8

First, someone lured a bear to the camp, and then they deposited a fish net in the lake? It was beginning to look like whoever had been threatening him was making good on his promise to hurt someone. Grace could have drowned today. Kye pounded a nail into the pre-drilled slot on a slide.

Something had shifted between them after Grace unburdened her heart. Kye couldn’t put his finger on it. It was like a wall erected, and no matter what he did he couldn’t scale it. Grace hadn’t been the same since they left the nurse’s office to help unload the sporting equipment onto the beach. Sure, she did everything with a smile, made helpful suggestions, and worked without complaint. But, her sparkle was gone. Surprisingly, he realized he’d do almost anything to get it back.

“How’s this layout?” Bobby took a few steps back from the extreme obstacle course they had laid out for the kids. “It’ll have whipped cream or sudsy water on the slide, and the beam will extend over the lake. That way the loser falls into the water.”

The primary-colored padded rings, poles, and beams looked kid friendly enough, but would anyone be able to do it?

Kye glanced toward Grace, who had wandered to the refreshment table Kate had set up with bottled water and snacks. She chatted with Kate, not looking his way.

“It looks good,” Kye replied.

“The course or the girl?” Bobby nudged Kye’s arm and nodded toward Grace. Then he grabbed Kye’s shoulders and pivoted him. “The course is this way.”

Kye’s face heated, and he shrugged out of Bobby’s hands. “I know. I saw it.” If seeing him and Grace in the nurse’s office wasn’t enough to stir the gossip pot, this sure would.

“It’s great,” Kye affirmed. “Hard—but good.”

“Do you think it’s too hard?” Kaleb joined the conversation and scratched his head.

Another glance at Grace confirmed she was still ignoring him in that intentional way all women seemed to have mastered.

“There’s only one way to find out.” Kye took off in a sprint. Desperate times called for desperate measures.

“Wait, Kye—”

Kye ran full speed toward the slide. He stole a sideways look and satisfaction rose. Grace watched. He upped his pace.

Two steps up the slide and it shifted under his feet. No! The lip slipped, dropping Kye and the slide three feet into the sand. His arms shot out to break his fall, and his face exploded against the yellow plastic hump halfway up the slide.

He rolled over, groaning. Kaleb, Bobby, Grace, and Kate hovered over him. How did they get here so fast?

He sat up and felt liquid running from his nostrils. He pressed the hem of his T-shirt against his nose. “It’s not that bad,” he insisted, but it came out all muffled from behind his bunched-up T-shirt. The shirt quickly deepened to a dark shade of red, darkening with every passing second.

“I’m taking you to Emergency,” Grace announced.

Her insistence both warmed and humiliated him. “You don’t have to do that—”

“Yes, I do.” She smiled, but it didn’t quite wipe the worry from her eyes. “You blacked out for a few seconds.”

That explained their lightning speed reaching him.

Her soft hands prodded his body as she checked him for other injuries. “I’m fine,” he repeated.

“What were you thinking running up the slide before anyone tested it? You gotta slow down and stop doing everything at full speed.” She slid her eyes over his, and he squirmed under her scrutiny. He couldn’t very well explain that his lack of focus was her fault.

“I can’t believe you did that.” Kaleb punched Kye on the shoulder. “I tried to call you back, but you were gone.” His mocking laughter multiplied Kye’s discomfort. This was not the way he wanted to get Grace’s attention.

“Let’s go.” Grace hoisted him up.

Kye tipped his head back and pinched the bridge of his nose to slow the flow of blood. There was so much blood.

He groaned every time her sedan hit a bump in the road. The pain zipping through his sinus tract kept pace with the argument he had with himself inside his head.

What had he thought? That running up the slide would magically transport them back into the comfortable intimacy they enjoyed in the nurse’s office? The minute her walls shot back up, he’d wanted to tear them down. He’d needed to do something drastic and coax out a smile. Mission accomplished. His totally stupid stunt didn’t merely break the ice between them. It broke his nose. And she noticed him all right. It was hard to miss the guy bleeding all over the obstacle course.

“We’re almost there.” Grace said as she pulled into the parking lot.

“Good.” Kye coughed. Excess blood seeped through the saturated fabric and over his fingers, which were now sticky and wet.

“Tamera is meeting us at admitting.”

“You called my mother? When?”

“When Bobby was helping you into the car.” She leveled a look his way. “I’d want to know if my son was hurt.” Grace parked the car and turned off the engine.

“Since when is she on your speed dial?”

“Since you cancelled our Sunday lunch. I looked her up and called to apologize. We’ve chatted a few times since.” She got out of the car and came around to his side to help him out.

