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As a rule, I did not trust blond men. No real reason other than pure skepticism.
“My preferred hello is a full-body tackle,”
“When’s your birthday?” “It was at the beginning of June. But I believe in celebrating all month long.”
There were few things I hated more than getting scolded by a stranger. Feeling like I was the one causing someone else trouble.
“No amount of kindness you pay those types of people will ever change their minds,”
“You’re always welcome wherever I am.” My heart ached harder. As if little construction workers lived in there and they’d started building something new without a permit.
The . . . plume gives it away. That rich green? I’d know it anywhere.” “Why would a yellow-billed cuckoo be green?” “That’s the thing. This one is.” “Incredible,” she said. “The second I get reception, I’m calling the Audubon Society and letting them know.”
“Never seen anything like this in my thirty-two years of life. Maybe they can call this the Magnusson-Moore cuckoo. I’m willing to share credit for the discovery. Only because you lent me the binoculars.” “That means a lot to me, seeing as I’m the one who fostered this new passion you have for birds.” “I will always credit the passion you foster in me,” I said.
There was no way to know my future if I never stayed in the present.
Appreciating that I was alive and I was here, and that was the best I could do.
“My birthday gift from you. Now the honorary mascot of our team.” She picked up her hand and showed me the rock tucked into her palm. “Our alliance is preserved.” “Cabin Seven Blue Team, home of Garland, Stevie, and Rock ‘The Rock’ Johnson,” I said.
Stevie was right. Camp would end. And I wanted to savor each moment before it did. Even though all of this was completely silly to me, it still warmed my heart to see everyone participate. Some of the team members were way older than me. Into their fifties or sixties, by my best visual guess. And they still wore their color shirts.
Stevie was the Swiss Army knife of this family. Clearly there was no role she couldn’t take. No part she couldn’t play. She’d told me yesterday that her brothers had once forgotten her on a mountain. I’d assumed then that they were negligent or they didn’t really care about her. That didn’t seem true in the slightest. If anything, they’d probably lost track of her on account of the fact that she had a way of being whatever she needed to be, and they’d assumed she’d find them when necessary.
“We’re going fast,” he told me. “Famous last wor—”
Stevie moved similarly to her brother in that she did not care about embarrassing herself. But she had way more rhythm than him, and a much better sense of what style of movement the music required. She danced with the exact same conviction as she did all other things in life, and her commitment demanded a match from me. I didn’t need alcohol to do this with her like I had with Mason.
The second I’d met Stevie, I’d spent the rest of the time looking for ways to be around her. Hating every moment I wasn’t. She snuck into my heart unannounced and staked a claim to land I didn’t realize was up for grabs. I swore I’d closed myself off, and she’d found a broken gate and walked right through, not even bothering to announce herself.
“The older you get, the more you realize there’s a damn good reason to be afraid of just about every single thing in life. So you might as well do it all, because the fear sure doesn’t care either way.”
My heart-promise vision wasn’t about Mason and me. It was about Mason and Dara. They were both ambitious, competitive, and competent. Where Mason was goofy and naive, Dara was serious and insightful. He could bring a lightness to her steps. She could give him a healthy dose of support when he needed it most. They were each other’s perfect complements. How did it take me this long to realize that I, the keeper of Dara’s heart promise, had to be the one to find a way to fulfill it for her? It had been clear for a long time that she’d never do it for herself. She needed her nudge from the
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“You’re literally a firefighter,” Stevie interjected, inducing gentle laughs from all of us. “People don’t wait outside burning houses clapping. They want their pets and their belongings,” Frank told her. Stevie shook her head. “They should clap more.”
We did it. We won. We did our level best to keep our composure as Red Team collected their trophies. They deserved their moment. The second the lead singer said, “And our first place team—” all hell broke loose. Blue Team shot up, screaming and hugging one another, knocking over chairs on our way to the stage. “With a score of one hundred and ten, Blue Team!” I held hands with Julianne and Stevie as we rushed the stage. Captain Aja accepted our gigantic first-place trophy while Tommy held the comically large fake check that announced we had half off our camp tuition for the next summer. I took
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This place had become a part of me. Even if I never physically returned, every time the wind whistled through the trees or I smelled sunscreen and bug spray, I’d be back in this moment. Back at Camp Carl Cove, under a blanket of trees, safe from the outside world, celebrating a victory few outsiders would ever see as significant. It didn’t matter. I was a winner. A teammate. An adult who’d accomplished so much more than anyone would ever know how to give me credit for, because my accomplishments did not fit into any list I’d ever seen before. And that was more than okay with me. My other
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“This year’s Most Influential Camper is Garland Moore!” I rushed up to the stage to receive my trophy, bowled over with gratitude and also a healthy amount of shock. “Thank you,” I told my fellow campers, feeling a bit like a celebrity at an awards show, clumsy and stunned and a little bit light-headed. “This is a truly unexpected honor.
I am so grateful you guys think I’m influential. I feel like I learned everything from all of you, so I do not take this lightly. I’ve changed so much this week. You have no idea. But I never expected it was the kind of thing anyone else could notice. So believe me when I say this award means the world to me. Thank you so much for making this week such a goddamn delight! Hee-haw!”
Because Stevie won every award she put her mind to, which is exactly how she won me over. My strong-willed, clear-minded sunshine girl. Forever in first place in my heart.
“I hate the outdoors. I don’t need new friends. I’m on a deadline that creeps closer every day. But the twins promised me I’d enjoy this. And they were right.” “You’re the best adult camp counselor in the world,” I said, pulling back to salute her. She grabbed my hand. “Don’t let Tim hear you saying that. He’s the counselor for Cabin Fourteen, and he’s with five other people in bunk beds. We’re living in luxury here.”
“It’s you and me against everyone else,” I said, repeating what she’d told me that very first day. How right she’d been. She’d shown up for me from the very first moment I met her. This beautiful woman had fallen into my life unannounced and taken up a whole corner of my heart I never thought I’d give out, and she had it forever. I didn’t need to know what tomorrow would bring to know that she’d be a part of it. And every tomorrow after that.
Camp Carl Cove had truly provided me with more than I had known I needed. But there was so much I wanted to leave behind too, and Tommy was right. This place was safe. I could abandon things here, and the camp would take care of it.