Page 59 of Then Came the Fall
“Well, in fairness, you do havetwins,” I noted, taking in the wood-framed cabin mailboxes lining the wall behind Callie.It’s like being frozen in time. Nothing changes here.
Callie smiled. “I think they’ve worn everyone out. Can you believe it’s Dad’s last summer?”
“I honestly can’t. He’s a Sound Hollow fixture. I still remember my first summer, when my parents couldn’t make it to Visitors Sunday and your dad let me work the grill with him. He gave me a foreign coin that he found in the cash box and told me it was real Navajo money. I still have it somewhere. I couldn’t have been more than like six years old.”
“Yeah, this is actually his fortieth year working here. I can’t imagine the place without him.” She shook her head and shrugged, summoning her cheerful side before allowing any dust to settle on the sad reality of aging. “But tell me! How are things? What have you been up to?”
“Things are good,” I said. “I just finished my master’s. Like literally, today. I drove here straight from graduation.”
“Waste no time, huh?”
I laughed.
“That’s great, though. Dad can’t wait to see you! And, oh my God, you know who else is here this summer, right?”
I shook my head.
Callie lowered her chin to her chest and looked up at me with a mischievous grin. “Shut up. Tell me you really don’t know.”
“Who? I have no idea.”
“Matt Thompson!”
My insides clenched.“You’re kidding, right?”
Callie drew an X over her heart and nodded solemnly, grinning like the Cheshire Cat fromAlice in Wonderland.
Thoughts swirled in my mind like a tornado. I tried to control my breathing, fearful that I might have a panic attack. “What brought him back?”
“Same thing that brings us all back. Real life isn’t working out how we want it to. Or, in my case, Dad needs the help. Although I love the reprieve. This place is so special.”
I nodded, my mind spinning with memories of Matt. I hadn’t thought about him much during the Prozac years. (I called them the Dark Ages.) I couldn’tstopthinking about him recently, starting about four months ago when I applied for this job. I searched his name on Google and couldn’t find anything at all, other than an old article from the Bethpage Herald about his three-sport MVP win at his senior awards dinner in high school.
“What job does he do?”Is he working on the farm?I wondered.
“He’s the facilities manager. He started last month.”
“Really?”
“I can’t believe you didn’t know! What a fun surprise.” Callie grinned and clapped her hands once, pulling them into her chest.
I shook my head, trying to comprehend the magnitude of this piece of information.
“He knewyouwere coming, if that helps at all. Seriously? You look like a total deer in the headlights right now.”
“He knew?”
“Of course! It’s a tight crew here in pre-camp.”
“And, did he seem…” My voice trailed off.
“Happy, Taylor,” she assured me. “He seemedveryhappy. I can’t believe you didn’t know,” she said again.
I took a breath, my chest pounding. I needed to get back outside, back to the safety of my car. Matt Thompson could walk into the office at any second, and I needed space to mentally prepare. “Well, camp belongs to all of us, right?” I unconvincingly tried to laugh it off. “It’ll be nice to have an old friend here.”If I can get my heart to stop racing before I give myself a coronary.“So, where am I staying?”
“You’ll be in Green Pines. You know where that is, right?”
“Yup. Girls’ side. By the beach stairs. They’re still using that cabin? I heard everything over there was closed up.”
