His coveralls stank of brackish water and he was covered in mud. His shoulders and back ached, but he felt curiously light. Maybe he shouldn’t have skipped lunch, he thought. Then he admitted to himself that it wasn’t hunger making him feel this way. It was the fact that he had been caught. Finally. The weight had been lifted off his chest.
Duffy had said he could go home at sundown. Cameron wasn’t sure how to accomplish that. He was supposed to get a ride with Jason, who had his license.
It was a long walk home.
Most of his friends had their licenses by now, but not Cameron. He was too scared to get behind the wheel of a car and completely humiliated by his failure. Not humiliated enough to drive, though. He’d tried a few times, but it didn’t work. He broke into a sweat, couldn’t see straight, started shaking like a leaf in the wind. Dr. Sachs was “working” on the issue with him. They were “working” on a lot of issues, but Cameron thought it was all a waste of time. How did talking about something you can’t change fix it?
He eyed the gas-powered cart Duffy had given them to use. He was fine with driving a golf cart, but Duffy would have a fit if he drove it off the premises. He wasn’t about to call his uncle, though. He’d already screwed up enough for the time being.
He puzzled over the matter while he loaded clippings and debris into the cart. He stopped when he saw someone walking toward him. In the low light, he couldn’t make out her features, but he recognized the lanky figure and swinging ponytail instantly.
Great.
“Hey,” he said, barely slowing down his work. He felt kind of embarrassed, dressed like a jailbird, filthy from the day’s work.
“I heard about what happened,” Becky Pilchuk said.
“The whole school heard about it.”
“Pretty much.”
While he worked, she just stood there. He could feel her watching him.
“Is there something I can do for you?” he asked, loading the last bundle of debris into the cart.
“No. I just came to see—oh!” She was startled when a pair of mallard ducks landed in the water, throwing up a tail of spray in their wake. It was a male and female, gliding in tandem toward the reeds.
“Don’t go too close,” Cameron said. “There’s a nest.”
“Really?” Pushing her glasses up her nose, she craned her neck to see. “Where?”
He pointed. “In those reeds. Right in the middle.”
“I see it now.” Excitement lightened her voice. “Look at all those eggs! Cameron, that is so cool.”
It wasn’t that cool, he thought.
“I’m glad you left the nest alone. I bet they’ll hatch any day. It’ll be fun to watch. We should check on them every day, shouldn’t we?”
Oh, like he was going to agree to that. It was practically a…a date. A date with a dork. “I’m about finished here. I have to cart this stuff away.” He felt her studying him as he worked. Her intensity was disconcerting. “So go ahead and say it,” he blurted out.
“Say what?”
“All the stuff you’re thinking, like why I did it and how stupid and pointless it was.”
“I know why you did it. And I’m pretty sure you know that it was stupid and pointless.” Without being invited, she hopped into the cart.
He loaded up the tools and got behind the wheel. “All right, Dr. Freud, why did I do it?” he asked as he took off toward the decant and composting area of the golf course.
“Because your parents died and you’re going a little crazy,” she said simply.
That did it. He slammed on the brakes of the golf cart, so hard that she put out her hands to brace herself. Her vulnerability made him even madder. “How the hell do you think you know that? You don’t know anything about me. What makes you think you know why I’m such a screwup?”
She winced as though stung by his temper, but she didn’t stop looking him in the eye. With deliberate, unhurried movements, she got out of the cart. “Because,” she said, “I felt the same way when my own mother died.”
Ah, shit, he thought. Shit, shit, shit. That was the last thing he’d expected from her. “Get back in the cart,” he said.
She walked away at an unhurried pace, her head down.
He pulled the cart next to her. “Please. Please, Becky.”
That stopped her—either the please or the fact that he’d called her by name for the