Free Summer Camp Adventure by Marsha Hubler Page A

thought. Almost .
    “So what did you want to tell me?” she asked Chad while skipping the stones.
    “Skye, I’ve always considered you one of my best friends, so I want to run something by you. Tell me what you think.”
    Skye walked back to Champ and stroked his neck. “Okay, what?” she said defensively.
    “You know, the guest speakers at camp have given some mighty good sermons. And—well—the Lord’s been speaking to my heart. I think he wants me to go into the ministry, maybe as a missionary or a youth pastor or something.”
    Skye’s eyebrows peaked, and she quickly tried to wipe the surprise off her face. “So this isn’t about Linda?”
    “What would Linda have to do with my future?” Chad scratched his head. “Anyway, what do you think? Would I make a good preacher or missionary? You know me about as well as any of the kids at Madison, or at church.”
    Skye stared into the face of a young man whose eyes pleaded for an answer. Her own face flushed hot, then she turned toward Champ and stroked his soft, velvety nose. “Yeah, Chad, I think you’d make a great preacher. I mean, you’re so good with people. And your music would be a big plus. Yeah, you’d be great. I’m sure you would.” She looked back at Chad and smiled.
    “Well, you’re one of the few people who know about this,” he said almost in a whisper. “I told Linda, and I called my best friend back home and told him.”
    Linda, Linda, Linda! I am so sick of hearing that name! Skye fumed. I’ve got to get this straight, right now . “While we’re on the topic of Linda,” Skye interjected, “I need to know something right now, Chad Dressler.”
    “Sure, Skye Nicholson. But you look so serious. What is it?” His dimples dissolved into a devilish smile.
    “What is it with you and Linda? I mean, I see you together everywhere. She’s—like—your shadow!”
    “What does that have to do with anything? We’ve always been close.”
    “Yeah! Very close!” Skye growled.
    “Well,” Chad said while he chewed on the grass, “she is special to me. And she’d be special to you if you were in my shoes!”
    “What on earth do you mean, ‘If I were in your shoes’?”
    “Skye, I don’t have a sister. Linda’s my only girl cousin. We’ve always been close. She’s like the sister I’ve never had but wished I did.”

chapter twelve
    W hat?” Skye’s mouth dropped open.
    “Now, Skye, don’t act so surprised.”
    “Your cousin? Linda’s your—your cousin?”
    “Well, sure. Always was and always will be. I thought you knew that.”
    “How would I know that, Chad Dressler?”
    “Don’t you remember when she visited from New York a few years back and she came to the youth retreat at Keystone Stables?”
    “Chad, a few years back?”
    “Oh, that’s right, you weren’t living there at the time, were you?”
    “No,” Skye said, her face frozen in shock. “I thought you—she—she always calls you ‘honey’!”
    Chad’s dimpled smile made his eyes sparkle. “Aw, so that’s why you’ve been acting so funny. You thought we were—” He let loose a hearty laugh. “Skye, I thought you knew me better than that. Girlfriends aren’t in my plans until I’m much older. Linda has called me ‘honey’ since we were little kids. It’s a family joke. We both got in trouble one time when we ate a whole jar of honey andgot sick. Since then she always reminds me of that dumb trick by calling me ‘honey.’ That’s all it means.”
    Skye felt like the biggest fool at Camp Oneega. Maybe even in the whole wide world. Her face flushed hot again, mostly from embarrassment. “I—I’m sorry, Chad. I just read the whole thing wrong.”
    “Forget it,” Chad said, his face growing sincere, “and I’ll let you in on a little secret. When I’m ready for a girlfriend, you’ll be the first one on the list.”
    The next few days Skye floated on air. Linda was Chad’s cousin? It was too good to be true. With Linda no longer a