Chapter Five
R ebekah hopped. She actually hopped like an excited bunny. “What do you mean you kissed him?”
As Gia suspected, giving Rebekah the details of her date was a mistake, even though she’d been dying to discuss it and get another woman’s opinion on her kissing assault.
She pulled her ponytail tight and left the bathroom. “I mean I kissed him.”
“Do you mean he kissed you and you kissed him back? Like at the end of the date?”
“No,” Gia said as they trudged up the hill. “I started it. It was all me.”
“You go, girl. I think. Why do you sound concerned? Did he back away in horror or something?”
“No, I think he liked it, but I’m not real proud of myself. It’s not like he had a choice. I was sitting on his lap, and all of a sudden, I was planting one on him. It happened fast, I don’t know if he was shocked but happy, or appalled and being polite.”
“Why were you sitting on his lap? You hardly know the man.”
“It’s surprisingly not as inappropriate as it sounds. That’s part of my problem. Other than shove me off his lap, he didn’t have any options.” Gia hung a left on the trail toward the camp’s front gate. “It all seemed so natural. He looked so cute with that dark hair curling around his ears. He smelled good—despite how hot and sticky it was. And he said the sweetest thing...”
“All right. I can see what’s happening here.” Rebekah stopped and put her foot up on a stump to re-tie her shoe. “You like this guy. You had a great time. And let’s be real, Gia. He’s a red blooded American male. I’m ninety-nine point nine nine nine percent sure he enjoyed the kiss and doesn’t care how it started. Don’t worry about it. You can let him start things next time.”
“He’s Greek, by the way.”
“As in born in Greece?”
“No, but his grandparents were. It’s one of the things we talked about last night. My grandparents came from Italy, his from Greece. There’s a strong cultural heritage in both our families.”
“Well, there you go,” Rebekah said and resumed her trek up the hill. “It’s a Mediterranean-American love match made in Heaven. That and the first date smooch-fest at the Blueberry-Catfish Festival will make for a nice steamy love story to tell your grandchildren.”
Two counselors passed them on the path. “I knew I should have kept my mouth shut. Don’t say another word. No one needs to know about me and Rocky or that kiss.”
“Of course not. What do you take me for? We’ll talk later in private.”
They reached the top of the hill and stepped into the bustling preparation for the arrival of new campers. While the gate remained closed for another twenty minutes, excited, fresh-faced kids were already forming lines, anxious to enter.
One group of staff members stood ready to accept and tag camp luggage and hoist it onto a trailer for delivery to the appropriate cabins. Counselor-manned tables lined the entry, each with giant letters taped on the front to guide parents to the appropriate list for check in. Everyone else attended to their own assignments, all swarming with excitement and wearing bright, welcoming smiles.
“I’m going to pop inside the office and make sure we don’t have any last minute messages about our girls this week,” Gia said. “You understand our job today, right?”
“I do. I’ll walk on over to the gate with the others and see if I can get something started.”
“Calm down, rook. Don’t give it all away in the first five minutes. There’s a three-hour window for check in.”
Gia slipped into the air-conditioned office and took her time getting to the staff boxes. As much as she loved opening day, the week was going to be a hot one and this was her last chance until lights out to get out of the heat. She took a bottle of water from the cooler and stepped to the window. She pulled the curtain aside. That silly rookie was already trying to get the waiting campers to participate in the wave .
“Pace yourself, rookie.”
“What’s that?”
“Hey, Sam. I’m talking to myself. My newbie’s out there making us all look bad. We have greeter duty today and she’s already got the crowd riled up.”
Sam stuck his hand deep into a box and pulled out a crumpled note. “Yeah, we’ll see how she’s doing after a couple hours out there.”
“I don’t know.” She dropped the curtain. “This one’s a lot like the Energizer Bunny”. She started toward the door. “I better get out there and stop her.”
“So what did you do last night?”
She stopped. Everyone was usually too busy to catch up on what they did on their nights off. “Uh... I went to a festival in the next county. Not much to do in the great metropolis around camp you know. What about you?”
Sam wouldn’t look her in the eye. He merely smiled and tried to uncrumple his note. “I did laundry.”
“Oh. OK. I’ll see you out there.”
As she left the front porch of the office, two more guys swept past her and paused with air-headed grins. “Did you have a good night off?”
“Yes. How about yourself?”
“Great,” one of them answered and they rushed on past.
Two of her friends at an information table seemed a little too enthused to see her as she walked past.
“Hi Gia,” they said in creepy unison and then added an equally creepy wave.
She stopped cold. “What’s going on?”
