The Foster Girls

by Lin Stepp

  Chapter 9

  Scott tossed Chelsey up on his back and let her ride to the porch with him, bucking her every once in a while to make her shriek with delight.

  “Hi, heartbreaker,” Ellen said, getting up to give him a kiss on the cheek. “I haven’t seen you for awhile.”

  He grinned at her. “That’s because you haven’t asked me over to dinner lately. If you want to feed me tomorrow night, I’m yours for the entire evening.”

  “You’re on.” Ellen laughed. “Quint’s been looking for an excuse to cook ribs out on the grill. You can come help him with the basting.”

  “I’ll be there.” He slipped Chelsey off his back and watched her run back out to the swing. “What can I bring?”

  “A bottle of wine and Vivian, if she’ll come join us,” Ellen said. “She hasn’t been over to the house yet. And I’m dying to have Quint meet her.”

  Scott raised his eyebrows and looked Vivian’s way. “It’s fine with me if it’s okay with Vivian.” He gave Vivian a ‘now it’s in your turf’ look.

  He watched as she hesitated, but her hesitation was only for a minute.

  “I’d be delighted to come.” She gave Scott a smile and a serene ‘so there’ look in return.

  Obviously, Scott observed, Vivian hadn’t told Ellen anything about their little discussion of a few days ago. That surprised him. Most girls babbled out any little upset that came their way to anyone who would listen, particularly to another female. As far as Scott knew, none of Vivian’s other visitors had been told anything about their altercation, either. Even his mother and his Aunt Mary had had nothing to tell, and those two always loved a good gossip story. Vivian had actually been amazingly discreet. A cool professional right down to her toenails, Scott thought.

  “I’m so glad your mother found Vivian to stay here at the farmhouse.” Ellen patted an empty chair, encouraging Scott to sit down. “She’s fantastic. We had the best time getting acquainted today. I decided we’re going to be great friends while she’s staying here. I’ll probably grieve terribly when she goes home next year and then mope around morbidly for weeks afterwards.”

  Scott grinned as he settled into the chair beside Ellen. One of the things he’d always liked about Ellen Greene was her candor and her quirky, offbeat sense of humor. She was always so much fun to be with.

  He’d met Ellen and Quint the first week they’d moved into Maplewood, and they’d hit it off right from the start. Quint was a comfortable man to be around, and Quint and Ellen loved to entertain and have fun. Scott spent a lot of time with them whenever he could.

  “Scott, I can’t believe you haven’t taken Vivian around the camp,” Ellen fussed. “It’s so great over there. Besides, I want her to come sit out at the pool with me when you open it up and maybe see if she can beat me across the lake in a canoe race.” She turned to look at Vivian then with a mischievous sparkle in her eyes. “ I do hope you learned canoeing at your summer camps, Vivian?”

  “Yes, I did.” She looked up happily, a faint smile playing on her lips. “But it’s been a long time, Ellen, and I doubt I’d be much competition in a canoe race after all these years.”

  “Oh well, I’ll give you a head start until you get back in form. And wait until you see Pine Lake, Vivian. It’s the centerpiece of the whole camp. Honestly, Scott, you’ve just got to take her over there. It’s right next door, and it’s silly for me to describe it when she can walk over there and see it for herself.”

  Scott put out an offer. “We can go over right now if Vivian wants. Martin and Jordan are over at the HQ with Nancy. Chelsey will be glad to see them.”

  “Don’t you dare even mention that idea to her,” Ellen threatened. “She’s had a nasty little cold, and she’s just now feeling well enough to get out at all. I really need to try to get her back to the house now to poke some medicine down her and see if I can induce her to take a nap. If you say one word to her about going over to the camp, I’ll never get her back home. So you just wait until after I leave with her and then you can take Vivian on over to the camp. I really want her to see it.”

  After a few more minutes of talk, Ellen called to Chelsey and then stood up to say her goodbyes.

  “I’ll see you both tomorrow night. About sixish, if that’s alright.” She gave Vivian a hug goodbye and then gave Scott one, too.

