Disclaimer: All characters belong to Stephenie Meyer. I don't own anything.

Edward sat at the end of the boat dock and watched the indigo sky give way to the dawn over Crescent Lake. He loved this time of the day best. No one else at Camp Cullen opened their eyes much before six, especially his siblings who ran the campground with him.

For this summer anyway.

Usually his parents ran the business, while he and his brothers Jasper and Emmett went to college. But this summer, Carlisle and Esme decided to vacation elsewhere. While they loved their home in Maine, the huge log cabin Carlisle built next to the camp store, the weather here changed about every hour.

You could wake up with the sun and by mid-morning angry clouds would move in and a nasty storm would take out a whole hillside of trees. The only thing predictable about Maine weather was the winter. Cold and snowy became the norm any time from October through April.

But that was fine with Carlisle and Esme. They loved being snowed in with a roaring fire in the huge fireplace. They loved snowmobiling and skiing. Hell, they just loved being in love. They had just celebrated their twenty-fifth anniversary so Carlisle surprised Esme with a three-month Mediterrean cruise.

Edward glanced up at the sky again. He didn't have to worry about that rain today. The forecast called for mostly sunny skies, temperatures in the eighties and no humidity, which meant most of the campers, would take advantage of the beach and enjoy the lake. It was also Saturday which meant a few of the transient campers would leave and new ones would arrive. And being the first weekend of August, it was one of the biggest nights of the year here — "Beach Party" night.

Edward threw the stone he held in his hands and watched it skip over the water four times before it sank.

He hated beach party night.

They hired their usual DJ, who would come in and set up on the beach complete with party lights, leis, glow necklaces and bracelets and play four hours of the best dance music.

Shit, he hated that too.

But he had no choice. This was the biggest sell-out weekend other than Memorial Day and Labor Day. But parties meant drunk campers and drunk campers combined with easy access to the lake were a dangerous combination. Even though they roped off the water so no one could get into it, some idiot always insisted on trying to swim in the moonlight. Which meant Edward would spend his night monitoring the beach area in case anyone tried it.

Emmett and Jasper would help keep things under control —until they met a party girl or two then they'd dance and offer their services if they needed to be carried back to their camp sites. Even now, just thinking about it, his gut clenched in anger.

He discussed the 'theme weekends' with his parents before they left for their cruise.

"Camp Cullen doesn't need them," he'd said. "We have a beautiful lake and a snack bar. Why do we need the liability?" "Edward," his father said in his calm, controlled voice, "Our guests come from all over the place to stay here and they keep coming back because they have a good time. It's not broken, so we're not going to fix it, son."

The sun peeked out from behind the trees and a loon appeared through the foggy mist rising off the lake. The mother bird's black head made her red eyes stand out, while her babies, balls of gray fluff, swam by leaving a small wake as they went. From across the lake her mate called his haunting birdcall which sounded more like a pan flute than the call of a water bird. The female called back and it echoed off the lake as she turned and headed toward her mate.

Edward shoved a hand through his hair. If he didn't have so much to do, he'd take a kayak and paddle along the shore just to hear the sound of the wind through the trees. He'd head across the huge lake to the secluded island with sandbar he found. He could relax there, in the water, without anyone bothering him.

The sun rose above the tree line. That meant his meditation time was over and his work day about to begin. He took his time walking back to the camp office.

"Mornin' Edward."

He looked up and saw Harry Clearwater, one of their seasonal campers. A former cook in a diner down in Portsmouth, Harry helped out by making breakfast at the snack bar on weekends.

"Another beautiful day in paradise," Harry said.

Edward took a deep breath and exhaled. "Life doesn't get any better than this."

The arrived at the little wooden house and Harry gave him a pat on his shoulder. "Will you have the usual today?"

"You bet."

"Same time?"

"Yep."

"See you later then."

Harry disappeared inside the snack house and Edward kept walking. As he went, he heard more rustling and stirring at campsites along the way. Quiet hours were eleven to eight on the weekends but once the sun came up, some campers especially those that tent camped, got up too. Tents heated up quickly when the sun beat down on them and made it hard to sleep.

He arrived at the office/store and the morning papers had already been delivered. He hefted the bundle inside and began his routine. First the papers got separated and put into the newspaper rack by the door. Papers were free to all campers and most people took advantage of it.

He no longer had to make the huge pot of coffee since his parents bought one of those coffee machines that just require those little cups. The thing was fast and one less thing he had to worry about. He made himself a cup then checked the stock of dairy products in the refrigerator. Emmett said he'd do it before he locked up the night before, but Emmett was, well, Emmett, and if he got distracted it didn't get done. The milk man would be there in the next half hour so he'd better be prepared, just in case.

And so it went. Jasper showed his face around 8:45. He looked like he just rolled out of bed, the way his blonde curly hair stuck up all over the place, but at least he could count on him.

"Mornin'," Jasper nodded in greeting.

