worrying about Sid. The department has your personnel records from when you were a ranger, and those are going to mean more than that silly old coot’s grumbling.”
How come talking to Mom always made things better? “Yes, ma’am,” he said again, noticing how the weight had lifted from his chest.
“Good boy. Now get some sleep.”
“Love you, Mom.”
“Love you, too, bedbug.” She hung up.
Rick shook his head at the endearment. He and Dunk had brought bedbugs home from basketball camp one summer—their moms hadn’t found the real critters quite so endearing. He brushed his fingers over the tattoo and gave it a pat.
Then, grabbing the granite star, he pumped it in his hand. There might be a little magic left in the thing, after all.
* * *
SUMMER’S HEART NEARLY JUMPED out of her chest. Had the answer really been that easy all the time?
“From the mouths of babes,” she whispered to herself.
Returning to the bunkhouse after the talk with Tara, she’d met M&M coming out of the bathroom, apparently too keyed up over the events of the day to go to sleep.
The child, still clutching her wand, had given Summer yet another hug. “I wish I could live here with you.”
Maybe it was the wand or the magic behind it, but that phrase had started the wheels spinning.
For the past hour, Summer had been exploring the possibilities of leasing the camp from her parents...with an option to buy.
If she moved into Ginny and Charlie’s apartment and lived there full-time, her mom and dad would have rent income coming in every month. Insurance might even go down if the camp were occupied.
That thought spurred her ideas in a different direction.
What if she moved Fairy Princess Parties here? She would have the facilities for full-day parties...sleepovers? She could drive the bus. For an additional charge, picking the kids up and taking them home could be arranged.
And what about renting the facilities out for seasonal retreats? Her parents had never wanted to be tied down by the camp, but leasing it and living here opened up a world of possibilities. Churches? Businesses? Writers? Paducah had a huge population of artists in the Lowertown district! And Sunny Daze was central enough to pull from other surrounding towns rather than just Paducah.
Her breathing came so fast hyperventilation seemed likely. She stretched out in the bed to concentrate on calming down, but being there turned her thoughts to Rick.
She’d been looking forward to the end of this camp session when they’d have a week of downtime together, but now it was going to be a grueling week of awkwardness and longing. She’d never in her whole life felt so miserable.
She fended off the suffocating sadness by grabbing the pad off the bedside table and making notes of her ideas for the camp—anything to keep her mind from being idle. Her mom and dad would be here Saturday to say goodbye to the kids. When they arrived, she wanted a plan laid out to show them how serious she was about this endeavor.
The pen flew across the page as ideas poured from her pretty heart, keeping thoughts of Rick, and the part of her heart that ached for him, at bay.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
RICK CAUGHT SUMMER IN A POSE that had been all too rare the past couple of days. She was smiling. A real smile rather than one of those fake things she’d been producing, and he wondered if perhaps she’d spoken with her parents. On closer study, though, he recognized the wary edge around her eyes, the tightness around her lips, which told him she probably didn’t know yet about his calls that morning.
His first inclination was to ask Charlie for a few minutes alone with her so he could apologize and make his big announcement in private. In his imagination, he was already picturing her reaction to the news that Riley Gibson was indeed interested in purchasing the camp as a future state facility. He was so interested, in fact, he was driving down from Frankfort today to meet Herschel and Agnes for a tour in approximately—Rick checked his watch—forty-nine minutes.
It wasn’t a done deal by any means. The meeting had come together without a hitch, however, so he couldn’t help believing that was a good omen.
But it wasn’t his place to tell her. The news should come from her parents. When she heard it, Summer would understand he’d used what power he had to make her dream of saving the camp and her parents’ retirement come