* * *
With the weight of Patrick’s return on my shoulders, I push open the cafeteria doors, feeling like Aragorn entering Helm’s Deep. I find Gloria sweeping the floor while Angela sits on the edge of a table, chattering away. Their one-way conversation ceases at the sight of me.
“You look like you crawled through Hell to get here,” Angela remarks.
I don’t have the energy to refute her claim. “We have a code red.”
Angela’s delicate eyebrows move as high as they’re physically capable of. “Olivia got her period?”
“Different code red.”
Gloria stops sweeping and grips the handle of the broom. “The Prick?”
I nod. “He’d like to stay for the remainder of the week since he paid.”
Angela remains unnaturally calm. She points to a smattering of debris on the floor. “You missed a spot, Gloria.” Once Gloria resumes sweeping, Angela looks at me. “Isn’t Charlie staying in the cabin assigned to Patrick?”
“He is.”
Angela fans herself with a napkin. “Two hot guys in one cabin? Sign me up.”
Gloria whacks Angela in the arm with the broom bristles.
“Charlie isn’t going to share with Patrick,” I say.
Angela’s smile grows to Cheshire cat proportions. “Then he should keep sharing with you and let Patrick move into his cabin.”
“What?” I sputter. “Charlie isn’t sharing with me.”
Angela flashes me a knowing look. “You’re not the only one up at sunrise, darling.”
Heat spreads from my neck to my face. Of course she knew. “His cabin flooded. I let him stay for a night … or two.”
Now it’s my turn to get whacked with the broom by Gloria. “I didn’t know that! Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because there’s nothing to tell.” I’m not sure there’s any point in lying, now that I’ve told Patrick I’m seeing someone, but this thing with Charlie is too new and too delicate to share with the whole camp, which is exactly what would happen if I confessed to these two.
Angela isn’t easily dissuaded. “Where did he sleep? Inquiring minds want to know.”
“The bathroom.”
Angela’s smug expression says she isn’t buying the wares I’m peddling. “He’s six-four and those bathrooms are designed for children.”
“He sleeps in the fetal position.” I need to cut off the conversation before my lies get more outrageous. Before you know it, I’ll be telling them I shortened his legs with an axe from the barn to make him more comfortable.
“I hope Patrick finds out you’ve had another man sleeping in your cabin.” Gloria’s broom strokes have gone from smooth to staccato. “I can’t believe he had the nerve to show his face at camp again.”
“He has no shame,” Angela says. “It’s almost admirable.”
“Remember those pranks we weren’t allowed to do to Charlie?” Gloria asks.
My heart stops. “No. Absolutely not. Do not engage.”
“Can we steal his clothes when he’s in the shower?” Angela asks.
“You just want him walking around naked.”
Angela shrugs. “Honestly, it’s a win-win.”
