6. Matt
six
Matt
M ay 15
I closed the door to my office, then second-guessed that decision as Casey made himself comfortable. He was small, but he took up a lot of space. His energy shifted the air in the room in a way I couldn’t quite explain. I watched him for a minute as he sat cross-legged in the chair that faced my desk, and pulling out a notebook, with rainbow puppies on the cover. Casey had written ‘CAMP’ in huge letters with a marker. He set the notebook on his desk, flipping through pages of notes and photos. He pretended to be interested, but the notebook made it look like he was pretty invested.
“So, I think the biggest thing will be to accept that not all campers will be into all the hardcore outdoor stuff. Sure, they should all go out and sail on the lake, or whatever.”
“Kayak,” I corrected, wondering for the seventh time since he’d arrived why I’d called Casey and convinced him to come up here one last time to consider the job.
Because you like his ideas , a voice in my head that sounded remarkably like Sylvie's said.
“Oh my god, you and the kayaking,” Casey said, rolling his eyes.
“Maybe I’ll put you in a kayak so you can find out the difference.”
“Fuck no. That lake has fish in it! And who knows what else. Snakes?”
I bit my lip to hold back a laugh. “You remind me of someone, someone who was very afraid of lakes. But he came around. Mostly.”
“Right, well, my point is, not everyone has to be a gung-ho lumberjack guy like you, Matt. Some people enjoy quieter activities, like forming a rock band.” He blinked, perhaps realizing what he’d just said, then cleared his throat. “Or painting a scenic landscape.”
“Okay… but most of the kids who sign up enjoy the outdoors. And I really do want every camper to have some experience with the things this region has to offer. Part of our mission is to introduce kids to the outdoors and form a stewardship with the natural environment.”
“Doesn’t painting a landscape do that?”
“Being out in it does more. Surely you get it. Isn’t your brother interviewing to work with the Eagle Creek Conservation Project?”
Casey frowned. “How do you know that? Are you a stalker?” He stood up and leaned forward, his eyes narrowing.
“I know Aiden, the guy who’s interviewing your brother.” And, okay, maybe I’d gotten Oliver the interview to make sure Casey had a ride.
He leaned in even closer, and I had the strangest urge to reach up and brush aside his bangs, which were a pale shade of lavender this month, and always in his eyes. “And you said…”
“That Oliver seemed much more sensible and reliable than his firecracker of an older brother. And I offered to donate housing for Oliver.”
“Why?” Casey asked.
“Well, presumably, you’re planning on taking the only cabin that has a shower, so I had a bed free.”
“What about that older couple?”
“They retired to Eagle Ridge, so they no longer need lodging. They have a home a few miles up the road.”
“Very well, then,” he said, standing back up, and returning to his presentation. “Back to the plan to never make any kid hike.”
I thought about that for a moment. “No.”
“But…”
“But nothing, that’s part of camp.” I leaned over his tablet and looked at the scheduling blocks we’d been fiddling with all weekend, even though he hadn’t accepted the job yet. “One of the problems we have is there’s no room for the counselors to take breaks.”
“The hiking counselors get a break day when everyone is doing art.”
“That’s an interesting concept. What if we have all-camp days, and we work the counselor break days into those?” I did a little typing, finally seeing how things could come together.
He grabbed the tablet from me. “All camp hike? You’ve got to be kidding me!” Then he did a little typing.
I looked down at the screen. “All camp talent show? Come on. We want to get the kids outside their comfort zones, not torture them.”
“At a talent show isn’t torture! It’s so much fun!”
“Try telling that to a bunch of middle schoolers.”
“Hey, I loved talent shows in middle school. Your experience is not representative of every opinion, Matt Blackstone.”
“Yeah, well, neither is yours, Casey Kim,” I muttered.
A knock on my office door made me realize we’d shifted slowly closer as we bickered, and we both froze like that, bodies inches away from each other. His thigh brushed mine, and he was leaning so close that I could feel his breath as it feathered across my lips. His eyes widened and dilated, and for a minute, I wondered if he was attracted to me. But that would be ridiculous, because surely Casey favored guys who were young and hip and cool… and not lumberjacks.
Not that I was actually a lumberjack.
Shaking the strange feeling off, I took a step back and looked over to see Sutton walking in, followed by my old friend, Wade, in tow. Wade looked… worse for the wear, though from what I’d heard recently, he was going through a tough time. I didn’t know everything that was going on, but when Wade had called and left me a drunken, late-night message, I’d offered him a place to stay.
“Found this guy lurking around,” Sutton said, grinning. “Oh, hey Casey, I didn’t know you were here yet!” He reached out and gave Casey a hug, and I watched my intern simper over him, flirting up a storm. Apparently, Casey liked his guys clean-cut and wildly handsome. No chance for me.
Not that I wanted a chance.
But why did that thought make my chest squeeze in a funny way?
“Sutton, can you and Casey finish working out this schedule? Try to find a way to balance the new arts classes with outdoor activities,” I said. “Wade is a contractor, and I’m going to talk to him about a project I have in mind for him.”
“It better be a damn music classroom,” Casey called after me.
Wade’s eyebrows shot up, and I rolled my eyes and led him out of the office. “Is that tiny man the boss of you?” Wade asked.
“No, but he wants to be. I have half a mind to take him over my knee and —” I cut myself off, because that was not something I should share. “Anyway, how are you doing? It’s so good to see you.”
Wade sighed, raking a hand through his hair. “Not good. Collin fucked me over, and I can’t believe I didn’t see it coming. He was my business partner for years.”
“Sometimes the things right in front of us are the hardest to see,” I said, clapping him on the back.
“Thanks for offering up a place to stay while I regroup. I’ll be out of your hair before the campers show up.”
“Nah, don’t worry about that. I have plenty of work for as long as you need it. The pay is shit, but it comes with a free shitty cabin.”
Wade laughed. “Moving up in the world. I appreciate all the shit, though couldn’t you have given me one with a shower, at least?”
I smiled sheepishly. “None available,” I lied, not entirely sure why I didn’t want to give Casey’s cabin away. He was only up here every other weekend, and the little brat could stand to learn to rough it a little.
“Why don’t you just add on-demand hot water and pop in a little drop-in unit?” Wade asked. This was what Casey’s cabin had, so I knew it could work just fine, though it might be a little less comfortable for a guy as big as Wade. The truth was, we just hadn’t had the money to hire someone to upgrade any of the counselors’ cabins after all we’d put into making the camp more gender inclusive.
“You wouldn’t have the skills to do that, would you?” I asked.
“Of course I do.”
“You know what? You’re welcome to add whatever you need to your cabin. Anything you want to do to fix it up will only make it nicer for the next person who stays there. Tell Jay at the hardware store to put it on the camp’s line of credit.”
“So a jacuzzi tub?”
“Okay, maybe not quite that far. The bathroom is tiny,” I said, laughing.
“I’ll think about it. I honestly just need a place to crash while this lawsuit mess is worked out. I’ll owe you big time.”
“Nah, I’ll be the one who owes you. After all, I need a music classroom.”
“Oh my god, you are his bitch. How even? He’s a head shorter than you and what, like 19? 20?”
“He turns 21 this summer. And I’m not his bitch. He just made some very good points.”
Wade just shot me a skeptical look.