“You talk to my mother?”

“Yeah. Why not?” The double doors leading into the hospital slid open.

Of course. It was all starting to make sense. His mother had recently paused the get-married-and-settle-down speech. He had hoped it was because she was starting to respect his decisions. Turns out she was working the system from another angle. He should have known.

The minute they stepped into the room, his mother rushed him. “Malachi Campton! What were you thinking?”

“Hi, Mom.” He shot Grace a see-what-you-did look.

Grace smiled.

“Don’t Mom me. This is serious. You know what happens when you injure your nose. Ever since that time you fell out of the tree when you were six, you’ve had to get it cauterized to stop the bleeding.”

“Let it go.” Kye clenched his teeth and added an aching jaw to his list of ailments.

“I brought you a clean shirt.” His mom sighed and looked pointedly at Grace, who quickly looked away. “If you had a nice woman and settled down, she could bring you clean shirts instead of me.”

Grace seemed to be trying to hide a grin. She was enjoying this far too much.

His cell phone chirped. Saved by the bell. “Gotta take this, Mom. Can you register me?” He pushed his mother into the direction of the admitting nurse and then wandered through the double doors into the parking lot. “Hello?”

“You enjoying camp?” his boss asked.

“Yeah, it’s been fun.” Maybe if he kept his answers short, his boss wouldn’t notice him gagging on blood?

“Not too much fun, I hope.”

Not unless you count threatening notes, bear attacks, suspicious wire in the lake, and hospital visits as fun. He shifted the wad of tissues he’d grabbed from the waiting room to better stem the flow of blood. “What’s up?”

“We have your next job lined up. A toy company in Phoenix needs some help rebranding their name. It starts September tenth.”

“Count me in.” He glanced through the large waiting room windows and did a double take. Grace had her hands over his mother’s, their heads bowed, praying. For him? He disconnected the call, a second before registering that his boss had still been talking. What more was there to say? He said he’d be there.

His heart did a funny roll in his chest as he watched Grace’s lips move, her eyes scrunched in earnestness. And for the first time, the idea of rushing to the next fix didn’t hold much appeal.

Thankfully, the quiet ER enabled the admitting nurse to usher him into a room as soon as he returned. His mother followed him into the space sectioned off into four private areas by curtains. The nurse instructed Kye to sit on the examining bed, and then she pulled the curtain shut offering some semblance of privacy. A long sigh escaped him.

“That sounds like it hurts.” A man in a white lab coat yanked back the curtain and strode to the bedside.

“It does,” Kye read his name tag. “Doctor Brown.”

“So how did it happen?” Doctor Brown shone a penlight into each one of Kye’s eyes. He gently pressed and prodded his face.

“I ran an obstacle course.” Kye flashed his mother a warning glare when her mouth opened like she was going to add something.

“I haven’t heard that one before.” Doctor Brown’s eyebrows shot up.

“It’s for Camp Moshe. Part of a new extreme sports plan.” Mom summarized the details with a dutiful, straight-faced expression.

“Ahh. Good to know. We’ll keep more doctors on standby.” Doctor Brown winked. “I’m not sure you want any campers doing what you did, young man.”

“Is it broken?”

“No, but you banged it pretty bad. I’ll have to cauterize it to stop the blood flow.”

His mom’s lips slid into a satisfied I-told-you-so smile.

Doctor Brown clicked off his penlight. He moved to a cupboard and pulled out his supplies. “It might turn a lovely shade of purple, and if you’re lucky, you won’t get the accompanying black eyes. Over-the-counter pain meds should help. Ready?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”

“I’m going to use this spray to numb the area.” Doctor Brown held up a container. After a couple of squirts up his nostril, he picked up a larger tool. “Now I’m going to find the exposed blood vessel and give it a little zap. This shouldn’t hurt.”

Kye felt an odd tickle that made him want to sneeze, and it was all over.

“That’s it. Go home and ice it. Don’t blow your nose for a couple of days and use petroleum jelly to keep it moist.”

“Thanks, Doc.” Kye slipped on the clean shirt his mother had brought him.

“Did you at least win?” Doctor Brown looked up from his clipboard.

“Win?”

“The course? I assume you were trying to win something?”

Mom laughed so hard her shoulders heaved and threw her into a coughing fit. Did Grace tell his mom that he had been trying to get Grace’s attention? Had he been that obvious?

“Not even close,” Kye answered as he backed his mother away from the doctor. “Not even close.”

Grace stood as they exited the exam room, concern all over her pretty face. Their gazes locked.

He grinned at her. “Like I said earlier, it’s fine. We can even rock climb tomorrow.”

