Chapter 6
6
The first day of winter break was a success, but I was tired when I got home. Not nearly as tired as Daisy, though. My always cheerful best friend was working long hours leading up to the Christmas holiday and looked exhausted when she made it home from work on Christmas Eve.
“Are you okay?” I asked, alarmed at the dark circles under her eyes and the hollow look in the blue.
She collapsed onto the couch next to me. “I’m so tired. I did not anticipate the need in this town for a toy store at Christmas.”
“I thought that was one of the things you looked at before you opened Lincoln Toys.”
She nodded, her head falling to the back of the couch. “Yeah, but it’s so much busier than I thought it would be. Inventory is almost gone, and some people were not happy when what they wanted wasn’t available.”
“You’re closed until next year. And people who wait until the last minute have to accept that it’s their fault. Plus, that tells me you did amazing for your first holiday season.”
She smiled and nodded. “You’re right. It’s a good thing that I’m doing this well. It’s silly to complain about my business being successful six months after I opened the place. I’ve met so many people, too. And I’m learning that next year, I need to hire more help around the holidays so I don’t wear myself out so much.”
I grinned, amazed at the way she turned everything around so quickly. She impressed me on a daily basis, but pulling herself back from exhaustion was something I’d never seen her do. “Make notes now so you don’t forget by next Christmas.”
She got up and went to her handbag near the door, digging in the pocket where she kept her phone and bringing it back to sit on the couch again. “How was your day? How was the first day of the winter break rush?”
I shrugged. “It was good. Busy, but the kids had fun and are all excited to come back next week.”
“You always have fun with the kids. You’re so good with them. What activities do you have planned?”
She typed while I talked. “We have outdoor playtime, so all the kids brought snow gear. We had a lot of gym time. Trinity is doing crafting time two days next week, which will help break up some of the day.”
“It’ll be busy, but it’s going to be fun. For the kids and you.”
“I hope so. When do you leave to go see your parents?”
Daisy closed her store and took the entire week off between Christmas and New Year’s so she could visit her parents. “I’m going to leave early in the morning. They wanted me to come tonight, but when I thought about it, I worried about driving so late.”
“I don’t blame you.”
Daisy nodded, then set her phone on the table. “Did you eat yet?”
“I did not. I made lasagna.”
She groaned. “You know how to spoil me.”
I snorted and followed her to the kitchen. “Yeah, because it’s not a mutual thing.” Whoever was home first would cook. We shopped for certain meals every week, but neither of us was ever married to a plan. We liked to have an idea but be flexible about what we cooked and when.
“Yes, well, you could have waited to make lasagna until I was gone.” Daisy sliced a large piece for herself before slicing an equally large one for me.
“I wouldn’t do that. I should have made this yesterday so I would know you ate lunch.”
Her cheeks reddened, telling me she skipped lunch, again.
“You need to take care of yourself.”
“I know! I will do better after the holidays.”
“New Year’s resolution,” I teased.
She laughed loudly and nodded. It had become a joke for us that next year we would do all the things we said we needed to do. Lose weight, date more, meet new people, drink more water. We never stuck to any of them, and by December, we were right back there, making the same promises we always made.
“Maybe one will stick next year.”
“Maybe.”
We ate in silence for a few minutes, the TV playing the movie I put on earlier. The lasagna was good. Very cheesy, but the addition of a layer of zucchini noodles and ground turkey gave it a different flavor compared to the traditional meat lasagna.
“This is really good,” Daisy said. “We need to make it like this every time from now on.”
“I was just thinking the same.”
Daisy chuckled. “Maybe we should try to stick to some of those resolutions next year.”
“Which ones?”
“Adding vegetables seems to be a good one.”
I nodded and laughed with her.
She sighed. “I need to ask for help. Accept that I can’t do everything.”
“That’s going to be hard for you. You never ask for help.”
She laughed. “I know! That’s why I need to do it. There was a kid in the store today with her mom, and I had to stop myself from yelling at her when she was messing with one of the toys.”
“Seriously?” Daisy never lost her patience. I admired it, but hearing she was close today was cause for concern.
“I have never been this tired in my life. I love Lincoln Toys, and I love that I work for myself, and I am so happy I was able to move here with you, but it hasn’t been easy. This last year has been both the best and worst of my life.”
“I’m sorry, hun. Why didn’t you tell me?”
She snickered. “See my resolution.”
I snorted. “Touché.”
“What about you? What’s one you want to keep?”
“I want to keep all of them.”
Daisy shook her head. “No, you don’t. We both know that. We make those resolutions based on things we think we’re supposed to want, not on what we actually want.”
“I want to get better at talking to people.”
“Maybe that should be your resolution.”
“Getting better at talking to people isn’t a resolution.”
“You’re right. It’s a goal. So what should your resolution be? Talking to a stranger once a week? An adult stranger?”