Deborah picked up a stack of papers to use as a fan while her very own rookie looked away and pretended to read a camp roster. Upside down. “Nothing. Why? Is something going on?”
They snickered behind her as she headed toward the gate. If Rebekah had been out here blabbing about her date, well, she didn’t know what she would do. A breach of trust like that would make it hard to keep her professional composure, let alone continue their friendship.
Up ahead, Rebekah seemed to be frantically trying to fold something and shove it in her back pocket.
Gia smiled at the waiting children and signaled for Rebekah to step back.
“What’s going on here?” she asked with an unconvincing, upbeat lilt in her voice.
“Nothing, why?”
“Everyone is looking and laughing at me. Is my shirt on backward or something?”
“Nothing’s wrong.” Rebekah clapped along as the greeter group started a rhythmic chant about the books of the Bible and encouraged the kids to join in.
“What is that paper you are trying to hide?”
“What paper?”
“This paper,” Gia said and plucked it from her back pocket.
Rebekah pushed her back further. “Now listen, Gia. This is not a big deal. I took it from Chris S. who said Chris W. gave it to him and there’s just the one copy. It’s been around camp, but no one means any harm with it. They’re messing with you, but it’ll stop once they open the gates...”
But all of Rebekah’s rambling trailed off into one horror-filled gong of noise in her head as she unfolded the piece of newspaper that appeared to be the whole front page.
“That shifty, lowlife shutterbug,” she whispered as the air left her lungs.
“It’s not so bad,” Rebekah said as if from far away. “It’s really kinda cute.”
Gia steadied her trembling hands. “It’s a violation.”
She glanced at the kids who seemed oblivious to her terror. She skimmed the words. Something about the festival and its great success, something about the crowds, the fireworks, the food. There were several pictures of the festivities, but the one that caught her eye was the series of three connected shots of her and Rocky that ran along the side like a photo-booth filmstrip of their date. One was their posed picture, one was of them rolling through the intersection with huge smiles—and one was of that kiss.
“Put it away,” Rebekah urged. “We’ll deal with it later.”
The crowd at the gate continued to grow.
Rebekah patted her on the back. “Take a breath, Gia. You need to breathe. I’ll get some water.”
“No.” She buried the clipping in her pocket. “I’m fine, but cover for me a minute. I’m going to run to the bathroom.”
“Sure.”
Gia pasted on her best fake smile and acknowledged her co-workers’ great big secret as she rushed past. “Nice one, guys. Now you know what I do on Saturday nights.” She took a deep sweeping bow before she dove into the bathroom and collapsed on the creaky wooden bench.
She leaned her head back against the wall and pressed her palms into her forehead. Her heart rate steadied as she closed her eyes and tried to relax.
Slimy little paparazzi sneak. He’d snapped that incriminating kiss photo knowing full well it was not what she’d given permission for.
“Why is it, Lord, that every time I let my guard down and get completely carried away in a pleasant moment, some other guy-jerk comes along and takes advantage of me again?”
Muted voices and the rumble of footsteps on the wooden deck outside nudged her back to reality. “Back to work,” she mumbled and pushed herself off the bench.
The dizzy spell hit her in two seconds flat. She tipped to the side like a sinking ship and grabbed for the basin to hold on. Help me, Jesus... A flash of black appeared and with one blink was gone again. As her balance returned, she stared at the pale, frightened face in the mirror. What is wrong with me?
In a split second of clarity, a new idea sprung to life. Those dreams... This near blackout. Maybe she did have a problem. Maybe it involved her actual brain.
Back on the bench, she looked straight ahead until the room no longer spun. “I can’t do this anymore,” she whispered. “I’ve got to see the nurse.”
Someone pounded on the door. “C’mon, girlfriend. As you would say, shake it off . We’ll plan ways to torture that photographer after campfire tonight.”
Gia stood and splashed water on her face. “Coming!”
THE NIGHT WAS PARTICULARLY dark and steamy as Gia took her flashlight and headed for the medical shack. She’d made it through the day without fainting or further dizziness, but the threat of a repeat—and now the possibility of a neurological disease—haunted her every move. Surely Nurse Bernadette would check her pulse, offer her an ice bag and a spell on the cot like she did the kids and everything would be all right.
Gia paused on the porch, set her flashlight down, and rang the bell at the clinic door. Swarms of bugs invaded her space as she stood in the glow of the bare bulb. The hum of the window unit barely masked the low-level drone of a television drama. Word on the street was that the private sleeping quarters attached to the clinic contained new fiber wiring that enabled actual internet speed that could handle streaming services. Other than the twenty-four-hour responsibility for the health of a full camp, and the occasional protruding bone and projectile vomit, it was good work if you could get it. The rotating medical staff got to carry one of the camp’s new, high-tech radios and apparently could watch Netflix and Prime now.
