Once they were out of earshot…

“You want to talk about it?” Cisco asked, while at the same time making sure the safety line was secure before nodding his head toward the direction in which the couple traveled. “We need to head to the next station to make sure they’re clipped in again.”

Hilly headed down first, with Cisco right behind. She hadn’t answered him, but Cisco figured the descent might give her time to find her words.

She huffed and scrunched up her face as Cisco alighted onto the ground next to her.

“Bailey was…difficult,” she began, walking slowly toward their destination. “She denies throwing around the superior attitude that the other counselors have told me about. She also refutes having anything to do with Lance; positive or negative. She says he’s not on her radar in any way, and that several of the girls are just jealous of her, and how well she gets along with the guys.”

“What does your gut say?” Cisco asked, as they reached the next ladder. Hilly didn’t look convinced.

“That she’s not exactly a team player, and that she has an awful lot of excuses at the ready.” Hilly sighed again. “I told her she’s on notice, and that if I get any more negative reports where she’s concerned, I’ll have to relieve her of her duties.”

“How did that go?”

“She cried a little, although… Damn, this is hard to say, but… I think it was fake. Crocodile tears, at best.”

Cisco couldn’t help himself. He pulled Hilly into a warm hug. “It will all work out. She knows you have eyes glued to her now, so it’s on her, what happens next.”

“I know. I just…hate conflict.”

Cisco kissed the top of her head. “Try to let it go,” he soothed. “Worst case scenario? She acts out and you send her home. Best case? She behaves for the rest of the summer—even if she is a bit of a snob—and you don’t hire her back again for next year.”

“You’re right. I’m probably overthinking things,” Hilly agreed, then began climbing the second ladder. Cisco tried not to get distracted by her very fine ass which was only inches from his hands on the rungs.

“Don’t worry, Hilly. I’ll have your back,” he managed to assure her, raptly following her vanilla scent.

He wasn’t about to mess up this time.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Lying in bed a few nights after her second confrontation with Bailey, Hilly couldn’t turn her brain off. The summer certainly wasn’t going like she’d imagined. A lot of it was turning out to be better, but some of it was a whole bunch worse.

Which, negative or positive, however, outweighed the other?

Okay. Hilly would make a list. Maybe it would work like counting sheep.

The good stuff, first.

Number one, her best friend Buffy was here, killing it as the newest member of her staff. Even before her buddy had gotten her degree in psychotherapy, Buffy had always been able to talk Hilly down off the ledge, and so far this season Buff had continuously lent her ear to Hilly, keeping her focused.

Number two. She had a stellar chef in Mrs. S. Unlike her previous two years, Hilly didn’t have to give food a second thought. The woman was not only talented, she was organized and never needed hand-holding. A definite bonus.

Third on her list? She’d met and enjoyed Alvero’s company, along with his help improving her ropes course, and now that he’d left, she’d made some amazing new friends. Crash and Adeline—as well as Coco. They were a bonus to have on site. She could tell, by the end of the summer, she and Adeline would be friends for life, despite the distance of an entire country between them.

Of course, the fourth positive was by far the most exhilarating. The important person who’d come into her life this season. Cisco. As much as he frustrated her with how slowly he was moving to take their relationship deeper, he’d somehow made incredible inroads into seeing that Hilly understood she really was a person of interest to him.

And that was saying something.

Her insecurities ran deep, but with the way Cisco spoke to her, looked at her, and touched her at every opportunity, those head-demons from her early years were, one by one, being put to rest.

Now, if she could just get the frustrating man to stop holding back; to up his game so she could see if he was still keen on her once they had their clothes off. She’d feel a lot better…in a whole bunch of different ways if she knew he wouldn’t back away.

A shiver ran up her spine.

Mmm… Cisco naked…

Hilly snapped herself out of her X rated fantasies with reluctance, and dragged in a deep breath. It was time to go over all the fucked-up things that had happened so far this summer.

She gave a sigh, and began enumerating.

First, there’d been the offers to purchase the camp, followed by veiled threats from Langford Cottins. When she’d turned him down, flat, he’d somehow managed to bring in her bastard of a sperm donor to make her feel she didn’t deserve the camp her grandmother had bequeathed to her. Her father’s involvement with Cottins, thank God, had so far been an epic failure, and would continue to be so, if by some slim chance he managed to take her to court.

Hilly was fully aware why Gran had left her the property, as were her attorneys. The woman had stated—numerous times before her death—that she didn’t like or trust her son; that if Hilly didn’t want the camp, she’d leave it to a nature conservancy before letting Marty possess even a single tree.

Another horror—one that had taken place off site—had been Cisco getting shot. Not that it had kept the intrepid man down for more than a couple days. But Hilly hadn’t bounced back as quickly. Watching footage of the event on YouTube which one of the bank hostages had recorded, she’d seen Cisco rushing the man, and the gun discharging. It had made for some rough nights’ sleep. She couldn’t get the thief’s spewed words out of her head. Not that Cisco had mentioned them, and the networks hadn’t quoted them, either. But social media sometimes revealed more than was reported. The thief had made explicit threats toward Cisco, saying he’d come after him and ruin his life.

Hilly needed to decide whether to air her concerns to Cisco, or not, determining eventually whether they had merit.

Back to camp drama, Hilly sighed, thinking of the shit that had unfolded here. Things could be worse she supposed, but not by much. Not only did she now have to keep an eye out for additional conflicts between an uncowed Bailey and some of her other counselors, she also had to worry that the nastiness Nurse Gorner had spewed before she had been escorted off the premises, would come back to haunt her.

Debbie didn’t seem like the type to let bygones by bygones, so Hilly had no doubt the lush would try to make good on her parting threats; attempting to stir up trouble from afar at some point during the summer.

Was it any wonder Hilly was having trouble sleeping?

Nel must have sensed her unease, because she belly-walked her way up from the bottom of the bed to rest her head on the pillow next to Hilly, nudging her with her sweet, wet nose.

Hilly’s hand went automatically to Nel’s head, where she stroked the soft fur until sleep finally overtook her.

The blast of her alarm was a shock, waking Hilly far earlier than her body wanted. She groaned and hit the snooze, hoping for a few more minutes, but Nel, used to their routine, was already up and bouncing around, asking to be let out.

No doubt her dog was probably not only anxious to pee, but to see if her new bestie, Coco was out and about.

“Okay, okay,” Hilly grumbled, throwing back the covers. “I’m coming.”

The only good thing about waking today? It was Cisco’s day to teach his self-defense courses, and Crash had agreed to put on a demonstration with the man, since they’d determined they had just about the same amount of expertise. The kids, and Hilly, would get quite the spectacle, seeing the two titans go at it.

Hilly suddenly felt energized. Being around Cisco was tops on her list these days for happiness quotients. And maybe, just maybe, the string of bad things occurring was at an end.

The police had made it pretty clear to Cottins and Marty that they weren’t allowed on premise.

Bailey—Hilly hoped—was sorted.

And the existential threats? Words were cheap, and there was really little reason to believe that either the bank robber—if he were somehow out on bail—or Nurse Gorner would follow through on their nasty remarks.

Hilly did a few, quick stretching exercises before leaving her bedroom with Nel on her heels. She quickly opened the door for the dog, who took off like a shot, then she went to the old-fashioned coffee-maker her grandmother had owned, filling it up with grounds and water before turning it on. Hilly mused. It might be time to buy one of those pod things. It would certainly cut down on how much she poured down the sink at the end of each day.