"Hi. I'm heading down to eat breakfast. You want anything?" He didn't mean for his voice to sound so gruff.

Jasper grabbed a carton of orange juice from the refrigerator. "Nah, I'm good. I'll hold down the fort."

Edward headed to the door. "What time did you get in last night?"

"Early. A little after midnight. Don't expect to see Emmett til noon though. He came in really late."

Edward rolled his eyes. "Alone I hope. I didn't check. I was afraid of what I'd find."

Emmett was the youngest of the three of them and still thought he didn't have to have any responsibility. Now that their parents were gone, he'd been bringing girls home to his bed. Edward didn't care about him bringing them home, but Emmett never gave fair warning.

Last weekend when Edward got up, he walked into the kitchen in nothing but his boxers. Some girl stood at their fridge rifling through the food in there.

Not good.

So he implemented a new rule. No girls at the house unless you call first. He didn't get any call last night, but that didn't mean Emmett didn't have a girl with him.

"No girl. I checked." Jasper grinned.

Edward smiled and left for the snack bar. At 9:00 sharp, bacon, eggs, hash browns and rye toast waited for him. He was a creature of habit but that's what made him dependable. Campground owners were just like landlords, the only difference being he didn't own their houses. Campers rented their sites, brought their house with them and if they needed help, whether it was pumping out their sewer, (he usually made Emmett do that) or fixing a toilet in the bathrooms, they could rely on him to do it.

The morning went by quickly and Jasper was right. Emmett meandered into the office around 12:30; completely hung over.

"Rough night?"

"You have no idea." Emmett popped a cup into the coffee machine and pushed the button.

His eyes were bloodshot and he had what looked like a hickey on his neck below his ear.

"I hope you didn't drive yourself home in that condition."

"Shut up Edward. You're not my father."

"No, but I'm in charge when he's not here and I don't want to get a call in the middle of the night to bail your ass out of jail because you can't make good decisions."

Edward heard the bells jingle over the door alerting them of someone's arrival, so he stopped his lecture. He'd wait until the person left before he continued.

Emmett's mouth suddenly dropped open. Edward followed his gaze and did a double-take.

Three girls about their age stood at the counter. Jasper greeted them but Emmett tripped over himself to get to the front of the store.

Jasper began talking to the girl with the dark, spiky hair and Emmett stood next to the blonde. Of course he did.

Edward, who was too dignified to be acting like a buffoon, like his brothers, remained behind the counter and now made eye contact with the long-haired brunette, who now looked totally annoyed with her two friends.

"Can I help you?" Edward asked.

"Yeah. We're checking in."

He pulled up the reservation program on the computer and did a quick inventory of the girl from the corner of his eye. Soft brown eyes complimented her chestnut hair. She didn't wear any makeup but she had a natural beauty, unlike her blonde friend who wore tons of it. The brunette wore a pair of jeans with a tank top and Converse sneakers, not shoes with a wedge like the blonde.

"Last name?"

"Swan."

"Isabella?" He glanced over at her and noticed her looking in disgust at her friends who were now both engaged in deep conversation with his brothers. She was definitely the sensible one of the group.

"Is your name Isabella?" he repeated.

"Yeah. Sorry. It's Bella."

Her gaze connected with his and he saw something there behind those soulful eyes. Was it sadness? Grief? She bit her lip. Apprehension?

"You're on one of our best tent sites. There's a wooden platform to put your tent on and it overlooks the lake." He pulled out a map of the campground. "We're here at the office. You're going to go through the security gate and follow that road until you come to a fork. Bear right then follow that road until you pass the beach access. The parking area for the tent sites will be up on the right. Pull in there and you'll see the site. You're all paid but you'll need to give me $10.00 security deposit for the gate key. You'll get it back when you leave."

"Cool."

She handed him a ten dollar bill and filled out the information sheet. Once she completed the form, she slid it across the counter without so much as a glance up at him. She went over to her friends, mumbled something he couldn't hear and left. The other two girls said goodbye and exited to join Bella.

"Did you see her? She's smokin' hot!" Emmett suddenly had a new twinkle in his bloodshot eyes and didn't look nearly as hung over as before.

"Alice said they're here until Thursday." Jasper grinned.

"What site are they on?" Emmett grabbed the computer screen and turned it toward him.

"They're down in the tent area." Edward grabbed the screen and brought it back to its original position then went to the window. All three of them watched Bella drive a red truck to the security gate. She placed the card on the pad, the gate went up and the truck disappeared down the dirt road.

Emmett put his arm around his shoulders. "Dude, I think she likes you."

"You're crazy." She hadn't given him a second glance.

"Emmett's right. I saw the way she looked at you." Jasper grabbed a Snickers bar from the candy shelf.

"You're both idiots. She didn't look at me at all. I've got to check on something."

He left the office, jumped in the golf cart and drove down the dirt road into the campground. He had to check on something. Well, maybe not something, but someone.