“Thanks. I appreciate the back-up,” Cisco nodded, then regarded Hilly. “As soon as she’s out of here, I’ll get on the horn and start calling around. Don’t worry, Hilly. Between me and my friends, we’ll get you covered.”

Hilly certainly hoped so. Without a medical person on site, she’d be in serious violation of the rules set forth by the State of Maine and the local Board of Health.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

After seeing the belligerent nurse off the property, Cisco managed to catch a little of the kids’ swim time in the lake. They splashed and played under the watchful eyes of the counselors who were all certified lifeguards, but whined about the early season coldness of the water, and complained that the slide they’d been promised hadn’t yet been set up. Cisco stepped in and assured them he’d get to it next time he was on premise on Thursday.

Mid-afternoon he munched on some wonderful cinnamon-stick-thingies that Mrs. S had made for snack time, enjoying them while settling in on his phone to make a few calls regarding medical personnel as he also kept an eye out for Hilly. Following the episode with the nurse that had clearly rattled her, he’d only seen her from afar as she worriedly ran around with her phone to her ear, ostensibly also looking for a replacement medical person to fill in on literally no notice.

As the campers left the beach to change and settle into craft time, Cisco approached Hilly as she paced back and forth outside her cabin, still clutching her device but looking more and more beat down with every pass she made. He assumed that meant she’d had no luck. But that was fine, because he’d solved her problem. At least temporarily.

“Hey Hilly,” he greeted, approaching her with a smile.

She stabbed a button on her phone and turned to him with a rueful twist of her lips. “Hi, Cisco.”

“No luck I take it?” he asked.

“None yet. You?” she asked hopefully.

He couldn’t leave her in suspense.

“Yup. I’ve actually found someone for the next week and a half. But at least that’s something.”

Cisco didn’t expect it when a squealing Hilly launched herself at him and wrapped her arms around his middle, tightly.

“Thank you,” she breathed out, from under his chin. “I was really stressing.”

She pulled back abruptly as if just realizing what she’d done, and looked around guiltily to see if anyone had spotted her spontaneous embrace.

Cisco could have told her there were no witnesses. If anyone had been around, he would have stopped her before her mini-PDA.

“Um, that’s great Cisco,” she regrouped with a blush. “Who is it?”

“Alvero Deluthe,” he told her. “Alvi is our SWAT team medic, and although he’s not a nurse or a doctor, he has all kinds of medical certifications. He checked the state’s web-site, and he more than qualifies to be your guy. The only problem is, he can’t get more than the rest of this week and next week, off. After that, he’s out of personal days to use.”

“Oh! I can’t let him do that.” Hilly’s brow furrowed. “It’s nice of him, but I can’t have him giving up his personal days for me,” she qualified.

“Are you kidding?” Cisco laughed. “When I asked him, he was practically bouncing off the walls. Apparently, he went to camp here when your grandmother ran the place, and has such good memories of his summers, he can’t wait to relive them. He’s already talking like it’s the best vacation he’ll have enjoyed in years.”

Hilly, instead of being as pumped as he thought she would, looked a little conflicted as she bit the hell out of her bottom lip.

“Really, Hilly. He’s excited. I promise,” Cisco attempted to assure her again.

“That’s…great,” she finally responded before squaring her shoulders. “I really do appreciate it, and…I’ll owe him, big time.” She seemed to regroup fully. “Maybe we can even recreate some of his best recollections from the camp as a surprise.” She looked at Cisco and gave an actual smile. “I’ll check back in Grannie’s journals to see what was going on when he attended.”

“You’re kidding me, right? You have records from twenty years ago?”

Now Hilly laughed. “Uh, huh. Complete, handwritten logs of every season she operated,” Hilly told him, her grin sticking this time. “And with the nearly two-week reprieve your friend will give us, he deserves a reward. And hopefully his assistance will give me the buffer I need to find someone to fill in for the rest of the summer.”

Cisco still didn’t understand the conflicting reactions he’d seen from Hilly, but as long as she was happy now, he’d try to keep the good news rolling. “I may have feelers out for that, too,” Cisco told her a little smugly. “I’ve been in touch with Mason. He’s Mrs. S’s son? My SWAT boss?”

She gave him an affirmative nod. “I know him.”

“Well, he thinks he might be able to dig someone up.”

“Wow,” Hilly responded, wide eyed. “It really pays to have a network of friends. I can’t believe you’ve accomplished all that in just a couple hours, while I’ve been scrambling for the same amount of time, coming up with nothing.”

Cisco chuckled. “That’s not all because of me. You have to understand. Mason loves a challenge, so when I presented him with your dilemma, he took it as a serious assignment. He’s the one who told me to call Alvi.”

“Geeze. I’ll have to make sure to thank him, too” Hilly told Cisco sincerely. “I don’t suppose he went to Gran’s camp?”

Cisco laughed. “Not a clue. You’ll have to ask Mrs. S about that one.

“I will,” she agreed. “Because if he can pull this off, it’ll be a lifesaver.”

Cisco had no doubt the boss would be able to solve Hilly’s dilemma. But that wasn’t the only thing on his mind.

Cisco cleared his throat.

“In the meantime, would you like to take a walk with me before craft-time finishes up and I have to get ready to teach my late class?”

Hilly looked hesitant for only a second before accepting. “Sure. Let me just tell Buffy where I’ll be in case anything comes up while we’re gone.” She skipped off, her long, muscled legs eating up the path.

And yeah. He watched them like the dog he was. And speaking of which, Nel had just nudged his knee with her nose.

He bent down to give her a pat. “She’s really something, isn’t she?”

Nel gave a happy sounding bark, then bounded back into the trees.

“Really something,” he rasped to himself, trying to keep his excitement under wraps as he waited for Hilly to find her friend and return.

Cisco had wanted to get the confusing woman alone all day. To talk to her, of course, but also to see if he could wrangle another kiss. He had to find out if their first one had truly been the best lip-lock of his life, or if he’d built it up in his imagination as a bright spot in the weekend, in contrast with the heavy-duty trauma he’d suffered the previous day.

In other words, now that his head was completely clear, he needed to see if his feelings were real by requesting a do-over.

“Buffy’s good for the balance of the hour,” Hilly said breathlessly as she returned to his side. “She doesn’t have any appointments until later.”

“Then, shall we go?” Cisco gallantly held his elbow out for her to take.

She eyed it with only a slight hesitation before accepting the gesture, threading her hand around his arm.

“You lead the way,” he suggested. “Since you know which paths will get us back here in time for my early evening duties.”

“Follow me,” she agreed.

Hilly wound her way past the dining hall which practically vibrated with all the voices and laughter exploding from within. She led him around the campers’ cabins, the washrooms, skirting the counselors’ private lean-to before taking them down the same path that she’d familiarized him with, before.

“Where are we going?” he asked.