plants. Whether it was a good idea to become attached or not, she had. And the sense of invasion didn’t help. She needed somebody to lend a hand. Tracy was just surprised it was turning out to be her.
“We’ll get the mess cleaned up,” she assured Janya. “And we’ll see what we can salvage. The sooner the better, if any of the plants are going to survive. I think Herb had some extra pots out by his car, and maybe even some potting soil. After we take stock we’ll see what we need. But we’ll get this back in shape for you.”
“You are very kind.”
“I’m so not very kind. For some weird reason it’s just starting to look that way.”
After helping Janya set her patio to rights and salvaging about half the plants, Tracy made it to work just ahead of the campers. A quick glance at her desk calendar wrenched a groan straight from her painted toenails. The shuffle board, who had managed to avoid her since the incident with Bay, had finally agreed to meet and plan their tournament. She had hoped to stop by the grocery store and buy cookies to bribe them. Instead, she hadn’t even found time for McDonald’s coffee, and without caffeine, she was running on empty.
She left everything on her desk for later and went to greet the kids. Now that the second week of camp was nearly over, they seemed to be finding their niche. Olivia fit in nicely, and this morning when she saw Tracy she was all smiles, walking between two other girls in their identical royal blue T-shirts with the camp logo of a grinning alligator wearing a baseball cap.
A group of boys ran up behind them, pushing and shoving each other until they saw Tracy standing, head cocked, as if to ask what they thought they were doing. They slowed and grinned. She knew from a few conversations she had overheard that these boys, the oldest in the program, thought she was hot. If trying to impress her kept them in line, that was okay with her.
The rest of the kids trickled in, and just as she thought she’d greeted the last of them, she saw Bay Egan bringing up the rear.
Since the start of youth camp, Bay had been surprisingly well-behaved. Before his first day, Tracy had conferred with his counselor, and together they had worked out a plan to deal with problems before they got out of hand. For help Tracy had fallen back on college lectures and experience with spoiled adults. In the end, the differences weren’t huge.
But although he had not caused any real trouble, Bay had problems. He was a valued member of the swim team, but when it came to soccer and softball, he was the teammate nobody wanted. He was short for his age, and baby fat hadn’t yet hardened into muscle. He wore orthopedic sneakers that didn’t completely prevent one foot from turning in when he ran, so he stumbled, sometimes spectacularly, when he was out on the field. He was quick with sarcasm, and much too good at zeroing in on the other kids’ shortcomings. On Wednesday his counselor had reported that he’d gotten into a scuffle. So even though he wasn’t exactly an outcast, Tracy thought he was probably headed in that direction.
She told herself that changing Bay into a happy, popular camper was not in her job description. Her job was to make sure the camp ran smoothly and safely, to make sure the kids went home at summer’s end pleading with their parents to send them again next year. She was not a therapist; she wasn’t even a parent. What did she really know about a boy like Bay, who badly missed his mother and blamed the world for his loss?
She did all she could. She greeted him not like a potential serial killer, but like a boy who needed a warm welcome.
By ten o’clock she was ready for her meeting, but Gladys got to her first. She arrived in the rec room looking as crisp and comfortable as an English nanny, Mary Poppins with thirty extra pounds. In the past weeks Tracy had concluded that even if Woody was officially the director of the rec program, Gladys was just as important to its success. She was the day-to-day face, the person who knew all the secrets. She might not rub shoulders with town officials, write grants or search the county budget for funding, but she