Page 37 of Spring Showers

They didn’t even need to talk. The rain poured and splattered in the mud around them, which she knew meant that there was going to be a ton of clean up in the morning. The Foundry grounds would be swampy in areas already soaked from the previous rain. But right now, she was content to just sit in the spa and enjoy the serenity. She wouldn’t have admitted only a couple of days earlier that she needed this.

“Tell me, Thandie,” he said while his eyes remained shut. “Did you always want to be a camp counselor?”

The title wasn’t exactly right, and she thought to let it slide, but didn’t. “Activities director, and no. I sort of fell into this job.”

Grant opened one eye just long enough to catch hers and closed it again. “How long have you been in the business?”

“Four days.”

At this answer, his lids flew open, and he leaned forward, closing the distance between them. He searched her face. “Oh.” A giggle. “You’re serious.”

“As a dead horse. Is that bad to admit?”

Having leaned forward, his hands now rested on her knees under the water. His touch sent a shock up her neck to where it landed behind her ears. “I would never have known. You are very good at your job.” She must have shifted her legs slightly, and he became aware of the intimate way he was touching her. He sat back away from her, repositioning his hands above the water line again on the rim of the spa. “You may be too good at your job.”

Now she thought perhaps he was the spy after all, in which case she should definitely not be in the hot tub with him. However, there was no other evidence that he worked for the investor, and her money was still on the bubbly Daisy and her Mr. Brent. “How do you mean,I’m too good?”

“For starters, you show the guests way too much personalized attention. There’s no way you can keep up that level of care. You’ll burn out.”

Of course, he didn’t know that she and the rest of the staff were putting on the very best show they could for whoever the snoop was. “I appreciate the compliment, and the concern. But I assure you that I won’t get burned out from doing my job well. Believe it or not, I am having a fantastic time as camp counselor, as you call it.”

“Yes, but you’re in this job for a few days. What happens after a year, or even five years? Will you like it then?”

“That sounds like a question for you, not me.” Thandie sensed an exhaustion in him, but if she pushed him to tell her why he was really there, the game would be up. “You don’t need to talk about it?—”

“I want to,” he said and nodded. His grin melted any objections or deflections she had prepared. “I travel all the time for work.”

“And you like to travel?”

He shifted in the spa and pulled one leg up so that his ankle rested on the other knee, leaving half his leg sticking out of the water. His hands wrapped around the exposed skin, and he leaned forward. He looked serious, nervous, or cold, though it was likely not the latter, given their current whereabouts.

“I do. Like to travel, that is. But lately, the thought of going home, sleeping in the same bed, and having someone to talk to who really knows me has been creeping into my mind more and more.”

“You could get a cat?”

“And who would take care of said cat when I’m gone for weeks and months at a time?”

“If you hate it, then quit,” she joked, but the look on his face was not an amused one. She had hit a nerve.

“You know, sometimes you go down a path in life where there aren’t any exit ramps. The money is good. And I do love seeing the world and experiencing so many different people and cultures. It’s just—” he paused and looked out into the rain past her.

“It’s just you want to jump the curb and get off anywhere you can. I get that.” Thandie leaned in and placed her hands on top of his. “That’s how I ended up here. I jumped the curb a few months ago and have been off-roading ever since. Trying to find a new way.”

“And it’s going well?”

“Gosh no. I’ve been scared more times than I like to admit. I’m out of money and out of options. So, for the time being, this job is all I have.”

“What has you running so hard?” he asked with no judgment in his voice. His regard for her was like an embrace that she didn’t want to let go of.

“I wasted a lot of time being something for someone else instead of being anything for me.”

His eyes turned dark and pierced hers with an intensity of a lion. Her breath caught at his dramatic shift. “Who hurt you?”

“You don’t even know who or what I’m?—”

“It was that Davis person. The one you stacked stones for and kicked, rather impressively I’d like to point out, into the field. If I ever find him, I’ll beat his a?—”

“You will not.” Thandie took his hands from pantomiming a fistfight in the air in front of her and squeezed them in hers. “I don’t need anyone to fight my battles for me. Plus, I let all of that go today. I realized that I am nothismistakes. I can make plenty of my own. I shouldn’t need to carry his too.”

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