Shadow Lake Vampire Society - Wendi Wilson Page 0,8
said, setting the remains of my brownie back onto the plate. “I don’t mean to impose. I wasn’t thinking straight—”
“Piper, stop,” she said, her firm voice cutting off my guilty words as her amber gaze bore into me. “I told you it was fine. I’ve been seeing you for over a year, and you’ve never once come by unannounced, seen me outside our regular weekly sessions, or even called me to talk something through. You are a model patient. Please stop worrying.”
I nodded, not trusting my tongue to agree without more apologies. I finished off my brownies and chugged half the milk before she spoke again.
“I have to say, I am curious about what brought you to my doorstep despite your obvious discomfort at dropping by with no word.” She smiled, showing lots of pearly-white teeth, and I couldn’t fight it when my own lips quirked up at the corners.
“Mom told me about the summer job at Camp Shadow Lake,” I said.
“And you dismissed it immediately,” she replied, her head cocked to the side. At my questioning gaze, she explained, “Your mom texted me.”
I shook my head in disbelief. Mom texted Dr. Whitley? How often did that happen? Were they old friends now, or what?
I brushed off the questions. The answers didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was Mom was worried enough to conspire with my therapist over me. I was causing her stress, and I was done being an emotional burden.
No more. Dad was gone and obsessing over “that night” wasn’t going to bring him back. It would only ruin the rest of my life, which would ruin Mom’s.
It was time for me to step out of my comfort zone and get back to the business of living.
“Well, I changed my mind. Sign me up, Doc. I’m going to summer camp.
Chapter Four
Despite the soothing hum of Mom’s car tires on the pavement, I was a nervous wreck as we drove to Camp Shadow Lake. I’d felt very brave and spontaneous when I’d told Dr. Whitely and Mom that I’d go. I wasn’t feeling so courageous this morning.
To give my fidgety hands something to do, I pulled out my phone and opened up each social media app, scrolling mindlessly through them again. I’d already watched all of Coco’s videos and play-by-plays of the three remaining senior challenges. The American Gladiator style battle over a pit of ankle-deep water looked fun, but the forest scavenger hunt with hidden super-soaker gunmen definitely did not. And the last event, the murky lake swim challenge that ended in a huge beach party seemed like the opening to a horror flick, so I was glad I’d had too much packing to do to attend.
I scrolled through Coco’s pics and videos until I found my favorite, the one of us at graduation in our caps and gowns. Her grin was so large her eyes had turned into mere slits. I had one arm thrown around her shoulder while the other tossed my cap into the air. It could’ve been an ad for a magazine, it was that perfect. We both looked so happy and carefree. God, I was going to miss her so much.
“You okay, bug?” Mom turned down her audiobook and glanced at me.
“Sure. Yes.”
“I bet Coco is going to miss you like crazy.”
“Yeah.” A lump formed in my throat, making it hard to give more than monosyllabic answers.
“I’m going to miss you like crazy, too. Who will eat all my yogurt and use all the toilet paper up without replacing the roll?” She reached over and shook my knee.
“Ha ha. You’ll miss my sulking and all that weird Sci-fi I force you to watch.”
“You're right. I’ll have to watch reality TV all alone. It’s going to be a rough summer.” Mom winked before turning her eyes back to the tree-lined road.
She was being lighthearted for my sake, but I did worry about her. After Dad died, it had only been us two, though I wasn’t the best company. She’d never gone on a single date, not that I knew of, anyway. Maybe with me out of the house, she’d actually give it a try. That thought brought up another swirl of emotions I wasn’t sure I could handle.
I didn’t want another dad. The hole he left couldn’t be filled with some guy Mom met online.
Gross.
Always uncomfortable with long silences, Mom brought up another topic. “So, when we get there, you’ll meet with the director. His name is Charles Purty.”