“Like what?” Manning asked.
Everybody waited. For once, nobody was talking over me. I sat up a little. “All kinds of stuff. Archery, horseback riding, canoeing, arts and crafts, fishing. We spend practically the whole week outdoors.”
Manning listened with his whole body, his eyebrows drawn. It almost looked as if he wanted to go to camp himself. “I haven’t been fishing since I was a kid. You get paid for this?”
“I volunteer. It’s just for my college apps. But the real counselors get paid.”
“Are you interested?” Mom asked him.
Manning pulled back. “Am I?”
“Do you honestly think he wants to spend a week of his summer with a bunch of children?” Tiffany asked.
“Believe it or not,” Manning said, “I like kids.”
My heart nearly burst out of my chest at the idea of it. Manning. At camp. For a whole week. With me.
“What about your job?” Tiffany asked uneasily. She must’ve been thinking the same thing, except that she’d be spending a week away from him.
“We’re breaking soon for a few weeks while we wait on some permits,” Manning said. “I don’t have anything solid lined up. I’m actually looking for work.”
“What do you do?” Mom asked.
Manning stopped chewing at the same moment it occurred to me—Dad still didn’t know the truth about how we’d met Manning. I looked to Tiffany for help, but as the realization hit her, too, her eyes sparkled.
Manning set down his fork. “I didn’t realize Tiffany hadn’t told you.”
That got Dad’s attention. He looked up. “Told us what?”
“I work construction right now. To put myself through school.” He nodded behind Dad, toward the backyard. “I’m on the crew at that house next door.”
“Excuse me?” Dad asked, looking at Tiffany. “What’s he talking about?”
“I’m sorry I didn’t mention it, Daddy.” She looked contrite. “I didn’t want you to get mad.”
“I told you to stay away from there.” Dad’s voice rose. “What is the matter with you, Tiffany? Anything I tell you, you do the opposite.”
“Charles.” Mom touched his arm. “Stop.”
He turned on her. “Did I not say this would be a problem? That transients in the neighborhood is never good?”
“What’s a transient?” I asked.
“Someone who can’t hold a job because they’re not skilled enough to find work.”
My mouth fell open. I’d known it was coming, some terrible insult meant to drive Manning away. So had Tiffany, yet she’d invited him over anyway.
Manning took his napkin from his lap and stood. “I should go. I honestly didn’t realize this was an issue.”
“No.” My mom’s voice cut like a knife through the tension. “Sit down, Manning. You’re a guest in our home, and you’ve been nothing but polite.”
Manning slowly lowered himself back into his chair.
“Polite?” Dad asked. “He didn’t have the decency to mention he worked next door. It should’ve been the first thing he said when he came in.”
“I agree,” Manning said evenly. “I thought you knew.”
“You have to excuse my husband,” Mom said. “Charlie’s been so upset about the construction.”
“I understand.” Manning shifted in his seat. “We try to keep it to a minimum outside work hours. We start early when it’s cool, but we rarely go past five in the afternoon.”
“That’s a lie,” Dad said. “I’ve heard you during dinner.”
Tiffany played with her hair, and the daisy fell out. She tried forcing it back in.
“There’s construction on the house behind yours, too,” Manning said. “Maybe it’s that.”
“This is a safe neighborhood.” Dad looked between us and him. “We don’t like trouble.”
Worried Manning might get up and try to leave again, I interjected. “There’s no trouble. I’ve been over there.”
Dad turned his head. “When?”
“Last week,” Tiffany answered. She gave up on the daisy and put it on the table. “It wasn’t a big deal. I was with her.”
“Why does that not surprise me?” Dad asked. “I’ve repeatedly asked you not to bring your sister into your drama.”
“I didn’t.” She balked. “She went over there first.”
“Last week,” Dad spoke over her, “Lake was in summer school. She should’ve been doing her reading, not—”
“Tiffany’s right,” I said. It was stupid of me to say I’d been there knowing how Dad would react. Quickly, I tried to come up with an excuse. “He didn’t have a lunch, so I—”
“Don’t interrupt me, goddamn it.”
Manning sat forward. “With all due respect, sir—”
“Do you have daughters?” Dad asked him. “Are you responsible for a family? For keeping them safe?”
Manning held his stare, something dark passing over his face. “No.”
“Then stay out of this. That lot is full of men who could be dangerous. Teenage girls don’t need to be around that, bringing you lunch or anything else.”