'Tis the Season for Love: A Charity Box Set

by Maggie Dallen

  That set off a trigger of ideas or made-up scenarios that my crime-show watching tv brain took to unknown heights.

  It was probably better to stay away from him for the duration of the camp. Just because we lived fairly close to each other in Texas didn’t mean anything would happen once we both went home. Only six-and-a-half more days.

  Chapter 7

  Isaac

  I was beat after the first two days of the camp. Going from eight in the morning until six at night, with running drills, and everything else that went into practicing and perfecting skills, I was sure my brain and body were going to die from exhaustion. But I’d been able to learn little things about Sara that made me like her even more. She was into ColdStar’s music and had a lot of similarities to how I’d been brought up, aside from the fact that my parents were still together.

  “Long day?” my mom asked, checking in the room I was sharing with Nate. Thankfully, he hadn’t come up just yet.

  I rolled over, knowing I really needed to get into the shower. “Yeah, but good. I learned a lot and I think the coaches were impressed with a few of my skills.”

  My mom patted my knee, sinking down onto the bed. “I’m glad you’re liking it. It was something I knew you’d appreciate for Christmas.”

  I sat up and nodded. “Really, thank you for letting me do this. I hope that the last two days, during the final game and everything, that I get seen by some coaches.”

  “What is it you want, Isaac?” she asked, narrowing her eyes on me. “Do you want to go to college?”

  I winced. Not the thing I wanted to talk about while on vacation. I knew she was talking about my grades since she’d been pestering me about them for the past few months.

  I shrugged and thought about telling her the whole truth, until I chickened out. My parents were logical, and the thought of the major leagues was too much chance for their only son’s future.

  “I really like playing baseball, Mom. I don’t want to just graduate high school and move on to the old man slow-pitch league.”

  Deep down, I’d always wanted to be a major league baseball player. I knew that getting there was a journey in itself, but to get paid well for playing the sport I loved was a dream and I was afraid that if I admitted that out loud, it would jinx it or something.

  “I get that. It’s how I felt once I was done with field hockey in college.” From the distant look in her eyes, I knew she was reliving some of those memories.

  “Would you do it all over again if you could?” I’d heard plenty about how hard college was and that most gave up their sport after getting a degree. But there had to be enough stories of people persevering to get to the professional level in their sports.

  I wasn’t so set on the academic aspect as I was the athletic one of college. If there was a way to still play for a college without being registered in classes, I’d be all over that. Fat chance.

  “I would. I mean, there are definitely the less glamorous parts, like conditioning at six in the morning, but it all works together to help you improve.” She stood up, picking up a few pieces of clothing that were laying on the floor. “Dirty?”

  I nodded, shame filling my gut that my mom was cleaning my room. On vacation.

  My brain called up an image of Sara and I asked, not sure of the details. “Did you meet Dad in college?” I’d always tuned out the stories about how they got together, but now, finding myself crushing on a girl, I wanted to know.

  She smiled. “No, we met in high school. He was a year older and went off to a college out of state. I didn’t know him too well, but I knew he was a good guy. Uncle Mark set us up when Dad was home on break. Why?”

  “No reason.” I said it too quickly and I could see her home in on my face, ready to contradict it.

  Nate burst into the room at that point, collapsing on the bottom bunk on his side of the room.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever been so tired in my life. I thought I was going to throw up on that second round of sprints. But you and Sara seemed to be connecting more, right?” Nate turned and saw my mom sitting on the bed, his eyes growing wide and his mouth flapping like a dead fish.

  “I, uh, I mean, Coach Sara was really complimentary of your skills today in her group,” Nate tried to save and I sat frozen, sure that I was about to see an actual wreck. I never talked about girls to my mother and there was a reason why.

  “Who’s Sara?” she asked in that mischievous voice I hated. I flopped back onto the bed and sighed, wishing I had something besides my slide shoe to throw at Nate’s head right now.

  “No one, Mom.”

  “That’s not what it sounds like.”

  Knowing I wouldn’t get anywhere until I gave her at least a slight hint, I said, “I met her on the plane and she ended up being the daughter of the camp’s head coach.”

  “I think I remember her at the baggage claim, right?” When I nodded, my mother frowned. “That stinks.”

  My expression dropped to match hers. “What do you mean? Why?”

  “Maybe her dad is a little more lenient, but every coach I’ve ever had would never be for letting their son or daughter date one of their players.”

  The thought of it made me more determined to do just that now. “What if she goes to Groveton and doesn’t live in Florida year round? Her dad wouldn’t have much say in it, would he?” I was surprised how much I wanted her to say that I’d be okay, even though I hadn’t set my expectations to date her just yet. And yet, I knew I was revealing all my cards to my mom in one quick glance.

  “I’m not sure, Isaac. You’ll just have to see. If you really like the girl, I wouldn’t say no to trying.” For the first time in forever, I wasn’t at odds with my mother’s point of view.

  She got up, saying something about cooking dinner and left the room, my dirty clothes in hand.

  “You’ve got to go after her now,” Nate said, looking like a giddy school girl waiting to hear any piece of gossip possible.

