Page 22 of Lady and the Camp
I chanced a look at Lucas. He and an older woman—the camp nurse?—laughed together. What sort of thing made Lucas laugh?
“Miss Hudson, how did you get pink hair?”
The young voice called me back to reality. I’d already answered this question seven times today, but this girl didn’t look familiar.
“A hair stylist did it,” I answered.
“Can I do my hair pink?” she asked.
She’d look cute with pink hair with her little freckles and pinky cheeks. But once you went for the dye bottle, prepare to say bye bye to youthful, untreated hair. “You know what’s even better? A wig. Then you can put on pink hair whenever you want, and take it off when you don’t.”
The kid rode that line of uncertainty, like she hadn’t decided yet if I was full of it. “Do you have one?”
“No, but—” My hand did the thing where it moved toward the device I was far more dependent on than I’d ever realized. Ugh, this was the worst. Normally, I’d pull up a wig retailer and order what I needed in a matter of seconds.
I’d have to improvise. “Where’s the craft closet?” I asked the table.
Twelve different answers came at me and there were only eight kids. I already had a few ideas.
Chapter 7
Lucas
Okay,soI’dbeenwatching her. Hudson. She seemed to command attention in any room she walked into. Here in the Mess, she looked anything but.
Except for those red splotches on her legs. Must be allergic to mosquito bites. I could get an armful and barely scratch, but some of the kids broke out in angry red bumps. I’d fetch her some bug spray. The good stuff we kept in a locked cabinet in the office.
Seeming to read my thoughts, or my stare, Rena, our staff nurse, nodded toward Hudson, who sat surrounded by campers. “What’s with the new hire? She came here dressed for shopping at the mall.”
Funny, when I first saw Hudson wearing that gauzy cape thing this morning, I figured her for a parent here to fetch her kid. A fancy parent for this side of the lake, but hey, we were grateful to stay open.
“I took her for a quick run by the old slasher cabin,” I told Rena.
She swatted the air between us. “You’re bad. I hope she laughed.”
“She did not.” Heh. Her face when I’d opened the door. The dirty mattress was a prop from our haunted forest camping weekend last year.
Rena, an experienced nurse with a couple decades on me, shook her head as she laughed silently. “Kids seem to like her.”
Lucky for us if they did. I decided to keep the employment details to myself. First, that I’d allowed a friend-of-a-friend hire with minimal interviewing (okay, none). And second, that Twila ran circles around me to get what she wanted. Made me look bad.
Now, if I could only stop looking Hudson’s way. She was no doubt freaked enough already from me yelling today. When did I become a guy who raised his voice? And grumbled about coffee pots?
Dangit—I still needed a new coffee maker. I should have left this morning to get one. But who knew what else Twila would get up to. She’d already hired someone with no skills. What next, selling the rest of the camp?
Which didn’t sound half bad right now.
I glanced up. That pink hair kept catching my eye. Great, now Hudson noticed me looking at her. She looked positively bored looking back.
Geez, what a nick to the ego.
Returning her attention to the kids, her smile lit her face. She laughed, tipping back her head.
Like Rena said, so long as the kids liked her. Camp work or office work, she’d have to be it.
Good. Fine.
After Mess clean up, the counselors headed out with the kids to return to their cabins before tonight’s activities. Giving me my cue to leave for the night. Something itched at me to get some space.
