The Summer of Our Discontent (20 page)

“Yeah, that’s a good word for it.”

“Okay, it’s not like you’re never gonna see each other again after camp, there’s no rush. Just pay attention and see if she drops any hints as to how she feels. Then you do what you usually do…no wait, scratch that. You usually seduce and throw them out like old produce. How’d you like my rhyme?”

“Stop it.”

“That’s all the advice I’ve got. Keep me posted on the progress, and call me later when you’re with Sophie. I miss my baby so much.”

“I will, and don’t tell anyone what I told you.”

“Who would I tell?” Patty asked with a yawn.

“Don’t mention it in front of the women at work, you know how Michaud is. News travels at the speed of light.”

“I wouldn’t do that to you. Now go tell Rachel you want her.”

“Love you, bye.” Faith ended the call and peeked around the tree. Rachel was nowhere in sight.

Chapter Twenty-four

That rock-solid body has no effect on me. I don’t wanna touch it, don’t wanna know the feel of her skin. I won’t get lost in her eyes. I’ll never hear the sound of her sighs. I don’t want to feel her kiss, the softness of her lips I won’t miss. My song writing talents are horse piss
.

Rachel drummed out a little beat on the wall of the shower as she rinsed shampoo from her hair as a real song began to play in her mind—“Trouble” by Lindsey Buckingham. She’d always loved it, but at the moment, it seemed like the theme song for her life. The thoughts that ran amok in her mind were troublesome.

Faith had caused her nothing but trouble prior to their truce, and in peace time, it was no different. That evil imp had found a new way to torment her. The irony of it, though, was that Faith had no clue. This thing, this bizarre craving had crept up on Rachel before she had time to fend it off. She was totally infected. The only possible cure was space and time, and that wasn’t an option at camp.

Get it together. Remember the crush you had on the water delivery woman? You just happened to stop by the station anytime you saw that big blue truck go by. Then her route changed and you lost interest. This thing with Faith will blow over as soon as your feet hit the pavement in Michaud. So…why not enjoy it? Look all you want. Flirt even, it’s all safe. Faith goes for the heavily made-up type, the women who wear all the frilly fashions, the impractical shoes, the beautiful sexy type. You’re so not that.

“There’s no chance of her becoming interested, too,” Rachel whispered dejectedly as the lukewarm water of her shower turned cold.

*******

“Sophie’s sad.”

Rachel wrapped Kaycee tighter in her arms and rocked her slowly. “She’s homesick, baby, she misses her mom. I’ve missed you. You sleep in a cabin away from me, eat with your friends and Sophie. It’s not like it is at home, is it?”

Kaycee burrowed deeper into Rachel’s chest and shook her head as they watched Faith and Sophie sitting beneath a tree. Sophie was in Faith’s arms, too, and Faith was nuzzling the side of her cheek. It was the middle of the trip, and it seemed a virus was spreading around camp. The signs and symptoms of
Iwannagohomeitis
were sniffling, moping, and sometimes outbursts of tears. Rachel had held, soothed, and rocked many a child suffering with it that morning. Sophie had awoken with a serious case, and not even the comfort of her best friend could ease her suffering.

“She says she wants to go home. If Sophie goes home, I want to go home, too.”

Rachel smiled and kissed Kaycee on the head. “Her Aunt Faith will make her feel better.”

Accustomed to this deep woods disease, camp scouts went into distract mode. The most fun things about camp had not yet been unveiled for just this purpose. In the distance, Rachel could see them spreading out a boom in a section of water on the lake. The rope swing was being unfurled at the same time. Rachel actually looked forward to grabbing a hold of it and launching herself into the water, even though she was fresh from the shower.

On the other end, she could see canoes being put into the water at another dock. The scouts would divide the campers. One half would take their turns with the canoes, and the other half would swing until it was time to swap.

“This is going to be the best day yet, you wait and see,” Rachel said as she squeezed Kaycee.

Sophie had seen the swing and was already beginning to liven up. She’d pulled from Faith’s arms and was pointing at the lake. Rachel was relieved that her
Iwannagohomeitis
wasn’t terminal. Rachel had committed as a chaperone and couldn’t leave the camp. Faith would’ve been excused because it was her first tour of duty had Sophie insisted on going home. Kaycee would’ve missed her buddy, and Rachel would’ve missed hers, too.

Sophie came running over to where they sat, and Kaycee leapt up to meet her. They went to the rock wall to watch what was happening on the lake. Faith walked over and wiped her brow. “Whew, that was close. Sophie was begging to go home until she saw the canoes. That might hold her for another day.”

Rachel pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around them. She rested her chin on her knee and asked, “How can you stand your hair being in your eyes like that?”

Faith’s left eye was completely covered by a veil of dark hair. She tossed her head to the side, fully revealing her face. “I suppose I don’t notice it all that much. You don’t like it?”

“No, I do…you have pretty eyes, but one of them always seems to be hidden.” Rachel grinned. “Is that your secret weapon? You bat those things and the women come running?”

Faith looked down, and once again, the veil covered one of her eyes. “I could ask you the same. Yours are very striking. The color is so vivid, especially when they catch the sunlight. It makes them seem even brighter.” She looked up and smiled, then her eyes narrowed for a second as she looked beyond Rachel. “Don’t,” she said when Rachel started to turn, “your stalker is lurking. She’s watching you right now. I wish you would let me say something to her.”

“Why?”

