“She had trouble even acknowledging that I was her sister to her friends. I was the ugly duckling.” Jayden didn’t know why she was telling him such personal things and wished immediately that she’d just brushed off the comment. “Most of the time, I imagine both of us wish we were only children. What about you? Brothers? Sisters?”

“Brother, but he died of a brain tumor when he was sixteen. I was three years older and had just reached my duty station near Atlanta when I got the news. We didn’t even know he was sick, and then six weeks later he was gone. Then a couple of years after that, my folks were both killed when a drunk driver hit them, so Uncle Henry and Aunt Mary are the only family I’ve got left,” he said. “And you realize ugly ducklings grow up to be swans, right?”

“I’m so sorry about your brother.” Jayden swallowed a lump in her throat at the idea of losing another loved one, almost not noticing the sweet comment he’d made about a swan. She and Skyler had never gotten along, but she’d never wished that Skyler were dead. Her father had always favored Skyler and still did. She seldom saw him these days, but again, she hoped there’d be more time in the future to maybe mend fences with both her sister and her dad.

“I still miss them, but I’m grateful that I’ve got Henry and Mary,” he said. “At least you’ve still got your dad.”

“We don’t get along so well,” she admitted and then wondered again why she was talking to a complete stranger about her personal life.

“Why? You don’t have to answer that. It’s way too personal.” Elijah stood up.

“My folks divorced when I was in high school. He moved to Virginia with his girlfriend, who later became his wife. Skyler was in her sophomore year of college, so she didn’t have to choose where to live, but I did, and I chose Mama and my grandfather, who had come to live with us when Granny died. He never quite forgave me for that.” She wasn’t willing to tell Elijah that she’d never felt like her father really loved her like he did Skyler.

“Did you go to the same college as Skyler?” he asked.

“Nope, I went to a juco only a mile or two away and lived at home. Then I went to the university that was only five miles away and still lived at home,” she answered.

And I’d be living in that same house now if Skyler hadn’t sold it right out from under me, she thought.

“So y’all kind of grew apart?” Elijah suggested.

“You could say that,” Jayden agreed and changed the subject. “Why did you leave the air force? You were pretty close to putting in twenty, weren’t you?”

“After we lost the other three members of our team, I and a few friends all decided that we didn’t want to enlist again. It seemed like a big voice was yelling at me that if I didn’t get out, I’d be next,” he told her.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

“Hard work right here at Piney Wood has helped me move on. Maybe it’ll be your salvation, even if it wasn’t Skyler’s. I always got the feeling she was just here for the money,” Elijah said.

“What makes you think that?” Jayden looked up at him.

“Just the way she acted, I guess.”

“She’s always been materialistic, but hopefully she did help the girls she worked with to be better people,” Jayden said.

“We’ll hope.” Elijah rolled his neck to get the kinks out. “See you in about ten minutes in the dining room. I’ve spent the last couple of hours up under Henry’s house, helping him redo some plumbing.” He waved over his shoulder as he headed toward the dining building.

That he’d been in the service was evident in the way he squared his shoulders and walked out across the yard. She drew her brow down as she tried to remember what Skyler had said about him—maybe something about him being a drill sergeant?

“Is it time to go eat?” Tiffany slumped down into one of the other chairs.

Jayden checked her watch. “Five more minutes until y’all line up.”

“How come I have to sit with those other girls? Why can’t I sit with my own team?” she asked.

“That’s so you can get acquainted with the members of the other teams. There are cabin teammates and dining teammates, and then there’s a combined team effort when y’all are all together for exercises and the morning walk. I understand that you’ll gradually build that up to a two-mile jog by the time you leave,” Jayden answered.

“The news just gets better and better,” Tiffany pouted.

“Don’t ask the question if you don’t want to know the answer. I won’t lie to you or sugarcoat the truth, either. Do you think you’ll eat what’s put before you tonight?” Jayden hoped that Tiffany could find the strength to get over the eating disorder.

“Yes, ma’am,” she answered without hesitation.

One small victory at a time, Jayden thought as she got up and stepped off the porch. Something akin to a fire siren blew and startled her so badly that she almost dropped to the ground and covered her ears. All the girls poured out of the cabins to see what was happening.

Elijah yelled across the yard when the noise stopped. “That’s your call to eat three times a day, and you will also hear it in the morning. It means you have two minutes to line up and be ready.”

The girls ran across the yard and put their toes on the edge of the sidewalk, then looked to each side to see if there was six inches between their shoulders.

Elijah smiled at Jayden as she passed him. “They’re learning fast.”

“Looks like it.” She went on inside and tried to ignore the little shiver that danced down her spine when she was near him. She’d been attracted to tall, dark, and handsome men before, but in the end it all came down to trust and her lack of it. According to her own self-therapy, her issues came from the fact that her father had proved untrustworthy when he cheated on her mother.

There was no way she’d encourage anything with Elijah Thomas. She had only eight weeks to spend out here in the wilderness, and then she was going back to her city life. Jayden Bennett did not belong in a barren place like this, even if it was beautiful in an eerie way, so why start something she could never finish? And besides, why would she trust Elijah? She hardly knew him.

“What are you thinking about so strongly?” Novalene handed her a glass of sweet tea when she came into the dining room.

“They’ve lined up pretty well out there.” Jayden took a long sip of the ice-cold tea. “I’m hoping that’s a good sign.”

“The best sign will be if your girl doesn’t dump her food on the floor again. Right now, they’re all probably trying to decide if juvie would be worse than this,” Diana said from the adult table.

“If she does dump her food, Carmella and Ashlyn might smother her to death in her sleep tonight.” Jayden smiled.

Diana shook her head. “If she or any of the other girls at her table pull a stunt like that, we’ve all decided that the tablemates, not the teammates, will clean it up.”

“Sounds good to me,” Jayden said. “What’s that delicious aroma coming from the kitchen?”

“Pot roast, and Mary made a big chocolate sheet cake,” Diana answered. “I always gain ten pounds when I’m here. If I had a lick of sense, I’d walk with the kids every morning, but I’m too lazy for that.”