She swallowed the large lump in her throat. If Cisco was putting off talking to her, it didn’t bode well.
“I guess so, Alvi,” Hilly sighed. “Marty tried this, ineffectually, after Gran died. To get a hold of this property, I mean. But he’s never had money behind him before.”
“I don’t think that will make a difference,” Alvero told her. “Everyone who’s local knows what a stain on humanity that man is. Uh… I’m sorry. He’s your father and all…”
“He’s no father of mine,” she rebutted, anger replacing her fear. “He hasn’t been since sixth grade when my mother kicked him out of the house. Jenson Duncan is my father, now.”
Alvi nodded sagely. He’d met Papa-J when he’d come out this morning, and the two had hit it off, big time. It hadn’t taken Alvi long to convince her father that two sets of hands were better than one when it came to the upgrades he was undertaking on her ropes course. Her Papa had agreed, and would be out tomorrow morning to assist.
“He’s a great guy,” Alvi agreed. “And I don’t blame you for not claiming that piece of crap who just left.”
“Thanks for that.” Hilly bit her lip, but she had to ask. “You don’t…? Has, um, your opinion of me changed?”
His head went back, and he looked at her, askance. “Why would it?” he questioned.
“Because…I’ve been lying to you. Pretending to be this put-together woman without a worry in the world, and now you know I’m nothing but an imposter. A fat kid who’s never gotten over the bullying I suffered as a child.”
Alvero approached her with a soft look in his eyes. “Hilly, you’re not an imposter. You’re a beautiful, vibrant woman who’s sweet and generous. I’m in awe of the amount of time you give your kids here at camp. And now, understanding your past, I commend you even further. A lot of people in your position would have tried to put a negative childhood experience far behind them. Instead, you stare it in the eye every day as you mentor and encourage your campers to love themselves. Hell,” he added, running a hand over his face, “if it wasn’t for Cisco, I’d be interested in you for all those reasons, and more.”
A growl sounded from behind Hilly, and she glanced back quickly to see Cisco’s scowling face.
Oh, shit.
“Take a hike, Alvi,” he snarled.
Far from looking contrite that he’d been caught complimenting Hilly, Alvero gave Cisco a huge, toothy grin, and a mock salute. “You got it buddy. I was just leaving.”
Hilly refused to turn around to face Cisco as Alvero took off and she heard the cruiser drive away. She could feel the anger radiating off him. All she wanted to do was run back to her cabin and hide, because this wasn’t the confrontation she’d been imagining when she’d thought about revealing her past.
“Hilly. Look at me,” Cisco ordered gruffly.
She shook her head. “There’s no reason. You’re mad at me, and I get it. I wasn’t honest with you. I hid who I was, and…” she trailed off, not knowing what else to say.
“I don’t give a shit who you were,” he thundered.
Hilly winced, waiting for the rest. But when words didn’t come, she figured he was finished with her, and took a step back toward camp.
His hands came up and gripped her shoulders, but his touch was gentle, as was Cisco’s voice when it next emerged near her ear. “Listen closely. The woman I see in front of me is Hilly Duncan. Am I upset you didn’t trust me with the fact that we knew each other when we were young? No, I’m not. What I am feeling is confusion. Why did you think it would matter to me that you were once cute little Kay Smittfield?”
“Cute little…?” Hilly couldn’t believe those words had come out of his mouth. She needed to jog his memory. “Cisco. I was a fat, ugly kid from a severely dysfunctional home ruled over by that…asshole who just left. You were a soccer star; a handsome, outgoing boy all the girls were after. We shouldn’t even have existed on the same plain. And now that you know who I really am…” Hilly couldn’t get any more out. After the confrontation with Cottins, her father, and now having to deal with Cisco, she was suddenly wiped out.
“Right,” he agreed, which made her want to weep even more. “Now that I know who you really are, maybe we can drop the bullshit and move forward,” he responded softly, surprising the hell out of her. “I’ve been wracking my brains to figure out why you were so hot and cold with me from the get-go. Now I know. You were afraid I’d find out your secret. Now I can call you out, every time you put those walls up.”
His arms slowly went around her, pulling her back against his leather-clad chest. “Let me repeat myself. I know who you are, and it doesn’t change my feelings for you in the slightest. To me, you are Hilly Duncan, a highly empathetic woman who runs a kick-ass camp for kids who I now know you relate to on a level I can only imagine. It makes you even more special.”
Tears that had threatened, filled Hilly’s eyes. She’d misjudged Cisco badly, and it was because when she’d first seen him again, all her old insecurities had come roaring back into her head.
She owed him an apology.
“I’m sorry, Cisco. I let my past get the better of me. At times, I…still feel like the fat little girl who was picked on all the time.”
“There’s nothing to apologize for,” he soothed, tightening his grip, and dropping a tender kiss to the top of her head. “If anything, I should be the one groveling.”
Her chin came up. “Why?”
“For being a clueless young prick. For not coming to your defense, back in the day,” he told her in a quiet, solemn tone.
“Oh, my God, Cisco. You did stick up for me. A few times.” She turned in his arms, letting him see how much that had meant to her. “I’ve never forgotten it, and…”
“And?” he prompted, his eyes glued to hers.
“And it might have made me crush on you, pretty hard.” She bit her lip.
Cisco groaned. “Seriously, Hilly? You’re going to tell me that, now?” He pulled her in tightly, and she could feel how much her words had affected him. The breeches he wore were in danger of bursting open with his enthusiasm.
Hilly giggled. “I didn’t know that admitting I had a crush on you would make that happen.” She rocked her belly into him, her confidence suddenly soaring.
“Spoiler alert, Hilly. Everything you do makes that happen,” he told her. “But it sucks especially badly right now, because I have a class to teach in a few minutes. So as much as I love being exactly where I am, I’m going to have to put air between us in order to have things that kids shouldn’t see…subside.”
With one last wiggle of her hips, Hilly backed up. Although what she really wanted was to take the newfound, freedom-from-her-past-high she was experiencing, drag Cisco back to her cabin, and have her way with him. But she couldn’t tell him that. He was trying to make…things, go away.
She giggled instead.
“What evil thoughts are you having in that pretty head?”
She hummed giddily. “That maybe during swim time later on, we can leave oversight to Alvi and Buffy, and perhaps…take a walk? A looong, walk,” she clarified.
“Seriously, Hilly?” he huffed. “You’re not helping my condition. We need to talk about something distasteful.”
