Second Chance Summer

by Kait Nolan

  Hudson let her go before he could give in to the terrible idea that kept kicking around in his head, barely noticing the back thumps and fist bumps of congratulations. He was here for Audrey. But he wasn’t here for Audrey. It was best he remember that.

  If any hint of arousal lingered, she hid it well, throwing herself into the next round of activity. And that was just fine. It helped him keep his head in the games. Whatever trepidation she’d felt at the prospect of participating seemed to have evaporated. They lost their lead in the sack race. No surprise, and Hudson was grateful Audrey didn’t hurt herself. The impact of all that jumping had to be rough on her knees. Not that she uttered a word of complaint. They made up for lost points in the bean bag toss. Turned out she had wicked good aim. With Hudson edging out the competition in the football toss, they were just clinging to third place as they prepared for the three-legged race.

  “Which is your dominant leg?” he asked.

  “Used to be left. These days it doesn’t really matter.” She tipped back a bottle of water and guzzled it.

  Hudson moved around to her right side and bent to tie their legs together at the ankles. Audrey was shaking as Hudson straightened. “You okay?”

  “Tired. I’m not used to exerting myself quite this much.” Her cheeks were flushed and wisps of hair clung to her damp face, but she didn’t seem to be in pain.

  He slid an arm around her, as much out of a desire to comfort as to keep his balance. “We just need to get through this last event, then we break for lunch.”

  “I never dreamed we’d be in this long.” She finished off the water and glanced up at him through lowered lashes. “Looks like we make a good team.”

  “Looks like.”

  It was too easy to imagine her words meant more. Because they did make a good team. She was easy to be with. No pressure, no worries—well, other than keeping an eye out for her general safety. Their silences were comfortable. Yeah, if he were looking for a camp fling, Audrey Graham would absolutely be it.

  “Teams, take your positions!” Heather called.

  Audrey slid her arm around his waist. “Ready to annihilate the competition?”

  Hudson found himself grinning. “I like the way you think.”

  Chapter 6

  They didn’t win.

  Even with Hudson practically carrying her during the three-legged race, they came in fourth. They slid further in the rankings in the water balloon toss, and things sort of went downhill from there. Audrey didn’t care. She not only got to participate, but she and Hudson finished a respectable sixth out of twenty teams. They’d had fun. Then she’d promptly headed back to her cabin, taken a scalding shower in an effort to beat her muscles loose, and passed out. She’d slept through dinner. Maybe there’d be popcorn at the movie. She wondered what the winners had picked for everybody to watch.

  Halfway to the lodge, she realized she should’ve put on more layers. The concept of long sleeves in June for anything other than blocking the sun simply did not compute. But she was already late for the start of the movie, and her stomach was making a bid to devour itself. They’d set up a screen on the side of the main lodge. An older Kurt Russell, dressed in clothes that should’ve stayed in the eighties, sat at a bar, eating nachos. She didn’t recognize the movie, which meant it probably didn’t fall into the category of funny or romantic flicks she preferred. Campers spread out on the lawn in canvas chairs or lounging on blankets. Several had popcorn and adult beverages. Hallelujah. Skirting the edge of the crowd, she looked for Sam and the source of the snacks.

  “Audrey.”

  Following the sound of the low voice, she saw Hudson occupying a blanket a few rows from the back. He waved her over. Trying not to block people’s views too much, she picked her way to him and lowered herself to the blanket beside him.

  “Thought you were gonna be a no show,” he whispered.

  It gave her a warm glow that he’d been looking for her. She didn’t know exactly what they were doing, but there’d been enough moments and long looks that she was certain he wasn’t indifferent to her. Which wasn’t the same thing as being into her, but she’d take it for a win.

  “Overslept.” Her stomach felt compelled to punctuate the statement.

  “Missed dinner. Twizzler?” He offered her the open pack.

  Well, it wasn’t popcorn, but it was something. She plucked a couple of red ropes out and bit in, nodding toward the screen. “What is this?”

