I jump back, his words a verbal slap. “What did you just say?”
“Word travels fast, Princess, and apparently your dad’s friend’s wife likes to chat with Tom’s wife. Amazing how someone can leave a small town and never really leave it, isn’t it?”
The hardware store owner’s wife is a notorious gossip. I’m actually surprised she hasn’t told every damned person what happened to me two years ago. “For the record, I wasn’t naked,” I growl back, hands clenching into fists. I step closer, getting to where I’m only a few inches away from the asshole. “This is my—”
There’s a heavy knock at the door, and we shoot apart like bullets from a gun, moving to opposite sides of the kitchen.
“Knock, knock!” The door swings open, and my parents step in, smiling at us. I return it, not wanting them to know that everything isn’t all sunshine and fucking rainbows between Dean and me.
“Morning, you two,” Mom says with a smile, walking into the kitchen to join us. “No matter how many times I come here, I still love it just like always. Don’t you, Al?”
He nods, looking straight at Dean. “Gary here yet?”
“Gary?” I ask. “He still works here?”
Dean doesn’t respond to me, his hand clenched in a fist on the counter. At least I get under his skin as much as he gets beneath mine. “He’s in the cafeteria, doing a once-over to make sure everything in the kitchen is still running smoothly.”
"Good. Kleo? You settling in?" my dad asks, and I nod.
“Great. We going to have a smooth summer?” His gaze travels back and forth between Dean and me. Damn. I should have known he’d pick up on it. The man misses very little.
"It's going to be great, Dad.” I step closer to Dean, putting my hand on his shoulder. He stiffens beneath my touch, and I try my best to ignore the way his solid muscle feels under my palm. "After all, Dean and I are old pals, aren't we, Nerd?"
"Peachy, Princess.” He grins at me, but there’s no humor behind it. "I'm going to go check in on Gary. See you guys in a bit?"
“We’ll be down in a few minutes,” my mom assures him, and Dean shrugs out from beneath my touch, shutting the door a little harder than necessary behind him.
“Kleo?” my mom says, arching an eyebrow and putting a hand on her hip.
“What?”
“Why are you torturing that poor boy?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Please, clearly you two aren’t getting along. Does she think we’re stupid?” my mom asks my dad, and he shrugs.
“Leave me out of this.”
She turns her attention back to me, and I resist the urge to shrink away beneath her gaze. “Dean has done good work for us, Kleo. Don’t be awful to him just because you’re mad at us.”
“I’m not. I’m being awful to him because he’s a giant pain in my ass.”
She scoffs. “Language.”
According to my mother, a lady never curses. If only she were around when I show off my amazing ability to drop the word “fuck” into nearly every sentence. “Look, I promise I will do everything in my power to show you how ready I am for this. But I refuse to pretend Dean and I will ever be anything more than acquaintances who can barely stand each other.”
“Then why are you staying out here?” my mom asks.
“Because she’s prideful,” my dad replies.
I open my mouth to argue but stop before I get a word out because for the first time in what feels like forever, my dad actually gets me.
Dean
“I wasn’t done looking at that,” I mock as I practically stomp my way down the path to the cafeteria. Abso-fucking-lutely ridiculous I have to share air space with that spoiled woman.
I storm into the building, letting the door slam behind me, and Gary looks up from one of the tables, which is currently covered in papers and recipe cards.
"You look like hell." He grins, his dark skin is covered in a thin sheen of sweat. Probably from standing over the stove and cooking whatever smells so damned good it makes my stomach growl. “This is the uniform I’d like for this year,” he says, handing me a piece of paper as I take a seat across from him. I glance down at the white chef’s uniform.
“You’ve got it. You know I’d give you a superhero costume if it will keep you here forever.” He’s brilliant and could do a hell of a lot better than a camp kitchen.
He chuckles and gets up. "Coffee?"
“Yes, please.”
“Come on back, I just made a fresh pot.”
I get to my feet, leaving the welcome binder I didn’t realize I was still carrying on the table.
“So, rough morning?”
“Rough two days.”
He chuckles. “I had dinner with Al and Barbara last night. They said Kleo is staying out here with you.”
Groaning, I take the coffee he hands me. “I’m pretty damned sure she’s an evil spirit sent from beyond to drive me into an early grave.”
Gary throws his head back and laughs. “She’s not that bad.”
“She stole my bedroom,” I tell him, and he grins. “Moved my shit out of it yesterday and waited around to watch me blow a gasket. She's such a pain in the ass," I complain. "Completely spoiled to the point of rot."
"I wouldn't be so sure of that. The Kleo I always knew was a sweetheart. Maybe a bit of a troublemaker at times, but for the most part, she has a kind heart. She and Elanora were good friends growing up."
"That heart's gone black," I tell him. Truthfully, I’m surprised that Gary’s daughter was friends with her. Since all four of Gary’s kids were homeschooled by his wife, we only ever saw them at town events or during the summer when they came up to the camp.
“Give her some time,” he says. “Maybe she’ll be good for the camp…and you.”
I open my mouth to respond, but before I can get a word out, the door opens, and Kleo walks in, flanked by both of her parents. “Speak of the devil,” I murmur, and Gary chuckles.
“Gary!” Barbara announces with a smile as the trio heads back toward where we stand in the kitchen. I cringe when I see Kleo carrying what would have been my coffee in her hand.
Staring right at me, she lifts the mug to her red lips and sips, closing her eyes and swallowing down the liquid inside. “Good coffee,” she says, and it takes everything in me to turn away from her and refocus on Gary and Barbara.
“How many times have we told you we could bring in some help? You aren’t a spring chicken anymore,” she says with a grin.
Gary lets out a belly laugh that would have shaken the walls of a smaller building. “You and my Marie, you two never leave me be. How do you handle her?” he asks Al, who, to my surprise, actually smiles.
“With a lot of love,” he says, and Barbara blushes.
I glance over at Kleo, who’s looking anywhere but at her parents.
“Oh my, is that little Kleo back there?” Gary casts a quick grin in my direction before stepping all the way out of the kitchen and making his way toward her.