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Jai

Istared at my cell phone for an extra-long time.

That voice.I’d never met the man, so I didn’t understand why his voice sounded so familiar.

Still, I searched my memory. Not anyone I’d known growing up in Mission City. Although I didn’t know his age, he was obviously older than me. So that knocked off university unless he was a mature student—but I’d known everyone in my analytics program.

Not the accounting firm. I’d been the only person of color there—which still, six years on, rankled.

Obviously not from the time I’d spent at the camp in Nova Scotia.

Demetrius Fulton was just too…distinctive. Noticeable.

And yet…

I pushed the elusive memory out of my mind. I’d returned to my office to send a quick update email to Alessandra to let her know all the campers had arrived. We had five who were male-identifying,four female, and one nonbinary. I worried they’d be in a cabin by themselves, but Chris said they were fine in the female dormitory.

None of the parents had fussed about it. As far as I could tell, every parent who had enrolled their child into our program was…accepting. Which made sense.

And the campers were more teenagers than kids. The ages ranged from twelve to fourteen.

In a few weeks, we had an older cohort coming. And then possibly expanding to add a camp for kids whose siblings were LGBTQ. They needed special time as well.

Alessandra’s responding email caught my notice. She, along with Smith, would join us for lunch.

Which was now upon us.

I grabbed my baseball cap and headed out. I’d worn a button-down shirt and chinos for the arrival of the campers with their parents. Now I wore blue jeans, a T-shirt, and the ball cap. The afternoon promised to be hot, and I might change again, into khaki shorts.

Upon entering the great room, where one corner was set aside for eating, I did a quick headcount.

Keegan wasn’t here.

Neither was Cody.

Makenna was encouraging the teens to grab trays and head over to the buffet while Grey headed my way.

I nodded a greeting.

He returned the gesture. “Cody’s getting Keegan. We didn’t want him sleeping too long, but Cody will decide what’s the best course of action.”

“Clearly Keegan’s nervous.” We were well beyond the hearing range of the other kids.

“He is. So’s Paisley. She keeps pulling at her hair. Her mom warned Cody about that.”

And it had been on her intake form. As a child, she’d pulled out so much hair she’d had a bald spot.

“You’ll all keep an eye on her?”

“Yep. We’re going to focus on distraction. She’s expressed an interest in art, and we’ve got lots of that planned.”

Cody’s studies included art-therapy classes, and he hoped to put that experience to good use.

“Oh, there they are.” Grey focused on the new arrivals.

Keegan’s hands were deep in his pockets, and he was staring at the floor. Still, anything that got him out of his dorm room could be considered a win. He was so petite compared to Cody who was clearly trying not to overwhelm him. The guy was just big…something I hoped would seem more comforting than intimidating.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. To Grey, I said, “Let me know if you need anything.”