21. Chapter 21
Chapter twenty-one
“What aren’t you telling me?”
Dave was trying to block Perry as he swung his pool noodle at the wiffle ball.
Perry made contact, but the ball only rolled a few feet.
Dave, expecting it not to move at all, let the ball get past him.
Perry ran past Dave, giving him a small bump, which was technically illegal, then hit the ball again toward the goal line.
Emily, playing goalie, swung and missed with her noodle.
The ball rolled past the line, and Perry raised his arms in victory.
Wes and Cassandra cheered, just as they’d cheered when the other side scored. They had stayed neutral all day, watching the various games of the Camp Blueberry Olympics from the sidelines.
With the score tied 1-1 thirty minutes into the game, Lester announced that the next team to score would take the gold medal. It took another twenty minutes, but a goal was scored, and the game ended.
The games ran throughout the day, with a lunch break, and concluded late in the afternoon with the relay race.
Each of the four teams raced through a roped-off obstacle course, from running through a row of tires to climbing over low structures with a shallow pool of water on one side.
With eight players per team, almost all the campers were involved.
The cheering, clapping, and laughing echoed off the lake, reminding Wes why he loved camp every year. Aside from the poison-berry incident, the week had been a success.
When he and Cassandra went to the cabin to rest and freshen up before dinner, she sat on the bed. “That was a great day. I think the water balloon baseball was my favorite.”
“Until they decided to pelt the umpires with water balloons.”
She laughed. “That was my favorite part.”
“I have to admit, it did feel pretty good in the middle of the afternoon.”
“You were soaked.”
He patted his T-shirt. “Dry now.” He sat next to her, then lay back on the bed. “Tomorrow we head back to reality.”
Cassandra lay next to him and took his hand. “Are you worried that what we found here won’t follow us home?”
He looked at her. “No. Are you?”
She smiled. “I’m worried that I’m not going to be able to spend as much time with you as I’d like.”
“We have every day at work.”
“But we’ll be working.”
“Still. We can eat lunch in the office. Grab dinner a few nights a week on the way home.”
“I have Bailey to get home to.”
“Of course. We’ll figure it out.” Wes turned his head back to stare up at the ceiling. “What is Nick going to think about this?”
“I don’t really care. I’m not going to rush into telling him. He’ll find out soon enough.”
Wes sat up, then stood and went to the window. Cassandra came up behind him and put her arms around his waist. He patted her hand. “Not sure I want to spend any time with him.”
“You don’t need to.”
“He’s Bailey’s dad. It’s bound to happen sooner or later.”
“I understand why you hated me all these years, but Nick…he was as innocent as you.”
“Hmm.”
Cassandra put a hand on his arm and turned him to face her. “What does that mean?”
“Nothing.”
“Weston?”
He kissed her on the forehead. “I’m going to take a quick shower before dinner.” He moved away from her.
“Wes! What aren’t you telling me?”
“Um…nothing that you don’t already know.”
She cocked her head. “Pretend that I don’t.”
He returned to the bed and sat on the edge. “That night he came to talk to me. Brought me your…message. He was passive-aggressive and demeaning.”
Cassandra held up a hand. “What do you mean, the night he came to talk to you? As far as I know, you’ve never spoken to Nick.”
Wes rubbed the back of his neck. “You sent him to talk to me.”
“I never did that.”
He looked at her for a moment. “Let’s hear your version of what happened on that last day.”
“My version?”
“Yeah. It sounds like it doesn’t match mine.”
Cassandra sat in the chair. “With the end of the year approaching, I couldn’t do it anymore. I’d been trying to tell Nick for months that it was over, but he wouldn’t accept it. I finally realized the only way to make him understand was to tell him about you.”
“You wanted to break up with him?”
“I did break up with him. But we hadn’t really…it had been over for a while.”
“Because you…”
“I wanted to be with you. I wanted to tell you about him and why…I loved you.”
He studied the wooden floor for a moment. “Keep going.”
“Nick left the house mad and said it wasn’t over. That night, I went to see you.”
“And I…broke up with you.”
“Yes, because you saw Nick and me together, and you… I don’t blame you, but you wouldn’t give me a chance to explain. I was miserable and vulnerable, and Nick swooped in. I got pregnant, then… you know the rest.”
Wes stood and went to the window again. “Shit.”
“How is your version different from that?”
