Lighting the Flames (4 page)

“
So,
fair lady. You
’
re making yourself comfortable in the Jiffy
Cabin?
”

Gen looked
around.
“
Oh, no. Don
’
t tell me you already ripped off the Jiffy
Latrine guy.
”

“
Not
yet, but he
’
ll be back. And I will be ready.
”
He looked at the
adjoining door to his room, then back at Gen. She unzipped her
sleeping bag all the way, then shook it to dislodge any potential
bugs or pebbles left inside.

“
Whoa.
”
He crouched down next to her.
“
Gen, that really
smells like a massive joint.
”

“
Maybe there
’
s one in here,
”
Gen said, inspecting the
edge.

“
That would be
…
something.
”
Jeremy grabbed the coiled towel and
shook it out. Then he began folding it, flipping one edge over and
matching the corners precisely.
“
Why
’
re you using an air
mattress?
”

“
You
see a bed in here?
”

“
Good point.
”
His ears began to turn red, and he looked down at
the folded towel in his hands before he shoved it quickly back into
her duffel.

Gen looked closer at
the sleeping bag, then sniffed the fabric.
“
Good grief.
Seriously, does no one wash these things?
”

“
Not
really. They
’
re not used for, ahem,
sleeping
after the end
of camp, and no one does that laundry until the start of
summer.
”

Jeremy
hadn
’
t been at camp this past summer, and neither had she. But
he had been on the OA staff the year before, and her imagination
picked that moment to torment her with fantasies
she
’
d imagined since then and had tried to forget. Fantasies
involving secluded areas in the forest, sleeping bags, and, like
he
’
d
said, a distinct lack of sleeping.

Now it was her turn to blush.

“
Gross. I turn down sleeping on the nooky couch and end up
with the nooky bag.
”
Gen zipped up the fabric and rolled it into a
tight bundle.
“
I have to go back to OA and find another bag
that
’
s not crusty, doesn
’
t smell like a joint,
and isn
’
t coated with weird stains. That
’
ll be
easy.
”

“
Nah, don
’
t worry. I got it.
”
Jeremy stood up and scratched his
head with both hands. When he finished, his brown hair stood up in
a fuzzy halo around his head, making him seem even
taller.

“
Nice wolf do.
”

“
Thanks.
”
Then he grinned at her, his face lighting with
inspiration.
“
Follow me, Red Riding Hood, to the storage
pit!
”

Too small to be a bedroom or an office, the closet
at the end of the hall had become a giant pit of random crap over
the years. Jer walked toward it, peeking in the other rooms to see
if there was anything useful lurking in the empty corners.

Gen followed
him.
“
I can promise you, anything you pull out of the pit is
going to smell worse than what I
’
ve got
already.
”

“
Oh,
ye of little imagination.
”

“
I
don
’
t need imagination to know that the stuff in there
smells.
”

Jer pulled open the
door and looked inside, reaching up to pull the string on the
lightbulb and leaning his arm against the door frame above her
head. He frowned.
“
I know I put an old bed frame in
here.
”

“
When was that?
”
Gen ducked under his arm and moved
into the closet. Her hand brushed over the softness of his shirt as
she slid past him, and she caught a trace of his scent. The
familiarity of it made her press her fingers against him, against
the firmness beneath the faded cotton of his shirt. It was no big
deal to touch him. They hugged, they sat arm in arm by the fire,
and they pushed each other in and out of windows in the middle of
the night, pulling off pranks that campers still talked about. It
should be no problem to touch him now.

Except it was. His
shirt and the skin beneath it were very warm, almost hot, probably
from lifting luggage and helping families unpack. The muscles
beneath her fingers were hard, and there were curves
she
’
d never met before, ridges she wanted to explore and see
for herself. He
’
d changed in the last year and a
half
—
and not just by growing a beard. He seemed more solid,
stronger and more at ease with his height and size.
He
’
d
never been small, not even as a kid, but when he hit his teenage
growth spurt, he
’
d grown in all directions and kept going. Once they
were staff members, he was always the tallest out of everyone, and
one of the few people strong enough to move canoes in and out of
the dining hall in the middle of the night by himself.

Well, Gen had helped.
She hadn
’
t grown much as a teen, so she was small enough for him to
lift so she could crawl into windows and unlock doors. She
couldn
’
t carry a canoe over her head by herself, but she could
help him arrange canoe Stonehenge in the dining hall.

