“Fair enough. How about while we’re all in the dining room at dinnertime, we talk about it with the staff?” Elijah suggested.

“This is a big decision for us.” Henry sighed. “I’m glad you’re willin’ to take over a little earlier than we planned.”

Elijah draped an arm around the shorter man’s shoulders. “I’d do anything for you and Mary. I owe you so much.”

Elijah talked to each of the counselors that morning, and they were all in agreement with him. Jayden had offered to take over the kitchen duties and said that she’d enlist her girls if she needed help. Novalene and Diana both said they would watch over Jayden’s girls when they were needed. Elijah breathed a sigh of relief that things had gone that smooth, and now it was time to have a group visit around the table after dinner.

“We can’t tell you how much we appreciate all of you offering to do this for us,” Henry said. “We talked ourselves into leaving and then talked ourselves out of it a dozen times since breakfast.”

“I’m glad to take over the kitchen,” Jayden said. “And there’s no need to call in another counselor. I can do both jobs.”

“I’ll help with Jayden’s girls or in the kitchen. Either one,” Novalene said.

Diana raised a hand. “Ditto. I’ll do whatever needs doing in any place.”

Elijah felt such a surge of emotion that he had to swallow three times to get the lump in his throat to disappear. He was nervous about taking over on such short notice, but it wouldn’t be all that much different than if he’d done the same thing in December—except by then he would have hired more help.

“We just didn’t feel right. What kind of example would it set for the girls for us to leave in the middle of their time here?” Mary asked.

“You know how you get that prick in your heart when you make the wrong decision?” Henry said. “Well, we both got that feeling when we decided we couldn’t leave this place in the middle of a season. Then we talked about it and decided that we need to be with Joe, and that brought peace to our hearts. I don’t want my friend and brother-in-arms to pass from this earth all alone in a strange facility, so we’ve decided to retire a few months early. We don’t want to miss a single minute with Joe. We’ll be leaving in the morning, and Elijah, we thank you for the offer to fly us, but we want to drive so we’ll have our own vehicle while we’re there.”

Jayden got up and rounded the end of the table to give Mary a hug. “The example you’ll be setting for these girls is that you stand by your friends—your real friends that have been true to you.”

“Thank you all again for your sweet support,” Mary said. “If you have questions, we’ll have cell phones with us. I wouldn’t agree to do this if I didn’t think y’all could take care of the girls and this place just fine. Other than Jayden, you are all seasoned camp counselors, and she’s proven herself very well in the kitchen as well as in her cabin.”

“You don’t worry about a thing,” Novalene said. “I’m not worth a damn in the kitchen when it comes to cooking, but I’m a whiz when it comes to washing dishes or cleaning up, so if Jayden needs help, I’m here for that, too.”

Diana nodded in agreement. “Like I said, I’ll do whatever Elijah needs me to do. I know that Henry oversees the girls when it’s their turn to milk the cows or gather eggs. I’ll be there at anything the girls from Sunshine Cabin, and all of them, are doing.”

“Call it semiretirement.” Jayden pulled off her cap and wiped sweat from her brow with a paper napkin. “Why don’t y’all spend this afternoon packing and let us prove to you that we can do this?”

“I’d like to do just that.” Mary dried her wet cheeks on her apron tail. “We thought we’d leave about five in the morning, and we don’t want a bunch of fanfare.”

“At that time of morning, you might get a yawn or two from the girls out in the yard, but no big send-off.” Elijah managed a smile, but the thought of seeing them drive away tightened his throat.

“Maybe a wave from the more energetic ones,” Jayden added.

“Have you called Joe and told him?” Elijah asked.

“Yes, I did, and he’s so grateful.” Henry pulled a red bandanna from his bib pocket and wiped his eyes. He cleared his throat and then draped an arm around Mary’s shoulders. “Darlin’, before we both get all emotional again, we should go get our SUV packed and ready to go.”

Elijah watched them walk out of the dining room, hand-in-hand like they went everywhere, and hoped that someday he would find a woman he could love just like that. His eyes fell on Jayden. A woman like that, he thought.

He turned to the three women and said, “I tried to call Skyler to see if she would be interested in coming back for the remainder of the session, but all I got was her voice mail. Just wanted y’all to know that we might have a little more help on the way.”

Jayden went over every possible scenario she could think of as she prepped for supper that evening. How would she and Skyler get along if her sister decided to come and finish out the session? Would it be a good thing, or would it drive the wedge between them even deeper? What if Skyler treated her like pond scum as usual? How would she affect the friendships Jayden was building with the other counselors and her girls?

“My girls,” she whispered. “I can’t leave them in her hands, not when we’re just now breaking through some problems.”

A tingling feeling on her neck told her that Elijah was close by even before she turned around and saw him pouring himself a glass of sweet tea at the far end of the buffet line. “You snuck up on me.” She hoped he hadn’t heard her muttering.

“I just need a minute to settle . . .” He took a big drink of his tea, and his expression said something was terribly wrong.

Jayden stopped what she was doing and rounded the end of the bar. “Did one of the girls do something wrong? Was it mine? I can tell that something isn’t right.”

“Everything is all right, even if it’s just hitting me that everything being good and right doesn’t mean it’s not a little bit scary,” Elijah answered. “Your girls are fine. They are all doing their jobs. Henry and Mary just drove away, and now it’s up to me to make this place work.”

Jayden got herself a bottle of cold water and sat down at a table. “I thought they weren’t leaving until morning.”

“Henry is in a hurry to see Joe, and there’s lots of daylight left in today. They can be halfway to Dallas by dark and have a big jump on tomorrow’s leg of the trip.” Elijah pulled out a chair and sat down. “I want to thank you again for stepping up to do the cooking. The rest of the counselors are taking on more work, but you’re biting off the biggest chunk, so thanks.”

“You are welcome. Like I said before, I didn’t come here expecting to make friends, but I have, and I’d do about anything for Mary and Henry.” Jayden picked up her water and downed a third of it.

“I’ve known for months that this transition was coming, but I thought I’d have more time to interview help for the cook’s job and maybe hire someone to help with the outside work,” he said.