Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
Mia
It was a new day. Same mission: shoot my shot with Bower.
Today was Kids Camp—Betty’s favorite day, but if I could guess, Bower’s worst nightmare.
All the parents were welcome to drop off their kids from ten until two for activities and games.
It was fun for the kids but more to give parents a much-needed break from their children.
It was a little after ten in the morning, and I could hear the kids yelling before I laid eyes on the lodge.
I rounded the corner and saw Bower in the middle of complete chaos.
I stood there and watched for a second, reveling in how uncomfortable he was with all the kids.
Bower was always so calm and collected. I liked seeing him sweat a little.
Eventually I felt bad and made my way over to the group of kids.
They were playing with a giant parachute, every physical education teacher’s worst nightmare.
The excitement of the kids, running wildly underneath the parachute; the kids who inevitably let go and ruined the dome for everyone else…
It was a bold choice for Bower. He probably hadn’t known any better.
The kids had taken over the activity, running around the flat grassy area in front of the lodge. Bigger kids yanked on the parachute, pulling smaller ones to the ground who refused to let go of their handle. There was screaming, yelling, and laughing. Never a good combination.
“Hey, guys!” Bower yelled while trying to grab the parachute from one of the especially aggressive older kids. “If you want to play, we all need to listen!”
I could barely hear his voice over the chaos.
If I couldn’t hear him, I bet the kids couldn’t either.
The little boy with glasses who’d been fishing with Bower was being pulled around by an older boy hellbent on ignoring any adult supervision.
The older boy yanked the parachute hard, and the sweet little boy fell face-first to the ground, still holding on to the handle.
His glasses fell off his face and bounced a few times before stopping at my feet.
I picked them up before he started crying and went over to where he lay on the ground, the heels of his hands and knees covered with streaks of dirt. “Hey, buddy, let me help you,” I said as I lifted him into a sitting position. I didn’t see any blood.
“Stupid Jared. He knocked me over,” he sniffled.
“Yeah, I saw what happened. Kids can be mean sometimes.” I cleaned off his glasses with my shirt and handed them back to him. He put them back on his face, carefully tucking the rounded temple tips behind his ears. He tilted his head sideways once his vision became clear.
“Hey, aren’t you Bower’s friend?” It was a loaded question, something I wasn’t about to discuss with a seven-year-old.
“Yeah, buddy, I am.”
Bower came running over with the bunched-up parachute tucked under his arm. “Gavin, are you okay?” He crouched down next to Gavin, looking him over, checking him for serious injury. When he determined Gavin was okay, he brushed the dirt from his knees.
My insides warmed as I watched.
“Yeah, Bower. Your friend found my glasses for me,” Gavin said. Bower looked at me, startled. “She sure is pretty.”
Kids and their diarrhea of the mouth. I didn’t know why I was blushing after a compliment from a seven-year-old. Bower’s cheeks were a little red as well. Though the blush on his face probably came from having run across the field to check on Gavin.
“Go play tag with the other kids while I figure out what to do next,” Bower said, patting the boy on the back.
“Jared better not push me to the ground again.”
“Yeah, I’ll keep an eye on him.”
Gavin ran off to join the rest of the kids, already playing a violent game of tag.
The tags looked more like pushes, and the younger kids were constantly being railroaded by the older kids, who weren’t paying attention to where they were running.
A little girl sat in the middle of the field crying, snot dripping out of her nose while the chaos continued around her.
“Fuck,” Bower said.
I crossed my arms and popped my hip as I stood next to him. “So, how’s it going?” I asked.
“Just as expected,” Bower said. “Horribly, with many injuries that will result in scars.”
“Souvenirs from Agate Harbors.” I had a few of those on my skin. Courtesy of climbing rocks and jumping off the splintered dock.
Another girl with red curly hair fell to the ground in a heap, her wails loud enough to be heard by the resort next door. Jared ran away from her, looking to check if Bower had seen what he did.
Okay, that was enough. My inner first-grade teacher broke through.
“Hey!” I yelled at the wild youths. My teacher voice broke through the pandemonium. Everyone knew a teacher voice when they heard one—loud, demanding, and not to be ignored.
I suddenly had dozens of eyes on me, waiting for my next move.
This was where I shined. I had their attention.
Now I just needed to prove I was crazy enough that they wouldn’t try to cross me.
Control was a fine line for a teacher, especially for older kids.
You had to be fair yet unhinged enough to keep them on their toes.
They should never be able to guess your next move.
I clapped a familiar rhythm. Clap, clap, pause. Clap, clap, clap. Everyone mimicked me robotically. Teacher mode was in full effect.
“I want you to get in a line from youngest to oldest. This is going to require you to talk to one another. Ask each other for your ages. Young ones to the front, oldest to the back.” Like good little soldiers, the kids scrambled to line up.
Bower stepped in to help the younger ones sort out their order.
It only took a minute, and they were in a straight line from youngest to oldest. The little curly redhead stood at the front of the line, her tears now dried salt stains down her cheeks. The oldest was Jared. He looked on the cusp of puberty.
Bower joined me back up at the front to the line. “How do you know how to do this?”
“I’m a first-grade teacher,” I replied. “You’ve got to be loud, emit a sense of authority.”
He nodded. “I can do that with adults, but with kids…”
“You just have to act like this is the most fun thing you’ve ever done in your life. They’ll follow right along.”
Bower grunted.
I elbowed his side. “You’re having fun, Bower…”
He grunted again, but I swore I saw the corners of his lips twitch.
It took little time to split the line into two groups for red rover, my favorite childhood game.
