You would like Diana and Novalene, Mama. I don’t think I’ve ever had friends like them. They are restoring my trust in people.

Good night, Mama . . .

She laid the journal aside, got into bed, and watched the patterns that clouds shifting over the moon made on the ceiling for a long time before she fell asleep. She had forgotten to mention in her journal entry that Elijah was a man who could be trusted. She’d have to go into more detail another time about that.

Chapter Twelve

In the middle of the afternoon on Thursday Jayden’s phone pinged. She stopped cutting up oranges for a fruit salad and pulled it out of her hip pocket to find a second selfie and text from Skyler. This picture showed her with a red-haired guy in what appeared to be an airport terminal. The man didn’t look much taller than Skyler, which was a surprise. Skyler usually went for the tall, dark, and handsome guys—like Ray Don, the bad boy she’d had a crush on in high school. The text said that she would be in Alpine on Friday and she had exciting news.

Jayden took a deep breath and let it out in a whoosh. “I was hoping that Mary was sending me a message,” she said out loud.

“Everything all right in here?” Elijah removed his cap and wiped sweat from his forehead as he entered the building. “Summer has arrived with a vengeance. It’s ninety-four degrees out there.”

“Have you heard from Skyler?” Jayden asked.

“Nope.” Elijah picked up a bottle of water and downed half of it. “Have you?”

“I just got a selfie and a text that said she’ll be in Alpine tomorrow,” she answered.

“That’s the first I’m hearing of it,” Elijah said. “I wonder if she’s coming to accept the offer that I left on her voice mail or just to visit you.”

“I guess we can see easily enough.” Jayden took another deep breath and called her sister, but she couldn’t imagine Skyler visiting the camp. After five rings it went straight to voice mail, and she didn’t even bother leaving a message. “I guess we’ll know when she shows up.”

“Are you okay with her being here? I’m pretty desperate for help right now.” Elijah finished off the bottle of water and poured himself a glass of lemonade.

“I’ll be fine,” she told him, and sincerely hoped she was telling the truth.

“I’m going back to plow another field. Karen is in Moonbeam Cabin now. She said of the six that she’s seen so far today, there’s some clear progress.” Elijah settled his cap back on his head. “See you at suppertime.”

“That’s good news about the girls.” Jayden really didn’t like giving up her job with her girls, but hiring more help was up to Elijah, not her.

“Yep,” Elijah threw up a hand and waved on his way out the door—then he stopped. “If she is coming to help us out, you can move over to Henry and Mary’s house.”

“Thank you,” Jayden said. “I’d like to still sit in on their counseling hour so that we don’t lose any ground. Too bad Skyler hates to cook and never learned how to do much more than open cans and microwave frozen dinners. As much as I like cooking, I’d give her this job so my girls wouldn’t be upset.”

“Maybe it’ll be a smooth transition,” Elijah said as the door closed behind him.

“Yeah, right,” Jayden said. “It’ll be about as smooth as a ride down a dirt road with a flat tire.”

“We’re here,” Keelan yelled as she and Bailey arrived in the kitchen to help with supper duties. “We’re finished with our therapy, and Novalene said for us to come out here and help with whatever you say for us to do. I wish I could take Karen home with me so she could be my therapist all the time.”

“Make the best of your time here with her and maybe when you go home, you’ll be ready to open up to your therapist there a little more,” Jayden told her. “You are all making great progress in learning to be comfortable in your own skin, and I’m proud of you.”

“Do you think it’s because we’re all away from our circle of friends?” Bailey asked.

“Could be. Do you think you’ll change that group when you leave here?” Jayden asked.

Keelan got two aprons from the hook on the wall and tossed one toward Bailey. “I’m going to change a lot of things when I get back. I don’t need drugs or to be around people who use them. I only used the money I got from them to buy stuff—bad stuff like liquor for parties—anyway.”

“Me either,” Bailey agreed.

Who would have thought they’d figure that out in such a short time? Jayden thought. But then I’m questioning my own job, my past, my future, and lots of things since I came here, so it shouldn’t be any big surprise that these kids picked that up so fast.

Jayden beat her pillow until there wasn’t a lump in it. She counted how many sounds came from crickets and how many from tree frogs until the noise of the air conditioner compressors kicking on blotted out both. Then she closed her eyes and tried to imagine sheep jumping over a white picket fence. When Elijah leaned his elbows on the top rail and smiled at her in the vision, she lost count. Finally, she threw back the sheet, pulled on a pair of jeans and her shoes, and headed for the barn.

When she arrived, she went right to Dynamite’s stall and stuck her hand over the top rail to pet him. “Did you sense that I needed to talk tonight? Is that why you’re still awake, too?”

The horse whinnied and nudged her hand.

“I thought so,” Jayden said. “My sister is coming tomorrow and quite possibly may be staying. I don’t want to work with her, but Elijah needs the help and it would be selfish of me to say anything to discourage her. And who knows, she might need the money after that trip to Europe. Living with her fancy ways until she went away to college wasn’t easy. Of course, Mama said it was both of our faults that we couldn’t get along. Did she think that giving Skyler some responsibility would help us to bond together when Skyler sold the house? Maybe she was right, and us working together will be a good thing. What do you think, Dynamite?”

Jayden could have sworn the horse sighed.

“Yep, that’s where I am, too,” she said. “I’ve always wanted her to like me, so maybe this is my opportunity to learn not to give a damn. Thanks for the advice.” She gave him a couple more pats and headed back to Daydream Cabin. She got out her journal and started to write in it, but she was way too sleepy, so she put it aside, fell right to sleep, and dreamed about putting up a Christmas tree in the dining hall.

“Like that would ever happen,” she said when her alarm went off. She got out of bed, stretched the kinks out of her back, and pulled a pair of faded jeans from the closet.

She stared at them for a moment, then hung them back up and got dressed in one of her nicer shirts and newer jeans. “I’m not really doing this for Elijah,” she muttered, but in her heart she knew better.

The aroma of brewing coffee met her when she entered the dining hall. Elijah was sitting at the table with a cup in his hands.

“This is a nice surprise,” she said.

Elijah smiled. “I had trouble sleeping last night. Are you going to be all right with Skyler working here? I should have asked you before I called her.”