  “Some Quentin Tarantino crap. Death Proof. Never seen it, but one of the guys at my fire house raved about it. Can’t remember what it’s about. So far it’s pretty terrible.”

  Conscious of the other campers, she kept her voice quiet. “Aren’t most Tarantino films all about drugs, violence, and spectacle?”

  “Seems like,” he conceded. “I figure some kind of explosion is imminent.”

  “What would you have picked if we’d won?”

  “Die Hard. Or maybe Jaws.”

  Audrey nodded and started on the second Twizzler. “Classics.”

  “What about you?”

  “Well, at a place like this, it seems only fitting to pick Dirty Dancing.”

  He made a show of rolling his eyes and groaning softly. “My sister loves that movie.”

  “Every girl loves that movie. Or at the very least loves Patrick Swayze’s very fine backside.”

  “Did you have the whole lift fantasy?”

  She laughed. “No. And Sam won’t watch it with me because I’m too apt to point out that there’s no way Baby and Johnny make it. She goes off to the Peace Corps and does amazing things with her life.”

  “What about him?”

  “I think he dances as long as he can and then, when the world changes, he probably ends up in some kind of trade job. Construction, maybe. But he never forgot the girl who stood up for him in the face of prejudice.”

  “Not a romantic?”

  Audrey started to stretch out, then changed her mind as a sudden gust of wind had gooseflesh rising on her arms. “I like romance as much as the next girl. I just don’t look for it in real life or expect it to have a permanent happy ending.”

  He shrugged out of his hoodie and wrapped it around her shoulders.

  “How gallant. Thank you.” She slid her arms into the sleeves and zipped it up, just barely resisting the urge to drop her nose to the fabric to inhale his scent.

  “So, you’re a cynic.”

  “Realist. Happily ever after is an unrealistic fantasy. Life happens. People talk about happiness as if it’s this static state of being, and that’s wrong. Happiness is a mindset, no matter what’s going on in your life. It’s a continual choice.”

  When she shivered again, Hudson wrapped his arm around her and tucked her against his side. It hadn’t been a calculated move on her part, but she wasn’t about to complain. After only a moment’s hesitation, she burrowed in.

  “Is that why you’re so happy?”

  Right now, she was happy to be sharing body heat. “I suppose so. Research shows that people who willfully choose to be positive about their situation in life have better outcomes than those who focus on the negative. I figured I needed every advantage I could give myself during my recovery.” She shrugged. “I guess the attitude stuck.”

  He turned his head toward hers. “I like the attitude.”

  Only a couple of inches separated their mouths. Audrey wondered what he’d do if she tipped her face to close the distance. Did she really have the nerve to do it?

  On the screen, some woman was getting into Kurt Russell’s muscle car.

  Something shifted in Hudson’s face. “Let’s get out of here.”

  Her pulse leapt. She was inclined to follow him anywhere, so she nodded. But there was a strange urgency to him as he pulled her up and into motion, wrapping an arm around her.

  “Let’s go.”

  Laughing softly, she did her best to keep up. “What’s the hurry?”

  “We need to go.” The deadly
serious tone was entirely at odds with the little fantasy playing out in her head of being hauled away to make out.

  “Why?”

  “Because I just remembered why Rodney was raving about this movie and you really don’t need to see it.”

  Behind them, Audrey could hear an engine and squealing tires. She stumbled.

  Hudson’s arm tightened around her. “Just keep walking. Whatever you do, don’t look.” His voice thrummed with command.

  They’d rounded the corner of the lodge when the crash came—a horrific rending of metal that seemed to go on repeating long after it should’ve been over, echoing off the nearby buildings. The sound reached into her and twisted, ripping open memories best left to darkness. Her body whipped with the shock of impact. There was one, long, surreal moment of weightlessness before the second hit came and her world narrowed down to nothing but stunning, unspeakable pain, as her car crumpled around her.

  ~*~

  Hudson barely kept Audrey from hitting the ground as she dropped like a stone.