Her hand remained on
his side, and though she was looking into the closet, she
didn
’
t see any of it. Her attention had been transferred
entirely to her fingertips, and they wanted to explore. She yanked
her hand away and looked up at him, embarrassed.

He was watching her, a surprised expression on his
face. But his eyes were narrow, and his attention felt like she was
standing too close to a bonfire.

She moved away, pulling her focus back where it
should be. What had they been talking about?

Right. A bed.

Just what she should be thinking about at that
moment.

“
You
put a bed in here? Really? When?
”

“
About two years ago.
”

She nodded, turning to
face him.
“
The old wood bed from the cabins down by the
lake?
”

“
Yeah.
”

“
Firewood. Last year. Second session.
”

“
Crap,
”
Jeremy said, one hand in his hair.

“
Yeah, it did make crap firewood.
”

“
There has to be a bed somewhere close by that we can
move.
”

“
Why? I have an air mattress,
”
she
replied.

Jeremy shook his
head.
“
Sleep on the floor? There
’
s, like, icicles down
there. Penguins could live in your room. You can
’
t. No
way.
”

She blinked at him.

“
Gen. The floor of this cabin isn
’
t well insulated, if
at all. There
’
s no way you
’
re sleeping on the
floor, and definitely not in a bag that smells like spliff and
spooge.
”

She was trying not to
notice the expression on his face, the way he looked at her with
concern that made her feel both warm and nervous inside.
“
Good name
for a band,
”
she said.

His grin erased the
seriousness.
“
Totally. See? This is why you
’
re my first choice
for partner in crime.
”

She felt a hot twist
in her stomach.
“
I
’
m still not helping you steal that
sign.
”

“
We
can find another sleeping bag.
”
He put one hand on her shoulder and,
she noted, ignored what she
’
d said. He closed the
closet door behind them, and his touch brought her with him down
the hall.
“
I have spare blankets in my car, and there are more in the
linen supply by housekeeping.
”

She shrugged.
“
Okay.
”

“
This is going to be great, Gen. Instead of sneaking out
with bug spray, we can stay in and plot world
domination.
”

“
Or
camp domination. Either way.
”

He grinned at her, his face happy and relaxed, and
she felt guilty for her hesitation around him, her almost
instinctive need to push space between them.

“
I
’
m taking this pot-reeking thing back to its pot-reeking
friends, and I
’
ll find a less grody sleeping bag on my way
back,
”
he said, grabbing the offending coil of fabric and tucking
it under his arm.

“
Thank you.
”

“
Totally.
”

She watched him
through the window. He marched through the snow, her
ex
–
sleeping bag under his arm. Her smile faded slowly, and she
didn
’
t look away until he was out of sight.

Even with separate rooms and a shared door, and no
intentions between them, this was not going to be easy.

*

Gen was folding one of her shirts for the third time
when she overheard Scott and his wife, Rebecca, enter the cabin.
Rebecca sounded angry.

Gen dropped her shirt
on a shelf and went to close her door to give them some flimsy
particleboard privacy when she heard Rebecca say,
“
Yeah, and
this time next year you might not have a job.
”

She froze, waiting to
hear Scott
’
s response as they entered their room across the
hall.

“
I
know
…”
she heard him say, but the rest of his response was muffled
when the back door opened. Then the sound of footsteps down the
hall covered up everything else. Gen was still holding her breath,
wondering if it were possible to hear anything through the walls
between her room and Scott
’
s when Jeremy walked
in.

“
Yo
!
”
His voice boomed
out, echoing off the walls and ending any audible conversation in
the next room. Gen gestured at him to be quiet, then grabbed his
arm and pulled him down the hall.

He tried to pull his
arm back.
“
Gen.
”

Gen held her finger to her lips and dragged him to
the back door.

“
Genevieve. I just took my coat off and I
’
m
—”
He was silenced by
Gen
’
s hand over his mouth. His eyes widened.

She stood on her toes
and leaned in close, her hand and a fraction of air between their
mouths. She saw him glance at her lips, but she
didn
’
t remove her hand. She could feel the ice clinging to his
beard, and the cold softness of his cheeks beneath her fingertips.
His lips twitched beneath her index finger.

“
Come with me,
”
she said in a bare whisper, the
warmth of her breath covering her hand.
“
I need to talk to
you.
”

He nodded. She removed her hand, slowly, watching
his eyes, but then she lost her nerve and looked away.

Jeremy stood perfectly
still as Gen pushed her feet into her boots, put on her parka, and
handed him his own, still covered with snow that
hadn
’
t melted yet.