Counting On It (Hearts for Ransom Book 1) (5 page)

Never in a million years did Emily think she and Logan Taylor would be on civil speaking terms while she was perturbed with Abby.

Once inside the camper, Emily left Abby sitting on the couch watching the television while she went into the bedroom to put on her favorite tennis shoes. She needed to get out on one of the trails and walk some of her frustration off.

She was just tying her second shoe when the bedroom door opened.

“I can’t stand it when you’re mad at me,” Tears sparkled in Abby’s eyes.

Emily straightened up and faced her friend. “It’s not just that I’m angry because of the way you told me, I’m angry because you were right. Logan and I were acting like a couple of brats. As for what the rest of the Sluggers think, I don’t care.”

“Slammers, Em. Sloopy’s Slammers.” Abby walked over and sat beside Emily, leaning her head on Emily’s shoulder.

“Whatever.” Emily pulled away and looked into Abby’s eyes. “This isn’t my real job, and I’m going to have to deal with at least nine boys with who-knows-what kinds of problems, as well as an entire softball team. That’s on top of taking care of the rest of the campground.” She put her hand over her eyes. “Why couldn’t Mom and Dad have just asked me for a new car?”

Emily rolled over in bed and looked through her bleary eyes at the clock. It was only four-thirty. What had woken her up? Then she heard it—loud, excited voices. What in the world was going on?

As she stumbled into the living room, she almost ran into Abby, who had gotten up from the sofa and was trying to look out the window to see where the cacophony was coming from. Then Emily knew.

“It’s those guys again, isn’t it?”

Abby backed away from the mini-blind covered window and mutely nodded. “There are women over there.”

“Women?” Emily almost knocked Abby over as she wormed her way past her to look out the window herself. In the glow of the motor home’s exterior lights, she saw that there were indeed people of the female persuasion at Campsite seventy-four. And if she wasn’t mistaken, one of them was holding a baby.

“What do you think is going on over there?” Abby looked miserable. “Do you think Brody has a girlfriend with him?”

Emily sighed. “I have no idea, but they’re making too much noise. There are still several campers around them, and I’m sure they don’t appreciate that ruckus.”

She walked back into the bedroom and dug through the chest of drawers until she found a pair of jeans and light blue T-shirt. She’d need to go to the Rec building and do some laundry sometime that day, she thought absent-mindedly.

A few minutes later, she left a dejected Abby sitting on the couch kneading an afghan between her fingers as Emily once again walked to the campsite with the boisterous group.

As she got closer, she saw one of the men—the handsome black one—in a pair of boxers and undershirt, holding a baby. A woman who was surely his wife was standing close to him. The man with the long, black hair was swinging a woman around in a circle. There was the man with the long, blonde ponytail, kissing the girl crushed against him. A very pretty woman was snuggled under the arm of the guy with the dark buzz cut. She didn’t see any of the other players. Four men and their significant others were causing all that racket?

Then she saw him. Logan had obviously just gotten out of bed, evidenced by his long, low-riding pajama pants and white T-shirt. His brown hair was sleep-tousled, and his eyes looked deep and dark. Logan Taylor looked sexy! She should never ever have thoughts like that, but darn it, he looked
good
.

Before Emily could say anything, he addressed the group. “Sorry, you guys, but you’re too loud. You’re going to wake everybody around us up.”

“Excuse me. Is one of you Logan Taylor?” a man in some sort of uniform asked as he walked over to stand beside Matt Newman and his family.

“That’d be me,” Logan’s brows were cocked in puzzlement.

“Mr. Logan, we have instructions to drive these three motor homes and two pick-ups with boat trailers back to Ransom for you. I know it’s early, but we’re on a tight schedule today.” The young man spoke briskly.

“Say what? I’m half asleep here. You’re going to have to explain yourself.” The entire group had quieted, and all of them seemed to be waiting for the uniformed man’s response.

“Mr. Haynes told me to give the ladies an hour with their husbands. Then, my four coworkers and I are supposed to drive the trucks and campers back to town. You won’t be needing them anymore.”

Logan shook his head. He felt like it was full of cobwebs. “What do you mean, we won’t be needing them anymore? Where in the sam hill do you think we’re going to sleep?”

The driver’s clouded expression cleared. “We left the tents over by the bus—all nine of them—just like Mr. Haynes told us to.”

“Wait a minute.” This time it was Colton talking. “You want to take the campers back and leave us here with tents to sleep in?”

“Those are my instructions, sir.” Oh, no. At thirty, Colton Rennard was the oldest member of the team and didn’t like it when people referred to his age. He wouldn’t take being called “sir” sitting down.