  “Audrey? Audrey!”

  Her face had gone ashen. The pulse in her throat thundered way too fast and her breathing was ragged. She wasn’t unconscious, but she wasn’t with him either.

  Shit, shit, shit. Why hadn’t he realized and gotten her out of there sooner?

  He scooped her up, tucking her close against his chest as he tried to figure out where to take her. His cabin? Hers? Too far, he decided. What was close? He scanned the buildings, wondering what was unlocked.

  The kitchen.

  “Stay with me, baby.” Remembering she’d said the sound of his voice had helped after the accident, he kept up a running monologue as he made a beeline across the grassy space, circling around until he found a door. Unlocked, thank God. It opened under his hand, and he pushed into the dark space. The faint glow of the emergency Exit sign lit the entryway. He turned into the kitchen proper and found an empty room full of gleaming stainless steel.

  With nowhere else to go, Hudson sank down to the floor, his back pressed to one of the long counters. Audrey’s small body quaked against him. He stroked her hair and curled around her. Talking. Talking. “It’s okay. It’s over. I’ve got you. Come back to the now, Audrey.”

  “Hurts,” she gasped.

  “I know. But you survived it. You came out the other side. Where are you now?”

  Her teeth chattered through the shock. “Camp.”

  “That’s right. Camp Firefly Falls in the Berkshires.” Hudson wished he had a blanket to wrap her in. “Do you know who you’re with?”

  Audrey turned her face into his throat, a child-like motion that absolutely undid him. “My hero.”

  His heart pinched. He didn’t deserve that title. Not really. Any of his crew could have been the one to cut her out of that car. And nothing he’d done since they got here was heroic. But if thinking that helped pull her out of the grip of the flashback, he wasn’t going to argue.

  At length, her shaking stopped and her breath evened out. He wondered if she’d fallen asleep.

  “Thank you.”

  Apparently not. “For what?”

  “For getting me away.”

  Another wave of self-recriminations crashed over him. “Not fast enough.”

  “Believe me, it would’ve been worse if I’d seen it.”

  “I’m sorry. I should’ve realized sooner.”

  “We both should’ve used the brains God gave us and walked away when we found out it was Tarantino. Enough said.” She lifted her head. “Thank you for taking care of me. I don’t think Sam was out there, and I really don’t want to think about everybody in camp being privy to me having a panic attack.”

  Hudson couldn’t stop himself from tucking a lock of loose hair behind her ear. Taking care of her was as natural as breathing. He didn’t really want to analyze why that was the case. “Still hurting?”

  “It’s fading. I’ll be okay in a little while.”

  “Think an ice cream sundae might help?”

  She let loose a little bubble of surprised laughter. “What?”

  “Well, you never did get dinner, and we’re in the kitchen. Might as well make a raid.” Maybe he could turn this night around and take her mind off what had just happened. “Middle of the night kitchen raids are a camp tradition.”

  “Think they still stock the same staples they had when you were a kid?”

  “If there isn’t an industrial size vat of peanut butter and an equally large container of vanilla ice cream, I’ll be most disappointed.”

  Her lips curved, some of the strain leaving her face. “Let’s find out.”

  They disentangled themselves and got to their feet. Audrey used the counters for balance as she made her way to the doorway. Hudson itched to set her on one of them so he could do all the work, but maybe it was good for her to move. She reached for a light switch.

  “Stop! Lights off for a kitchen raid.” He dug out his phone and switched on the flashlight app.

  “Hey! That’s contraband. We’re supposed to be cell phone free these two weeks.”

  “I’m a rebel.” He didn’t want to get into his reasons for keeping his phone. Moving over to join her, they made their way to the commercial freezer and tugged it open. “Bingo.” Hudson hauled out the giant tub of vanilla ice cream.

  “I’ll check the fridge for toppings.” She opened the next door and ducked her head inside, while he searched the shelves pantry.

  Ten minutes later, they’d turned up all the fixings for ice cream sundaes.

