don’t have any collateral, so no bank is going to finance it for you.” His forehead broke out with sweat even though there was a cool breeze where they stood. He mopped his face on his sleeve. “If we sell to the state, we’ll have the money in hand, free and clear.”
His breathing labored, and the sound ran shudders up Summer’s spine. She had no right to ask them to give up a sure thing and gamble on her dream. They’d gambled on too many of her dreams in the past.
Don’t be selfish.
She took the tablet without further protest.
“See you tomorrow, dumpling,” her mom called as they headed away from her once more.
“Yeah. See ya.” Summer stared down at the tablet, watching the words blur. She wiped a hand down her face, still stunned that things had happened so quickly. The hurt was too deep to even cry about yet.
Slowly, she made her way to the bus, following the last of the girls onto it, and plopped into the driver’s seat with a heavy sigh.
A trash can sat under the lever that closed the door. She let the notepad drop into the receptacle, feeling its thud at the bottom of her heart.
* * *
RICK SAT IN THE SEAT BEHIND the driver’s—the one that had become his usual spot for all the road trips. Summer moved like she’d been trampled by buffalo as she got on the bus.
He watched her, scrutinizing every movement to try and figure out what in the hell had gone wrong.
The woman was impossible to please. He’d just given her exactly what she’d wanted—and now she wouldn’t look at him except to give an evil glare when their eyes happened to meet in the rearview mirror.
She’d thrown away a large notepad when she got on the bus. His gut told him that had to be significant, though he couldn’t for the life of him decipher what a notepad would have to do with Riley Gibson’s visit—a visit she didn’t even know was going to occur until a few minutes ago.
When they arrived at the zip lines, the crew divided them into four groups with a camp counselor in each group, effectively squelching any hope Rick had of a private word with Summer.
But a bit of luck was with him. His group finished first. While they waited for the others to return, his kids played hacky-sack in the parking lot, and he went back to the bus and retrieved the tablet from the trash. One glance at it had made him wish he hadn’t.
Shitfire and damn it all to hell! She’d written out a plan. To own the camp herself! His stomach drew tighter with every flip of the page. Ideas for moving the Fairy Princess Parties to Camp Sunny Daze. Ideas to rent the facility out to groups for private parties, church groups, businesses, weekend retreats.... She had some wonderfully imaginative ideas that sounded like they could work.
Too late the realization came to him that he should have talked with her before he’d made the call to Riley. He’d tried to anticipate what she wanted, what she needed. Why hadn’t he just asked and listened to her answer?
Because first he’d been too busy judging her, then he’d been trying to impress her, trying to win her adoration, trying to fix everything.
Oh, he’d fixed everything, all right.
He’d led the enemy directly into her camp.
Literally.
Hell-pee-roo.
CHAPTER TWENTY
RICK STEPPED ONTO SUMMER’S front porch. Catching a glimpse of her through the window, he paused. She was sitting on her couch. Not doing anything. Just sitting. He’d never seen her so still except when she was sleeping.
The memory of her body pressed against him, her leg slung over his in the abandon of sleep, motivated him forward in a last-ditch effort to make things right between them again.
He knocked and she opened the door, looking at him dully. “What do you want, Rick?”
“Can I come in? I need to talk to you. It won’t take long.”
They didn’t have long. Dinner would be served in about twenty minutes.
She didn’t answer, just turned and moved back to sit on the couch, leaving the door open. He noticed then that she held her cell phone.
“Have you heard from your parents?” He took a couple of steps into the cabin. She didn’t offer him a seat, didn’t look in his direction.
“Just now. The guy you put on to them seems very interested. He told them he’d get back to them soon. Probably early next week.”