Fall With Me

don’t have to be so harsh ,” she says.
    “If he’s going to be working here, he’s got to set a good example. The campers look up to him. Why they look up to him still remains a mystery to me—”
    “Hey, hey, easy,” Griffin says. He runs his hands under the water, soaping his arms all the way up to the elbows, like he’s a doctor about to go into surgery. “Sweetheart, you need to settle down. I’m not trying to get anyone worked up here or anything, okay? I just wanted to—”
    “You just nothing. Don’t come in here and start telling me what to do. In fact, we don’t actually need your help in here; why don’t you go back out and find some adoring campers to fawn over you, because that’s clearly where you excel. Your presence is not needed or wanted in here.”
    He finishes rinsing the suds from his forearms. From the corner of my eye, I can see Karen giving me a horrified look.
    “Okay,” he says slowly. “I guess I will go do that, then.” He slinks out of the kitchen.
    “What is your problem?” Karen asks. “Why did you yell at him like that? He just wanted to help!”
    I grit my teeth. I can feel the stress building in my neck and shoulders. “I think we can handle it in here,” I tell her. “As long as we stop talking about it and just get to work. Okay?”
    She nods but then looks at the door where Griffin has just disappeared.
    Great. Someone else who is on his side.
     

Chapter 11: Griffin
     
    The phone that Cam sent me arrived, and I might be mistaken, but I’m pretty sure he did in fact address the envelope himself. I choose a whimsical ring tone and leave it my pocket, though it hasn’t rung yet. Allison has been bugging me to give her the number, but I don’t, claiming I don’t know, which actually is the truth.
    Later that night, I see Jill heading to her cabin. I watch her as she walks, the big strides she takes with those long legs. She’s wearing cutoff jean shorts, with probably a four- or five-inch inseam, but there’s still a lot of slender thigh there on display.
    I jog after her. “Hey,” I say as I approach.
    She turns. “What do you want?”
    I smile. “Nice night for a walk.” It’s foggy and there’s a fine mist falling, but whatever.
    She doesn’t look amused. “So take a walk, then.”
    “Care to join me? I’m not really that familiar with the area. I wouldn’t want to get lost.”
    “I’m tired. It’s getting late. I want to go inside, take a shower, and go to bed.”
    “Want a back massage?”
    “No, but I bet Allison would.”
    “Aw, come on Jill,” I say. “Can’t you at least pretend you like me? Let’s just take a little walk, and then I promise I’ll never speak to you again, if you want.”
    She stares at me. She’s got a long, thin nose, and a small mouth, but full lips. I have never had a girl turn me down before, and the fact that she so clearly hates me is such a turn on that I almost tell her. But I don’t. Because this is new. And fun.
    “So if I take a walk with you now, you won’t speak to me for the rest of the summer?”
    “Yes. Well, only if you want it like that.”
    “Okay,” she says. She pulls the hood of her sweatshirt up. “I definitely want it like that. It’s a deal.”
     
    We walk down to the beach. She stays about five feet away from me, but I match her stride for stride.
    “Are we having a race?” I ask.
    “I’m naturally a fast walker.” But she slows a little and looks at me. “Was there a purpose to this walk or did you just need to burn off the last of your energy?”
    “I don’t know. I thought maybe we could try to make amends. I just see you and you seem so miserable and I hope I didn’t have a role to play in it.”
    “It really doesn’t have anything to do with you,” she says after a minute. “I mean, was I expecting you to show up here like this? No. But whatever. Clearly you’re not a psychopath and you’re good with kids, so in that regards, it’s working out.”
    “Why Jill,” I say. “I do believe that’s the first compliment you’ve ever given me.”
    “And probably the last.”
    “So what else does it have to do with, then?”
    “It’s just a bad time of year.”
    “Summer is the best time of year.”
    “Yeah, not when it’s the season that your parents were in a car accident that killed your father and paralyzed your mother.”
    “Oh.” Good one, asshole , I think. “I didn’t realize . . . I’m sorry.”
    She stuffs her hands in the