on the porches of a few. The front of each of the three cabins was covered with clapboard siding. The other three sides were stucco like everything else, other than a big red barn out in the distance. The cabins didn’t have lace curtains, but they did look a little more inviting than the other places around the compound.
“We’re home,” Henry announced as he parked the van. “We’ll unload y’all’s stuff after we have something to eat and visit a little.”
Elijah and Jayden were the last ones out of the van. Everyone else hurried inside, probably to get out of the heat, but Jayden took a moment to look around at all the various buildings. Each one had a sign hanging between two of its porch posts, and the noise of them swinging back and forth reminded her of the squeaky swing on the front porch of the house that Skyler sold.
DINING HALL was written on the stucco building where Elijah had headed. She squinted across the dusty yard at the three brightly colored cabins. She could just make out their names on the swinging signs. The first one read DAYDREAM CABIN and was painted a light green with pretty red chairs on the porch. The second, MOONBEAM CABIN, was pale blue with hot-pink chairs. The third one in the row was SUNSHINE CABIN, appropriately painted yellow with orange chairs. Each cabin had a flower bed full of petunias, lantana, and marigolds.
“You comin’ in or are you about to steal the van and go back home?” Elijah had a deep Texas drawl that, evidently, he hadn’t gotten away from in the air force.
“The jury is still out,” she told him. “But I am hungry, so I think I’ll eat before I decide.”
The aroma of something spicy wafted out to greet her when Elijah held the door open. “Mary’s cookin’ makes all the work worthwhile.”
“Something sure smells good. What else is on the agenda?” she asked.
“We’ll go over that in the briefing,” he answered.
“Is this the only one of these eight-week classes you have a year?” she asked as she entered the building. A buffet bar divided the room in half—kitchen to the left, dining area on the right. The walls were painted seafoam green. Three tables’ name cards were already arranged on them. A fourth table for six was set a few feet away.
“Nope,” Elijah answered. “We have four a year. One during each season, but the summer one is the only one when the girls don’t actually have school classes in addition to everything else. During the other three, they have to keep up with their schoolwork as well as get their lives back on track.”
“So, you do these thirty-two weeks out of the year?” She frowned.
Henry was standing right inside the door and evidently had heard her question. “Yes, there’s a camp in January and February, one in March and April, and then we close down in May. We reopen for one in June and July, and then close down in August and have one in September and October,” he explained. “We don’t have anything during November and December. There’s just too many holidays during that time. Mary and I are planning a couple of long cruises this year in November and December to celebrate our retirement, and then we’re going to settle down in one of those old folks’ villages.”
“What?” Novalene threw a hand over her heart. “You’re retiring? Are you going to close down the academy?”
“No, Elijah is taking over,” Mary told them. “Don’t worry, we’re leaving the place in good hands. Now, if Henry will say grace, we will dish up all the fixin’s for tacos and enchiladas and have sopaipillas for dessert.”
Jayden had been running late that morning, and she hadn’t taken time to eat breakfast. Besides, she hadn’t wanted to leave dirty dishes in the sink or take the time to wash them. Now it was noon, and she didn’t have a bashful bone in her body. As soon as Henry finished saying grace, she was the first in the buffet line. She loaded up her plate with rice, beans, and enchiladas, and then poured herself a glass of sweet tea.
“Why are the cabins so bright, and everything else kind of dull looking?” she asked Mary when she reached the end of the line.
“These girls need to learn how to behave, but they also need a bright spot in their lives. Once they get here, they’ll be given jobs, a schedule, and a