It was dangerous enough that it was fun.
I purposely put the younger half of the kids into a separate game from the older ones to minimize the casualties.
I didn’t need Jared blazing his way through two five-year olds holding hands.
Bower watched over the little kids’ game, and I managed the older kids.
I liked that I didn’t need to tell him what to do, that he’d welcomed the help and jumped right in.
After a few games, the little ones had had enough and sat down with Bower in heaps along the side of the big kids’ game.
It was brutal out there. Some boys were getting very into the game, backing up and getting a running start before crossing no-man’s-land and barreling through the opposing teams’ arms.
“Bower, you and your friend should play,” Gavin said. His face was red from running. He sat next to the girl with curly red hair. They must have bonded over their mutual dislike of Jared.
“Yeah, come on, Bower and Mia! You can even be on the same team,” one of the older girls agreed. She let go of her partner’s hand and shuffled to the side, making a gap for Bower and me.
Bower looked at me from where he sat on the grass, his arms hanging off his bent knees watching the game.
“Yeah, come on, Bower,” I taunted. “Have some fun.” I grabbed the girl’s hand who had asked us to join and wiggled my fingers of my free hand.
“Go on!” Gavin pointed to my hand. “My dad said when a pretty girl asks you to do something, you just do it.” He stood up and went behind Bower, pushing his shoulders, trying to get him to stand.
Bower sat there, stoic for a moment before the other kids egged him on, telling him to play.
He stood up smoothly from the seated position and walked over, his eyes boring holes into me.
Bower hated every minute of this. I, on the other hand, loved it.
Why was watching him squirm so enjoyable for me?
He grabbed my left hand, holding it tightly, encompassing my palm completely, and the game began.
Jared came running at us, nostrils flared, chin down.
At the last moment, right before Jared crashed into us, Bower released my hand and wrapped his fingers around my wrist, turning our hands so that his knuckles took the brunt of the hit.
Jared was effectively clotheslined at the bottom of his sternum, landing flat on his back, his eyes wide.
It took a couple of seconds before he gasped for a breath, the wind knocked out of him.
I’d feel bad if I hadn’t seen what Jared had been up to today.
All the littles on the side cheered, especially Gavin.
He was jumping up and down, his arms above his head.
I saw Bower’s face from the corner of my eye. He was looking at me, and I didn’t know what to do. We were still holding hands among a sea of children cheering for us.
The kids began to chat among themselves, and I looked at Bower.
His eyes weren’t on my face anymore. He looked down at our hands as he let go of my wrist, flipping his hand underneath mine so our palms touched.
His thumb reached around and brushed against my ring finger—the one that had supported the monstrosity of a diamond for the last months.
It wasn’t there anymore. I’d taken it off, along with the diamond earring studs Archer had given me and left them back at my parents’ house in the ballerina jewelry box I’d gotten for Christmas as a kid.
Bower looked back up at me, his brows furrowed.
I looked away. It was suddenly awkward between us. I didn’t want to talk about ending my relationship with Archer with him. It didn’t seem relevant anymore now that I was here. This was a different world. One that didn’t have Archer in it. Just Bower. It was scary that it’d always been just Bower.
I crossed my arms, hiding my hands under my elbows.
I’d been so confident coming here, taunting Bower when he’d been under the impression that I was taken.
The engagement had been a fallback, something that I’d known was there if Bower wasn’t everything I’d remembered.
But now that it was effectively gone, I felt naked.
Him knowing that I didn’t have a fiancé anymore made me feel vulnerable.
I had no alternative. It was either Bower or no one. I’d never felt so exposed.
“The kids sure seem to love you.” I immediately grimaced at my words. Now I had diarrhea of the mouth.
Bower shook his head. “They barely listen to me.”
“They did…” I laughed. “Eventually.”
“I didn’t know you’re a teacher.” He looked at me with a certain softness in his eyes.
“First grade. It’s some reading and math—nothing too hard.” I cleared my throat. I was babbling again. “Nothing like the Marines.”
He crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Don’t dismiss being a teacher. It’s one of the most important jobs—”
“And being a marine isn’t?” I playfully smacked him on the arm with the back of my hand.
Bower took the slightest shuffle back.
I immediately tensed. I’d done something wrong.
He cleared his throat. “You help kids—you get to help them grow. My time in the Marines wasn’t about helping people.”
“I’m sure you helped—”
“No, Mia,” Bower interrupted. “I promise I damaged a lot of things during my time in the Marines.”
Shit, I’d said the wrong thing again.
His eyes darted around my face before I looked at the ground.
I bit my lip. “Sorry—I’m making this weird. I can go.” I didn’t know what else I could say. I was doing everything wrong.
I turned away from Bower and started walking back toward my cabin.
I’d been so forthright but now felt so reserved.
I’d just unsuccessfully tried to flirt with him, and now everything was so uncomfortable.
Maybe he didn’t feel the way he’d felt two weeks ago.
Maybe since I hadn’t given him an answer that night outside the bar, he’d cut any hope of us being together loose.
I couldn’t blame him for that—I’d been illusive and indecisive.
“Mia!” I heard Bower’s voice.
I stopped walking but didn’t turn around.
“We weren’t done talking,” he called out.
My breath stopped short in my throat.
“You know you just signed yourself up to help me with Kids Camp for the rest of the week.”
I turned my head just enough that I could see him out of the corner of my eye, standing there with his hands in his pockets.
“And don’t even think about bailing on me,” Bower added. “I know where you live.”
A smile pulled at my lips. Maybe all was not lost.