21. Autumn
twenty-one
Autumn
I was not freaking out.
And my hands weren’t shaking. Neither were my thighs after an amazing night with my ex-boyfriend. That would be crazy, right?
Last night had been full of surprises. It was as if we’d picked up where we left off, but with maturity and much, much more skill than before. The things he could do with his tongue. The things he could do with his… Never mind.
I hadn’t expected to jump him the way I did.
But seeing his face, knowing what he’d just done for my best friend, it meant something to me.
What mattered was that Jamie was acting in the self-interests of others and not just to gain favor with me but because it was the right thing to do. That felt different this time around.
He chose to alert my best friend despite the argument we’d had on my front porch step, and it filled me with this fire I just couldn’t tamp down.
Maybe he had changed. Maybe it didn’t matter since this was going nowhere anyway.
Maybe I’d overreacted when he tried to kiss me.
He sure didn’t seem to mind when I mauled him immediately after talking with Jack around the campfire.
The first time we slept together had been in the back of his car.
It sounded cliché, but back then, we’d been leading up to it for months, and we’d both known it was on the table.
He’d brought pillows and blankets. Made it comfy.
Had a new air freshener. I still thought of him whenever I smelled artificial vanilla.
“Um… Autumn?”
“What? Yeah?” I set down a bundle of paintbrushes in the craft shed and looked up to see the confused face of my fellow counselor. Apparently, I’d zoned out one too many times, and people were starting to notice.
Felicia looked at me as if I were sick or something. “I asked you if you could take over for my afternoon pottery class.”
I pasted on a smile and tapped my chin with my finger. “Can’t. I have ax throwing.”
“On Tuesday? Since when?”
Shit. It was Tuesday. Yesterday was the day I’d decided to have casual sex with my high school ex.
Yesterday, I knew he had changed, but it didn’t mean anything had really changed between us.
Yesterday, I decided to have a camp fling.
That was all it was. If the gossip mill was correct (and it usually was), then camp flings were completely normal.
No cause for alarm. But being brought breakfast in bed and waking up to his smiling face after the night we’d had was a different story.
Feeling way too much for the man who’d broken up with me without so much as a goodbye was something to freak out about later.
Now was the time to focus on what was important: this camp, my friends. Not gorgeous exes.
“I have a meeting in twenty minutes, but I think I’ll be free in time,” I responded. I’d already asked Sawyer to cover my morning class so I could meet with Joy and Marty, the owners of Foxglove Stables next door.
“Lifesaver,” Felicia exclaimed. The light in her eyes was far too bright, as if I’d just agreed to give her a kidney.
“I prefer Skittles.” I smiled at her for half a second, proud of my dad joke. I could have my meeting and then a two-hour break before Felicia’s pottery class.
“Tonight, we’re making weed ashtray pinch pots. Get it? A pot… For your pot.” Whoa, pottery had changed since I’d led it. “The example is on the craft cabin desk.”
I was wrapped up in an almost too-tight hug. Felicia always thanked me way more than necessary.
“Don’t worry about the calendar. I’ll update it. Go.”
Loud laughter burst from outside, and I turned just in time to see Emerson to gracefully lob a water balloon at Jamie.
I couldn’t look away as the balloon moved in slow motion through the air.
His hands were outstretched, but his efforts were futile.
The balloon burst all over his chest, inciting another round of laughter from him and his podmates.
He looked so good in the outdoors with the sun on his face and a wide, uninhibited smile.
I cupped my hands over my mouth and hollered a whooping yell their way.
Emerson, Lamar, and Ren waved back before Jamie turned around and saw me.
His shirt was marvelously plastered to his chest, and now that I knew exactly what was under that shirt, how he’d flexed and moved under my hands, I couldn’t look away.
My body itched to run up and peel the wet material off him.
Hand up high, he waved at me and called for me to join them right as Lamar pelted another one at his ass, and he shrieked.
Jamie’s happiness was a reminder that he belonged here, just like all the other adults with too many restrictions and not enough fun in their lives.
He’d finally found a spot to connect to that side of himself.
I waved him off, shaking with laughter, and left to make my way toward Foxglove Stables.
