The Right Time (5 page)

“When will we paint?” A nervous girl named Avery asked.

“Don’t worry about that. You’ll have plenty of time. I know writing isn’t why most of you are here, but I guarantee you’ll learn something if you stick with it.”

“How much are you willing to bet?” Townsend said, smirking.

Ignoring her, Hennessy continued. “You’ll all be doing college entrance essays pretty soon, and knowing how to tell a concise story will help a lot.”

“What about those of us going to work on assembly lines?” Townsend was slumped so low in her chair her butt was almost on the floor. But she was clearly having fun now—at everyone else’s expense.

“Writing well can help everyone.” She gave Townsend a pointed look. “Even those of you who aren’t college material.”

A girl from Atlanta named Marissa raised her hand. “We can write about anything at all?”

“Basically. The assignment is to write about something that moved you emotionally. I want each of you to think hard about something that happened to you in the last year that touched you in some way. It could be the death of a pet, the night you went to a great concert, staying up all night to see the sun rise—anything at all, as long as you write from your heart.” She looked around again, saying, “See you on Wednesday.”

The six young women shuffled out, with Townsend trailing the group. “See you back at Sandpiper,” Hennessy said.

“Super. You can carry my bags to the cab.”

Just before lunch, Hennessy made her way over to the administration bungalow. When Hennessy knocked and entered, Mary Ann and Destiny both turned, with Mary Ann giving her a look that went from her head to her toes. “No obvious wounds yet. That’s good news.”

“Only because Townsend’s sure she’s taking the three o’clock to Charlotte.”

“Well, she’s not.” Mary Ann twitched her head towards the sofa. “Come on in and sit. You look wound up, girl.”

“I guess I am.” She was going to tell them how annoying it was to have to be on guard every minute she was with Townsend, but this was her job. And no one wanted to hear anyone whine about what they were being paid good money to do. She sat by Destiny and tried to appear relaxed. That wasn’t what she was best at, so she copied Destiny’s casual pose.

“I was just telling Destiny that I called the service that was supposed to watch Townsend.” Mary Ann’s brow was furrowed, and Hennessy now saw that she looked like she hadn’t gotten enough sleep. “I had a feeling even your considerable charms wouldn’t convince her she wanted to stay.”

“No ma’am. I don’t have those kinds of charms. I’m not sure anyone does.”

She nodded, then continued. “The person I spoke to seemed out of her depth when I asked how they’d handle a very headstrong sixteen-year-old. It sounded like they were more prepared to watch small children and pre-teens.”

Destiny shrugged. “Her mom made the choice, right?”

“She did, but I spoke with our attorney and he worries that we might be responsible if she gets in trouble after we release her.”

“She’ll get into trouble,” Hennessy jumped in. “She had two fifths of booze and was only planning on being here a day!”

Destiny shot her a grouchy look. “Why should we have to keep a kid who doesn’t want to be here? Her mother must trust this service. Who are we to second guess her?”

Mary Ann let out a long breath. “I probably made a mistake in taking her. But I don’t want to compound that mistake by having her do something crazy. The kid needs structure. Lots of it.” She looked at Hennessy. “Is she ruining things for the girls in your cabin?”

“I don’t think so. She’s so different from them they look at her like she’s…” She shrugged. “I’m not sure what they think, but they seem fascinated by her.”

“Mrs. Bartley gave us the authority to do whatever we had to do to keep her here. What do you think, Hennessy? Can you handle her?”

“I can,” she said, surprising herself with her confidence. “I think her bark’s much worse than her bite.”

“If Hennessy’s willing, I’m willing,” Destiny said. “But only to make sure we don’t get sued.” Her expression slid into a smile. “Of course, I’m not the one who has to tell her she’s staying.”

Hennessy skipped lunch, spending the time walking along the tree-shaded paths while trying to calm her nerves. She was sure she’d done just that until she noticed her hands were shaking when she caught Townsend outside the dining room. “Can I walk you back to the cabin?”

She put her hand up to protect her eyes from the noonday sun. “Sure. You can use that radio thing to call a car service. What time should they be here?”

