“I embarrassed you,” he said, breaking into her thoughts.
She glanced up at him as he reached over and took her hand in his. “Although it’s true—I and a lot of people find you perfect—I didn’t mean to make you feel awkward around me.”
She relaxed. “It’s not you. I think that it’s compliments in general that I’m uncomfortable with. I didn’t get a lot of them growing up. Not about my looks, at any rate.” She shrugged and looked at their joined hands. The way his fingers easily interlocked with hers had her relaxing even more. It felt right, natural, to be touched by him.
“You should have. If you’d gone to my school, you would have. I would have made sure of it.” He winked at her, and she couldn’t help but laugh.
“If I had gone to your school, I would have been wise to your games a lot earlier.” She nudged his shoulder with hers.
“Games can be fun. If you play them with the right people.” He wiggled his eyebrows and had her laughing even harder.
A few moments later, a crowd of people showed up and started a beach volleyball game. They watched the guests as they finished their lunch, then she suggested they take a stroll around the grounds until her lunch break was up.
“What are your big plans for the rest of your day off?” she asked him as they headed down the pathway towards the zip line area. There were dozens of secluded cabins along the pathways that jutted off the main path. For the ease of the guests, there were also golf cart pathways to each of the cabins to deliver luggage and for guests with special needs. The cleaning crew and food delivery folks also used them. Each cabin had two beach bikes sitting out front for guests to use at their leisure. There were more bikes at the main building and pool areas.
They had talked about getting a handful of scooters but decided they didn’t like the idea of people zipping that fast down the pathways.
When she wanted to make some extra cash during the holiday season, she picked up a few shifts delivering meals to the cabins. The tips were good, and it was easy work she enjoyed. Either that or she’d work behind the bar at dinners or parties.
Last Christmas, she’d earned enough during one holiday party to buy her mother a new iPhone.
“I was thinking of heading out on the water. Maybe paddleboarding for a while,” he said.
“Working here does have a lot of perks,” she said with a sigh. “I mean, if you need extra cash, there’s always something to do around here. Or if you want to relax…” She motioned to the zip line area that they were passing. “You can always just join an activity during your off hours.”
“It is pretty much the perfect place to work,” he said. “Though the camp has had its fair share of problems.” He glanced over at her.
“Remember Ryan?” she asked, rolling her eyes. “That woman wasn’t right from the moment she stepped foot on the grounds.”
“Yeah,” he agreed. “She tried to hook up with me the first day I met her.”
“She did?” She instantly wondered just how many employees Damion has hooked up with over the years. She knew her score. Zero. She’d tried dating a few times, but nothing had ever led to the bedroom. The last time somethinghadled there, she’d been eighteen and stupid enough to believe that Brian Gruber was the real deal. He’d spent one night with her and then stopped answering her texts and calls.
“I can spot crazy from across the room,” Damion added. “And that woman was oozing it.”
“She was. It was pure luck that Dylan and Zoey weren’t hurt. Still, she did stab Hannah.”
“Then Hannah was kidnapped by Owen’s cousin,” he added with a shake of his head.
“Yeah, I guess when I think about it, crazy stuff has happened here. Just last year with Lea and Brett. Of course, that had nothing to do with the camp directly.” She took a deep breath, remembering how scared she and the rest of the group had been when Lea had been kidnapped. Then she thought back to yesterday and shivered and wrapped her arms around herself.
He stopped and pulled her into his arms. “Thinking about yesterday?”
“Yes.” She sighed and rested her head against his chest. “I’m sorry you have to deal with stuff like that.
He shifted slightly. “It’s not typically to the extent it was yesterday. In recent years it’s gotten worse, though. I did grow up in the south and my family is one of the only mixed families in a small southern town.” He leaned back and looked into her eyes. “I doubt there’s a black person or American Indian in the south that hasn’t experienced some form of hate at least once in their life.”
“Your mom?” she asked. For some reason, she couldn’t imagine anyone being mean or hateful towards the woman. She’d oozed class and friendliness every single time Jules had seen her.
“Oh, especially her. I learned my fight from her.” He smiled. “As a business owner and a woman, she has a few doozy tales to tell. One Karen even recently called the cops on her in her own store. The woman had the audacity to claim that my mother was trying to steal something. From her own store.” He shook his head.
“That’s terrible,” Jules said with a frown.
“Girl, she knows how to handle herself. She’s been dealing with it a lot longer than I have. Being married to a white man, she gets all the hate when they go out together. My dad has had some thrown at him too. When I was young, he had stories of how people, both white and black, would question why he had a black baby or kid with him. I can’t remember it, but one of the first days of school, he came to pick me up instead of my mother. I apparently ran to him all excited, but the teacher was upset and claimed that my dad was trying to steal me. The police were called. Before they got down there, my mother showed up. They almost pulled me out of the school. Needless to say, that teacher was reassigned.” He sighed. He ran his hands over her shoulders. “I’m making it sound worse than it is. It’s not like I walk out my door each day afraid of being called a nigger.”
She winced. “I hate that word.”
“So do most people, but there are plenty that don’t know it’s wrong. Not as many as you’d think though. They just have louder voices and recently they’ve gotten caught on camera a hell of a lot more, so they’re highlighted.”