7. Nat
SEVEN
Nat
Justifiable homicide.
It was the defense I planned to use when I was tried for murdering Jack for making me snake drains.
And sure, he had to do this regularly, which sucked. And yeah, it was a fair bet. But still, I was pretty sure I had grounds for murder.
I had many facets. Girly girl, gets-dirt-under-her-nails girl, and hyperactive girl, but this girl I was not. And I couldn’t believe this would be my life for the next six weeks.
The major takeaway from this unfortunate event was that, clearly, Jack was bad at his job.
I kicked the garbage can I’d been using back into its place like a petulant child and cleaned off the snake to the best of my ability. Snake. Even the cleaning tool was disgustingly named.
Staring at the surprisingly helpful object, I wondered if I could do something to get back at him for this. Because he would pay for what he’d done to me, fair or not. I’d make sure of it.
“I never would have thought to do that.” Hazel watched me take a photo of sword ferns in the foreground, framing the blurred Camp Starlight sign in the background. It was obvious what we were advertising, but it was an artsier way of showing the Starlight entrance.
“You post a lot of photos with guests in them, and that definitely shows the heart of camp. But I’d take some more photos of Starlight itself. Build a story around the landmarks. I’d also do some profiles on our staff. Highlight their backgrounds and what attracted them to this place.”
Hazel took the same shot and turned her head sideways as she viewed it. “You’re really good at this.”
I bobbed my shoulders self-deprecatingly. Just like Hazel, I was never good at taking compliments. “What about the camp’s socials? There’s a lot of good content on there.”
“It’s pretty easy to capture joy here. It translates really well for the most part. But man, am I getting tired.”
The bags under her eyes were just as severe as when I’d seen her a couple of days ago.
The lines on her forehead were more prominent than usual, and she wasn’t making her usual jokes.
Still, she was beautiful in a mysterious, haunting sort of way.
She had sharp edges from the tender parts of her that had been put back together and often hid behind jokes, but she had the softest heart once she let you in.
She was a head shorter than me but always felt so much bigger.
Confident and strong, she was the coolest person I’d ever met.
For as long as I’d known her, Hazel had had high expectations for herself.
And even though she had Leo and Autumn to help carry the load, I was sure she took on too much.
I didn’t want them to feel like they were lacking in any area, especially when I could help.
They’d done well enough with their social profiles, but I could see glaring areas where they could be better curated.
So, I zeroed in on the crux of the issue. “Do you still not have a designated person in charge of social media?”
“It’s still divided between me, Leo, and Autumn, depending on who’s free at the time. We’ve been doing social media for both camps. They send us photos, and we take our own as well. Then we make a plan for the month, pulling from a folder on the… I know. We sound like hacks.”
I chuckled. “No, you don’t. Like I said, it doesn’t reflect poorly on your accounts. You’re doing a lot.”
“It’s what we’ve always done.” It dawned on me how much of herself she gave to this place, as well as to Camp Sunlight. Between the three of them, there was still so much to do, and my friend looked like she could use a bit of a respite.
“Well, if you need some help, I’d be happy to do some posts for the Starlight account while I’m here.”
Hazel lit up like that was the best thing she’d heard. “Really? We’d pay you.”
“No need. I’ll just throw a few things together and see if you like them. Your branding is on point. You probably just need a little more content so you have stories, right? A bit more of a consistent online presence?”
“That’s exactly what we need. Man, Nat, you are a force to be reckoned with.” She reached over my shoulder and swiped through several photos. “But we will pay you. That’s not up for debate.”
“Sure, sure.”
Hazel rolled her eyes at my blowoff. I had a feeling this wasn’t the end of it.
Once we were finished, I headed to the showers to wash off the day.
Newly clean and ready for bed, I pulled on my pajamas and grabbed my skincare out of the mini fridge.
It was the perfect size for all of my serums and lotions.
Due to my travel, I usually lived spontaneously, which did not mean bringing appliances with me.
But since my work at Camp Starlight was open-ended and I was actually standing still for a little bit, I’d bought the most self-indulgent skincare I could.