A stone path lined the walkway to an adorable log cabin, what I’d been told was the home/office of Marty and Joy.
I’d set up a meeting last week and was excited to finally visit the property that bordered ours.
I’d never been here before, but I knew the couple in passing, because it was hard to live in a town as small as Wildwood and not know who people were.
Their camp was everything I expected it to be. To the right of the walkway was a demonstration on an American Paint Horse showing animal maintenance. Small children huddled around as a well-tempered animal’s mane was brushed out, the kids’ eyes rapt with attention.
The stables branched out over vast acres of pasture, woods, horse trails, and their own creek.
Their website showed kids and teens coming for the day to ride horses and learn what life on a ranch was like.
From trail riding to running obstacle courses and playing ball with furry friends, it looked like a place I would have loved to go as a child.
Joy met me on the porch with a buzzing sort of excitement. “Hey, Marty, it looks like summer’s over because here comes Autumn!”
I laughed at the cheesy joke, enjoying the welcoming tone to start this meeting. It relieved some of the nerves I had about this pitch.
Joy welcomed me into her house. The door opened to a plant lover’s dream, a warm space decorated with spider plants and pothos displayed proudly from ceilings in macrame pot holders much like the ones we did at camp.
Joy took me back to a whimsical kitchen painted in soft yellow and offered me a beverage. I asked for coffee because I noticed it was Beans and Beans’s French roast—my favorite.
The kitchen appeared to be built for entertaining with a large island at the center, but the room mostly showcased what appeared to be pickling supplies and other various projects.
Bright pink jars of what I assumed were pickled red onions lined the breakfast bar, their fermentation complete.
Marty was writing names on handmade tags as he caught my entrance. His face lit up when he saw me.
“Is it time already?” His eyes went from my navy-blue A-line dress to the folders in my hand. “So professional.” Marty snapped the rubber band holding a tag onto a mason jar and walked with us to the living room.
We took seats in front of a wrought iron and glass coffee table hosting an antique vase filled with fresh indigo hydrangeas.
“It’s so nice to have someone from Starlight come down here.
It’s been a while since we’ve seen Hazel and Leo.
” Joy’s face softened at the mention of our camp’s owners.
They’d met with Marty and Joy when we moved in to promise that we’d be good neighbors and had bumped into them in town, but we’d never had any issues with our noisy camp thanks to the acreage between us. “They’re such a nice couple.”
I nearly laughed at the idea of the two of them being interpreted as a couple. They would say that was crazy, but it wasn’t like we hadn’t all thought it. “Oh, they’re not together.”
Joy’s face scrunched up. “Really? I swear they were finishing each other’s—”
“Sentences,” Marty cut her off.
Joy gave him a wry smile. “So, Autumn, as much as we like having company, you look like you’re on a mission.”
“I wouldn’t call it a mission… I have a proposition for Foxglove.”
“Ooh, we haven’t had a proposition before.” Joy’s gleeful handclap made me think she wasn’t thinking of the innuendo that posed.
I moved on quickly. “As you know, we’re neighbors.” Wait. That was obvious . “And we both have camps.” This wasn’t going well. “Sorry, I’m a little nervous.”
“Nothing to be nervous about, sweetheart. We’re just chatting.”
“Right.” I opened the folder and pulled out two sheets with facts and figures on them, passing them off to the couple.
“So, Camp Starlight offers a variety of activities. As you can see, they’re listed on the second page.
We change them out every season and keep the most popular ones.
I was curious, what days do you have camp running? ”
“We host camps Friday through Sunday and Tuesday through Thursday,” Marty explained. “But we’re thinking of pulling back slightly because there’s been a lack of interest.”
I nearly bounced out of my seat. “That’s perfect.”
Joy looked over her sheet. “Perfect for what?”
“Well, I was thinking maybe we could partner with Foxglove. If you had, say, one day a week free, we could have campers from Starlight coming over here throughout the day to experience your ranch.” I was practically crossing my fingers as I awaited their response.
Marty nodded in agreement. “So we’d be teaming up?”
“Exactly. We would pay to rent out your camp for the day. And we would provide staff—”
“We already have staff,” Joy interjected.