Page 55 of The Kiss Keeper
“Jesus, Heels!” he breathed, taking in the hordes of people milling around.
“What should we tell them? Do you think we should wait until your grandparents get back to do anything?” Fish asked.
Natalie shook her head. “No, we have to do something. Fish, try to gather everyone together.”
The man nodded, then hurried down the hill.
“Can you do one of those loud whistles, Jake?” she asked.
His gaze bounced between her and the swarm of people milling around. “Yeah.”
She grabbed his hand and led him through the crowd over to a bench, then pulled him up with her to stand.
“Okay, do it,” she said.
His brows knit together. “What are you going to do?”
She blew out a breath. “Try to get this mess organized.”
“How?”
She wrung her hands. “I’m not totally sure, but we’ve got to do something. I don’t want to disappoint these people. Service projects are important to my grandparents. I’d hate for the community to think Camp Woolwich was falling apart.”
Was Camp Woolwich falling apart? Hal Woolwich certainly didn’t look like he was operating at one hundred percent.
Shit! He couldn’t let his mind go there. Not now.
He raised his hand to his mouth. “You ready?”
She nodded. “Do it.”
He raised his hand to his mouth and whistled, a loud slicing sound that cut through the crowd, silencing them.
“Wow, you’re good at that,” Natalie said, wide-eyed.
“I lived on a dairy farm for a while when I was a teenager. This is how I used to call in the cows.”
He never spoke of that time, but with her, it just came out.
She nodded, then glanced out at the crowd of frowning faces. “Hello, everyone. There seems to be a little scheduling snafu, but I’ve got a plan.”
“What are you going to do?” Leslie called, dragging Leo with her to the front of the crowd.
Without thinking, Jake took her hand. “You’re a teacher, right, Heels?”
“Yeah.”
“What would you do if this were a bunch of unruly kids?”
She lifted her chin. “Okay, Woolwich family, we’ve got guests, and we’re going to break into groups to make sure our friends from the community have a lovely time here at Camp Woolwich.”
He watched in awe as Natalie divided her family into groups and assigned them each an area. Then, she proceeded to direct the different community organizations to different camp locations. Like a general calling the shots, the masses moved out in military precision.
He watched as the Woolwich teens, usually glued to their phones, led the marching band down to the waterfront. The Elks group set off for the dock to fish while a third Woolwich battalion headed toward the camp’s entrance to start washing the cars. She even had a team of family members head over to the dining hall to start on making sandwiches to feed the masses.
She leaned into him as the area around the flagpole cleared out, and he wrapped his arm around her. “I thought you were supposed to be the screw-up Woolwich?”
“I usually am,” she answered with a touch of awe to her words when a soft voice caught their attention.
