Page 32 of Class Clown

He tilted his head and pinched his lips. “Do not try to set me up.”

“Why not? Rumor on the street is that you’re cute.”

“Ruby, another time I’d be up for the adventure, but I’m the boss here and it would be a bad look for me to be in any sort of relationship with my employees. I can’t afford the distraction or the complications.” His tone was serious and I nodded, accepting the truth. “Promise me.”

I sighed. “This adult version of you is both inspiring and annoying. I promise.” I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him close. “You know, you’ve followed me into a million scrapes and they mostly turned out well.”

He chuckled and returned the hug, patting me lightly on the back. “I guess so. Are you going to be okay?”

I sighed. “Yeah. It just, it’s made me sort of nervous the past couple of days and I didn’t like it.”

We let go and he smiled at me. “A quick phone call should take care of it.”

“Okay. Thanks.” I held up a finger. “One more thing. If it becomes necessary for me to attack him in self-defense, can I give him a proper burial in that Shrek t-shirt?”

He grinned and I grinned back at him, my little brother who I loved so much.

“Absolutely not,” he laughed.

I went to leave the room and was once again surprised by the sight of Nico standing there. He was in the doorway, an odd expression his eyes. Today his ballcap was white, and it made his skin look that much richer, hiseyes deeper.

Cole, who still had his back to us, called out one last thing. “Next time you’re worried, Rubes, don’t Google it,” he teased, moving to sit behind his desk. “It makes everything seem worse.” I noticed him peek out the window before he sat, and I giggled as he shook his head. “He’s still sitting there.”

“That’s because he’s waiting for me to leave, like any good stalker does,” I replied.

I brushed past Nico, and before I’d turned the corner at the end of the hall, I heard him say to Cole, “She has a stalker?”

Cole’s laugh followed me out into the fresh mountain air.

Chapter 9

Ruby’s Truth: Keep it cat-sual.

I sat in Cole’s quiet office, watching the sun set over the mountain tops, and gave a satisfied sigh of relief that the second week of camp had gone off without a hitch. Two weeks down and I was still smiling. There’d been a few kids needing some TLC, but it was nothing worth stressing over. My matchmaking efforts were satisfactory, and now that I had a handle on the day-to-day lifestyle of sleepaway camp, I was ready to ramp up into some action. With Cole out of the picture I was totally focused on Nico, which was for the best really. My talents shouldn’t be spread thin.

So far Kristy was edging out Gina, but that was mostly because I’d gotten to know Kristy so well. She was adorable, and would be a nice soft contrast to Nico’s stoicism. I planned to give Gina some more time this weekend while the camp was empty of kids. Then, next week, I’d begin the process of coincidental meetings by getting Nico and the two girls into the same places to see how they interacted. They’d asked me to do it at the first dinner, and were probably wondering if I’d forgotten.

I looked up at the sky, picturing a few options, but as my gaze shifted to the gorgeous forest scene, I caught sight of that porcupine waiting outside for me. I pinched my lips and gave him the evil eye. I’d named him Quinn. I’d thought about Quill, but that seemed a little too on-the-nose. At one point I’d realized that the giant rodent could be female, and decided on Quinn which was a gender-neutral name. It probably was a girl. It would track based on some of the quietly scary girls I’d known in high school wholiked to keep you on your toes, wondering if you were about to be attacked somehow. Still, for the purposes of stalking, I mostly thought of Quinn as a dude.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the bear spray that had been left on the kitchen table in my cabin a couple of days ago with my name taped to it, and wiggled it in front of the window so that Quinn would know I was packing. There was no visible reaction. Quinn was not scared of being sprayed.

My reflection caught my attention and I smiled at myself and the memory of walking into the Bearadise lodge after the campers had left and I’d changed out of the ill-fitting camp uniform. Nico had been coming out of the long hallway that led to Cole’s office and paused, taking me in from head to toe.

That happened a lot when I went into full Cat-sual Friday mode. Complete with a cat’s ear headband and psychedelic over-sized cat tee-shirt. Nico had been speechless.

“Meow,” I’d said.

“Do I want to ask?” he’d replied on a slow blink.

I’d pretended to lick my hand and groom my headband ears. “Happy Cat-sual Friday.”

To my total surprise, a sound had barked out of him that sounded like some sort of raspy lung spasm needing medical attention. He’d clamped his lips tight, but not before I’d seen the wide smile that had accompanied the sudden noise. Had he laughed? If so, it had been ridiculously pleasing to get that reaction out of him, possible lung disease aside.

I’d been doing Cat-sual Friday for a couple of years, and the kids at the elementary school loved it. Some of them had started wearing cat t-shirts too. I figured what was good at school would be good at camp, and I’d packed a few of my best shirts. Last week I’d been too busy figuring out pickup and my responsibilities to remember to celebrate, so today was the first time I’d pulled one out. I was right, the campers and staff had found it funny.

Nico cracking up had been unexpected.

I picked up my phone and dialed Aryn, who answered quickly, interrupting my reminiscing about how much I liked the way Nico looked when he smiled that way. I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen it. I sort of wanted to see it again.

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