Page 70 of Once Bitten
“I thought we were sharing the girls.”
It was Yvonne.
She went still, not sure how or why the other woman’s voice was here. She hadn’t seen her on the bus, or maybe it was that she didn’t notice her. All she had managed to do was scramble onto the bus at the last second, her hoodie pulled low as she tried to hide the state she had arrived in. Why had she been so hungover? If she’d stayed in last night then she might have had enough wits about her to spot Yvonne on the bus.
Jordyn sucked in a deep breath and turned to face Yvonne. “Oh, are we?” Jordyn turned, raising an eyebrow and not missing the look of dismay that appeared on several of the girls’ faces at Yvonne’s appearance. “I didn’t know you’d be joining us this year.”
“Alex made the decision,” Yvonne said as if that settled matters, which only made Jordyn grind her teeth together, her momentary conciliatory attitude towards Alex immediately disappearing.
“I see. Well, sure, we can split the group. Make it more manageable, hmm?” Jordyn pitched, trying to keep her voice even when she wanted nothing more than to shove Yvonne straight back onto the bus behind her. Just because she wasn’t with Alex anymore didn’t mean that the sight of Yvonne didn’t fill her with disgust or anger. But those emotions weren’t entirely wrong given that Jordyn needed to remember she felt nothing but disgust and anger when it came to Alex.
“Sure, I guess,” Yvonne said, her hands on her hips. She didn’t look any happier at seeing Jordyn than she’d been to see her. She stepped closer and gave Jordyn a slow once mover. “Rough night, huh?”
Jordyn looked past Yvonne and out at the smiling campers, deciding to pretend like she hadn’t heard the slight. “Okay, I’m going to assign either a one or two for each of you. Everyone with a number 1 is with me and everyone with a number 2 is with Yvonne,” Jordyn said and began to count the girls out. As Jordyn moved down the line, a smirk passed her lips when Cora pointedly elbowed someone out of the way to ensure that she was a 1. The girl was shameless, but Jordyn loved it about her.
When the group of girls had been divided up, Jordyn motioned with her clipboard. “All right, onward to Songbird!” she said, her tone light, and she turned to lead the girls towards their bunkhouse. She had only gone a handful of steps when Yvonne pushed her way up to walk alongside Jordyn.
“It’s nice to see that you didn’t forget your commitment to the girls.” She sniffed and Jordyn only smiled again.
“I had to volunteer to fill your position in case you decided not to show.” Yvonne continued.
“Well you are very good at that, aren’t you?” Jordyn countered, her tone light, even if her words weren’t. “Filling in for me, I mean,” she added and was rewarded by the spark of anger that flashed in Yvonne’s eyes. It was petty, but it felt good, and she grinned, purposefully speeding up her pace to leave the other woman behind. When she arrived at the bunkhouse, she frowned, glancing over to where Alex was leading his group of boys to the bunkhouse next to Songbird.
Why had he made such an issue of getting her to come if Yvonne was available? She was still frowning when he caught her eye and waved an enthusiastic hand at her with a smile on his face. Jordyn didn’t return the gesture, but Yvonne did with enough energy for the both of them.
Jordyn turned on her heel and made for the bunkhouse door. It was going to be a very, very long 3 days.
* * *
Jordyn had just finished helpingher girls settle into the second floor of the bunkhouse and was unpacking her toiletries when a rap at the door made her look up. It was Alex, and he was grinning at her from the doorway. She swallowed hard and watched him enter her room.
“Hey,” he said, walking into the room without even pausing to see Jordyn’s reaction. He sat down heavily on the edge of her twin bed, looking completely comfortable there.
“Hi,” Jordyn said, stiffly, and went back to shoving her things onto the dresser that was only a few feet away. She narrowed her eyes at the small box in his hand. “What’s that?” she asked him.
“Your favorite,” he said, holding the box out to her. “Peppermint tea. Thought it might help you relax some.”
Jordyn’s lips went into a tight line. She turned towards him, glancing back at the box, and with a sigh, took it from him. It was indeed her very favorite brand of tea, and as much as she wanted to throw it back at him, a nice cup of tea later sounded like heaven, so she gave him a soft “thanks,” before she turned around and went back to unpacking.
“Looks like you’ve gotten everyone settled in without much of a fuss,” he observed.
“You didn’t tell me Yvonne was going to be here,” Jordyn said, looking at him in the mirror that was hanging above the dresser.
“I didn’t? I thought I had mentioned it.Yvonne wanted to help out at the last minute, and I thought it would be nice for you to not have so much to do.” Alex stood up from her bed and smiled back at her in the mirror. “Why stress you out when someone else can do the work?”
“Why are you so worried about my stress level, Alex? You got me here because you made it sound like there was no one else.” Jordyn turned to face him with her arms crossed. “And now I find Yvonne here. So what the hell?”
“I know I did. To be honest, I wanted you here because I miss you, Jordyn.” Alex looked down at the floor and then back up at her. “All of us do. And seeing how things have deteriorated between yourself and Steve, well, I think it worked out for the best. Don’t you?”
“What do you mean for the best?” Jordyn frowned at him and glanced over to the doorway when a girl ran by laughing.
“A little space from Steve, from town I mean, could do you some good,” Alex explained and turned to leave the room.
“You have no right to make that kind of observation given our history.”
He turned back in the doorway and sighed. “I know I was an asshole before, and well, when we were together, I was worse. I wasn’t right but love makes you do crazy things, and I’m sorry. I meant what I said about being available if you need to talk.”
And then he was gone, and Jordyn was confused.
