Page 14 of The Perfect Deal
As much as I loved helping Poppy and my brother with their wedding plans, the bottom line was, I wanted to know what it was like to be in their situation for myself, not just planning a wedding. I wanted to know what it was like to be in love with someone and to know that he loved you, too, more than anything. I’d dated guys before, but Grady had been the only other guy I’d thought I might actually be catching feelings for, and that had ended in disaster. What was it like to truly be in love with someone who thought you hung the moon?
I knew Joshua had feelings for me, too, but at the moment, he wouldn’t dare express them. He didn’t want to hurt Landon, and I could respect that. But we weren’t a couple of kids anymore. We had to get on with our lives. I truly hoped that meant we could find a way to be together, but if it didn’t, we couldn’t just continue to dance around one another forever. Eventually, we would either have to have the courage to move forward together, or we’d have to have the strength to determine this was never going to be.
The idea of that made me want to cry, but I couldn’t just burst into tears in the middle of a flower shop. With a brave face, I commented on how lovely the sunflower Poppy was holding looked in the sunlight and kept a smile plastered to my face. In my heart, I knew the truth. This summer was going to be the make-or-break moment for Joshua and me.
I prayed with all my might that we’d figure out a way to make it work. If we didn’t, I had no idea how I’d ever recover.
9
JOSHUA
Nervous excitement bubbled inside of me as I prepared to walk into the office conference room. The staff meeting before we left for camp the next day was about to get underway, and I couldn’t wait. This was always one of my favorite days of the year, but knowing that Liberty was going to be joining us today—and for the next two weeks—made it even more special than before.
I’d just finished double-checking that the catered lunch was on time and was about to head to the conference room when there was a light knock on my door.
My stomach plummeted, and my heart started to pound in my chest. What if it was Liberty, and she’d gotten here early just to say hello to me? “Y-yeah?” I called out, hoping to see her smiling face in a matter of seconds.
The door opened, and I did see a female smiling face hovering there, but it wasn’t Liberty. Karrie stuck her head in, a huge grin on her face. “Good morning, Josh,” she exclaimed as she came into my office. “How are you today?”
I tried not to show my disappointment. It wasn’t Karrie’s fault that she wasn’t Liberty, after all. I stood, gathering the items I needed to take with me to the meeting. “I’m good, Karrie, thanks. How are you?”
“Wonderful. I am looking forward to hearing about camp. Everyone’s in the conference room, ready to go,” she told me, making me feel like I was late.
Checking the time on my phone, I saw I still had four minutes. “That’s unusual,” I muttered. “There’s always one or two that are running behind.”
“Well, I went ahead and gathered everyone up.” She shrugged. “I am a manager, after all. I figured I should get everyone moving. There is one slacker, though.” She rolled her eyes. “That new photographer you hired hasn’t dragged herself in here yet.” Shaking her head, shetskedher tongue. “I guess she just doesn’t know how we do things around here yet. I hate it when people are late.”
Feeling offended on Liberty’s behalf, I did my best to keep my irritation hidden. Karrie had no idea that Liberty and I were friends—or whatever Liberty and I were. “Oh, I’m sure she won’t be late. She’s got a couple of minutes.”
“You never know. Some people just aren’t as efficient as our staff. Anywho, everyone is ready.” She reached over and put her hand on my shoulder. “I can’t wait to hear your presentation.”
Karrie’s eyes lingered on mine as she gave me a sly smile. An uncomfortable feeling washed over me. Why was her hand on my shoulder? I cleared my throat and pulled away so she finally released me. “Thanks, Karrie,” I managed. “Let’s head inside.”
As I walked down the hallway, Karrie’s clacking heels right behind me, I tried to get myself back on track. I’d been so excited for this meeting, and now, I felt like Karrie had ruined it.
The moment I walked into the conference room, everything changed, though. A sea of happy, excited faces greeted me. It was great to see that everyone was as thrilled about the upcoming camp season as I was.
“Good morning, everyone,” I greeted them as Karrie took her seat. I left the conference room door open because Liberty wasn’t there yet. “I hope you’re all having a great day.”
A few people answered that they were, the others smiling and nodding. I took my time getting the presentation ready, and when I was about to start, Liberty slid in through the door. “Sorry I’m a little late,” she said. “I wasn’t sure where the conference room was.”
“Hi, Liberty.” My eyes locked on her face, and I couldn’t have cared less if she’d shown up three hours past the start time. “No problem. Why don’t you take a seat right there by Myra, and we’ll get started.”
Myra, one of my soccer coaches, patted the chair next to her with a welcoming smile, and Liberty sat down. I did see Karrie rolling her eyes, but I ignored her. I needed to speak to the receptionist later and remind her to escort guests to the appropriate room. Not everyone knew the building like those of us who worked here every day.
“All right everyone, let’s get started,” I began, starting my presentation with a picture from last year that showed some of our students kicking around a soccer ball. “As you know, our first two-week session of camp starts tomorrow, and I’m very excited about everything we have planned for everyone. This year’s camp theme is, ‘Together Makes a Team Work,’ so we’ll be focusing on sportsmanship and comradery while we are helping our athletes develop their skills.”
A few people murmured about how much they liked the theme, so I let them speak before I continued, switching up the photos as I went. The pictures we were using from last year weren’t bad. Will and the other photographer, Michael, had done a nice job, but I couldn’t wait to see the pictures Liberty would take this year.
“I do want to remind all of you that some of these kids are leaving home for the first time. While we do have quite a few athletes who are returning for their second, third, or even fourth year, a lot of these kiddos have never attended sports camp. In fact, many of them haven’t ever been at camp at all. Remember, we are partnering with the inner-city youth association to bring fifteen underprivileged students with us this time around, so these athletes may have no experience being away from their families. We’ll want to make sure we do everything we can to make them feel comfortable.”
One of the coaches, Sam, raised his hand. I acknowledged him, and he said, “Are the kids allowed to have their phones with them?”
I shook my head. “No, we’ve decided that didn’t work out very well last year. We had too many kids who were breaking the rules and scrolling social media when they were supposed to be participating in various activities. We’ve gone back to our previous policy of no phones allowed.” I heard a soft groan from some of the staff and reminded them, “You’re allowed to have your own phones,” which got a chuckle. “But please don’t have them out during activities. I’d prefer you limit your time on your phone to the evenings when you’re in your bunks, and those of you who are also serving as counselors and will be sleeping in the same areas as the kids, please wait until the children are sleeping before you pull them out. Kids these days are used to having access to their phone all the time, so it may be hard on some of them to give that up.”
Another hand went up, and I acknowledged Reggie. “Where do the kids go to call home?”
“There are a few phones we’ll let them use. There’s one in the office next to the cafeteria, one in the nurse’s office, and one in the large bunkhouse in the counselor’s office. The kids can use them to call home after lunch or in the evenings. We don’t have a schedule or anything, so we’ll just do first come, first served, but if you see a kiddo who’s in crisis mode, super upset, please feel free to pull them from the activity and chat with them. If they’re obviously homesick, escort them to the nurse’s station, and help them call their parents.”