Faith jutted her chin. “It isn’t right. She’s the one who screwed up. She had you in the palm of her hand and let you go.” She shook her head. “It’s just not right to screw with you.”

“I don’t pay her any mind. She doesn’t get under my skin. You dealt it better.”

Faith straightened to her full height and grinned. “That’s right, no one will do you any better than me.”

Rachel laughed because she couldn’t think of a comeback. The connotations she read into the statement made her head swim.

“Momma, they’re lining up,” Kaycee yelled as she and Sophie charged toward the lake.

*******

Faith and Rachel were the only two grownups who stood in line for the rope swing. The kids thought it cool; the other adults regarded them as though they were insane. Faith had turned around in line to speak to June and casually gazed up at the pavilion where Lisa was staring at Rachel, who had her back turned. When Lisa’s gaze finally fell upon Faith, she stared back with what Faith interpreted as a hint of challenge. A silent conversation began between them. Faith’s facial expression said,
You’re wasting your time.
And Lisa’s said,
You’re encroaching on my territory
. She looked away when a tiny smile creased Faith’s lips. She turned and put both hands on Rachel’s shoulders as she talked to the girls. “Kaycee, you gonna get some air before you hit the water?”

Kaycee nodded. “I’m not just gonna push off with my feet like everyone else. I’m gonna get a running start. I might even fly over the
floatie
.”

Sophie began to jump. “Me too!”

Faith moved alongside Rachel, keeping a hand on her shoulder. “What about you? Got your daredevil undies on today?”

“Every day,” Rachel said with a cocky grin. “Why do you have your hands on me? Are you about to put something down the back of my shirt?”

Faith put her mouth close to Rachel’s ear and whispered, “It’s not you I’m screwing with.”

“You are so bad,” Rachel said with a grin, “and you’re gonna start rumors.”

“You scared?”

Rachel shrugged. “Nope.”

Kaycee did catch air and looked like a tree frog, spindly legs and all, before she hit the water. Sophie followed, and not to be outdone, she very nearly made it to the boom. Faith looked over her shoulder as Rachel got ready to swing and found Lisa watching again. When their gazes met that time, Lisa’s was filled with loathing.

*******

Faith grabbed the raft that Rachel was floating on and pulled it alongside hers. “Do you have sunscreen on?”

“Even the bottoms of my feet,” Rachel replied lazily. “My mother taught me well.”

“Are you close?”

“Yes, in some ways. She takes care of Kaycee for me, won’t let me pay her. She gets dinner started before I come home from work, she makes life easy on me. I’m spoiled rotten.”

“But?”

Rachel dipped her hand in the water and let it fall over her face. “There’s a wall between us when it comes to my sexuality. We don’t discuss it. Information is given on a need-to-know basis, like when
Cyn
moved in with me. That conversation was almost as hard as when I came out. She didn’t take either very well. Our relationship was really strained after I admitted to being gay. I’d try to bring it up. I thought if we talked, it would dispel some of the tension, but she’d always change the subject. I just gave up, and we’ve danced around the topic ever since.”

“How’d that work with
Cyn
?”

“It didn’t,
Cyn
was a nervous wreck around her. Mom wasn’t rude, but she didn’t have much to say when we were all together. On the days I worked when Kaycee was a baby and Mom stayed with her,
Cyn
would stay at the office to avoid having contact with her. She’d only come home after I did and Mom had left. When
Cyn
left me, Mom pretended not to notice. It hurt not to be able to cry on her shoulder, and she knew I was hurting.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Thanks, me too. Chance and Corey really stepped up to the plate. They listened to me whine for a while, then Chance not so politely told me I needed to get over it. He was right, I’d wallowed enough. Can I ask about your mom, or is it too painful?”

“That’s an ache that never goes away, but it’s much duller now. She was so special, Patty and I were crushed when she died, and I think a part of my dad died along with her. He was never really the same after that. Up until then, I’d always discounted the feelings of men. They always impressed me as a species that only required sex and food, but my daddy loved my mom. We didn’t always see it. He’d kiss her cheek when he came home, but that was the extent of what we witnessed of their relationship. After he died, I found a box that Mom kept under the bed in their room. He wrote her love letters and gave her hundreds of cards. She kept the petals of every rose he gave her in plastic bags. They were marked with the occasion and the date. There were so many labeled ‘just because.’”

Faith cleared her throat. “I came out to my folks right before graduation, but Mom asked me not to tell everyone else. She was afraid that I’d be mistreated, so just the family knew. I was so nervous the night I sat her down to tell her. I told her first because I thought she might take it better than Dad. I hemmed and hawed, then just blurted it out, and she said, ‘Oh, baby, we already know. Are you just figuring it out?’ We talked for hours that night. That was the first time I had a real cup of coffee. I was so relieved that I didn’t have to hide it anymore. She wanted to meet the girl I was seeing, but that never happened. Mom was there one day and gone the next.”

Rachel swallowed hard, glad that her face was already wet. Her stoic façade was being sorely tested.

“I think when the doctors told Dad that he had cancer, he met the news with relief. Patty and I were adults, and he knew he was on his way to Mom. The treatments they offered would only prolong the inevitable for a little while, and he refused. I had a chance to say goodbye then, and I wondered if that was any better. Watching him slip away day by day hurt as bad as Mom’s sudden departure.” Faith was quiet for a moment, her eyes were closed, her hands tucked behind her head. “Have I depressed you?”