Page 43 of Cisco

Carter, one of her two male newbies, also had her shaking her head. He was full of vivacity and enthusiasm—bouncing around the place with a frenetic kind of energy while engaging his ten campers. The only problem Hilly could find with him besides his exhausting, unstoppable zeal, was that he’d latched onto Lance with a puppy-dog-like fascination.

That adoration didn’t seem to bother her senior counselor—at least not yet—so until Lance found it a problem and came to her with misgivings, Hilly would let him deal with it in his own way.

Vishon, her other first-timer, was a quiet, thoughtful kid who seemed to take his duties quite seriously. But luckily, despite his low-key demeanor, his campers had gravitated toward him, immediately. Which might be because Vishon had let them know he fully understood what they felt like, having been bullied, himself, as a youngster. Hilly had given him permission to reveal his personal story, knowing it would help everyone involved.

Hilly normally didn’t hire counselors strictly on the basis of them being bullied or not—only two others in her employ had similar backgrounds—but during his interview, Vishon had impressed her with his sincerity, and even gave over a few new ideas he had for confidence-building.

She really liked the kid a lot, and could see him growing exponentially as he became more and more comfortable.

Hilly had given Buffy all the counselors’ profiles, and if any of them had need of a therapist, she’d know where to start with them. The care Buffy would take with all her employees and campers gave Hilly a huge shot of reassurance.

Then there was Ellen Sothard.

Damn, had Hilly lucked out there.

Not only was her mother’s good friend a fantastic cook, she was well-organized, cheerful, and she’d—without actually saying it out loud—pretty much agreed to keep Hilly’s secret. Which was good. At least Hilly’s anonymity could continue for a little while until she decided what to do.

The only real sour point in the day—other than the taciturn nurse—had been another afternoon visit by Langford Cottins.

The brashness of the asshole developer never failed to astound Hilly. She’d figured he’d lay off with the offers to buy her land during her busy season, not haunting her again until camp wound down, but the guy had balls of steel to show up on her first day, just after her arrivals. He’d gleefully informed her he had a new investor, so he could sweeten the pot on what he’d previously been offering.

When that new amount didn’t sway Hilly, not even the slightest, he’d pointed out—nastily—that a lot of her infrastructure was aging poorly, and she should watch out. Things could take a turn for the worse.

Had that been said to make Hilly worry, or was it a threat?

Either way, it was bullshit.

As far as the physical plant was concerned, Hilly wasn’t buying it. Along with expert help from Papa-J, she kept everything on the property in tip-top condition.

If he’d been making a veiled threat…

Langford could go pound sand.

In the end—after trying to be nice and telling the pain-in-the-ass interloper that she didn’t have time for him, that she was extremely busy getting everyone settled in for their first day at camp—he hadn’t taken her blatant hints. She’d eventually had to intimate that she’d call the police to have him removed.

He’d jeered at her proclamation, then taken his time to walk off smugly, not appearing daunted in the least.

Asshole.

She hoped today would be the last she’d see of the prick until camp closed down, but she doubted it.

Hilly flopped her body over on the mattress again.

A disgruntled, and very dramatic doggy-sigh sounded from the floor next to her.

Crap.

“I’m sorry, Nel,” she apologized quietly so as not to wake Buffy in the other room. “I’m keeping you awake with my tossing and turning, aren’t I?”

Nel gave one of those knowing, dog groans, and Hilly giggled.

“Okay. I get it. Shut it down. We need our sleep. Am I right?”

Her only answer was a loud, doggy- huff, so Hilly began doing some deep breathing to access her happy place.

Because she’d finally finished methodically and successfully sorting through her very odd first day, or maybe because her body was actually drained, eventually her lids closed and she found sleep.

Hilly was up with the dawn, unlike Buffy whose door remained closed.

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