Her expression relaxed at the word fine, then tensed again at the reminder of their rock-climbing date.

“Great,” she smiled weakly.

Kye led the parade out of the hospital, struggling to get a hold of his emotions. Tomorrow’s excursion was no longer about rock climbing. It was about attraction. Part of him hoped she also felt the charge that detonated every time they were together. Another part of him feared what it would mean if she did.

~*~

“Kye’s accident only proves my theory.” Grace stuck to her hypothesis like gum to a shoe, gritting her teeth as she helped Kate clean up the darkening beach. The setting sun shot glorious rays of color across the calm water, but Grace felt anything but calm. Why wouldn’t Kate let it go?

“What theory? That a man will do anything to gain the attention of a beautiful lady?” Her prodding rubbed Grace like sandpaper. Kate had become a bit of a staff matchmaker, wanting all her co-workers as happy as she and her new fiancé. She burst with a glass-is-half-full, my grass-is-greener attitude. Kate tossed a few more empty water bottles into the recycling bin lying at her feet.

“Men don’t think before they act and their haste affects everyone.” Grace picked up and slammed down empty water bottles. When her dad recklessly jumped into the ocean, it changed everything. She wasn’t interested in a man who spent his life taking risks, no matter how calculated.

“Come on.” Kate caught Grace’s hands in hers. “You don’t really believe that, do you?”

Grace blinked back tears. She didn’t want to explain it all to Kate. Not after reliving it earlier with Kye. “Yes, I do.”

Kate stuffed her hands into her short pockets. “I think that’s sad.”

Grace shrugged and faced the breeze welcoming the refreshing coolness on her face. “Reckless behaviors result in injury. It’s simple cause and effect.”

“Life isn’t always safe.”

Kye had said nearly the exact thing to her. “How did I become the bad guy here? Kye was the fool who ran up the slide before checking to see if it was assembled right.”

“Yeah. And when you were at the hospital, Kaleb looked over the bolts. He said they looked defective. It’s lucky this happened to Kye and not one of the kids. That bolt was going to eventually break.”

“Lucky? This just proves that extreme camp idea is foolish.”

“Kye probably broke his nose.” Kate gave her a pointed look and then scooped up the bin and headed back toward the campground.

Grace crinkled her nose and grazed it with her fingertip. Kye did have a pretty cute nose. “It’s not broken,” she called after Kate. She scrambled to catch up with her friend. “Why did he do that? If he’s such a great catch and smart guy, what was his plan?”

“His plan was to impress you. Everybody knew it but you.” Kate’s ponytail bobbed with each step.

Grace stopped. Was it true? It couldn’t be true. She didn’t have time for romance. Besides, Kye was temporary. Off to the next business-related rescue after saving the camp. That was the plan.

She ran after Kate. “Oh, he made an impression, all right.”

Kate turned.

“He left his face-print on the yellow slide.” Grace’s attempt at humor fell flat.

“He just wanted you to notice him. You’d ignored him all afternoon.”

Oh, she noticed him all right. When Kye had hitched up his T-shirt and revealed way too much skin, she’d averted her gaze. The scrunched-up T-shirt covering half his face couldn’t hide his deep dimple any better than it hid his muscular frame. Her heart had leapt. It shouldn’t have, but it did.

Grace closed her eyes. Lord, help me.

She’d ticked off Kate tonight, and earlier Kye definitely didn’t appreciate her meddling and calling his mother. She couldn’t seem to get it right. But what was she supposed to do? Nothing? The guy blacks out for a few minutes and expects everyone to take it in stride? And just because Kate was getting married, Grace should follow her down the aisle with the next available guy?

“Forget it.” Kate took her silence as disagreement and turned to walk away.

“Wait,” Grace caught her arm and tugged her back. “I know he’s a good guy. I’m just working through my own issues. OK?” Please, God, let it be okay.

Kate softened. “Sure.”

Grace gave her a quick hug and offered to finish cleaning up. She trudged her way back to the beach to collect the rest of the garbage. Could anything else go wrong?

“Grace?”

Grace squinted into the shadows. Her mother picked up the hem of her long skirt and jogged toward her.

Grace sighed.

“Mom, what are you doing out here?

“Jeremy told me what happened. Is Kye OK? I know you two are friends.” The faintest frown showed between her brows.

“He’s going to be fine.” She recalled the look on Kye’s face as Tamera tugged him across the parking lot yapping about catching up on the ride back to camp. She stifled a laugh. “He’ll be more than fine. Tamera is looking after him.”

“Good,” Ann nodded. “He’s a good man.”