“Listen here, you little piece…”

“Colton,” His wife’s voice was steel wrapped in velvet. “Ron is only doing his job.”

“Ron? You’re on a first-name basis with this pile of…”

“Colton Rennard, I’m ashamed of you.” Joni still hadn’t raised her voice. “I was there and heard Sam Haynes with my own two ears. He instructed Ron, Terry, and the others to unload the tents for all of you and drive the motor homes and trucks back to town. They’re leaving the bus for you to drive home in two weeks.”

“Well, gee, Joni, if they’re leaving the bus, why should I be upset?” Colton was not a happy man.

“I’m sorry, honey, but at least Mr. Haynes was nice enough to let us hitch a ride out and spend a little time with you. It’s not Lisa’s fault that their van broke down, and Marie’s brother borrowed her car. We couldn’t all fit in our Mustang and Liz’s convertible.” Joni was still speaking softly to her husband.

“You’re not staying for the night?” Matt, still holding his six-month-old son Henry, asked his wife.

Lisa shook her head. “I’m sorry, Matt. We wouldn’t have all been able to fit in the campers with you, anyway.”

“Mr. Haynes let us come along to pick them up so we could spend at least a little time with you before your project.” Coop’s fiancé, Marie, stepped forward.

The four men exchanged scowls.

“Mr. Taylor,” Ron addressed Logan again. “I was also instructed to tell you that you are free to call Mr. Haynes yourself to verify his instructions.”

Well, if that wouldn’t put the nail in their collective coffins. Logan was calling their sponsor at four-thirty in the morning, just to make sure he was really abandoning the team with a bunch of tents, for the love of mud, and taking their campers back. That would go over real well.

“You’ll have to give us enough time to wake up and get our things out of the campers.” His gaze sharpened. “That is, if we’re allowed to keep our clothes and other supplies?” Were they being left to make clothing out of leaves, and forage for nuts and berries to live on for two weeks? They’d all end up with unidentifiable rashes on body parts and as skinny as Stringbean if that were the case.

Emily had stood silently by, listening to the exchange. The truce she and Logan had called was saving him a lot of grief because she could have had a field day with this one. As it was, she felt sorry for them. This Mr. Haynes must have something to do with the organization putting the mentoring program together, but he wasn't very considerate. It was entirely too early in the morning to even be awake, let alone trying to set up tents and transfer their stuff from the motor homes to them.

Logan’s gaze zeroed in on her. “Did you know about this, Em?”

“Logan, you have my word. I don’t know any more about this big-brother program than you do. My boss just told me to reserve fourteen sites, get the walk-in cooler and freezer up and running, and be ready to help with group activities. He called Abby to come help me. That’s all. I promise you.” She wasn’t about to take the blame for something she had no part in.

After carefully studying her face, he decided she was telling the truth. How would she have known what that ignoramus Haynes was going to do, anyway? It didn’t matter. There was really no other option.

“Coop, will you wake up Brody and Jake? I’ll go rouse Jesse and Mason. We’ll just pile our stuff on the picnic tables until we can get our tents set up.”

“Bo, you’re right,” Colton candidly announced. “This bites.”

Nodding to Emily, Logan left to go subject his roommates to a rude awakening. There was really nothing left for him to say.

Emily slowly turned and walked back to the host site. She wondered if any of them even knew how to set up a tent. She’d have to wait and see.

“Shouldn’t we go make sure they’re okay?” It had to be the millionth time Abby had asked that question.

Emily sighed. She had dragged Abby out of the camper and to the Rec building to do her laundry so quickly, neither one of them had been able to look at the ball teams’ sites. If she were honest with herself, she did it because she was pretty sure it would be an unmitigated disaster, and she’d end up having to help them. It was one thing to call a peace treaty with Logan, but that didn’t mean she wanted to spend an inordinate amount of time with him.

“We’ll go check as soon as we get finished with my clothes. I’m going to be running around in my underwear if I don’t get this done.” She looked at the two dryers she was currently making use of.

“I’d let you borrow my clothes, but they wouldn’t fit,” Abby offered.

Emily was slender, but she still had an inch or so on Abby—especially in the upstairs department. Not to mention she was a good five inches taller than her friend. A question popped into her mind.

“Abby, do you suppose those men will have to do their own laundry and teach their charges how to do theirs as well?” She giggled at the image of that one great big guy patiently teaching a teenage boy how to sort whites from colors.

“Maybe the pastor or whoever’s in charge will have that planned out when they get here tomorrow.”

A lead weight settled in Emily’s stomach as reality set in. Tomorrow, at least nine boys would descend upon the campground. For two weeks, she’d have to help the men more often than she wanted to. Why hadn’t she just bought half a beef for her parents?

