Page 133 of Never Will I Ever

From the way his grin spreads, he must read the apprehension all over my face. Thankfully, he doesn’t comment on it, and just offers me a friendly nod.

“Well, hey, I’ll let you get back to working. Don’t be a stranger, all right? Teresa and I are hoping you’ll be back over at some point once camp is over.”

My chest swells a little, knowing, at the very least, I have their approval. “Yeah, I’d like that.”

“Perfect. Tell Kaleb to keep those two in line for me, all right?”

I laugh, shaking my head. “I think I can do that.”

He’s gone after a few more parting words, hopping into the truck and pulling out of the parking lot before I have the chance to drop the twins’ bags off with one of the CITs.

I’m in the middle of telling them what cabin the twins are in when my name is called from somewhere behind me.

“Avery!”

Turning on my heel, I find Elijah barrelling toward me at full speed, no signs of stopping. I brace myself for impact, and it’s a good thing too, because he slams into my chest with a bear hug moments later.

“You came back.”

“I only told you I was about eighty times,” I remind him with a laugh.

With permission from Dean Marshall, Elijah and I have remained in touch over the past few months. I was worried he may not let it happen, all things considered, but I think his perspective of me changed when I turned down my place at Foltyn. He even mentioned something about being a good example for Elijah, which blew me out of the water to hear.

But the kid’s become something of a little brother to me, and I know there’s so much more I can learn from him.

Elijah finally releases me and shrugs. “I know you said you’d be here, but you could’ve changed your mind.”

“From where I’m standing, it seems like you’re the one who changed yours,” I return, giving him a dubious look.

One of the last times we spoke, he said he wanted to tell his father that he didn’t want to come back to camp this summer; he’d rather go to some nerdy tech camp instead. Yet, from his obvious presence here, it seems that didn’t go very well.

Or he chickened out on telling him; it’s a toss up at this point.

He lets out a soft sigh. “He said I can do it once I’m a little older. Something about ‘being a kid and spending time outside’ or whatever,” he mutters, imitating his father’s voice as he quotes him.

Laughing, I shake my head. “Hey, that’s a decent compromise, right?”

“I guess.” His brown eyes flash from me to something behind me, and I turn to find the LaMothe twins and Kaleb talking to each other. He lets his gaze linger there for a moment, as do I, before he asks, “How are things with Kaleb?”

My stomach fills with those stupid butterflies that never quite seem to settle these days. Especially when I’m looking at him. “They’ve been pretty great, honestly.”

“Good. Glad you got your head out of your ass.”

“Language!” I say, chuckling some more. Mostly because I can’t fault him for that particular opinion. I’m pretty happy with the decision myself.

Elijah completely ignores my reprimand and tries to glance at the list in my hand. “Who am I bunking with this year?”

I glance down, reading it over until I find his name.

“Liam and Max,” I reply. There’s a brief hint of disappointment that crosses his features before he shakes it free, but it doesn’tstop me from calling him out on it. “Is that not okay?”

“No, it’s fine. I just thought I’d be with Cole and Dayton again.”

Arching a brow, I ask, “You want me to see if we can swap it?”

That gets his expression to light up a bit, and he nods. “Can you do that?”

“I’ll see what I can do,” I murmur, chuckling. “But, hey, why don’t you head over to them and catch up while I see about getting your bunking arrangements changed.”

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