“Hey, Gary,” Kleo sets her coffee down on a table and wraps her arms around Gary’s large build in the most affectionate embrace I’ve ever seen her offer anyone. “Good to see you.”
“You too, my dear, you are beautiful. Look at you! All grown up.”
She smiles, but it doesn’t reach her eyes, and I wonder just what kind of experience could put that haunted look on her face. Especially since, not even thirty minutes ago, she was ready to go toe to toe with me. “Tallahassee was needed,” she agrees. “How’s everything going in here? Ready for the day?”
“More than.” He grins and walks back into the kitchen, looking at her through the window overlooking the dining hall. “You ready for this? These kids can be a bit of a handful.”
I snort, isn’t that an understatement. Most of the kids that come to us do so as a last resort. We take troubled youth, give them purpose, group therapy with the licensed psychiatrist once a week, and the other days are a blur of classes and fun.
Let’s just say there’s always more than one completely unhappy with their situation.
Leveling her gaze on me, Kleo replies, “I am.”
The door swings open again, and Amber, Megan, Jasper, Robert, and Keith stroll in, all wearing shorts and a T-shirt with our logo on it. Voices fill the space, Barbara and Al greeting the new counselors and re-welcoming the returning ones.
Kleo stands before me, completely stiff, eyes closed as she takes a deep breath. I study her, curious about her sudden change in demeanor. She looks completely out of place, uncomfortable. If this small group makes her upset, how the hell is she going to handle nearly seventy teenagers next week?
Eyes opening, she meets and holds my gaze for a brief moment, and I can’t force myself to look away. Mesmerized by the woman I’m seeing now, I continue staring back at her. In a flash though, that woman is gone, and Kleo is plastering on a fake smile and turning away from me.
“Kleo! So happy to see you again!” Megan greets her, and Kleo slides into conversation with everyone as though she never left.
“You okay?” Gary asks me, pulling a serving tray loaded down with pancakes out of the oven.
“Fine.”
“Breathe, kid, all will work out.” He steps past me and sets the pancakes down on a table already set with dishes. The counselors take seats at the long table, and our meeting begins. I force myself to look away from Kleo, who, for the first time since she stumbled back into my life, looks incredibly uncomfortable.
13
Kleo
“So, what’s the deal with you and Dean?”
I look up from the camper file I’m browsing, glancing over to the corner of the living room where Amber sits. She and Megan are both staring at me as if I have something juicy to share. “What do you mean?” We all hit it off pretty easily, especially since we all already knew each other from school.
“You’re staying here, right?” Megan asks, looking around. “Last time I was here, Dean didn’t have a pink throw blanket.” She eyes the knit fabric slung over the back of the couch. Jealousy stabs my gut at the thought of Dean having another woman in here.
Which, of course, pisses me off because it’s completely irrational considering I despise him.
“This is my family’s place,” I reply quickly. “When I take this place over, this is where I’m going to live, so I figured I might as well get comfortable.”
“So you two aren’t—” Amber asks, prying, and I shake my head.
“Definitely not. I can barely stand to breathe the same damn air as him.”
Both women look at each other before they start laughing. “Seriously? How could you not be interested in that?” Megan says. “He’s damned fine. Was in school, too.”
“I’m a married woman,” Amber says. “But I still have to agree.”
“Hot or not, he’s an asshole.”
“He’s probably just on edge. You are looking to take his job,” Megan says. “I’m not saying you have no right; I’m just saying he’s been working his ass off.”
I look back down at the file, only now I’m not focused on anything about Rebecca Smith, my irritation at the other blonde in the room growing steadily. Mainly because she has a point. I’d be pretty damn incorrigible if someone showed up to take what I’d worked on. Especially if there was no warning.
Amber clears her throat. “You know, I despised Keith when I first met him.”
Raising an eyebrow, I turn my full attention to her. “Really? I remember you two. You seemed to be hot and heavy from day one.”
“Oh, from the first day of our actual relationship, sure, but I met him two summers before that when we both worked at Frosty’s.”
Realization dawns on me as I remember walking in the summer before I hit ninth grade and seeing her working behind the counter. “I completely forgot you worked there.”
“Trust me, if I could forget, I would too. That uniform was embarrassing as crap.”
“I don’t remember him working there though, just you.”
“That’s because I got him fired on day one.”
I gape at her. How had this never made the teenage gossip chain in high school? “How? Why?”
She shrugs. “I caught him making out with Sarah Oliver in the freezer one day and called the manager.”
I laugh. “I can’t believe no one ever talked about that.”
“He was pretty embarrassed.”
“How did you go from that to married with three kids?”
“We ran into each other at a party, and one thing led to another—and now here we are. I wouldn’t change a thing.”
“Not even the Frosty’s firing?”
“Definitely not the Frosty’s firing. That’s the only reason he and Sarah didn’t work out.”
“Wait, Oliver—don’t they own the Frosty’s?”
She smiles. “Why do you think he got fired so quickly?”
The front door opens, and Dean steps in with Keith right behind him. He and Amber’s husband have always been close, so it’s really no surprise that they’re still friends.
“What are you ladies gossiping about?” Keith asks, taking a seat on the couch beside Amber.
“Nothing important,” I say with a quick glance at Dean. The way he completely takes over a room with his mere presence annoys me. Every single nerve ending in my body reacts to him when we share a space, prepping me for an argument I assume is coming.
“Well, I think we’re done for the day,” Dean announces from the kitchen. I glance over at the fridge as he reaches inside and pulls out a bottle of water.
A quick glance at the clock tells me we’ve been reading the files of our assigned campers for nearly two hours, and yet I couldn’t make it past this one because all I could think about was Dean.
“Sounds good to me. You coming to Moe’s tonight?” Megan asks Dean.
“Yeah, I’ll be by a bit later.”
“Great.” She beams at him, and my stomach rolls.
Can you keep it in your pants for like a damned minute?
“Kleo, you coming?” Amber asks. “Keith and I are getting a sitter, so we’ll be there.”