The bell clanged again. The morning meeting was getting started. The camp director was doing his usual last call of the roster, looking for stragglers. “McMahon, get up here!”
“Catch you later,” Sully said. He trotted ahead to the circle.
Emma took her time joining them. She could feel Amanda Hastings’s eyes on her as she approached the campfire circle, taking her place beside Alicia, whom she figured was about the only person she could take shelter with. But she was wrong.
“Oh my God,” Alicia whispered. Her eyes widened as they traveled across her face. “You look like hell.”
“Jesus. Thanks.” Emma turned away. This was why she sometimes couldn’t stand Alicia.
Alicia grabbed her hand. “I didn’t mean it like that. It just looks like it hurts. A lot.”
“Yeah, well it does.”
“Sorry I was late today. I overslept. But my dad had a meeting in the city yesterday, and he brought home Zabar’s bagels.” She handed Emma a wrapped wax-paper packet. She’d even taped it neatly. “I know how you feel about bagels.” And this was why she loved Alicia.
Emma accepted the bagel, but she was still annoyed.
Alicia wiggled her eyebrows. “Extra cream cheese…”
“I’m not really hungry,” Emma said.
“Liar. Just shut up and eat it.”
Being on restricted activity was deathly boring. The doctors said Emma could return to camp as long as she didn’t do anything physical. No swimming. No running. No contact sports. Which basically meant Emma was constrained to the craft table and the narrow spit of beach sand, watching as the other counselors and CITs took the kids out in kayaks, played games, and swam. But even that beat staying at home with her parents. Ever since the accident they’d done nothing but hover. Outside her door. Over her shoulder. Did she want tea? Was she hungry? Did she need a Tylenol? She wouldn’t have been surprised if her parents were lurking outside the bathroom door as they did when she was potty training: “Do you need help in there??”
Her mom was what she thought of as a typical parent worrier. Like when she went to the mall with Alicia. “Stay together! Don’t talk to strangers.” Her father, however, was another story. “Don’t forget to triple-check the ties on the boat. Make sure they’re secure. Put the cover on tight. Did you check the cover? Check itagain.” He was fastidious. Everything in life had to be done in a certain way, in a certain order. And since coming home from the hospital, he’d turned it on her.
“Is that wise?” he’d asked her mother that morning at breakfast, when he learned that she was heading back to camp. “She hasn’t had her concussion release test done yet. The doctor was very specific about that.”
Thankfully her mother was ahead of him. “Which is why she isn’t doing anything physical. She needs to get out of the house. Get some sun, see her friends. Let her go, Perry.”
Her father looked aghast. “But this isn’t protocol.”
Her mother handed her a bagged lunch. “Here, honey, make sure you eat.” Then to her father, “It’s just up the street. She’ll be fine.” And so far, she’d been fine. Mostly. Until lunchtime.
For lunch hour the campers were free to sit with friends from any of the groups, in a variety of spots. Some chose the shade beneath the giant weeping willow on the hill. Others liked the picnic tables on the beach. Emma and Alicia always sat together, sometimes with Brad, beside the kayak stand. It was partly shaded and near the water. And far enough away from others to speak freely.
“So what happened out there?” Alicia asked. Emma had to give her credit that she’d waited until lunch to ask. Alicia was anything but patient.
“My grandparents had an engagement party for my uncle Jake and Olivia. We took the boat out for a spin.”
“Your dad’s beloved boat?”
Emma nodded.
Alicia snorted. “I can’t believe he let anyone drive it but himself.”
Brad was listening quietly. “Was your uncle the one driving?”
Emma stared at her sandwich. “Yeah. Why?”
Before Brad could answer, Alicia interrupted, “Was he drunk?”
Emma spun around to face her. Alicia had known her family for years. Had always thought her uncle Jake was cute and fun—for a while Emma suspected she had a crush on him. Most girls did. It was no secret Jake liked to have a good time at family parties and holidays. Sometimes, too much of one. But it pissed her off to hear Alicia say it out loud. And with her mouth full like that. She glared at her. “Jesus, Alicia.”
Alicia wiped her mouth. “Sorry. I was just wondering.”
“Well, stop,” Emma snapped. “It doesn’t change anything now, does it?”
