Almost Paradise by Debbie Macomber

Author:Debbie Macomber
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2018-01-16T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

“Sherry, I’m sorry,” Lynn said for the tenth time that day. “I didn’t think Mr. Roarke could hear me.”

Sherry’s feet pedaled the stationary bike all the more vigorously. She’d hoped that taking her frustration out on the exercise bike would lessen the ache in her heart. She should have known better. “Don’t worry about it. What’s done is done.”

“But Mr. Roarke hasn’t spoken to you in a week.”

“I’ll survive.” But just barely, she mused. When he was through being angry, they’d talk, but from the look of things it could be some time before he cooled down enough to reason matters through. There was less than a month left of camp as it was. For seven long, tedious days, Roarke had gone out of his way to avoid her. If she were in the same room, he found something important to distract him. At the staff meetings, he didn’t call on her unless absolutely necessary and said “Miss White” with such cool disdain that he might as well have stabbed a hot needle straight through her.

By the sheer force of her pride, Sherry had managed to hold her head high, but there wasn’t a staff member at Camp Gitche Gumee who wasn’t aware that Sherry White had fallen from grace. Fred Spencer was ecstatic and thrived on letting smug remarks drop when he suspected there was no one else around to hear. Without Roarke to support her ideas, Fred was given free rein to ridicule her suggestions. Not a single thing she’d campaigned for all week had made it past the fiery tongue of her most ardent opponent.

When Sherry proposed a sing-along at dusk, Fred argued that such nonsense would cut into the cabins’ evening lessons. Roarke neither agreed nor disagreed, and the suggestion was quickly dropped. When she’d proposed organized hikes for the study of wildflowers, there had been some enthusiasm, until Fred and a few others countered that crowding too many activities into the already heavy academic schedule could possibly overextend the counselors and the children. A couple debated the issue on Sherry’s behalf, but in the long run the idea was abandoned for lack of interest. Again, Roarke remained stoically silent.

“Maybe you’ll survive,” Lynn said, breathing heavily as she continued her sit-ups, “but I don’t know about the rest of us.”

“Roarke hasn’t been angry or unreasonable.” Sherry was quick to defend him, although he probably wouldn’t have appreciated it.

“No, it’s much worse than that,” Lynn said with a tired sigh.

“How do you mean?”

“If you’d been here last year, you’d notice the difference. It’s like he’s built a wall around himself and is closing everybody off. He used to talk to the kids a lot, spend time with them. I think he’s hiding.”

“Hiding?” Sherry prompted.

“Right.” Lynn sat upright and folded her arms around her bent knees, resting her chin there. “If you want the truth, I think Mr. Roarke has fallen for you, only he’s too proud to admit it.”

Sherry’s feet pumped harder, causing the wheel to whirl and hiss.

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