Whoa!
She didn’t recognize him, but she sure wanted to know him. Not that he’d be interested in her. He was way out of Maisie’s league.
He wore a bemused smirk that told her he found this all pretty cute, even if he didn’t voice that right now.
She fought back a smile.
“What exactly is going on?” Chloe asked.
“Well, I saw someone…I didn’t want to talk to. So…I’m hiding.”
“Yeah,” Naomi said. “We weren’t trying to play in the pool. Honest!”
Sophia clasped her hands together as if praying. “Please don’t spank us!”
“No one is getting spanked,” the camp’s director said. “But this area is currently closed, so you’ll have to leave. It isn’t safe for you to be here unsupervised.” She leveled her gaze on Maisie. “But first, this person you were avoiding, are they harassing you or creating an unsafe situation?”
Maisie quickly brushed off the idea. “Oh, no. He’s just a guy I work with. His name’s Derek. And he sucks balls!”
“Language, little girl!” Chloe snapped.
Maisie gulped. “Yes, ma’am. Sorry.”
“This won’t be a problem, will it? You two being here at the same time?”
Maisie sighed but shook her head. “No, ma’am.”
“I hope not. I don’t want any trouble out of you,” Chloe said. Her expression softened a bit as she added, “The goal is to have fun when you’re at Camp Mountainville. But we all have to be on our best behavior in order to make that happen. Is that understood?”
The three campers answered in unison. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Good. Now run along, cuties. This area is off-limits until the posted times. Once it’s open, come back and have some fun. You’ll love our waterslides.”
The Littles rose and stepped out from behind the wall, with Maisie looking beyond the fence to ensure Derek had moved along.
She didn’t see him anymore, thankfully.
A crisis had been averted.
For now.
Chapter Six
Declan finished up with Chloe and then went walking around the camp, trying to appear casual as if just scouting to get the lay of the land.
He didn’t want to be too obvious about the fact that he was searching for that cutie he’d met earlier.
Actually, all three of the women were cute. But one in particular—the one hiding from her colleague—was simply adorable.
And he couldn’t get her off his mind.
Thankfully, a few minutes into his walk, he spotted her coming out of the store. She was alone, and he wondered where her two friends had gone. There wasn’t time to ask, though, because a crisis was unfolding.
Evidently, that Derek guy was back again, because the woman’s face turned starkly pale as she gasped and quickly spun on her heels, heading the opposite direction.
Declan looked over his shoulder to see that, indeed, a man was approaching as he walked with some other people. Must be Derek, he surmised.
That’s my cue, he thought with a smile.