  “One scoop or two?” he asked.

  “Three. No dinner, remember?”

  “A woman after my own heart.” Hudson scooped three blobs of ice cream into bowls for each of them.

  Audrey followed with chocolate syrup, peanut butter, and whipped cream. She topped them off with chopped pecans. “Cherry?”

  “I do not like fruit with my ice cream.”

  “It’s not my favorite, but I feel like sundaes are a personal challenge to try to tie the cherry stem into a knot with my tongue.” She bit the cherry off and popped the stem into her mouth.

  “Ever managed it?”

  Holding up a finger, she worked her mouth, face twisted in fierce concentration. Amused, he picked up his sundae and spooned up a bite as he watched. A couple of minutes later, she opened her mouth and plucked out a knotted cherry stem.

  The thought of how agile her tongue had to be to pull that off had his brain veering back into dangerous territory. He was grateful for the relative darkness as he gave a slow clap. “I’m impressed.”

  Audrey boosted herself up onto the counter and picked up her own sundae, digging in with gusto. “God. This is so good.”

  “Middle of the night ice cream usually is.”

  “I’m glad you thought of it. And I’m glad you’re a nice enough guy to be trying to pretend you aren’t doomed to see me at my worst.”

  “I don’t always see you at your worst.”

  “That’s not all you’ve seen,” she conceded. “But you met me when I was broken and on the verge of dying. You rescued me from falling into a fire because of my own klutziness. And you’ve just masterfully handled a total flashback to the accident. I have not managed to present my best face with you.”

  “I like your face.” The words were out before he could think better of them. But what the hell? It was true. “And there’s no shame in any of those things. The accident wasn’t your fault. The fact that your legs don’t always cooperate isn’t your fault—and, the fact that they cooperate at all is a testament to how much you’ve busted your ass. And I know exactly what it’s like to be dragged into memories of the worst day of your life.” Damn it. He hadn’t meant to say that either. She was too easy to talk to.

  “For what it’s worth, I like your face, too.”

  She wasn’t going to ask. Something in his chest unclenched at that realization, and he found himself smiling.

  Hudson scooped up more ice cream. “So, what�
�s on the docket tomorrow?”

  “I was thinking maybe ziplining. I always wanted to go, and the system they have set up here is supposed to be pretty awesome.”

  “You up to that after today?”

  “I think so. The pain and stiffness are worse if I stop moving.”

  “Okay then. I’ll meet you there after breakfast.”

  Audrey angled her head, studying him in that intent way she had. “Why?”

  Because he liked her. Because he wanted to keep her safe, so she could enjoy her time here at camp. And because when he was with her, he didn’t feel quite so shitty about himself. But he didn’t say any of that. “Because I haven’t been ziplining in nearly twenty years, and it sounds like fun.”

  She smiled another one of those sunrise smiles that made his chest go tight. “Okay then. See you after breakfast.”

  Chapter 7

  “Soooo, you and Hudson disappeared awfully fast from the movie last night,” Sam observed.

  And then I promptly lost my shit. But Audrey wasn’t about to talk about that. The more mental distance she could put between herself and last night’s flashback, the better. “It’s not what you think. We just decided to do a kitchen raid since I slept through dinner. The movie was shitty anyway.”

  “You should’ve come and joined us for poker in the boathouse,” Charlie said.

  “Next time.”

  Sam narrowed her eyes. “You okay? You seem a little peaked this morning.”

  “Fine. Just tired. Didn’t sleep well. There’s a reason our moms wouldn’t let us have giant ice cream sundaes for dinner right before bed.” Right. Let’s blame it on the sugar.

  “If ice cream is the only thing you topped with whipped cream last night, then you and Hud need lessons in how this whole fling thing is supposed to work,” Charlie announced.

  “We’re not having a fling.” And after last night, the likelihood that they ever would seemed minuscule. Was she doomed to always show her absolute worst to this man?

  “That’s a damned shame. You two throw off sparks every time you get within ten feet of each other,” Sam observed.