He turned to her. “Come take a walk with me.”
They left the cabin and headed for the lake, then took the trail along the shoreline. A slight breeze ruffled the surface of the water and cooled the air. Cassandra zipped up her jacket and took his arm.
“Please talk to me, Wes.”
He took a few moments before speaking. “Nick came to talk to me. It must’ve been right after he left you.
I had no idea who the pissed-off man at my door was.
Then he told me he was your fiancé. That you’d been together since high school.
That you’d told him about me and begged for his forgiveness. ”
Cassandra laid her head against Wes’ shoulder for a moment. “Wes, I—”
“He said you couldn’t face me and that he was there to tell me it was over. You were going to marry him and… live happily ever after, basically. He had this… sincerity that I sensed was fake, and that in reality he was a total douche. But I was too…” He shook his head. “Too damn hurt.”
“Oh my gosh. Wes.”
He shrugged. “If he was who you wanted, then…I wanted you to be happy, no matter how much it hurt. And trust me, it hurt a lot.”
Cassandra stopped walking as her eyes filled with tears. “I don’t even know what to say. I can’t believe it. He ruined everything. He…” She started crying, and Wes put his arms around her.
“You’d better do everything you can to keep him and me apart. I can’t promise you I won’t…”
She pulled back and looked at him. “It wouldn’t be worth it.”
“It would feel so good.”
She wiped her face with the sleeve of her jacket. “Where does this leave us?”
He sighed. “It leaves us with seventeen years of thinking we were rejected.” The kids were leaving their cabins and heading for the mess hall. “Damn dinner.”
“Should we go back?”
“I don’t think I can eat. You go.”
“I don’t want to leave you.”
He took her hand for a moment. “I need to be alone for a bit.”
Cassandra took a step back. “Okay. I’ll go to dinner and make up some excuse for why you’re not there.”
“Thank you. I’ll see you at the fire pit.”
She nodded, then turned and left him. A pair of ducks swam in close to see if he had food for them, and he shook his head. “I’ve got nothing for you.” He continued along the path.
As it grew dark and he was several miles from camp, he checked his watch. “Dammit.” Dinner was over, and the campers would be gathering for their last fire. Tomorrow, they’d be going home. He turned around. If he hurried, he’d get there before it was over.
With the trail following the lake, there was no chance of getting lost. But without a light, there was a risk of stepping on rocks or tripping over holes. Wes went slower than he wanted to avoid either of those things.
When he’d gone at least a mile and still couldn’t see the camp’s lights, he realized he’d lost track of how far he’d come.
Even with the effort of walking, he was cold in his light jacket and hungry, having eaten nothing since lunch.
He stopped for a moment to scowl at the dark water, still rippling in the breeze.
When he’d started, the crests of the small waves caught the sun. Now they reflected the moonlight.
“Idiot.” He started walking again. The worst part was that the walk hadn’t cleared his head much.
He was just as confused and pissed off as when he sent Cassandra to dinner.
Why had he blindly believed Nick back then?
Why hadn’t he given Cassandra a chance to explain herself? A million questions, no real answers.
The sound of splashing broke his reverie, and he moved to the water's edge. A large trout, caught in a shallow pool between two rocks, was trying unsuccessfully to return to deeper water. It was three feet from shore, which meant wading into the lake if Wes was going to help.
“Okay, pal. The last time I rescued an animal, I ended up with Frank. But you just want to get back to living your life in the water.” He stepped into the lake and walked toward the fish.
“Don’t panic. I’m going to give you a bit of a boost.” The water was up to his knees and very cold.
He watched the fish for a moment, then rolled up his sleeves and plunged both hands into the water, wrapping his fingers around the slippery fish.
The trout fought back and squirmed away.
Wes tried again, gripping tighter this time, then tossed the fish into the lake.
It was too dark to see it swim away, but a few feet out, it broke the surface, slapped its tail, and disappeared again. “You’re welcome.”
Wes turned around and headed for the shore.
A foot away, his boot came down on a moss-covered rock.
The world tilted sideways, and he broke his fall with his hands, landing on the damp gravel shore.
He rolled onto his back as pain shot up his thigh from his knee.
He lay on the shore, half in the water, half out, staring up at the star-filled sky.
He sat up. The pain flared in his leg again, and he closed his eyes. “Well, shit.”