Canyon Walls Read Online Free Page B

“I’m worried about you.”
    Petal jumped into Cassie’s lap. When Cassie had taken over as director, the cat had shown up at the kitchen door. She purred and pressed her paws into Cassie’s leg. “There’s nothing to worry about. I’m fine.”
    Cassie and her mother had had this conversation a hundred times before, and Cassie couldn’t figure out how to keep from repeating it. She closed her eyes to prepare for what was next.
    â€œHow are you going to meet a husband if you spend all your time working?”
    There it was. The question she hated most, even more than, “When are you going to get a real job?” Cassie held her breath.
    â€œCassie? Are you still there?”
    She tapped the phone against her forehead then held the phone back up to her face. “I’m still here, Mom.”
    â€œI want you to settle down like Melissa. She is your baby sister.”
    Petal lifted her chin in the air when Cassie scratched her neck. “It’s not like twenty-seven is ancient. A lot of women have careers before they have families.” This argument was impossible to win.
    â€œHoney, if you want a career, go back to managing a restaurant.”
    Cassie had worked in the restaurant business after college graduation, managing an upscale restaurant in Albuquerque. The hours were hard, but no worse than what she was doing now. The pay was great, but her heart wasn’t in it. When she turned down a promotion and returned to Sunset Camp, her family and friends told her she was crazy.
    â€œUse the degree you earned,” her mom said. “What you’re doing isn’t a career. You’re still at summer camp.”
    Her mother’s words hurt. She had spent every summer at the camp from the time she was in junior high, first as a camper and later as an employee during college between semesters. She had lived in the tiny workers’ cabin with other students. When she accepted the assistant director position, it was like coming home. Now she served as the interim director, and she didn’t want anything to ruin her opportunity.
    â€œI never would have let you go down there when you were twelve if I had known it would become your whole life.”
    Coming back with all her usual defenses was pointless. Cassie didn’t bother pointing out she was a director, the youngest and only woman camp director in the state, even if it was only temporary. Explaining that she was making a difference in kids’ lives by bringing them closer to God wouldn’t even help her argument. She’d tried them all before.
    â€œI just don’t want you to end up single because you think every man is going to leave you like your father.”
    Cassie cringed. Her mother reserved mention of Cassie’s father for when she really wanted to make a point. The last time Cassie had heard from him was a year ago when he told her he was marrying a casino waitress in Las Vegas.
    â€œCan we drop it?” Cassie asked.
    Her mother was quiet for a moment. “I’ll leave you alone,” she said in a serious tone, “when you move back to New Mexico, meet a nice man, and have a couple of my grandbabies.”
    â€œOh. . .just that.”
    Her mom laughed. “Good night, honey. You need to get your rest.”
    Cassie stopped scratching Petal’s neck, and a fat orange tail hit the phone.
    â€œWhat was that?”
    â€œOh nothing. Only Petal saying good night.”
    â€œGood night.” Cassie heard the exasperation in her mother’s voice.
    Some days, especially paydays, she didn’t know if moving to Oklahoma had been the right decision, but when she saw the difference in the kids after a week at the camp or when she woke up early to go on a hike up the canyon, she remembered why she was there.
    Now she feared it might all be taken away from her.

Four
    A steady thumping in her head woke Cassie. She struggled to open her eyes and focus them