in the mirror. There were plenty of men in the world, so how did she come to fall in love with one who didn’t understand what she was most passionate about?
She peered deeper, shocked by the question. In love? Oh, for heaven’s sake...when had that happened? She’d been in love before, hadn’t she? But breaking up had never felt like this—like she was shriveling up inside...like something was squeezing all the important stuff out of her and leaving an empty shell in its place.
Selfish. She’d been called that so many times in the past the word shouldn’t have any effect...and maybe it had been deserved then. But she wasn’t like that now. Why couldn’t anybody see that? Rick, of all people, surely should be able to see it...would be able to see it, if he loved her back.
But he hadn’t seen it, and she had to face what that meant.
She jerked away from the mirror and turned the shower on full force.
An hour later, she and the girls approached the boys, who were waiting at the trailhead for the morning hike. Rick’s eyes locked with hers, the grim set of