The best part of the medical professionals, though, was that they really wanted to be there for the kids. Most were parents who served at the camp during their personal vacation time in exchange for deeply discounted tuition for their own children. It was a win-win for everyone.
Gia heard movement and stepped back to greet Nurse Bernadette. But it wasn’t Nurse Bernadette who flung open the door, unlatched the screen, and barreled outside. It was big, burly, could-have-been-an-NFL-linebacker Paramedic Ash.
“Watcha’ got?” he asked and looked around her for a sick or injured kid.
“No emergency. Only me.”
He smashed a mosquito on the side of his cleanshaven head and brushed it away. “Who’s me?”
“It’s me, Ash. Gia.”
He captured her hand in his massive one and gave it a mighty shake. “Oh, yeah, Gia. I remember you. What’s up?”
“Nothing. I had a question for Bernadette, but I guess she’s gone.”
“Yep. I’m on this week.”
Gia swatted a moth away from her mouth. “Almost swallowed that one,” she sputtered. “I didn’t see any of your kids check in today.”
He stood tall and crossed his arms over is bulging chest. The fit of his camp medical staff tee reminded her of Rocky in that tacky festival shirt. Which then made her think of her unintended exposure in the podunk county gazette. Which then made her stomach turn...
“I got smart this year,” Ash said and beamed. “I’m here this week, sending some of my kids next week. I’ll ship the littlest ones to their grandparents and shazam ! I’m having a stay-cation with my wife.”
“Good call. Well... I’ll let you get in out of the bugs.” She ground her toe into one of the boards. She still didn’t feel well, but she’d only ever seen a male doctor once in the emergency room years ago. Talking to men about physical stuff was not comfortable for her. Every kid adored Paramedic Ash, but she couldn’t do it. Not even as her tired body ached and her nausea persisted. Her neurological mass would have to wait. “Have a great, uneventful week, Ash. I’m sure I’ll see you around.”
“Hang on, Gia. Was your question of a medical nature?”
She was off the porch now, shrinking into the trees. It felt safer to talk from there. “Yes.”
“Ask away. I’ll try to answer.” He stepped to the edge of the deck. His voice was steady, comforting, professional. “What’s goin’ on?”
“I had a bit of a dizzy spell this morning. I think I almost passed out because I swear I saw black for a second.”
“Had you eaten and were you hydrated?”
“Yes.”
“Any numbness or tingling like in your arms or hands?”
“No.”
“Are you diabetic or have any other health issues?”
“No. I had my camp physical. Everything was fine.”
“Any other problems?”
“I had a stomach bug recently. Seems to be hanging around.”
Ash shrugged. “I’m sure you’re fine. C’mon in and I’ll get your vitals and we’ll talk a little more about it. Dizziness and fainting is nothing to ignore.”
She retreated further. “I think I stood up too fast.”
“Probably, but I need to check your blood pressure and listen to your heart.”
Now she’d done it. Would he notice if she simply walked away?
“Don’t make me come out there with a thermometer,” Ash warned with a laugh.
She shoved her hands into her back pockets and rocked on her heels. Buck up, Gia... You know you wouldn’t let anyone else get away with this chicken routine. Besides, you feel terrible.
“I’m coming,” she said and then mumbled something about not being afraid, only shy.
But Paramedic Ash had played her from the start, knowing she wouldn’t have shown up at the clinic at ten p.m. for no reason, and sensing she was apprehensive. Had to give him credit. He’d already conducted half his evaluation from outside the exam room.
“I’d rather no one know about this,” she said as she entered the small clinic.
“I promise complete confidentiality but you know the rules. I need to have someone step in while I do a quick exam. Then we can talk privately. The registrar is in the other room signing off on new camper files. Can I ask her, or do you want me to call someone else?”
Gia nodded as she wiggled onto the exam table.
“Good. Let me get your file.” He grabbed the door frame and looked back as he left the room. “It’ll be OK, Gia.”
“I know. Just want to get back to work.”
She closed her eyes and let the cool air settle around her. Thank goodness the little camp triage shack was nothing like a regular doctor’s office. She’d have run screaming into the woods if she’d spotted a gown or urine sample cup.
Ash returned with Mrs. Winston and tossed Gia’s folder on the counter. He washed his big hands in the tiny sink along the wall and gathered some basic supplies.
Mrs. Winston stood nearby with a pleasant, reassuring smile. Gia stared ahead and tried to think about anything else.
