Page 12 of His Curvy Distraction

“Not easy?” I laughed like a maniac. “Not easy would be one of these things. We have a tree on the basketball court. There’s no way the pool is functional. The volleyball court might as well not exist. And that driveway? Your car barely made it back here. What are we going to do if it rains? Or if someone has a big vehicle? This isn’t possible. This is just not going to work. The mayor was right.”

“No, he was not. Close your eyes.”

I scowled at her.

“Humor me.” She squeezed my hands. “Please?”

I drew a breath, then regretted it when I smelled the horrible scent from the trailer. I blew out my breath, then inhaled through my mouth and closed my eyes.

“Okay, first, all those campsites are gone. The property is clear and wide open. Can you see it?”

I tried to push aside the vision I knew was reality. Get rid of the connections and wires. It took me a minute, but I managed. “Okay, I see it. But?—”

“Nope, don’t get ahead of me. Focus on the wide open property. Without all those hookups, we can build that big structure you mentioned. Something that will hold a hundred kids or more.”

“Two hundred,” I said, my lips lifting in a smile. “The elementary school has a thousand kids, and if we can have a hundred at the community center and four hundred here, two groups of two hundred, we should be able to take all the kids who need it.”

“Okay, two hundred kids. Picnic tables?”

“Yeah. Rows and rows of them. With open space in the middle. For games and stuff when the weather doesn’t cooperate.”

“People could get married here. Another way to pay for the location.”

“That could help.”

“Okay, good. Keep your eyes closed. What else do you see?”

I let my imagination take over. “The pool is fully fenced in, so it’s safe. It’s bright and blue and full of kids.”

“I can hear them laughing,” Amelia said.

I breathed a laugh, thankful she was working with me. “The basketball court just needs to be cleaned up. The volleyball court can be fixed or moved. And we can relocate the fire pits. Maybe consolidate them so there aren’t as many and they’re bigger, with grates over the top so we can use them to grill one day a week. Maybe s’mores. This place could be used in the winter for a holiday drive-thru light display or a winter wonderland kind of thing.”

“I like that idea. You’re coming up with ways for it to pay for itself.”

I sighed heavily and opened my eyes. “But it’s never going to happen.”

“Why not?”

“Because all of that income is after we spend the money to make this place into that. We can’t afford it.”

“Maybe not all of it, not right now, but if we come up with a plan, I think it’ll be something Omar approves.”

“How in the world are we going to do that?”

“Natalie, you’ve done more with less. The yard outside the community center has none of the things you just mentioned. Yet, you still made it into something fun for the kids. A place where they’re already begging to come back to. We take all of this one project at a time.”

I looked around the campground and realized she was right. It was a ton more space, and even though it was in rough shape, it was bigger and better than what we already had.

“There’s that look,” Amelia said.

I tilted my head. “What look?”

“The one that says you’re getting it. You will figure out a plan. And Omar will approve it.”

I drew a breath and looked around. It was too perfect to not try. To let it all sit there. “It’s not going to be easy.”

“Don’t they say nothing worth having ever is?”

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