Chapter 13 #3
“Of course you are. I just witnessed it.”
“It’s out of character for me.”
“Helping another human being in need is out of character for you?”
“It is when there’s no payoff.”
She shifts position again, and I become acutely aware of the length of her body alongside mine. I’d managed to avoid it until now. My heart beats faster and I try to slow it down through sheer force of will.
“Are you trying to tell me everything with you is transactional? Because I don’t believe that.”
“You barely know me,” I say.
“Then educate me. Tell me something about you that I can’t observe with my own two eyes.”
“You mean your own two fully functional eyes?”
She elbows me in the ribs.
I fix my gaze on the eggshell white ceiling. Anything to avoid looking at the woman next to me. “If I don’t get this promotion, then I’ll be a failure, and my mother and father will feel like they failed as parents.”
“Can’t you get a promotion next year if you don’t get one this year?”
“It isn’t about that. It’s about bragging rights. This year is an achievement. Youngest lawyer in the firm’s hundred-year history to make partner. Next year, I’d be tied with the youngest.”
“And who was that?”
“Jerry Larkin in nineteen-sixty-seven.”
“Pffft. Jerry Larkin sounds like a knob.”
I feel a smile tug at the corners of my mouth. “Apparently he was kind of a jackass.”
“Is that the kind of legacy you want? To have some lawyer talking about you in fifty years, that you were the youngest partner in the firm’s history and also a giant asshat?”
“I would hope that isn’t my reputation.”
“Well, if you ask me, your parents already failed.”
My head jerks toward her. “What makes you say that?”
“Because they made you think that achievement is more important than your own happiness.”
“You think I’m unhappy?”
She lets loose that bawdy laugh. “Charlie, you’re downright miserable.”
I turn back to the ceiling. “Gee, thanks.”
“I’m not trying to give you a hard time, I swear. It’s the way you talk about your job and making partner. None of it seems to bring you joy.”
“Then I guess we’re both joyless freaks,” I say.
She slides to a seated position. “I’m not the one walking around like a robot in the wild.”
“Maybe not, but I get the sense that you’re like Gloria, marking time until this camp opens every summer. That’s no way to live either.”
“I love this camp.”
“I know you do, but what about the other months of the year when the camp is closed?”
“Not a fan, I’ll be honest. Saddest day of the year is the day I close up for the season. I let myself have a good cry.”
“What do you do the rest of the year?”
“I work at the reception desk for a ski resort in the winter.”
“Why not get creative? Try to find ways to extend the season.”
She knocks my arm with her own. “You’re supposed to be sweet-talking the camp out from under me. Here’s your big chance to tell me how much better my life will be if I take your money.”
“Not my money. LandStar’s money.”
“Whatever. If you plan to become a big shot, you need to work on your persuasion techniques because from where I’m sitting, you’re on my side.”
“That’s only because I’m squeezed next to you.”
“If the lawyers at your firm could see you now.”
“They’d be jealous,” I blurt. At first, she laughs, but then her smile melts away like heated snow. “What’s wrong?”
“I can’t tell if you mean it.”
“Why wouldn’t I mean it?”
“Because you’re trying to play me. Charm me so that I’ll sign over the land.”
Now it’s my turn to prop myself up by an elbow. “Do you really think that?”
“Isn’t that the real reason you registered? To find a way to make me sell?” Her eyes are downcast. “It’s okay to admit it. I won’t be mad, as long as you don’t intend to follow through with it now that you’ve spent time with us.”
I think of the document tucked under my mattress.
I’ll have to destroy it. There’s no way I would do that to Cricket—or any of the other campers.
I see how important this camp is to them, and I can’t imagine the rustic cabins being replaced by luxury condos or anything else.
Nerd camp belongs right here in this safe, idyllic space.
“Charlie?”
This is the moment of truth, literally. “I fully intended to find leverage to use against you to get my promotion.”
“But you’ve changed your mind,” she says matter-of-factly.
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because you’re kinder than you give yourself credit for.” Her lips soften into a sad smile. “And I forgive you.”
Relief floods my body. I can’t believe how important it was to hear her say those words. “You’re not going to kick me out of camp? Or more imminently, out of this bed?”
“I’m also kinder than you give me credit for.” She slips back down to rest her head on the pillow. “And so you know, there’s nothing you could’ve done that would’ve convinced me to sell. Not a single thing on planet Earth.”
“No kidding. I’ve been around you long enough to know that I can’t make you do anything you don’t want to do.”
She studies me closely. “If you already decided not to find dirt on me, then why are you here? Why haven’t you made an excuse and gone back to the city?”
“I guess I want them to think I’m giving it my best shot. If I leave early, they’ll wonder if there wasn’t more I could’ve done.”
“You could lie. Tell them I caught you snooping and kicked you out, or would that be considered a worse failure than finding nothing at all?” She hesitates. “Do you really think there’s anything to find?”
She’s presented me with the perfect opportunity to tell her about the document, yet I can’t bring myself to do it.
It wouldn’t be fair to add to her negative feelings toward her father, a man no longer alive to confront.
The negative emotions would fester inside her and I don’t want that for her. As they say, ignorance is bliss.
I shrug. “I guess we’ll never know.”
My answer generates a wide smile that warms me from the inside out. I want to say something equally worthwhile to keep her smile in place. “There is one thing I’m wondering though.”
“What’s that?”
I dare to make eye contact. “Did it work?”
The shine in her eyes tells me she knows exactly what I mean. “Does it matter?”
“I’m curious. It’s the lawyer in me.”
Her earnest expression tugs at heartstrings I didn’t know were part of my anatomy until now. I expect her to defuse the moment with a joke.
Instead, she says, “Like a charm.”
We stare at each other. This is a complication I didn’t anticipate. Because as much as I want to pretend otherwise, I like her too. A lot.
Too much, in fact.
“Thank you for your honesty. It means more than you know.” She pulls the sheet to her shoulder and turns to face the wall.
“You’re welcome,” I say, because I don’t know how else to respond. I’m taken aback by my willingness to share things with her that I’ve never told anybody. She didn’t even need to pry it out of me. I just—said it.
It takes me another forty-five minutes to fall asleep. I wait until I hear her breathing change and know that she’s drifted off before I can do the same. Courtney Abernathy might be the only obstacle in my life I haven’t wanted to overcome.