seen a ghost.
Natalie touched Jake’s arm. “Who is this?”
Jake stiffened. “This is Charlie Linton, my boss.”
“Your boss? Why would your boss come here?” She’d had a feeling that something was up with Jake’s work, but to have his boss track him down on vacation seemed absurd. And even crazier, why would her grandmother know this man?
“I’m here because Jake seems to have lost his way and forgot who was still in charge,” this Charlie replied with a cold bend to his words.
“In charge of what?” she asked, getting sick and tired of not knowing what the hell was going on.
Jake took her hand. “I’ve held something back from you, Natalie. Something I should have told you. I just didn’t know how.”
She glanced from Jake to his boss. “Tell me what’s going on?”
“For starters, this isn’t Jake’s first visit to Camp Woolwich, is it, son?” her grandfather said.
This was getting to be too much. She released Jake’s hand and took a step back. “What are you talking about, Grandpa?”
Her grandfather’s gaze softened. “The first night when your grandmother thought she recognized Jake, it was because he’d been here before—as a camper.”
Natalie inhaled a tight breath. “A camper? When?”
“When I was thirteen,” Jake answered, his gaze trained on the barn floor.
The room went topsy-turvy. Or maybe it was just her mind spinning. “Why didn’t you tell me, Jake, and Grandpa, if you knew, why didn’t you say something?”
“Because once your grandfather and I figured out who Jake was, we knew that coming back here had to be hard for him. We wanted to give him some time,” her grandmother offered.
“Time for what?” Nat asked, trying to make sense of it all.
“Jake’s parents didn’t pick him up from camp after the summer ended because they’d passed away,” her grandmother answered, and the penny dropped.
“Your parents died in a boating accident while you were here at Camp Woolwich?” she said, the words tumbling out.
He met her gaze with his eyes clouded with pain and nodded.
“We’d always wondered what happened to you, dear,” her grandmother offered gently.
“You’ve known who I was from that first night?” he asked, lifting his chin a fraction.
Hal nodded. “Yes, after you all left, Bev and I looked at the camp picture, then checked our records and found a Jacob Teller on the camper log. My wife never forgets a face.”
Natalie’s jaw dropped, but before she was able to get a word in, Charlie Linton cleared his throat.
“I hate to break up this touching moment, but Jake’s not here because he wanted to have a heart to heart Kumbaya moment with you people. He’s here because I sent him to get my land back.” The man eyed Jake. “Except, it looks like my protégé is trying to keep it all for himself and cut me out of the deal.”
Jake shook his head as his gaze turned cold. “That’s not true.”
Charlie crossed his arms. “What was your plan? Use the girl to get the land then convince her to sell it to you? If I didn’t think you were trying to screw me out of a deal, I’d say it was a genius idea.”
“You wanted to try to get my family to sell Camp Woolwich?” she said, glaring at Jake, the man she thought she might…no, she couldn’t go there.
“Where’d you even get the idea Camp Woolwich was for sale? You’ve left us alone for fifty years. What made you think you could get it now?” her grandfather said, his cheeks growing pink with anger.
Charlie turned away, and Hal scoffed.
“Don’t tell me we’re playing this game. Look me in the eye like a man, Linton.”
“You’re no man. You’re the scoundrel who took my land,” Charlie bit back.
Hal chuckled, a dry, sarcastic little sound. “Look at Mr. Sour Grapes over here. It’s been fifty years, and you’re still stewing, and you and I both know that I won this land fair and square.”
Charlie’s eyes flashed with anger. “That may be true, but you stole Bev away from me. We were friends, Hal, and you knew how I felt about her.”
Natalie watched, wide-eyed, as this love triangle unfolded.
Her grandmother’s features softened. “I was never yours like that, Charlie. We were always friends, dear friends.”
“Until this card shark swooped into our lives and ruined everything for me,” he shot back like a sullen teenager.
“You know that’s not how it happened,” Bev said gently.
“And you’re the one who racked up all those gambling debts, Charlie. Not me. If you remember right, I tried to get you