you here, and overcome them,” Jayden told them. “And now, you should all get going. You’ve only got about five minutes to get into your beds. I’d hate for you to get demerits because you were having an intervention of sorts for me.”
The girls from the other cabins left, and in only a few minutes Novalene and Diana joined her on the Daydream Cabin porch. Novalene handed her a bottle of water and sat down beside her. Diana took one of the other two chairs. Neither was wearing her cap, and their hair looked damp from fresh washing. Novalene’s gray roots shone in the moonlight. Diana’s hair hung in wet strands.
Jayden twisted the top off the bottle and took a long drink from it. “Don’t tell me y’all are here to give me a pep talk about not going back to teaching.”
“Is that why the kids were all gathered up over here?” Novalene asked.
“It’s like they’re on a mission to get me to stay here,” Jayden laughed.
“You can make up your own mind about all that,” Novalene replied. “We came over to see what’s got you all twisted up today. You’ve been distracted, and you forgot to make sweet tea for dinner and then again for supper until the girls were already lined up. So fess up—are you and Elijah fighting?”
“We’re not prying,” Diana said. “We’re just here to help.”
“A few days ago, I found a letter from my mother,” Jayden spat out and went on to tell them how angry she’d been at her mother for the decisions she’d made.
“She kept more than her half of the money?” Diana was aghast. “That’s downright mean and hateful no matter which way you think about it.”
“And she wouldn’t let you buy her out?” Novalene asked. “Even if your mama wanted you to move on, it would have been only right for Skyler to offer the place to you first.”
“Or at least to give you more than your personal belongings. I would be devastated if I didn’t have my grandmother’s rolling pin,” Diana added.
“It is what it is.” Jayden sighed.
“You are so right. All our bitchin’ won’t undo it, so let’s go back to my question,” Novalene said. “Are you and Elijah fighting?”
“No, we are not fighting,” Jayden said.
“Good,” Novalene said. “We’ve had such a pleasant experience this session that . . .”
She hesitated and Diana picked up where she left off. “. . . that we don’t want things to get awkward here at the end.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jayden asked.
“We’re not blind, darlin’.” Novalene laughed. “We can feel the . . . what do kids call it these days . . . vibes? Whatever it’s called—chemistry, attraction, sparks, electricity—we can see it between y’all, and you know better than to mix business and pleasure. It never works, and things would get strange if y’all started up something and then had a falling out.”
“Everything is fine between me and Elijah. We would never start something with the girls here, but I have told him I’d stick around a couple of weeks after this session. We feel that tension or whatever it is between us, too, and we’d like some time to see exactly what it is,” she admitted.
Novalene smiled. “I’ll make sure you have my address so you’ll know where to send that bottle of bourbon.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Jayden had made her list of pros and cons and studied it the whole fifth week that she was at the camp. The biggest thing against the whole idea of moving to Alpine was that she had tenure and security with her teaching job and a three-month block of time off in the summer. What lifted her heart and put a smile on her face when she looked at her list was the fact that if she stayed at Piney Wood, she wouldn’t have casework or kids and parents to deal with, and she would be doing something that she loved every day. Plus, even though it wasn’t in one solid block, she would have four months off through the year. Other than cooking for Elijah and herself and helping him out some around the place, she would be free to actually write that novel she had thought about for years.
By the end of the sixth week, she still hadn’t made up her mind, and the need to make a decision was weighing heavy on her heart. She shouldn’t wait until the last minute to tender her resignation to her school if she was