fast that she almost fell. “There’s a spider in that thing. I hate spiders.”
“Seems like y’all hate lots of things,” Jayden said. “You loved picking up things that didn’t belong to you, so this afternoon you will begin a collection of bugs, insects, lizards, or whatever else you can find out here in this desert place.”
“I can’t do that,” Carmella argued. “Ashlyn is going to be walking horses, and that just leaves me to make sure Tiffany don’t puke up her dinner.”
“She’s going with you,” Jayden told her. “Since she likes taking pictures that she shouldn’t, she will be drawing a picture each day of a weed, a bug, or even the mountains off in the distance. Y’all can go with Ashlyn when she walks the horses and look for bugs, cactus plants, or anything else you can pick up, and Tiffany can draw. And no stick figures. All of your pictures will be displayed in the dining room so everyone can see them, so think about that when you’re drawing the spiders or butterflies.”
“What do I draw with?” Tiffany asked. “And do I really have to walk that mile again in the hot sun?”
“Looks like it,” Jayden told her. “You will find a sketch pad in the cabin. Be sure to sharpen several pencils before you leave. And there’s a box to use for your critters, Carmella, along with a book on insects for this area so you don’t pick up a poisonous one.”
“I’m not touching a spider,” Carmella declared.
“Then don’t forget to take a pair of disposable plastic gloves with you. They’re in the kitchen,” Jayden told her.
Tiffany picked up a shovel and killed the spider. “I hate mice. You owe me now. If there’s a mouse in here or in our cabin, you have to get rid of it.”
“Snakes are what give me the willies,” Ashlyn admitted as she checked around the second wheelbarrow before she rolled it down the center aisle and into the last stall. “Y’all take care of those things, and I’ll help with the spiders and mice.”
Carmella threw all three shovels into her wheelbarrow and rolled them toward the stalls. “Is this going to be like hypnosis? Every time I see something that I want to shoplift, will I think of the smell of crap and urine?”
“Probably so,” Tiffany answered.
Jayden felt like giving herself a gold star. Her girls might still fuss and argue, but, by golly, they were at least going to kill spiders, snakes, and mice for each other. That was another step in the right direction. She couldn’t keep the smile off her face when she realized that she’d thought of them as her girls, and this was just the first official day of camp. They might not be lifelong friends at the end of eight weeks, but maybe they would at least learn the value of teamwork.
Like you never did with your sister, her mother’s voice popped into her head.
That’s not all on me, Jayden argued.
There was something about Jayden’s steely blue eyes that Elijah couldn’t get away from, no matter what. For the first time since he’d left the air force, he had thought about telling her how it felt when he had to fly the helicopter out to get his buddies’ dead bodies after the explosion—how he had felt so guilty because he had to fuel the chopper before he left.
He pulled out his chair and took a seat beside her at the dinner table at noon. “I’ve been checkin’ on all the girls this morning. They’ve all done a good job considering this is their first day. The stalls look good. Think Ashlyn will be able to walk the horses this afternoon without supervision?”
“I intend to go with them today,” Jayden said. “Would you pass the butter? I’m wishing there were days when we had kitchen duty with the girls. I like to cook and have a whole collection of cookbooks, but it’s no fun to make food for just one person.”
Elijah handed her the bowl with the individual containers of butter. “That’s another difference between you and Skyler. I remember her saying that she hated to cook, and the reason the girls don’t have kitchen duty is that Mary is selfish with her kitchen, and she’s afraid they might do something stupid to get even with the other girls.”
“I told you before, Skyler and I are as different as daylight and dark.” Jayden slathered butter on her hot roll and bit into it, and then