  “I’m not going to date the coach’s daughter.” As much as I wanted to, there was no way it would work out well for me.

  “I’ll give you fifty bucks to ask her out.” Nate stood and walked over to the closet, emerging a few seconds later with his wallet in hand.

  “Fifty dollars just to ask her out? What if she says no?” I stared at the fifty-dollar bill in his hand, knowing that could go to the new glove I’d been eyeing for the past few months. Mine was beat up and old, not to mention I’d had to restring it at least three times over the years.

  “I’ll still give it to you.” Nate’s smile turned devilish and I knew that whatever came after wouldn’t be good. “But if you kiss her on the date, I’ll give you another hundred.”

  I sat back against the headboard and glared at him out of the corner of my eyes. That would definitely allow me to buy the glove by the end of the trip. What could it hurt? But then Sara’s face appeared in my mind, those eyes pulling me in. She was the girl next door, the one I didn’t want to hurt in any way.

  I stared at the money in his hand, the inward debate strong. Was there harm in taking money for asking out a girl I already wanted to ask on a date? If she said no, then I had at least tried but also got money toward my new glove.

  “Deal.” I nodded, convincing myself that there was nothing wrong with it. It was a win-win, and as long as she didn’t find out before we headed back to Texas, we’d be fine.

  Nate fist pumped. “Yes! I’m so excited to see how this goes down. Should be epic!”

  “Are you that bored that you have to pay me for amusement?” I flopped back on the bed, knowing I needed to hit the shower soon. Almost twelve hours in the Florida sun did not help the body odor.

  He nodded. “Pretty much. I’m annoying to most girls so this will be perfect.”

  I couldn’t believe I was betting on hanging out with a girl. It had been a long time since I’d even cared about girls and now, I’d just have to be careful not to screw it up.

  Chapter 8
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  Sara

  The decorations of Christmas were still up everywhere as I ran errands on day three, the reds and greens putting a smile on my face. I was tempted to buy several of the extra Santa hats just to find a way for my dad to incorporate them into the camp. He would do it too, much to the irritation of all the campers.

  I spent most of the morning trying to fill up what we’d already gone through. As on top of things as Eliza was, there were still a lot of things she didn’t account for for increasing the numbers of attendees at the camp. And teenage boys? They could eat through a bus filled with snacks, which is basically what they’d done over the past couple days.

  “Hey,” Isaac said during the late morning break.

  “Hey,” I said, giving him a quick smile. I’d gotten back late and hadn’t had time to get the drinks out after Sophie had taken off to the other end of the complex. At least only one of the groups had been released to get a drink so far.

  “Do you need some help?” he asked. I looked up at him, not realizing until too late that I’d been stirring the drink powder into the water with as much strength as I had and the cooler was near the edge, teetering over. Everything moved in slow motion after that as I watched Isaac lunge forward to catch the lidless jug. The punch splashed up like a red tidal wave onto his white pinstriped jersey, his face and hat covered in sticky red punch.

  When the liquid quit sloshing around, he set the jug onto the table, making sure it wasn’t near the edge this time.

  “I’m so, so sorry. And thank you for saving that,” I motioned to the jug and looked back up at him. Isaac stood there like he didn’t want to move in case the liquid spread. I reached over for a roll of paper towels I had under the table and unwrapped a few pieces around my hand before tearing it off.

  “Here,” I said, dabbing his chest a little and then stepped back, my face heating as I realized I’d just patted down his chest. His nice, firm chest. I handed him the paper towels to do it himself, turning to grab cups to pour out the drinks as another group of players came in the direction of the table.

  “What happened?” my dad asked, staring between Isaac and myself.

  I sighed, not wanting to admit that I hadn’t been completely paying attention to my job since Isaac had walked up.

  “I was mixing the drink and—”

  “I was trying to help,” Isaac cut me off to say. “I ended up with more of it on my jersey than actually helping.”

  My dad gave him that look I got from time to time after a questionable choice. “You paid to be here. You don’t have to help out with the snacks and drinks.”

  Isaac shrugged. “It was just a second while we were on a drink break. I’ll be fine.”

  My dad pointed to the section of bright red on the front of the jersey. “Yeah, you’ll be fine until you have to dive and get red dirt ground into your uniform.” He motioned toward the hose a few feet over. “You better rinse off with that before I hear from your mother that she can’t get out both the red punch and the red dirt.”

  Isaac obeyed and sprayed himself off, getting it all over his face in the process before running out to rejoin his group. He’d thrown me a backward smile on his way out to the field and that defensive promise I’d made to myself to stay away from boys, especially baseball boys, was weakening more than I should have let it.

  I might have watched him practice for most of the day, trying to decide what I thought about him. There was some definite attraction whenever I saw him, but was that just because he’d paid attention to me? I didn’t need a repeat of being the bet from my last Christmas break in Florida.

  The lunch break was long, and I’d never been happier that Eliza had catered the lunches every day. I didn’t have to put together one hundred paper bag lunches and that made it worth it. Trying to come up with something different every day, or just a different alternative for the kids with allergies? Yeah, I would probably hug her the next time I saw her.