“Yeah.” Grace hid her surprise of her mother’s summation of Kye’s character behind a cough.

“I hear the camp’s insurance adjuster is coming in a few days.”

She cocked an eyebrow. Her mom never made small talk. “Yes, the day after tomorrow. How did you know?”

“Their receptionist is a friend of mine. She said that their office received an anonymous call expressing concern about the camp’s safety.”

“What?”

Ann studied Grace. “You aren’t taking any unnecessary risks, are you?”

“No, Mom. We are doing everything by the book.” The stolen boat, bear, net in the water, and her quick trip to the hospital with Kye flashed through her mind. But those weren’t connected. And they certainly were not the camp’s fault.

“OK. I just needed to ask.” Mom tucked a wayward strand of hair around Grace’s ear. “You’re happy, right?”

Grace’s eyes bugged out. “Why?”

Ann’s bottom lip quivered, and she caught it between her teeth, holding it for a half second. “I’ve been thinking a lot lately. After you moved from the cottage to the cabin, Graham explained some things to me and… and, I owe you an apology.” A sad smile turned up the corners of her lips. “I’m sorry, sweetheart.”

The apology came so unexpectedly, Grace could only stare. “For what?”

“For not acknowledging that you are great at your job.” She ran the back of her fingers down Grace’s cheek and wiped away a tear. “You know I am proud of you, right?”

Her throat tightened. “I do now.”

Her mother blinked rapidly, and then pulled her shoulders back. “Good. I needed you to know that.”

Ann wiped her eyes, and then laughed uncomfortably. “Well, I better get back to Jeremy before he wonders where I got off to. Good night.”

“Night, Mom.” Grace collected the rest of the trash and ensured it was properly stored in the bear-proof bins before returning to her cabin. She fell onto the lawn chair she’d picked up curbside and pondered her mother’s apology until her phone interrupted her thoughts. Uncle Carl’s voice filled her with warmth.

“Uncle Carl!”

“Gracey! I’m sorry it’s taken so long to call. I’ve had the best vacation. Fishing is great, and the sunshine is better. But I suspect you haven’t been trying to get in touch with me about my holiday. Am I right?’

She shifted on her chair. A light shone in Kye’s cabin. Was he back from the hospital? Was his mother still there? “You always knew how to read in between the lines, Uncle Carl.”

“How are things at camp?”

“Not what I expected.”

“But Kye’s working out, right? He is everything I thought he was?”

Grace hated the tension that crept into Uncle Carl’s voice. He deserved this break, not to be dragged back into the drama of camp.

“I’m not thrilled with his direction, but he’s a good guy.” Her heart zinged as she remembered the tender way he wrapped her arm earlier in the day, and the way Kate and her mother vouched for his character.

“Is there romance blooming?” Uncle Carl’s hopefulness oozed through the connection. Was that why Uncle Carl so easily stepped aside and accepted retirement? Was he matchmaking?

“We’ve hit some unexpected roadblocks.” She ignored his question and instead briefed him on what had been happening, including her mother’s bombshell of an announcement about the insurance.

“That sounds like an awful lot to process.”

Her fingers ached from her grip on the phone. He didn’t know the half of it. She forced her hand to relax. “We’ll get through. It’s not like someone is out to ruin the camp.” As soon as the words left her lips, she wondered if someone could be behind all their bad luck.

“I don’t know. It’s too serious to be a prank, but too frequent to write off as happenstance.”

“Could someone be behind this? Another camp?”

“I doubt it. They’re all struggling to maintain enrollment. Most of the talk when I was there had been about working together, not against each other. Keep your wits about you.”

A cold sweat beaded on her brow. What if someone was trying to sabotage the camp? What did that mean for the campers? For her program? For Kye? “Did you ever have a summer like this?”

“No,” he laughed. “The worse thing I ever had to handle was an ornery board member who kept trying to buy up shares so he could gain the majority.”

“What did he want with shares?”

“He said the capitol gained from selling shares would save the camp from closure, but I wasn’t convinced he planned to keep the camp open. There was something fishy about the whole thing.”

“He’s not still here, is he?”

“Last I heard, he left the cottage to his family and moved away. I think the noise from the kids got to him.”

“At least we don’t have some cranky old man to deal with on top of everything else.”

“Keep me posted, Grace.”

“Will do.” After they disconnected, Grace remained on the porch. What would Uncle Carl think about her rock climbing plans? In light of all that had happened, would he be concerned for her safety? Should she tell Kye about her theory of sabotage?

Kye’s cabin light flicked off, cloaking his place in darkness. Maybe tomorrow’s excursion wasn’t such a good idea.