“All right, someone explain the rules of the lake to me,” Brie said, standing on cabin two’s porch, decked out in red, white, and blue and looking like Captain America’s love child.
“I still don’t have a good idea of what the rules are, and I’m not going to be the one to screw up and get myself sent home for breaking a rule I wasn’t even aware of.”
“No idea,” I said, holding up my hands.
She shrugged and put her hands on her hips, shifting her sparkly eyelids toward Grant. “What about you? No answer from you either?” she said. “I thought you had the answers for everything. Your guys hyped you up like you were the camp GOAT.”
“Bahh,” I said, grinning.
Grant shot me a narrowed glare, but grinned just the same. “That’s what a sheep sounds like, genius,” he said. “And to answer Fourth of July Barbie over there, the rule is to stay with your cabin. If you go out of sight, it’s a write-up and extra chores. Alex will be the one to pick and choose what they are.”
“Oh, then I’m golden,” Brie said, smiling.
She passed me, taking the steps two at a time. Jess and the other girls joined her at the bottom, the group on the porch rapidly depleting, much like the sunlight outside.
I turned, eyeing Grant up and down as he stood in the exact same spot where he stood every time we were here.
He wore a navy-blue polo and a pair of khaki shorts, his tan contrasting the hue of the fabric. Gone was his baseball hat. His messy brown hair was on full display, giving me a clear shot at his brilliant hazel eyes and sharp facial features.
I closed the distance once the stragglers were gone, raking a hand against the stubble on his chin. “Do we really have to go with them?” I said, looking at him. “It would be so much more fun to stay here and watch the fireworks from the porch.”
“It’s in the rule book,” he said. “But no one said anything about sitting with them during the fireworks. Our job is to get them to the lake. We’re in the clear after that.”
He kissed me softly and I groaned, spotting Loraine as she walked by our cabin with a flashlight in hand.
“There goes the PDA police,” he said.
“Meh. I don’t know. I think she’s so excited I finally opened up to someone about my feelings, she doesn’t even care if there’s PDA involved.”
“You really believe that?”
“Not for a second,” I said, grinning.
I grabbed his hand and tugged him toward the steps, mixing with campers from the other cabins as they walked the path toward the main entrance.
After camp was over and Loraine wasn’t monitoring me, I could kiss him whenever I wanted. For now, it was probably better not to push my luck. Holding his hand was wholesome enough to appease her, but still got me the affection I needed to feel safe.
“So, how do all of these activities play out?” I said, holding his hand tighter. “I know we’re supposed to go down to the lake and watch fireworks, but then what? Are we included in the post-party social, or is that limited to cabin one?”
“We get to participate,” he said. “It’s cabins one and two, and if we’re lucky I’ll be able to con Linc into covering for me so I can get out of there with zero camper responsibilities for the rest of the night.”
“Do you ever do your job?”
“Nope. Most of the time I talk other people into doing it for me,” he said. “It’s a talent, really, and an amazing way to get myself an hour or two alone with you.”
“Except I have patrols tonight.”
“Exactly. We can get lost in the woods and no one will think twice about where we are or what we’re doing.”
I considered it. There was no one I’d rather do that patrol with. In the event of a snake, I could sacrifice him and run the other way screaming.
“I see you over there considering,” he said.
“Yeah. Considering how I can sacrifice you to a snake.”
We passed the counselor cabin, the light from the moon barely lighting a path through the thick canopy of trees. Fortunately, Grant knew where he was going. He bypassed tree after tree until we spotted the campers sitting among a series of flat-topped rocks facing the lake.
I caught him before we reached the tree clearing, my arms wrapping around his waist and dragging him out of sight.
“Hi there,” he said, grinning at me. “I’m Grant. You are?”
“You know who I am and hush before you get us caught.”
I peered around him, scanning the group for Loraine. Linc had her distracted farther down the shore. He might have been Grant’s ally, but he was quickly turning into one of mine too.
“I heard from someone there’s a geocache back here,” I said, looking at Grant again. “It could be a rumor, but who knows? Maybe it’s true.”
“You lie, Alex Reynolds.”
“I don’t lie,” I said, poking him in the stomach. “Check that app of yours and tell me you don’t see a pair of coordinates for somewhere near this lake.”
He grinned, his eyes on me as he dug in his back pocket and took out his phone. “If I can get service,” he said.
The light from the screen lit the plains of his face, making them sharper, more defined. He was so devastatingly handsome it hurt to look at him, but he was mine. All mine.
“There’s never been a geo—” he started, the corners of his eyes crinkling with excitement while the words died away.
“What was that?” I said, smiling.
“Alex, is this your way of telling me you found the Magic 8 Ball?”
“Linc did,” I said. “Now it’s your job to find it.”
Grant laughed and shook his head, pivoting in the dark. It was a cheesy attempt at a date, but a girl had to take her opportunities when they came. If Linc was on board to help out, who was I to turn him down?
Grant wandered through the brush ahead of me, holding back limbs as we walked farther and farther into the dark. The closer we got to the lake, the heavier the marine smell grew. The waves crashed against the rocks, lapping onto their eroded surfaces while moonlight reflected on the shore.
“What did he do, throw it into the lake?” Grant said.
“Is that something he would do?”
“Probably. He can be a jackass from time to time.” He turned left after a moment, getting closer and closer to the shore. “Or maybe he isn’t,” Grant said after a minute. “Maybe he’s just a better hider than I gave him credit for.”
He squatted, peering beneath a dead tree curled up on the bank. He used the flashlight on his phone to light the area, then slowly pulled what looked like a soap box out from beneath it.
I closed the distance between us, watching over his shoulder as he popped open the lid. Inside, nestled atop a folded piece of paper, the key chain I’d taken from the Hobby Lobby geocache stared at him in the dark.
“Who would’ve thought you’d be a romantic?” he said, letting it dangle from his finger.
“Who would’ve thought a lot of things,” I said, hugging him from behind.
He turned and wrapped me in his arms in a hug so tight I didn’t want to let go. I could’ve stood beneath that moon, watching the waves lap against the rocks, forever, lost in a million possibilities and the one man who’d actually helped me see the way. But the summer would be over soon enough. We would go back to the real world, with no set of coordinates to lead the way.
“Where do we go after this?” I said after a minute, watching waves beat against the rocks. “When the summer is over and we’re miles apart, is this something you’ll still want?”
“I’m not going anywhere,” he said. “I’ll be in Lubbock, working on that sports-management degree, and you’ll be in Louisiana, kicking ass and taking names, but we’ll figure this out. I’ll fly there and you’ll fly here, and we’ll be back in this place next summer staring at this exact same lake, feeling exactly the same way we do now.”
A firework boomed above, crackling against the darkened night sky. I kept my eyes on Grant as an unbridled silence burned between us.
“You promise?”
“I promise,” he said. “You’re stuck with me, Alex. Personality flaws and all.”
He brushed a kiss to my lips, the smell of vanilla and sandalwood invading my senses. Whatever this year would hold, whatever emotions lay ahead, at least I could face them knowing I wasn’t alone.
I had this camp. I had Grant. In the end, that’s all I’d really need.