“That . . . would be my sister.” Jayden’s thoughts went spinning out of control. Had Skyler lied to her about going to Mexico to start a fancy school with her fiancé? “When’s the woman’s birthday? Dallas is a huge city. There’s probably a dozen or more Skyler Bennetts living in or near the place.”

“April third, nineteen eighty-six,” Melanie answered.

What in the world? “That’s probably her, then. I can’t imagine another person having the same birthday as she does.” Questions still ran around Jayden’s head like words on a merry-go-round.

“I told her that we only had an opening in middle school math, but I may call her back and see if she’d be more interested in high school English. Since she’s your sister, what do you think she’s best qualified to teach?” Melanie asked.

“I’m really not sure how to answer that question. I would think that she could do a good job in whatever she sets her mind to do, and she’s been working as a counselor for the past several years,” Jayden answered, even though she couldn’t imagine Skyler teaching in a rundown public school instead of a prestigious private one.

“Thanks for being honest. Stop by and see me if you have time when you come back up here to move your things.”

“I sure will, and you’ll have my formal letter of resignation in the next few days.” Jayden ended the call and plopped down in a chair. Should she call Skyler, or leave things alone? What could have happened that she would leave Glory Bound? It might be petty, but she hoped that Skyler was getting a little bit of her own medicine.

“Thought I’d run by for a pick-me-up glass of tea,” Elijah said as he came through the door, hot air whooshing in behind him.

“I’m hoping that offer to stay on here as the cook still stands. I just quit my teaching job,” Jayden spit out all at once before she lost her nerve.

Elijah rushed across the room, picked her up out of the chair, and twirled her around with her feet off the floor until they both started to wobble. Then he set her down and cupped her face in his hands. “Please tell me you’re serious.”

“Very much so. I can’t stand to leave future girls in the hands of someone like those two we interviewed,” she teased. “Seriously, I want to be here at the camp with you.”

His lips met hers in a fiery kiss that caused the whole world to disappear, leaving only herself and Elijah in a vacuum where no one existed but the two of them. If she had a single thought that she’d made the wrong decision, that kiss and his body pressed so close to hers erased it completely.

Storm clouds brought thunder, lightning, and rain that afternoon. Any outside work came to a halt and the girls spent time in their cabins. Jayden did all the prep work for supper and then made a run for the Daydream Cabin to check on her girls.

She’d just cleared the porch when Novalene yelled over from the Moonbeam Cabin porch. “Hey, your kids are over here. I’ll keep them until suppertime. Right now, they’re giggling about their first days here.”

“Thank you,” Jayden hollered above the noise of the rain pounding the rooftops. She caught her breath, wiped the water from her face, and was about to go into the cabin when her sister’s little red sports car parked so close that it almost took out the edge of the flower bed.

If the chairs hadn’t been wet, Jayden would have fallen backward into one of them out of pure shock. The last person in the world that she thought she’d see that day was Skyler. A loud clap of thunder brought with it a brand-new downpour. Skyler got soaked when she got out of the car. When she tried to run around the vehicle and get in out of the rain, she slipped and fell into a mud puddle.

A giggle bubbled up from inside Jayden that she had no control over. Skyler gave her a dirty look as she fought her way to her feet and made it up the steps and onto the porch. She looked like a drowned rat that had just barely survived a hurricane. Her blonde hair hung down her back in limp strands, and her mascara made long black streaks down her face. Her cute little white shorts and tank top looked like they’d been dragged through the hog wallow.

“I need help,” Skyler whined.

“I think you need to take a trip through the bathhouse,” Jayden told her.

“Give me one of your old shirts. It’ll be miles too big, but it will do until I can get back out to my car and get my suitcase,” Skyler said.

“Why would I do that?” Jayden led the way inside and sat down on one of the sofas.

“Because . . . ,” Skyler started and then stopped. “Because you’d do it for a stranger. You’re that kind of person, and I need more of your help than just a shirt. I need to talk to someone, and I don’t have anyone else but you.”

Jayden got up, went to her bedroom, and brought back an old T-shirt and a package of wet wipes. Where was Skyler’s rich fiancé? Had he figured out that he didn’t want to be strapped to a self-centered woman?

“You’ll need to go to the bathhouse to clean up, but I have a bottle of water right here. We keep those here in the cabin so we can keep the girls hydrated.” She tossed the shirt and wipes on the sofa.

“I know that, you realize. These will work fine.” Skyler stripped out of her shorts and shirt, kicked off her shoes, and used ten wipes to clean the mud off her arms and legs. “I’ve applied at your old school, but I simply cannot teach in a place like that,” Skyler said.

No surprise there, Jayden thought. “I don’t see an engagement ring. Are you and David having problems?”

“He broke up with me, and the school took him back because his grandmother is a big, big supporter, but they wouldn’t give me back my job. Now my perfect wedding is ruined, and the thousand-dollar deposit I paid the wedding planner is nonrefundable.”

No tears. Very little emotion. She could have been talking about what kind of toppings to order on pizza rather than the person she had planned to spend her life with.

“Why did David break up with you?” Jayden asked.

Finally clean, except for a smudge of dirt on her neck, Skyler slipped the T-shirt over her head and sat down on the other sofa. “Because he can’t forgive, and he claims to be a Christian. He’s not even thinking about the position he put me in. I’m scrambling to find another job before school starts. Do you know how hard it is to find just the right fit for someone like me?”

“I didn’t ask you about the school administration,” Jayden said. “I asked why David broke up with you.”

Skyler tilted her chin up and looked down her delicate little nose at Jayden. “I don’t want to talk about that.”

“You’re going to talk about it, or else I’m not listening to anything else you’ve got to say,” Jayden told her.

“I’ve got an interview at a Catholic school in Brownsville tomorrow morning. I’m on my way down there now, and I’m going to give you as a reference.” Skyler scowled. “I need you to back me up.”

Jayden cleared her throat, tucked her chin against her chest, and looked up from under her drawn dark brows at her sister. “If I remember right from your last visit, we aren’t friends or sisters. That was your choice, not mine, and you still haven’t answered my question about you and David.”