Luke jumped in. “We don’t let any of the kids in the ocean who aren’t ready for it and aren’t wanting it. Today, it’s pretty calm out there, not many big waves, so today would actually be a great day for Huck to do the ocean-side activities. If he wants to be with me though on the bay side, not saying he has to, just . . . kind of . . . like it seems he wants to.”
Huck had now inched closer to Luke, so he continued. “I’ll be on the bay side in the boat doing waterskiing, wakeboarding, and tubing, or whatever the kids are in the mood for. We don’t really impose anything on them, so . . .” Huck was now holding Luke’s hand, his expression still frightened. Luke cocked his head at Katie, knowing his instincts were right. “Why doesn’t he just stick with me?”
Luke looked for Kona’s Jeep in the far-off spot, and realized it was gone. Kona couldn’t be doing Julia Chase right at the beginning of camp. In his car? Really?
“That sounds really fun,” Katie answered, looking Luke right in the eye in that adult-understanding-of-kids’-needs way. “Thank you, I’m sure Huck would prefer to stay with you.” She nodded as she watched him pick up Huck. “And for the lessons, you’ll be with him . . . ?” She was trying hard to sound official, efficient, and safety-first oriented. Her eyes noticed the dark hair on the top of his chest coming out of the T-shirt.
Luke answered, trying to focus on this woman with perfect green eyes and not on the possibility his oldest friend would be murdered by a certain Jake Chase if he were, in fact, getting blown by a married Mrs. Chase in his Jeep at this moment. “We say we do skill-oriented lessons and all that, but we pretty much just do whatever the kids want in the bay and that’s 90 percent tubing, honestly. No lessons a ton of the time. For tubing, we’ll pull him slowly behind the boat. We’re not really regimented, to put it mildly.”
“What about the propeller? What if he gets caught up in . . .”
“No propeller,” Luke answered, shielding his eyes from the sun’s glare and surveying the lot for a returning Jeep. “We thought of that, and got old used jet boats with jets way underneath, in the middle. No way they can harm you. No propellers. All good. And it’s Huck Doyle, right?”
She smiled. “Yes.” She knew her face was beet-purple. Her light cheeks always flushed when she cried or got nervous. So she grabbed her baseball hat out of her bag and pulled it down hard on her head. “He’s my son. This is my son.” She knew she sounded strange and awkward.
“I got that part early on, with his grabbing your leg for dear life.” His voice cracked ever so slightly and Kenny came back again with one of his hugely obnoxious, but encouraging punches, which Luke tried to ignore with a cough.
“Yeah,” she said. “He’s shy. He doesn’t really know kids yet. This is new to him, and to me. All this. . . .” Katie held her palms up and motioned toward the private club down the beach and the Gatsby-style estates lining the bay behind her.
“You said you were from out West, back in the shop?” Luke asked.
“Like, really, not at all from here. I live in a small town near a lake outside Portland, Oregon. It’s called Hood River. I was a teacher there. I might be a teacher here if things work out.”
“I can certainly tell you all about the system here. It’s pretty solid with the huge tax revenues.”
“I know.”
“You do?” He smiled, wishing she needed him to explain it all.
“I’m a learning specialist. I also write studies. I’m hoping to publish some with institutes in Manhattan. And there might be a special ed position in one of the local middle schools.”
Interesting, Luke thought. She wasn’t from here, but she taught. Special ed always meant nice and understanding and patient. “And, you’re here for . . .”
“The whole summer.” She smiled. Shit. She shouldn’t do this.
Just then Kona’s Jeep pulled up way too fast. He got out, no Julia inside now. Interesting. He had a stupid, satisfied grin on his face. This wasn’t good for anyone at the camp. He walked up to the group, and studied his buddy handling this beautiful new girl in town.
“She wants to suck your little dick,” said Kona way too loudly after Katie finished signing forms.
Huck was squirming and yelling as Katie slathered more white zinc oxide on his face. It didn’t seem she heard Kona’s gracious observation. Luke closed his eyes and prayed to the Good Lord Jesus, the Savior Moses, and the Prophet Mohammed that she hadn’t.
Chapter Sixteen