I got a call right as I sat down at my desk to apply everything. My stepsister, Mandy, was seven years younger than me and lived on the East Coast near my mom and stepfather, Dean.
My world fell apart after we lost my dad to a brain aneurysm when I was ten years old. He wasn’t perfect, but he loved me and always gave me affection. My mom remarried when I was twelve, and the best thing that came with Dean was Mandy, who I’d gotten to see grow up.
“Well, if it isn’t my favorite genius.” I’d been calling her that ever since she won a spelling bee in grade school. She excelled at everything she did, and I was so proud of her.
“And if it isn’t the social media maven.”
I laughed a little too hard at that. Things were always changing in my field, and sometimes I felt like I was flying by the seat of my pants. But maybe I wasn’t giving myself enough credit.
“Last I checked, you’re over a million followers, Natty.” Her nickname for me stemmed from her inability to pronounce Natalie as a toddler, and it’d stuck. My mother hated it, which made me love it more.
“Yeah, well…” I shrugged, even though she couldn’t see it. “How’s Shoshanna?”
She’d been in a relationship with Sho for two years. If they didn’t get married soon, I’d be surprised. My sister had it all figured out. The job at my mom’s holding company, which set her up for big things, the girlfriend who doted on her, and more friends than I’d know what to do with.
“Don’t think I didn’t catch that deflection, but she’s doing well.
We just went to that cliffside resort you mentioned.
It was amazing. They upgraded us just for mentioning you.
” It was a surprise that Mandy had gotten away from work, considering the hours she put in.
I was glad I got to add to the experience.
“You make friends everywhere you go, don’t you? ”
“It’s not hard. There are a lot of interesting people out there.
” Friends was a loose term. The friends I’d had over the years usually didn’t answer the phone much, let alone stick around.
Most people I met weren’t looking for lasting relationships with the woman who rolled in and out of their lives in the span of a few days, unfortunately.
But it was a hazard of the job. I met people, had amazing moments with them, and then moved on. I could reach out and see if they wanted to see me again, sure, but I was always off to the next place and didn’t often revisit places.
That was why I loved my relationship with Hazel. We’d stayed friends after college. We may have drifted apart for a while, but we’d grown up a lot, and I knew we’d stick it out, no matter how far apart we were.
“Pretty sure that’s a you thing. Even my friends wanted to be your bestie.”
I chuckled. “That’s because I was the cool high schooler when y’all were just tweens.”
“No, Nat. It’s definitely a you thing,” my sister said firmly. She didn’t usually get like this. It was jarring. “Take the compliment.”
I twiddled with my eye repair serum. “Okay, I’m awesome, I guess.”
“That’s right. Now on to the reason I’m calling you.”
“You aren’t just calling to tell me how amazing I am?”
“No, I’m calling to ask you to visit us this summer. All of us.”
Wow. She was really ripping the bandage off.
“I already have plans this summer.” It sounded final, but maybe because it was. “Why don’t you visit me in Oregon? I’m sure we can find a place nearby that isn’t sold out.”
“Nat, it’s been years. You’re going to have to see them eventually.”
“Why don’t you tell them that? Because I’m pretty sure I was the one who was cut out.”
It had been four long years since I was unceremoniously kicked out of my family. Mandy was incredibly na?ve when it came to our parents and what they were capable of. I’d tried to explain it before, but she’d shut down. Someday she’d learn how much the truth hurt.
“I’m so sick of being in the middle of this.”
“I don’t even bring them up with you, Mandy.” I sighed. Damn, she was getting more and more persistent. She wasn’t getting it. “I can only be in charge of my own feelings. I can’t change theirs.” Thousands of dollars in therapy had taught me that. “And I agreed to work at Camp Starlight.”
“Okay,” she acquiesced. “Maybe we’ll be able to come by.”
Something told me that wouldn’t be happening, but I didn’t say it. I may have been lonely, but there was no chance in hell I was going back to my supposed home. Not if I had to see them.
The warmth from sunlight blaring through my window was my natural alarm clock. I listened as the breeze from the mountain trees carried songs of birds and rustling leaves through my window, and took a breath of fresh air.
Today was a great day to decimate my foe.