“Hi, ladies. I was hoping I’d find you in here.” Aaron Boone’s voice startled Emily.

“Aaron, you’re just the person we needed to see.” Abby stood up and gave him a quick hug.

After returning her hug, he stepped back and grinned at both of them. “Sara’s having a really good day. She’s the most positive I’ve seen her since this whole thing began.”

It was Emily who jumped up and hugged him this time. “That’s great, Aaron! She’ll do a lot better if she has that kind of attitude. I can’t explain it, but I see it at the hospital all the time. A patient with a positive attitude will show improvement much faster than a gloomy one.”

Aaron patted her back a couple of times, then released her. “I’m glad you brought up the hospital, Em. Pastor Rhinehart called me again this morning to give me some more details about their project. They have twelve boys for sure, and two other men besides the pastor will be on the bus with them. I hear we have Sloopy’s Slammers on site to help them.” His grin was back in full force.

“I wish I were as confident as you seem to be about those guys being positive influences,” Emily stated flatly. “Did you realize Logan Taylor is one of them?”

“Now, Emily Irene Scott, don’t tell me the two of you are still at each other’s throats. It’s been seven years since you graduated, and you’re both adults now. Surely you can let go of old mistakes.” Aaron really sounded like her dad.

“We’ve agreed to call a truce while the boys are here,” she admitted, “but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget all the trouble he gave me in school.”

Aaron looked at Abby, his eyebrows raised in question.

“Don’t look at me,” Abby raised both hands. “I’ve already had this conversation with her.”

Aaron shook his head, then directed his attention back to Emily. “You mentioned the hospital. Pastor Rhinehart needs a nurse to be present while they’re here. I know you’re technically on leave, but you’re still an R.N. Will you act as their nurse?”

Emily’s heart sank. Images of skinned knees and elbows, bloody noses, and poison ivy rashes rolled through her mind. “They don’t have anybody else? A member of the church or somebody?”

“No.” Aaron gave her a beseeching look. “Their only other option is to hire one, and they just don’t have the funding for it. Emily, the whole project will probably have to be scrapped if you won’t do this.”

She weighed her options. If they couldn’t go through with the project, she wouldn’t have to contend with the mess it was bound to be. On the other hand, if there was a possibility that even one young man would be helped by spending time with a positive male role model, she couldn’t conscionably be responsible for preventing it.

“I’ll be their nurse,” she sighed, “but we don’t have enough first aid supplies on hand.”

“Pastor Rhinehart has that covered. His parishioners donated everything you might need.”

“What about food?” Abby asked. “Will they have enough with them to last two weeks?”

“He has that figured out. They’ll have enough with them for the first week, and then a couple of the boys and their mentors will join you on your weekly shopping trip.” He was speaking to Emily. Maybe she could make sure Brody Gaines and his charge were chosen to go, and then she should have no trouble talking Abby into making their grocery run.

“I don’t think we have to worry about anything to do with these boys. Pastor Rhinehart seems to have a handle on everything.” Aaron looked too pleased for Emily to argue with him. Sara wasn’t the only one having a good day, and she wasn’t about to ruin his.

But she still had one question to ask. “How is it that they can afford to rent the campsites and buy food, but not pay a nurse?”

“The congregation donated enough money for the campsites and part of their groceries, and a local grocery store donated the rest of the food. The pastor agreed to let the owner use the project for publicity purposes in exchange. It seems that more than one person has that idea.”

Emily didn’t understand. “You’ve lost me. What other publicity is there going to be?” She knew with their doctor and hospital bills, he and Sara couldn’t afford to donate the sites, no matter how much he might benefit from the publicity.

Aaron smiled. “Why, the Slammers, of course. Their sponsor made a deal with the pastor for them to have the guys donate their time in exchange for free publicity. The Razor is sending a reporter and photographer to cover it. It’s a win-win situation.”

Except for the boys. “Then the…Slammers…aren’t helping these kids because they want to or think it’s the right thing to do. I remember now Logan saying it wasn’t his idea, but he had to do it. What kind of influence are any of them going to be if they’re being forced to do this?” It was all making terrible sense now. The team suddenly becoming part of the project, some of their statements, and now their campers being replaced by tents—all their sponsor’s idea.

“They’ll be great, Em!” Abby sure was enthusiastic. “They’re great ballplayers, and they won’t let the kids down.” She chewed her lower lip. “Besides, everything they do will have the potential to show up in the newspaper, so they’re not going to do anything wrong.”

All right. Aaron and Abby could have their little delusional celebration. Emily saw it for what it was—a grade A, certifiable disaster waiting to happen.