  I took my bag of food and sat down on the grass under one of the lone trees in the complex. I brushed a hair out of my face and took a bite from the chicken salad wrap I’d gotten.

  “What are you doing over here all by yourself?” a familiar voice asked.

  I first smiled at Isaac and then frowned. “Shouldn’t you be over there with the rest of the guys? There aren’t many days left, and it’s always a good idea to bond—”

  “I’ll be fine for fifteen minutes,” he said. He laughed, the sound a deep rumble. I laughed too, trying to focus on my food instead of the cute guy next to me. He’d given me no sign that he’d planned some ulterior motive to get to know me. But then again, was he trying to suck up to the coach through me, the daughter?

  I shook that thought off, knowing that he hadn’t done anything to show he wanted my dad to know about us being friendly. Unlike Steve.

  “Are you surviving the heat?” he asked, taking a bite of a chip.

  “Barely. How’s the fruit punch jersey?” I asked, looking down at his shirt. My brain took in too much of his figure and I didn’t want to admit that he had a nice body.

  “I took one for the team, so that means I’ll be fine.” He grinned and I stared at the nearly perfect, pearly white smile. I was so not in the same league as this kid. Why was he interested in me?

  I nodded, taking a bite of a carrot. After chewing for a few seconds, I said, “I appreciate that. Mixing up that much powder and water makes my brain hurt trying to remember how many cup's worth I’ve put in the jug.”

  “Yeah, I bet that gets confusing.” He paused, his jaw twitching a little before he turned back to me. He opened his mouth a few times, looking like he was trying to gain the courage to ask me something.

  I did my best not to smile, enjoying this flustered side of him for whatever it was.

  “Do you want to go out somewhere with me tonight?” he finally said, his eyes boring into mine.

  I coughed a bit, choking on a small bite of carrot. With a few quick pats to the back from Isaac, I turned to look at him. I’m sure that I looked awful, tears streaming from my eyes as I tried to rein in the coughing. Was he being serious or not? “You want to go out with me?”

  “Yeah, we could go get an ice cream or something. I don’t know many people here and it would be fun to do something besides go home and sleep until I have to wake up tomorrow morning and do all this over again.” Isaac waved to the field in front of us.

  He stared at me, his smile slowly growing wider until he was full-on grinning, as if the size of it would somehow sway my decision in his favor. Okay, so it might have helped.

  “Yeah, that could be fun.” I grabbed the napkin from the bag to wipe around my mouth. That was all I needed, to find out later that I’d had food on my face when he’d asked me on a date.

  “Do you have your phone on you?” he asked, glancing down around me.

  I pulled it out and he took it from me, tapping the screen with a smirk on his face.

  The whistle blew to get started with the next drill, and Isaac handed me back my phone and stood. “I just texted myself so I’d have your number when I get back. Do you live close to here?”

  I nodded. “I mean, we live about thirty minutes away from here. But we’re staying in a hotel just a few blocks from here. Maybe we should just…” my words trailed off as he ran out to the field.

  “We’ll figure something out.”

  I wasn’t sure how that would work, especially since I wouldn’t be able to borrow my dad’s truck without him knowing. My dad was already leery of the idea of me and any boy at his camp, especially after… last time.

  The rest of the day passed much slower than I wanted it to as I kept thinking about a date with Isaac. A good-looking guy like that had to have an agenda, didn’t he?

  Chapter 9

  Isaac

  I had to get my mom to let me take the rental car. Even though we’d come to the house with the mayor and Nate in a limo, my parents had rented a car for the time we were there to get to the
ir real estate meetings. As I thought about it, being here wasn’t much of a vacation for any of us. Besides our time at the amusement parks, we’d been business as usual, only in Florida instead of Texas. Hopefully, they were okay with that.

  I walked into the room my mom was using as an office. She sat in a modern recliner, her fingers typing away on her computer, probably writing up some post about organization. It was a side hobby she’d started a few years before, and she had a surprising amount of followers of her home organization tips. A few of her real estate clients had even hired her to organize their homes once they moved in.

  “Can I use the car?” I asked, preferring not to waste too much time. I’d have to get back early so I wouldn’t look like a bumbling idiot with lack of sleep tomorrow at camp. I was also eager to see Sara and didn’t want to stand here all night.

  “No.” My mom didn’t even glance up, her fingers still flying across the keyboard.

  “Wait, what?” I’d expected her to say yes, since she knew I was responsible when it came to driving. This was throwing off all the plans I’d made.

  My mother gave me a sad smile and said, “I’m sorry, you have to be twenty-five to drive the rental car. And since I’d have to be much older for you to be that age, I’m sorry, I can’t let you drive it.” She gave a dramatic pause before saying, “But I can take you anywhere you want to go.”

  She shifted her glasses down lower on her nose and winked at me. I groaned. There was no way I was inviting my mom along on a date night. I tried to think of alternatives, like Sara borrowing her dad’s truck and coming to pick me up. But then again, her dad would know she was hanging out with me and would probably kick me out of the camp or something. I didn’t want her to think of me as a mooch, especially since I’d been the one to ask her out.