I scowled at her, hating that she read my mind as quickly as I had the thought.
Daisy laughed. “You’re so predictable.”
“Yeah, yeah. Yours is easier.”
“Says you. How many times have you asked for help recently?”
I wrinkled my nose and knew she was right. I wasn’t good at it either. “This is why we don’t stick to our resolutions.”
Daisy laughed and leaned over, resting her head on my shoulder. “True, but it’s also why we’re in the same place year after year without changing things. I know you want more out of life.”
Tears welled in my eyes as I nodded. “Yeah.”
The whispered word was enough for Daisy. She didn’t push, and she didn’t have to. She made her point, for both of us.
We finished the movie and dragged ourselves to our rooms. I listened to her get ready for bed in her room and wondered what the next year would bring for both of us.
Everything with the campground was still up in the air until the weather improved and we could start working out there. I was determined to do whatever it took to have it ready for the summer, but unless I could make some progress on cleaning it up, it wouldn’t happen in time for this summer.
Summer camp registration officially opened March first.
Dammit. I was starting to see why Omar wanted to meet in two weeks. He knew what I just realized. I needed to get things done. Fast.
Could I do it if I took Daisy’s advice and talked to strangers? If I put myself out there? Or would I just make it worse because people didn’t like me?
I didn’t have Daisy’s infectious nature or Amelia’s commanding presence. I was a wallflower, happy to be out of the spotlight and willing to let others lead.
But this camp was my baby. It was my dream. And no one else was going to make my dreams happen. If I wanted it, I had no choice but to go for it.
Which meant pushing my comfort zone, and yeah, asking for help from adult strangers.
God help me.
The next week was gone in an instant, and the calendar flipped to the new year. Daisy returned from her visit with her family refreshed and happy and ready to tackle the new year with her resolution to ask for help already started.
“My dad packed the car for me, and my mom sent me back with food so I didn’t have to worry about stopping for more than gas. My nieces and nephews were happy to play with the toys I brought them and gave me very honest opinions about what they liked about them.” Daisy was proud of her accomplishments.
And they were accomplishments. Asking for help from family seemed easy to me, but Daisy never felt like she could. Her family was amazing, but they were all like her and did everything themselves, so asking others was a challenge from birth. Nature and nurture were ganging up on Daisy and telling her to do it all herself.
And she was bucking both to make herself better.
Dammit. But good for her.
“What are you up to today?” she asked. The Monday after New Year’s Day, we were both back to work and happy to be diving into our normal routines again.
“I’m at the community center today. Amelia wanted to talk about summer camp since we need to make some decisions.”
“Do you think you’re going to be able to make the campground work?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. When we were there, it was a lot of work.”
“And you’re going to ask for help, right?” Daisy said.
I snorted. “Yeah, yeah. When I figure out what I need to do.”
“I thought you were going to do some fundraisers.”
“That was Amelia’s idea, but it feels like begging. Please come give me money, then give me more for camp.”
“Yeah, but it’s what you need to do in order to make it happen. You can’t just ignore the budget.”
“I’m not ignoring the budget. But I’m going to do what I can. I might spend some time there later today. The power company confirmed everything to the site is completely shut off, and with the ground a little warmer over the weekend, I want to see if I can dig out some of those lines.”
“By yourself?”
I shrugged. “If it doesn’t work, I’ll figure something else out, but I have to try. It’s a lot of work, Daisy.”
“I know, but… I worry about you.”
“I’ll be fine. I won’t do it if it’s too hard. I promise.”
“Just be careful. It’s pretty isolated out there.”
“I’m not worried. Plus, I won’t be there for long.”
“Please text me when you go. So I know if you don’t come home that I need to worry.”
“I will.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Amelia was walking out of her office when I walked into the community center twenty minutes later.
“Oh, you’re here! Good. Can we talk about summer camp?”
“Yeah, let me put my coat in my office.”
“Good. I’ll grab my notes.”
I nodded, worried that she had notes. I didn’t realize there was something for her to make notes about.
I picked up a notepad and a pen from my desk and met Amelia on the stage to talk about summer camp. And whatever else was on her mind.
“Last week was good, don’t you think?”
I nodded. “It was. We had a full house, but it was a lot of fun for the kids. And a big help for the parents.”
“I agree. Which is why I was thinking we have an opportunity to turn your summer camp into so much more than a summer camp.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, winter break, spring break, any of the conference days and stuff like that, parents are scrambling to find a place for their kids. Half days, early dismissal, everything adds up. What if we had a way to take all the kids for all the days?”
“All the days?” I asked.
Amelia grinned like it was the best idea ever. “Yes! I mean, we had to limit the number of kids we had in here because of space, but you and I both know more needed a place to go. The stay at home parents were taking in kids of working parents and some parents were just off. They can’t do that all year. It’s unreasonable. But we have the space now.”
