They stopped singing and the ropes swung faster and faster until finally those little brats got me and I tripped up. Grace was laughing so hard, I think she stopped breathing; she looked like a tomato.
The girls clapped along with a small crowd that had collected. I puffed my chest out, huffed on my fingernails, and rubbed them against my shirt. “Not bad, huh?”
“You’re full of surprises,” Grace said, catching her breath.
“And I will be . . . forever.”
“Where did you learn how to do that?”
“I was a camp counselor last summer.”
“Ha! Saint Matthias.”
“Actually, I got fired.”
“Why?”
“You don’t want to know,” I said.
“Actually, I do, especially because you were fired from a job while working with kids. That’s a red flag right there.”
“It was all Clara Rumberger’s fault. She was another counselor. Her mom, Jane, was the director.”
“So, what happened? You got caught messing around with Clara?”
“Not exactly. Jane was the one who kind of had a thing for me.”
“The mom?” Her expression froze.
I nodded, growing more embarrassed by the second.
“What’d you do, Matt?”
“Clara sort of caught me and her mom, um... well, in a delicate situation in the camp kitchen after lights-out.”
“Oh. My. God. You pig.” She punched me in the arm. “I can’t believe you were hot after a cougar. So, why’d you get fired?”
“Well, apparently Clara threatened to tell her dad, Jane’s husband, unless I was fired.”
“She was married?”
I held up my hands in a defensive gesture. “She told me they were getting a divorce.”
“Man, Tati would have a field day with you.”
“Which reminds me. What was the deal with you guys earlier?” We headed back to the tree as we talked.
“I don’t know. She’s mad because she thinks I’m giving something up for you.”
I grabbed her hand and swung her around. She looked up at me and then looked away quickly. “Look at me, Grace. Are you giving something up for me?”
“No.” She didn’t hesitate.
“I would never want you to feel that way. You said yourself that we’re young, that we should do what we’re meant to do.”
“What’s that?” she whispered.
“I’m not sure, but I know I’m taking the internship, and you should go with Pornsake, if you think you should. You could always go to grad school later.”
