Page 18 of The Perfect Deal

“Sounds good, boss. We’ve got it under control.” She returned her attention to the kids that were coming off the bus, and I could see that she did.

Turning around, I saw kids coming off my bus as well. Karrie was standing near the bottom of the stairs, checking tags and shouting directions to the kids who were hurriedly grabbing their bags and then heading off in whichever direction she had steered them toward. It wasn’t as calm and polite as the other bus, but the kids seemed okay with it as they rushed off in groups, smiling and laughing.

Already, Liberty was taking pictures. I watched her for a few seconds as she dropped down on one knee and snapped a few photos of the kids. Immediately, a smile formed on my face. She was so beautiful, and I was so glad that she was here.

“Boss?” Sam said, coming up behind me and startling me. I spun around, wondering if he’d seen me gawking at Liberty, my eyes wide. If he noticed, he said nothing, “There’s an AC issue in bunk six, my bunk. I’ve got maintenance on it.”

“Great,” I muttered. We’d just arrived and there was already an issue. “What do they think the problem is?”

“Not sure yet, but we’ll get it straightened out. Hell, when I was a kid, there was no AC at camp.” Coach Sam shrugged like it was no big deal if the kids couldn’t cool off. He did have a point, though. Even though I wasn’t his age, I had endured camp with no AC as well when I was younger.

“Keep me posted.” I patted him on the arm and headed over to grab my own bags. I’d need to get them to my cabin before the meeting started.

When I approached the bus, Karrie was talking to Liberty. “Our building is that one over there,” she said, pointing. “I’ll take you over and introduce you to the girls.”

“Oh, great. Thank you.” Liberty had her bags and was walking alongside Karrie. “You know them all?”

“Most of them,” Karrie said with a nod. “I was here last year. We may have a few new girls, but for the most part, I recognized the names on our roster.”

“That’s awesome,” Liberty was saying. She turned and smiled at me before she headed off. “I’m so excited to meet all of them.”

With everyone headed to their cabins, I went back to the bus. “Thanks a lot, Henry,” I told him as I went back to my seat to grab my carry-on bag. He had set my other bags off to the side. “I appreciate all that you do.”

“Of course, Mr. Joshua,” he said with a friendly smile. “Taking your kids to camp is a highlight of the summer for me. I’ll be back in a couple of weeks to pick everyone up.”

“See you then.” I gave him a little wave as I disembarked, ready to get the session started.

Making my way to my cabin, which was off by itself a bit, the smallest but only private cabin, I listened to the sound of excited kids calling to one another, laughing, and already having a great time. I hoped it stayed that way for everyone. Kids this age could get into drama sometimes, I was well aware. With girls and boys attending at the same time, the chances of that were even greater. But most of the time our camp sessions turned out great.

I punched in the door code to my cabin and swung the door open. A musty smell, mixed with the scent of Pine-Sol, greeted me. I took a deep breath and released it. The place was clean, it had just been closed up for so long it would take a while for the scent to dissipate.

Bringing my luggage in, I set it in the closet and had a quick look around. A rush of memories came back to me as I gazed at the sitting area, the kitchenette, and the king-sized bed. Off to one side was a bathroom with a shower. The entire space wasn’t much bigger than my bedroom back home, but it was a nice place to escape from the stress of the world—and the stress of camp. There’d been a time when I also served as a camp counselor while I was here. It helped me to get to know the kids better. But I found it was more difficult for the kiddos. For one thing, people had a tendency to wake me up at all hours of the night to tell me about “emergency” situations, such as the AC going out. That disturbed everyone sleeping in my cabin. It also made some kids feel inferior to the ones staying in the cabin with me. Staying by myself had turned out to be a better decision, though I did miss the late-night bonding with the kids.

Once I had my belongings situated in the cabin, I headed out to my first of two staff meetings. I’d gone over all of this with them in the office, but once we were on site, a lot of questions crept up that they hadn’t thought about before we actually arrived.

As I started the meeting, I could hear the kids down on the sand by the beach where the other set of coaches had them entertained playing sand volleyball while I spoke to these grownups. They’d switch out in a few minutes, and then we’d all go down to talk to the kids.

The first thing I asked when the meeting started was, “Sam, how’s the air-conditioning?”

“Maintenance got it working already,” he said with a nod.

I smiled at him, glad to hear it, and then launched into the meeting. “I just wanted to make sure everyone got situated. Do we have any problems we need to resolve?” I looked around and saw everyone shaking their heads. That was a good sign. “You all have your schedules. Any questions about that?”

A few staff members had questions about where we had moved a few activities from last year, but the meeting was relatively short. When we were all settled, I sent them out and waited for the second group to arrive.

Karrie led the way, her chipper voice hitting my ear before I could even see her over the rise in the land between the amphitheater and the beach. “I’m just saying, they need to be more careful about kicking up sand,” she was saying. Who she was talking to, and what about, I wasn’t sure, but there was no response, and that made me think that someone knew better than to argue with her.

Myra walked beside her, rolling her eyes. I stifled a smile and welcomed them in. “How’s it going?”

Most of the coaches and other staff members said, “Good,” or nodded, but Karrie’s hand shot up. I acknowledged her, and she took a deep breath.

“Is there a way to keep the kids from kicking up so much sand while they are playing volleyball?” She ran a hand through her hair. “I think I have sand inside of my skull.”

“Um, you mean on the beach volleyball court?” I clarified.

She nodded. “That’s right.”

“Not that I’m aware of,” I said with a shrug. “Maybe just back up a little?”

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