  Pulling back from Scott, she gave him a warning look. “You be nice to Vivian. I want her to be happy here so she won’t leave. I am just stoked to have a real woman friend around here at last.”

  “I’m always nice.” Scott offered her one of his charming, public relations smiles.

  Ellen put her hands on her hips. “You know what I mean, Scott Jamison. I know all about your fast reputation with the ladies.”

  She turned to Vivian then and grinned. “You watch out for him. These handsome ones are trouble sometimes.”

  “I’ll be careful.” Vivian looked thoughtfully over at Scott. “He looks like the troublesome kind.”

  Ellen laughed and joked while Scott and Vivian walked her out into the yard to start home with Chelsey.

  Chelsey hugged Scott goodbye around the legs and began to whine to stay longer.

  Scott pulled her ponytail playfully. “I heard you’ve had a cold. But you know, Chessy Cat, if you go home, take your medicine and get a nap today, you might be well enough for me to come over to have dinner with you tomorrow night.”

  “Really? Can he really come?” Chelsey asked Ellen, dancing up and down in front of her with a pleading look. “Can he? Can he?”

  “Well, I think so if you’ll do the nap and the meds like he said.” Ellen gave Scott a smile and a conspiratorial wink. “We can’t have Scott over if you’re still sick.”

  Chelsey studied her shoes for a minute. “I’ll be good and do it if Scott can come.”

  “Well, then, that’s great. And I might even invite Vivian to come, too,” Ellen added as another incentive.

  “Okay.” Chelsey considered her. “She must be nice if she lives at Mamie’s.”

  Chelsey looked up at Vivian. “Do you know Mamie?”

  Vivian remembered Ellen’s words about Chelsey not understanding clearly that Mamie was gone. She smiled at the child. “I’ve heard only the nicest things about Mamie. And I love Mamie’s dollhouse.”

  “Me, too!” Chelsey said, her eyes brightening up.

  “Do you have some dolls at your house?”

  “Yes, two baby dolls and two doll beds.” She stressed the twos.

  “Will you show me those if I come over tomorrow?”

  “Yes, and we can play,” Chelsey added with enthusiasm.

  A little more chatting about dolls and dinner went on, and then Ellen finally got Chelsey started across the yard toward home.

  After they’d gotten out of sight, Scott turned to look at Vivian. “You don’t have to come over to the camp just because Ellen brought it up.”

  “I’d be delighted to see the camp,” she said, surprising him. “Just let me go put away my laptop and the glasses we used from our snack first.”

  “I’ll help you if I can snitch a cookie and some tea before you put everything away.”

  Vivian smiled her answer and Scott followed her back up to the house.

  After they walked up on the porch, Scott noticed Vivian was quick to pick up the laptop and secure it under her arm before he could make a move to put his hands on it. He wondered about that, but then he got occupied in sampling Auntie Em’s chocolate chip cookies and carrying dishes back into the house.

  Soon they cut back through the yard behind the farmhouse and headed toward the camp. As they walked along, Scott considered bringing up their conversation from the day before to possibly clear the air, but then he decided against it. She might get into a tiff again if he did, and despite his reservations about her, he still wanted to have more time in her company. He’d thought about her every day, which surprised him. And some of his thoughts had been rather physical ones.

 
“Here, I’ll give you a hand,” he said, as they came to the log bridge across the creek. “We’ve never put a rail here because this stream’s not very deep.”

  Instead of arguing, Vivian let him take her hand to help her across the bridge. Scott avoided looking at her as he did so, afraid she would realize how touching her again affected him. He thought it might be best to play it a little casual today.

  “You were right that I would have a lot of visitors,” she told him, making an effort at conversation.

  “My guess is that you’ve met most of the people that live close around you now.” He grinned at her. “I’d say you’ve met at least a representative of the McFee family, the Rayburn family, the James family, and the Hart family by this time.”

