She broke Thad’s stare when Tory and Brooke drew near. Brooke squealed Thad’s name and flew into his arms, her fingertips brushing over dense shoulder and back muscles. Alice noticed with grim amusement that her hug was a hell of a lot more enthusiastic than Thad’s perfunctory one. But in all fairness, maybe that was because he was holding a flapping sign and a hammer at the same time.
Thad and Brooke made introductions.
“Dave Epstein,” Brooke mused a moment later as she shook Dave’s hand. “Didn’t you go to high school at Choate Rosemary Hall with Thad?”
“Yeah. On most days, that is … when Thad wasn’t skipping class and fishing around the Thimble Islands in his dad’s boat or sleeping off a hangover,” Dave gibed with a half grin.
Thad looked like he was going to defend himself, but then just shrugged. “If it wasn’t for Dave riding me constantly in high school to study, I’d probably have ended up as a fisherman instead of being here with all of you guys. Forget that. I’d just be a bum in a boat,” Thad amended, his eyes gleaming humorously as he glanced at Alice. “I suck at catching fish.”
Alice laughed.
“As if,” Brooke said, automatically dismissing Thad’s joking modesty. She glared briefly at Alice, and then gave Dave a sidelong, assessing glance before she swung her attention back wholesale to Thad. Alice wasn’t surprised to learn that she wasn’t the only one Brooke found wanting. Even Tory had seemingly become invisible with Thad present.
“Here comes Sebastian Kehoe,” Dave told Tory and her quietly under his breath after they’d chatted for a few more minutes.
Alice glanced in the direction Dave was looking, curious and a little anxious to meet Durand’s vice president of human resources. Kehoe’s position was so significant to the company that he actually sat on the Durand board—another example of Durand’s almost obsessive commitment to hiring and developing top-notch managers. The other counselors would have met Kehoe during their interviews. Alice was the exception. Yet another reason she felt like she was beginning two steps behind the starting line.
Sebastian Kehoe was her boss for the next four weeks. If she didn’t pass muster with him, there was no way she’d ever be considered for a position at Durand. Kehoe’s salt-and-pepper hair placed him in his early fifties, but he appeared younger because of a relatively unlined face, a tall, lanky frame, expensive-looking outdoor clothing, and a vigorous spring to his step. He gave the impression of being fit and energetic, but in a neat, meticulous kind of way. Alice figured he was the type to never waver from his high-protein, low-carb diet and daily, ritualistic workouts.
“Brooke, Tory, wonderful to see you. Welcome to Camp Durand,” Kehoe called, stepping up and shaking hands. “And this must be Alice Reed.”
“Yes, sir, it’s nice to finally meet you in person,” Alice said, shaking his hand. She’d only spoken on the phone with him briefly, when he’d called to offer her a position at Camp Durand.
“I’m looking forward to getting to know you better,” Kehoe said in a friendly fashion, but Alice noticed his assessing, curious glance. “It’s unprecedented for me to not be more familiar with the recruits. Mr. Fall spoke so highly of you, though, I knew you’d fit right in.”
His words seemed to vibrate and swirl in the gusty air that surrounded all of them, perhaps because the opposite of Kehoe’s statement seemed glaringly obvious to everyone, including Alice.
“You know Dylan Fall?” Thad asked her, amazement edging his tone.
“No,” Alice assured quickly. She gave Kehoe an anxious glance. Kehoe’s gaze was on her bare legs, but quickly leapt up to her face. He’s trying to figure out why in the hell Fall vouched for you. A spike of irritation went through her when she realized Kehoe thought it might have to do with her legs … or any other part of her body aside from her brain. “I mean, yes,” she fumbled. “Mr. Fall interviewed me for the Camp Durand position.”
Dave whistled softly, as if impressed. Brooke looked mutinous.
“Call me Sebastian, please, Alice,” Kehoe said a little sharply. Had he noticed Dave’s whistle and Thad’s awed tone at the mention of Dylan Fall? Alice had the impression their unguarded admiration for Fall annoyed him. “And you and I will have plenty of opportunity to get to know one another here. All of us will. By the end of training and camp itself, you’ll know each other as well as your closest friends and even some family members. Maybe better. The cohort of Camp Durand managers we hire every year remain close-knit for lifetimes, all because of what happens here on this shore and in these woods,” Kehoe said.
Alice forced her face into a polite, interested expression. Somehow, when Kehoe talked about Camp Durand, it reminded her of the processing for a cult. Dylan Fall may have been infuriatingly confident, but he’d never given her that particular impression of Camp Durand or Durand Enterprises. Fall was too blatantly individual to ever be remotely considered a company drone.
“Are you two having trouble with the sign?” Kehoe asked.
“Only because we were hanging it against the wind. Alice was kind enough to point out our idiocy and told us to hang it in an east-west direction,” Thad said, seeming to find his own stupidity on the subject funny. Alice liked him even better for it.
“The wind has been unusually bad since yesterday,” Kehoe conceded. “That’s why we hadn’t gotten the banner up for your arrivals. There’ll be plenty of time to hang it this week before the kids get here. We always put the welcome sign between those two trees, so that the campers can see it from the second they arrive. It’s a Camp Durand tradition,” Kehoe said, trumping Alice’s banner hanging advice single-handedly. Like it matters, she told herself disgustedly. She really needed to get over the idea that she didn’t belong there. She had the qualifications and she’d been hired for the job, fair and square. And perhaps most importantly, starting today she was being paid a heretofore-unimagined amount of money.
For that salary and the possibility of an even larger one in the future, she could get over a lot.
Thad and Dave started to roll up the vinyl banner. Alice stepped forward to assist by taking the hammers they both clutched.
“Let’s get up to the lodge so that I can make introductions and we can have lunch. The ten other counselors are waiting for us. We have a lot of business to attend to this afternoon: getting to know one another, a tour of the camp, orientation to the training schedule, a general overview of our camp philosophy and how our classes and activities demonstrate it,” Kehoe said, as if ticking off a mental list. “Hopefully you’ve already gotten a good understanding of all that from the packet of literature I’ve sent, but now you’ll begin to see the principles put into practice. Ten Durand managers usually volunteer every year to assist me here. We have an unprecedented twelve this year, though. We find it helps to refresh employees about Durand’s origins and philanthropic directives,” Kehoe explained as Dave tucked the rolled banner beneath his arm and Thad shrugged on his shirt.
Alice glanced at Dave and read the wry message in his dark eyes.
And it never hurts to have extra Durand staff to spy on us, of course.
She suppressed a small smile, guessing his thought.
“Plus, we need to do cabin assignments. The counselors pick their roommates randomly,” Kehoe said as he started down the path and they fell into step surrounding him. “I think you’ll be pleased with the cabins, by the way. Mr. Fall had all of them renovated last fall. Even the camper team cabins are extremely luxurious.”
Alice listened, observing everyone closely as Tory asked how the children and counselors were assigned to teams.