Page 64 of Wildfire
“You need to check the old collar for a number! I know the only thing you like to listen to is the ocean and Chuck Roberts slander, but somewhere in Malibu, if you listen very closely, there’s a child crying for their beloved family pet.”
“You’re being very dramatic today, darling. Are you on your period?”
Give me strength. “No.”
“Did you see that your father is spending summer break on the yacht with the weather girl and her family?” she says casually. “Elsa is very unhappy about it all. She wanted to go to Monaco.”
“Mom, where exactly would I have seen that? I’m in the middle of nowhere with next to no service trying to keep twenty kids safe,” I say with a huff. I’m not surprised that’s what he’s doing, and the way it doesn’t tear me up immediately is liberating. I wouldn’t goso far to say I hope they have a nice time, but I’m perfectly happy where I am.
“I don’t know what you do with your time, Aurora. You don’t tell me anything. I really do need to go, it’s time for Cat to have his dinner.”
“You called him Cat?”
“What else was I supposed to call him? He’s a cat. Good-bye, darling. Don’t forget to call again.”
I walk back in a daze to where everyone is watching a film, and by the time Emilia and Xander are rounding up the Brown Bears for bed, I still haven’t processed my mom replacing me with a stolen cat.
Temporary respite from my mom’s attention happens occasionally when she finds a new interest. Wine tasting, Pilates, a property developer called Jack—but never a pet. As weird as it is, I’m kind of happy she isn’t in that house alone anymore.
“WHAT IFIJUST SLEEPin your bed with you?” I ask Emilia.
“What if you just sleep in your bed alone?” she counters. There are two bedrooms attached to the kids’ cabin for the counselors doing night duty, and as spacious as the kids area is, the same cannot be said for the adjoining rooms. “It’s a storm. You’ll survive. You know what I won’t survive? Sharing that tiny bed with you.”
“You can sleep in the world’s tiniest bed with me, Ror,” Xander teases. “I volunteer because I’m such a good friend.”
I roll my eyes at him, knowing full well if I ever took him up on that offer he would run for the hills. “Hard pass, but thanks.”
It was here during a particularly bad storm that my fear started. Dry lightning caused a wildfire not far from Orla’s land and we almost needed to be evacuated. Thankfully, the fire service got it under control. I was so young, and ever since then, they’ve always freaked me out.
I’m helping Freya into her raincoat when the doors open and Russ strolls through them in sweatpants and a Brown Bear sweatshirt. He shakes the rain from his hair and scans the room, his eyes eventually landing on me. He smiles as soon as he spots me and I can’t stop the wide grin on my face. God, I need to get a grip. Freya coughs loudly, dragging my attention back to her. “Is Russ your boyfriend?”
If this is Leon’s bullshit again I swear he’s going to get locked outside next time I’m on night duty. “No. He is a boy who is a friend. He isn’t my boyfriend.”
“Then why do you always spend your days off together?”
“Do you like spending your time with your friends?” I ask her, pulling her hood over her brown curls. “Because I do, and that’s why I spend my days off with them.”
“I’m not a baby, you know,” she says. “And I can keep a secret.”
“There aren’t any secrets here, silly girl. Now, go and get into the line, please.”
“Okay,” she says, a hint of defeat in her voice. “But Russ looks at you the way my dad looks at my papa when he isn’t looking, so I think he might love you.”
“Good night, Freya,” I groan.
It’s an unwritten rule at camp that you will be terrorized by your campers about potential love interests. I know that because I was once the person doing all the terrorizing.
The smart thing to do is forget about it, because who would trust the opinion of a small child? And yet here I am, wondering exactly how Freya’s dads look at each other.
Thankfully, no other kids decide to pry into my life, and Russ stays far enough away from me that he doesn’t give Leon and his rumor mill any more material. I haven’t seen Russ since our almost-kiss, swiftly followed by running from the rain earlier.
I really thought he was going to do it this time. We were so closeand his hands on me felt right, but I suppose unlike me, he knows how to exercise restraint. I wasn’t expecting to have a wild summer filled with hookups, for obvious reasons, but surely no one will die if we have one tiny little kiss.
If he wants to fuck me against a tree, I could also be convinced to get on board.
God, I wish I’d brought my vibrator.
“You look like you’re thinking hard about something,” Russ laughs, filling the empty spot beside me. “What’s up?”
