“We don’t.” Abby shook her head. “We just came for the food.”
“Go on now and make you a plate before them Randal boys get here. They’ll eat everything after they get home from whatever sport they’re playing this season.” Dottie shooed me towards the burning fire closest to us.
I didn’t know who the Randal boys were so I’d have to look on the list Dottie had given me earlier of long-time campers to see the exact location of their RV. I hurried around the lake and by the time I’d made it back to where I’d started, my plate was full and so was my heart.
“Are you okay?” Betts asked after I’d finished my plate full of food, sinking into one of the camping chairs where you just melt right on down in to.
“I’m great and full. Why?” I asked her. The fire flickered in front of us.
“Because you are smiling. A far feature from when I came to your door earlier.” She snapped a graham cracker in half and dug it into the s’more dip that was in the cast iron skillet over the fire.
“You know, when I pulled into the campground this morning, I thought my life was just over. When in reality, I think it’s just beginning.” I couldn’t get over how these people had just accepted me into their community after what Paul had done to them. “I’m sorry for what Paul did to the campground and the people who live here.”
All the gals from The Laundry Club smiled.
“I’m going to do my best to clean it up and make it a great place again. I know it’s going to take money and I don’t have it, but I’ll take a side hustle to help.” I nodded.
“I could use someone to help shelf the library books. I can’t pay much, but it’s something.” Abby offered.
“That sounds perfect.” I said. “Is there one of those dummy books for RV owners?”
“I think I can grab some books for you.” Abby took a graham cracker and dipped it into the skillet with the melted chocolate chips and marshmallows.
“I can help clean up your RV and, on a budget,” Dottie said. “It’s a mess.”
I forced a smile, hoping she didn’t think her camper was what she’d called cleaned up.
“I heard that you were going to host a fundraiser.” Betts stood up. “I can take you to a few stores around here and get some items for cheap.”
“Sound perfect.” I was on the verge of crying over all of their generosity.
“I’ll pick you up in the morning around 10 a.m. Now I’ve got to get home.” She bent over and hugged me. “My phone number is written on a piece of paper in one of the sacks. Call me if you need me.”
“I guess we should give all our numbers to you,” Queenie offered.
“Don’t worry.” Betts winked. “I wrote them all down.”
“I’ll be. When you walked into The Laundry Club this afternoon, I never figured you to be one of us. I guess you are in our club now.” Queenie lifted her graham cracker. “Welcome, Mae West.”
SEVEN
It felt like I’d just laid my head down when the alarm went off. I’d set it for 8 a.m., which was the earliest I’d gotten up in a long time. But I had things to do before Betts picked me up to take me to town and if I was going to make good on my promise to clean up the campground, I needed to get a move on it.
My Keurig brewed while I jumped into the shower. I threw on the only pair of jeans I had and a white v-neck T-shirt. It was a very minimal look that I could get used to.
Without fixing my hair and pulling it up in a ponytail or putting on any more than mascara and a swipe of lip gloss, I had my cup of coffee and I was out the door with the papers Dottie had given me.
The sun was shining, and it made for a perfect morning to walk around the campground and put names from her paper with the campers. The first thing to being an owner, in my opinion, would be to get to know the people who were renting from you and see how much they owed.
I knocked on the door of the Randals They had a yellow and white striped camper with a little awning over a sitting area.
“It’s early.” The man stood bare chested with his arms over his head in a big stretch and yawn. His brown hair was full and messy. “Can I help you?”
“It’s 8 a.m. You look too old to be at school. What about work?”
“Oh crap, are you with the CPS?” His brows furrowed and framed his crystal blue eyes. “Boys, get your clothes on. It’s time to get to school.”
“CPS?” I asked. “No, I’m Mae West.”
“Yeah and I’m John Wayne.” He cocked a sideways smile that I’d love to have smacked off his face if it weren’t charming.
“According to Dottie’s paper, you must be Ty Randal. I’m Mae West, the owner, and I need to collect your lot fee.” I held the paper out to show him. “In fact, you’re a couple of months late and I’m going to have to mark right here that this is a warning.”
“Whoa.” He put his hands out. “Listen, Mae West,” he strung out my name. “Dottie and I have an agreement. Go on and mark all you want, but it means nothing.”
“The agreements Dottie made aren’t valid because she’s not the owner.” I turned around to face the campground. “Look at this place. It’s because of people not paying their lot rent that it looks like this.”
I wanted to ask about his kids and his wife. I’d bet he laid around all day and made her work.
“You’re the real deal. I heard about a new owner or something.” He gave me the onceover.
“I’d like last month’s rent by the end of the week. If you don’t have it, then consider yourself evicted.” I turned on the toes of my shoes. “And there’ll be a new lease agreements to sign too,” I said over my shoulder and made a note in the file to look up lease agreements when I helped Abby at the library today. Then I saw a few of those pedal boats stacked up next to his camper along with stray balls and a few toys.
“Get all of these things out of here too,” I said and kept going. “I’m trying to make this place presentable for the summer tourists.”
I wasn’t going to say it was easy, but I’d made it to everyone’s camper but Henry’s. He didn’t owe me any money, but he did owe me an explanation to why Detective Hank thinks he could’ve killed Paul.
Henry was outside picking up the pieces of charred wood from the fire pit and throwing them into another lit campfire. He had his kettle hanging overtop the flame.
“Good mornin’,” he greeted me. He gestured to his fire. “Would you like a refill?”
“I’d love one.” I walked over and held my cup out for him as he took the kettle off the fire and filled me up. “This is the best coffee. I had no idea how much better the food tasted last night than regular oven cooked food.”
“Oh, no, that means you’ve got the bug. Once you get bitten by the camping life, you can’t go back.” He smiled and sat down, patting the chair next to him. “Have a seat and tell me what you’ve been doing door-to-door.”
“Dottie gave me the list of campers and what they owe. I can’t believe they’d not paid. Some have been months.” I sipped on the coffee. “If I can get the money out of them, that’d be enough to fix something around here.”
My list of to-dos had grown and all of them were number one, so I’d just made a list of do’s and hoping to cross some of those off.
“I saw you over at Ty Randal’s camper. That boy’s tougher than the back end of a shootin’ gallery.”
I cocked a brow and wondered if Abby could also get me a dummy’s book for Henry’s language. What did he actually mean by what he said about Ty? Was Ty mean? Someone I didn’t want to make mad?
“What’s on your list?” He asked.
“I’d like to get the lake cleaned up because in order to host a fundraiser, the lake is the big draw for everyone to gather around. Then the dock and maybe get a few fish to stock it,” I said as I put the comment about Ty out of my head.
“That’s big order and a costly one,” Henry responded.
I’d have to use his expertise on what the cost would be.