“You were right about your physical,” he said as he took her temperature. “Nothing off in there.”
She passed the blood pressure test and dutifully took deep breaths, and then didn’t breathe at all on cue as he checked her heart and lungs.
He quizzed her about her eating habits and the persistent bug she’d been entertaining. Her answers seemed to satisfy him.
“Lie back for a sec and let me press on your tummy.”
She glanced at Mrs. Winston who sensed her unease and rushed over to plump the plastic-covered pillow behind her head. “Bless your heart,” she said gently and took her hand. “A nasty stomach bug can really wear you down. Especially at camp.”
Now Gia wanted to cry. And she never cried. Days ago she’d been happily ignoring her inconsiderate bug, but the nausea and all that came with it had landed her in a cool room with caring people and a possible brain tumor and... That’s all. She thought she might cry. And she never cried but... What if that dizziness came back? She couldn’t hide that.
Her stomach rumbled as Ash poked around. He hesitated a couple of times then moved on.
“OK. You can sit up.”
Mrs. Winston took Ash’s subtle hint and left the room.
Gia hung on to the edge of the paper-covered table and swung her legs back and forth over the side while Paramedic Ash sat on a rolling stool and made notes in her chart.
He tapped the end of the pen on the folder. “Routine question here, Gia. Is there any chance you could be pregnant?”
A cold chill teased her neck and chased goose bumps to her arms. To be pregnant, one needs to have intercourse. While she’d had her moments of questionable behavior in the past, she’d returned her temple to God for safekeeping until the right time. The closest thing to sex in her recent memory was in the crazy dreams she had about Professor Evil and his car.
More of those images floated through her brain. In one scene she struggled with something but her arms didn’t move. In another, something pulled at her hair so hard she screamed, but she couldn’t make the tugging stop.
She brushed the thoughts away. They had to be dreams, right? She didn’t remember anything like that. If he’d forced himself on her, wouldn’t she know? Wouldn’t there have been signs? Maybe she’d buried them.
She opened her mouth and nothing came out.
“I’m not sitting in judgment here, Gia. It’s been known to happen. This conversation is between us. I can help you figure this out. If there’s any—”
“No, Ash. I’m not pregnant.”
“When was your last menstruation?”
“It’s been several weeks. I’ve never been regular.”
“That could be something. Hormones can wreak havoc on a woman’s body.”
Yes, and she imagined a brain tumor would clog up hormone production altogether. She grew more agitated with each passing second. She fussed with her ponytail and then attacked the jagged edge of her index fingernail with her teeth. “Can I get back to work now?”
“I think you’re probably fine.”
“I sense a but coming on.” She scrubbed her hands across her face and let out a heavy sigh that turned into a low, frustrated growl. “I can’t believe this.”
“ But... That bug’s been around too long, and I can’t explain the near fainting spell.”
“I stood up too fast.”
“Yeah, but here’s what we’re gonna do. You are going to get a good night’s sleep. I’m going to talk to the camp director, and first thing in the morning, someone’s going to take you into town to see Doc Collins. I’ll call him. He’ll give you the once-over and do some blood work. We’ll let him figure it out. You’ll be back here in no time.”
Her panic escalated. “What about my kids? And who is Doc Collins? I don’t know that person.”
“Relax, Gia. Camp policy dictates what we do here and there’s a plan in place. You’re not the first person to get sick on the job and need some time away. It happens. And Doc Collins is an old-time country doctor in town. He’s our backup physician and knows all about Towering Pines. His wife is his nurse, she’ll take care of you.”
“There’s no way around this?”
“No.”
“Are you telling me you’re not going to let me return to duty until I’m seen by Doc Collins?”
“Sorry, Gia. It’s what’s best.”
“Does it have to be Doc Collins?”
“No. That would be the easiest and the closest, and I’d feel better if someone drove you, but where is home? Can you get your parents to pick you up and take you to see your own doctor? Maybe rest a day or so, get well, and come back with a doctor’s release?”
“My parents are in Dallas. I’m not going that far.” She launched herself off the table. “I can drive. I only had the one dizzy spell. I’ll take care of it.”
Ash hesitated. “All right, then. I’ll take care of the paperwork and talk with the director.”
She took his outstretched hand. “Thanks, Ash. I appreciate it. Don’t like it, but I do appreciate it.”
“Try to take it easy, Gia. Everything’s going to be fine.”
She forced a smile. “I’ll head out in the morning as soon as a substitute relieves me.”
She ducked into the woods and raced to the biggest, darkest tree she could find.
First she threw up.
Then she started to cry.