“But it’s not indoor. The campground is… There’s no way we can make that happen with the budget we have.”
Amelia nodded. “I know. And I’m not trying to say we should change what you have planned, but I think there’s a huge opportunity for us. A chance to make life better for so many parents.”
“How? How in the world can we do any of this?”
“We do it in phases, like you told Omar. Phase One is all the requirements that will make it safe plus the structure to keep the kids out of the weather. But I think we make the structure something that can be used year-round. Something that can have all the windows open in the summer but closed up and heated in the winter.”
My mind raced to catch up to what was clearly not a new idea for Amelia. When she first approached me about the summer camp, I was excited, but this… This was ten times what I imagined.
“I don’t know if it’s going to be possible.”
“I know you need time to think about things, so I’m talking to you about it now. I really think this could be amazing for the community. And if we start having fundraisers now, it’ll be easier to make this happen for the spring.”
Fundraisers. I hated that word. Not just because I hated asking people for things, but because it usually meant talking to people. Sharing my vision and thoughts with dozens and dozens of strangers.
“It’s an essential part of running a place like this, Natalie. I know you don’t like fundraisers, but you have to get used to the idea if you’re going to be in charge of this whole place one day.”
“I still don’t understand why in the world you would ever leave me in charge.”
“Because you have a passion for this. You love what we do here. You love these kids, and you love this community. You’re the only one I have ever considered leaving this place to. Not that I get to decide, but no one else has ever loved it here the way you and I do.”
My throat got tight. I swallowed around the lump. I did love it, but I couldn’t imagine walking into the mayor’s office and speaking to him the way she did, or speaking to anyone the way Amelia did. She was smart and strong. She could gather her words and make sense of her thoughts.
I was none of those things.
But I was passionate about the kids. And about the community center. Maybe that could be enough.
“Get out of here and think,” Amelia said. “I see those wheels turning.”
“I just got here.”
“Yeah, and I know you have things running through your head. You’ll figure them out faster if you can go where you need to go. Think about what I said, though. About not just having summer camp there but all the camps.”
I nodded. “I will. And thank you, Amelia.”
She winked. “We’ll figure it all out.”
She was right. I hoped. But she was definitely right about me getting out of there.
I grabbed my coat and knew the only place I wanted to be was at the campground.
The road was soft on my drive in, which gave me a little hope for the ground. I parked next to the camper and got out of my car, inhaling the fresh air and letting it clear my mind.
The area was more than big enough for a few buildings. We could do so many things at the site. Big things. A craft cabin. A sports arena. A tumbling gym. A games space.
With the idea of indoor camps in my head, I wanted all of it. Like everything else, we needed to figure out what the actual need was, but Amelia made it seem as though there were a lot more kids in need than we took. I had heard from a few that they were looking at other towns for camps. Some for the options, and some for the space.
The big ideas would have to wait, but what couldn’t wait was cleaning up the campground.
I grabbed a shovel from the trunk of my car. I’d asked for the utility companies to mark where underground wiring was, and I was ready to start digging up the first of the wires.
The shovel sank into the dirt with very little resistance. It didn’t go far, two inches or so, but it was enough for me to feel like it was something.
I started at one of the campsites. Digging down two feet to where the conduit ran through the ground, wires protected and safe. I tugged on one end, happy when the whole thing moved.
It was slow work to dig up the wires. Two feet didn’t seem like much until it was over the entire site. I backfilled the holes as I dug out the next section of the conduit.
One came free, the entire path cleared from the old campsite to the junction where they all came together. I looked back and smiled. It wasn’t easy, but it was possible.
Knowing I did that one made me feel like I could do anything. I could dig up wires and save the town some money so we could make the campground an amazing place for the kids. I could make this work. I could talk to people and raise money and watch my dreams come to life right there on that old campground.
I went to work on the second one, digging up the conduit for that one as easily as the first. I took my coat off halfway through digging, the exertion soaking my clothes with sweat and the need for cooling taking over.
I was halfway through the third one when I hit a rock when I was digging. I dug around it, knowing it needed to come out. It wasn’t huge, but it was bigger than I could easily move. I used the shovel as a lever and pried it up and out of the hole I created.
The conduit was exposed and I could yank it up, leaving the space free to backfill with the dirt I’d removed from the hole. I set the shovel down and laid the conduit to the side, then grabbed my shovel to get the dirt back in the hole.
I tripped on the rock. My ankle screamed with pain. I slid, my other foot falling into the hole I’d made. The shovel nearly whacked me in the head.
A ripping sound had me clutching my backside, praying it was my pants and not a muscle that tore. The cold breeze on my upper thighs confirmed it was my pants.
It was good news. I was okay. I just had to figure out how in the hell I was getting out of the hole I dug for myself.
Oh, the irony.