“You’re not going to need a ride.” That was how her grandmother always delivered bad news. Right to the point.

Townsend stopped and stared at her. “I
do
need one. I’m going home.”

“No, you’re not,” Hennessy said, swallowing nervously. “We discussed it, and decided that letting you go home would be a bad idea.”

“You
discussed
it?” she snapped, standing just inches from Hennessy’s face. “That’s wonderful. Now take your discussion and shove it up your ass. I’m leaving.” She pushed past Hennessy and started to walk, kicking up cedar chips as she did.

Not bothering to follow her, Hennessy called out, “You can’t walk to the airport, and no one will call you a cab.”

Townsend turned and glared at her for a full minute.

Hennessy had witnessed the rage she saw in Townsend’s eyes too many times to count. She knew the girl was going to snap eventually. She just didn’t know how it would play out.

Townsend’s head swiveled, searching for something. Then she bent down and grabbed a sturdy tree limb next to the path.

Preparing to make a run for it if she lunged, Hennessy watched as the girl reared back and slammed the limb into a big tree. The whole thing shook, leaves fluttering, dust pouring off the canopy. Again and again she unleashed her anger, her sorrow, her frustration, her pain—that’s what it was. Hennessy was sure of it. It looked like anger, but it was pain. Pain the poor kid didn’t have any idea how to handle. What in the world was going on inside that head? What or who had hurt her so badly?

Finally, the limb dropped and Townsend stood there, sweat staining her shirt, her body covered with a fine coating of dust. The air crackled with energy and the sharp scent of bruised bark. “You’ll regret this,” she croaked, her voice filled with pain.

Hennessy already did.

Later that night, returning to her cabin after watching a movie with a few of her charges, Hennessy saw the orange glow of a cigarette not far from the edge of the building. Letting out a frustrated breath, she went inside and rooted through Townsend’s room, finally pulling her mattress from the box spring to find a fresh carton of cigarettes, one pack notably absent. Returning the mattress and bedding to their proper order, she lay down on the bed, trying to calm herself and stay that way until Townsend returned to the room.

“Hi, there,” she said when Townsend entered.

The girl started briefly, caught unawares. But it didn’t take long for her to summon her anger. “What do you want?”

“I want to know who you coerced into buying cigarettes for you. It was obviously an employee, since I’m sure you didn’t walk to the store.”

Townsend strode over to the bedside table, her confidence seemingly back in place. Hennessy caught the smell of smoke on her clothing as she walked by and deposited the pack onto the table. “It’s not hard to talk one of these underpaid slobs into doing you a favor. All it takes is a few bucks.”

“Then I guess I have to take the bucks away.” Sitting up, Hennessy opened the top drawer of the bedside table and removed the wallet she found there.

“You can’t do that!”

“Yeah?” Frustration hardened her words. For the moment, at least, Townsend didn’t intimidate her. “Watch me.” Removing every bill and every charge card, she counted the money, then sat down at Townsend’s desk and made out a detailed receipt. “Here you go. Don’t count on getting this back until August.”

As she left the room, money, credit cards, and cigarettes firmly in hand, something heavy crashed loudly into the door as she closed it behind her. She left the cabin, heading for Destiny’s. She knew she’d done the right thing, but it sure wouldn’t hurt to be able to bitch to someone—just a little.

The next day things were remarkably calm—so calm that Hennessy was on edge. Townsend worked on her story, showed up for every meal, and, after using her computer in the rec bungalow for a couple of hours, got up and stretched at nine o’clock, announcing she was going to bed—a full hour before she was required to be in.

Something’s fishy
, Hennessy thought as she watched her leave.

Stealthily, she followed Townsend back to the cabin, waiting outside until she’d entered. Giving her a few minutes to get settled, Hennessy went in, then stood by the closed door for a few minutes, sniffing for smoke. When nothing appeared awry, she decided that getting up early must have been getting to her, and, after checking on all the rest of her campers, headed off to bed herself.

The next morning, Hennessy dutifully knocked on each bedroom door, then went to pack up her things for class.