  “It must be the valley ritual.” Vivian laughed and Scott loved the throaty sound of it. “The only ones you missed mentioning were the Millers and the Harpers. Mr. Harper said he did the mowing and the maintenance for the farm and for your camp. I wanted to be sure that was accurate.”

  “Yeah, that’s right. Clyde Harper is a good man.” Scott snapped a dry twig off a tree as he passed. “I was fortunate to get him as maintenance for the camp. He worked with a big contracting business for years, and he can build or fix anything. I‘d heard he had retired, gotten bored, and was looking for a part-time job. He’s just in his late sixties, and the man works like a trooper. Makes me tired just to watch him some days.”

  “So tell me about the camp,” Vivian prompted.

  “Better, I’ll show you. Kind of like the old saying, a picture’s worth a thousand words. It’s better to see it than to hear about it. I’ll show you around, and you can ask what you want.”

  They climbed a well-worn path from out of the woods now. To the right a large log house sat up on a slight hill and down to their left a parking area surrounded an even larger wood structure.

  “What are these buildings I can see now?” Vivian gestured.

  “Up on the hill to the right is my place, usually called The Director’s House by the campers, and down here on our left – where we’re stopping first – is the camp business office and the camp store, usually called the HQ - obviously for headquarters.”

  They swung around to the front of a rustic stone and log building. The building stood just inside the arched camp entrance sign that Vivian had seen from the road the first day she arrived. Inside the HQ, Vivian met Nancy Wilkes, Scott’s cousin and office manager, and her two boys, whom she had put to work unboxing items for the store.

  “We’re getting paid real money for working,” five-year-old Jordan told Scott proudly.

  “That’s a dumb thing to say,” seven-year-old Martin interjected. “What kind of money did you think we’d get, Jordan? Play money?”

  “Martin’s making fun of me again, Mom!” Jordan wailed.

  “Well, Martin may find he might not get paid anything if he continues that.” Nancy offered this response calmly, not even looking up from her paperwork.

  “Sorry, Jordan,” said Martin quickly.

  Martin looked up at Scott with a big smile then. “This will be my camp t-shirt this summer, won’t it Scott?” He held up an orange t-shirt with a bear on it, the words Buckeye Knob Camp across the top.

  “That’s it, kid,” Scott said, ruffling his head. “You’ll be a Blackbear camper this summer and you’ll get to stay over in the cabins behind the lake.”

  “No fair,” grumbled Jordan.

  “Your turn will come.” Scott gave him an affectionate hug. “And I think you’re old enough to help your mother with the camp store some days this summer, if it’s alright with her.”

  “For real?” Jordan asked, brightening up.

  “Well, I think you can come over at store hours and we’ll see how you do,” his mother said, careful not to promise too much, but smiling at Scott with appreciation.

  Vivian poked around the camp store for a few minutes while Scott signed papers for Nancy and looked over a few pieces of correspondence she wanted to ask him about.

  As they left the HQ a little later and started down the main camp road, Scott talked companionably about the camp. “We’re already starting to get applications in for the summer. I’ve already hired my counselors – some are returning from last year. I’ll be doing interviews this month for others. For each camp unit I have here, I hire a college-aged Senior counselor, an older high school Junior counselor, and two junior high or early high school CITs - CIT stands for counselor-in-training. The latter come mostly for the fun and the chance to keep coming to camp after they are too old to be official campers any longer.”

  “How many counselors do you hire altogether?”

  “Counting the CITs, I have 24 counselors, four for each of my six camp units. I believe it’s important with a kids’ camp that you have enough counselors and that you hire first-class ones. I work hard to get really good, talented people.”

  Scott had started to lead her around the main loop road in the camp now.

  He looked at Vivian questioningly. “Did Martin give you a camp map like I asked him to?”

  “Yes,” Vivian answered, pulling the pamphlet out of her pocket. She opened it up, pausing a second to look at it. “Cute graphics,” she said.

  He smiled at her. “Presentation is important. This is the map we send out in our information packets. I wanted it to be eye-catching so it would make people want to come.”

