Page 71 of Tell Me Again
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Sam paced back and forth across the camp’s large rec room the following week, stopping every few minutes to adjust the plates of food spread across the buffet table.
“Do you really think moving it one inch is going to make that plate of vegetable kabobs look like food those girls will want to eat?”
She turned to glare at Jenny, who was sprawled across the overstuffed sectional near the window.
“Obviously they were good enough for you. You have the crumbs from a vegan banana muffin all over the front of your shirt.”
“I skipped lunch today. I’m starving and desperate.”
Sam snorted. “I’ve watched you plan your day around the timing of your next meal, so I don’t believe that for a minute.”
“Maybe I had lunch, but I ate it in the car on the way to a meeting so it doesn’t really count.”
“It counts. Admit it,” Sam said, grinning at Jenny. “You like my food.”
“I’d rather have cheese doodles. Kendall always has cheese doodles.”
“I have snap peas.”
Jenny made a gagging sound and then sat up straighter. “Grace and Trevor are pulling up. Man, he makes me want to buy him a tool belt. He is one hundred percent construction hottie.” She winked at Sam. “Have you seen him in a tool belt?”
“No talk about tool belts,” Sam said on a hiss of breath, feeling color rise to her cheeks.
Jenny ignored her. “Oh, yeah. You’ve seen him in a tool belt.”
“I havenot,and stop before I choke you with a bell pepper.” Sam glanced out the window and then back to the table, suddenly doubting everything she’d done to prepare for this afternoon. It had been a shock when Grace had asked if she could host the end-of-season volleyball team party at the camp, and even more surprising when Trevor agreed to it.
It should be easy. She ran a camp for kids so it shouldn’t be difficult to entertain a junior high volleyball squad. Interacting with the parents who’d also be attending the party made her far more nervous. She was too aware of what it felt like to have the parent who was an embarrassment, different than the other moms in the group.
She might not be Grace’s parent, but she didn’t want to be known as the former wild-child aunt. Her goal was to be a meaningful part of Grace’s life, and being accepted by the moms on the volleyball team seemed like an important first step.
She probably should have called Chloe for moral support. Her sweet friend was one of the most inherently likable people Sam had ever met. Jenny, not so much.
“You have to be nice,” she blurted.
Jenny stood and scowled at her, flipping her red hair behind one shoulder. “I don’t need these women to like me. I’ve got my hands full with the mom dragons at Cooper’s school.Youhave to be nice.”
“This was a huge mistake,” Sam muttered. “I’m bad at being nice.”
“You’re plenty nice.” She whirled at the sound of Trevor’s voice behind her.
“Where’s Grace?”
“Her friends pulled in right after us. She’s waiting for them.” He walked toward her slowly, a smile playing at the corner of his mouth. “Are you nervous?”
“No. I’m fine.”
“If you consider basket-case crazyfine,” Jenny added.
Sam glared at her friend. “Why did I ask for your help?”
Jenny grinned in response. “Because you were desperate not to be alone with”—she waved her hands in the air—“the moms.”
“It’s going to be fine.” Trevor pulled her in for a hug, but she squirmed away.
“Stop. You can’t do that when Grace and her friends are around. She can’t know—”
