deep breath and let it out in a whoosh. “I was hoping that Mary was sending me a message,” she said out loud.
“Everything all right in here?” Elijah removed his cap and wiped sweat from his forehead as he entered the building. “Summer has arrived with a vengeance. It’s ninety-four degrees out there.”
“Have you heard from Skyler?” Jayden asked.
“Nope.” Elijah picked up a bottle of water and downed half of it. “Have you?”
“I just got a selfie and a text that said she’ll be in Alpine tomorrow,” she answered.
“That’s the first I’m hearing of it,” Elijah said. “I wonder if she’s coming to accept the offer that I left on her voice mail or just to visit you.”
“I guess we can see easily enough.” Jayden took another deep breath and called her sister, but she couldn’t imagine Skyler visiting the camp. After five rings it went straight to voice mail, and she didn’t even bother leaving a message. “I guess we’ll know when she shows up.”
“Are you okay with her being here? I’m pretty desperate for help right now.” Elijah finished off the bottle of water and poured himself a glass of lemonade.
“I’ll be fine,” she told him, and sincerely hoped she was telling the truth.
“I’m going back to plow another field. Karen is in Moonbeam Cabin now. She said of the six that she’s seen so far today, there’s some clear progress.” Elijah settled his cap back on his head. “See you at suppertime.”
“That’s good news about the girls.” Jayden really didn’t like giving up her job with her girls, but hiring more help was up to Elijah, not her.
“Yep,” Elijah threw up a hand and waved on his way out the door—then he stopped. “If she is coming to help us out, you can move over to Henry and Mary’s house.”
“Thank you,” Jayden said. “I’d like to still sit in on their counseling hour so that we don’t lose any ground. Too bad Skyler hates to cook and never learned how to do much more than open cans and microwave frozen dinners. As much as I like cooking, I’d give her this job so my girls wouldn’t be upset.”
“Maybe it’ll be a smooth transition,” Elijah said as the door closed behind him.
“Yeah, right,” Jayden said. “It’ll be about as smooth as a ride down a dirt road with a flat tire.”
“We’re here,” Keelan yelled as she and Bailey arrived in the kitchen to help with supper duties. “We’re finished with our therapy, and Novalene said for us to come out here and help with whatever you say for us to do. I wish I could take Karen home with me so she could be my therapist all the time.”
“Make the best of your time here with her and maybe when you go home, you’ll be ready to open up to your therapist there a little more,” Jayden told her. “You are all making great progress in learning to be comfortable in your own skin, and I’m proud of you.”
“Do you think it’s because we’re all away from our circle of friends?” Bailey asked.
“Could be. Do you think you’ll change that group when you leave here?” Jayden asked.
Keelan got two aprons from the hook on the wall and tossed one toward Bailey. “I’m going to change a lot of things when I get back. I don’t need drugs or to be around people who use them. I only used the money I got from them to buy stuff—bad stuff like liquor for parties—anyway.”
“Me either,” Bailey agreed.
Who would have thought they’d figure that out in such a short time? Jayden thought. But then I’m questioning my own job, my past, my future, and lots of things since I came here, so it shouldn’t be any big surprise that these kids picked that up so fast.
Jayden beat her pillow until there wasn’t a lump in it. She counted how many sounds came from crickets and how many from tree frogs until the noise of the air conditioner compressors kicking on blotted out both. Then she closed her eyes and tried to imagine sheep jumping over a white picket fence. When Elijah leaned his elbows on the top rail and smiled at her in the vision, she lost count. Finally, she threw back the sheet, pulled on a pair of jeans and her shoes, and headed for the barn.
When she arrived, she went right to Dynamite’s stall and stuck her hand over the top rail to pet him. “Did you sense that