  “Well, it’s colorful and very charming,” Vivian told him, offering him one of her slow soft smiles that really melted him. “If I got this, I would want to come here so badly. And what’s neat about the map is that you can really use it for finding your way around the camp.”

  She stopped and studied her map intently for a minute. “That building,” she said, pointing excitedly to a large two-storied log building ahead on their right. “That’s White Oak Administration building and the other big building after it with the big porches is Spruce Hall where the dining hall is. Is that right, Scott?”

  “You’re a good map reader,” Scott teased, pleased with her enthusiasm and interest.

  “Oh, look! Now we’re coming up on the lake!” she exclaimed as they walked on. “And just look at it! It’s so big! I had no idea such a big lake was so close to me and to the farmhouse. It’s simply wonderful.”

  Pine Lake spread out before them, a broad almost circular lake, big enough for canoeing and a lot of water sports. There was a winding road curling in and out picturesquely around its boundaries.

  “You’ll have to help me practice with my canoeing so Ellen won’t beat me too soundly in a race.” Vivian smiled warmly at him, so caught up in her new adventure exploring the camp that she seemed to have forgotten their awkward times from before.

  Scott was glad she wasn’t holding a grudge and pouting, and he relaxed and began to enjoy his time with her. Vivian skipped ahead of him, heading down to the covered dock at the edge of the lake. Scott followed along behind her, enjoying watching the back of her long legs and the shape of her hips under her shorts. She really had beautiful legs. His brothers teased him about being a leg-man, but, admittedly, legs were one of the first things Scott noticed in a girl. Followed by the overall package and the eyes. Scott always found that eyes revealed what was going on in the soul. And he had always been good at reading eyes.

  “I love it here,” Vivian announced with delight. She sat on the dock now, swinging her feet back and forth and gazing out over the lake.

  He dropped down to sit on the dock beside her. “The sun’s bringing out all the highlights of your hair.” He studied her admiringly.

  “My hair always looks red in the sun,” she complained, making a face.

  “Your hair’s not red, Vivian, it’s chestnut – like the coat of a chestnut mare. And the highlights are golden on it in the sunshine. It’s really beautiful.”

  A little flush rose in Vivian’s cheeks, but she looked back at him steadily. “You have gold highlights in your hair, too, Scott Jamison, and y
our eyes look more blue than hazel here by the lake.”

  “Well, if your eyes were any bluer, Vivian Delaney, a man would fall into them and get lost.”

  She studied him. “We’re doing a nice job of flirting here by the lake, aren’t we Scott?” she asked softly, a little smile starting at the corner of her mouth.

  “Yes, as a matter of fact we are.” His eyes moved to her mouth thoughtfully as he began to consider kissing her again.

  “Well, no more romantic talk for now.” She pulled herself quickly to her feet again, seeming to read his mind. “Our day’s getting away, and I want to see the rest of the camp. Are there any other places as beautiful as this?”

  Chapter 10

  Scott smiled at her back as she started up the dock toward the road again. He watched her get out her map and start to study it again. All business now and romance put neatly aside.

  There wasn’t much pretense with Vivian sometimes, Scott thought. She tended to call a spade a spade. Which only confused him more about all the secrets he knew she had and was concealing from him. She acted so charming and guileless, that Scott found it hard to imagine any secrets she had would be really bad ones. Surely, they couldn’t be illegal ones. Yet, why else would she always be changing the subject, hiding her laptop away from him, and giving evasive or untruthful explanations to his questions? He wondered if she knew how her eyes darted around anxiously whenever she told a lie. She didn’t have much of a poker face. Perhaps she had just been hurt in the past, he thought. Maybe she was running away from an abusive or failed relationship. He hoped she would talk to him about it soon. He had meant it when he told her he didn’t like lying.

  “What are those big buildings over on the other side of the lake?” she asked him now, pointing again.

  She had such expressive hands, he noticed, and she gestured with her hands while she talked, especially when she was animated or excited. She also lit up like a Christmas tree, as delighted as a child, when something interested her.