Several hours had gone by and all the lifeguard stands were painted a fresh white that seemed to pop in the sunlight.
Carlisle, Esme, Edward and Bella had chatted, joked and gotten to know each other a little better within the time frame they had all been working together.
"You're getting sunburned," Esme told Carlisle, running her hand along the side of his face and just under his eyes.
He shrugged, "I'll have to reload the sunscreen soon."
"Won't you be warning your patients about this, doc?" she teased.
Carlisle chuckled, "I suppose so."
Esme leaned in and gave him a quick kiss.
"Hey there's a pre-made fire pit over here," Bella pointed out. She motioned toward a circular stone wall with an old, metal grate in the center.
Edward hurried to her side and Carlisle and Esme lazily made their way toward the woods line where the sand ended.
"Maybe we could have a fire tonight," she went on, "What do you guys think?"
"Yeah," Edward agreed abruptly.
"That could be fun," Esme said, "We could all kind of get to know each other."
"That's what I was thinking," Bella told her with a smile.
"We brought some s'mores stuff," Carlisle explained, "But some of the chocolate kind of melted."
"Put it in the fridge?" Edward asked him with a grin.
He nodded, "Hopefully it's not too deformed."
"Tastes the same," Bella shrugged.
Edward sighed and looked up at the sun, and then removed his shirt. "I'm going to take a dip."
"Do you think our boss would mind?"
"Probably not." He looked at Carlisle for a sense of brotherly approval. "Right?"
Carlisle raised his eyebrows. "He seemed pretty easy going to me. We've been working consistently out here for awhile. I'm sure it'll be fine."
"We have several weeks to complete all this," Esme reminded them, "Not that I'm saying we should be slacking but a quick swim won't hurt anyone."
A whistle caught their attention and everyone whipped their heads in the direction of the clearing where they came through the path from the cabin. A young man and woman stood waving, the woman more enthusiastically.
"Hi!" she called, nearly skipping across the beach. Her male counterpart trailed at a slower pace behind her, but in a form that resembled a march.
Esme smiled and held a hand out as the girl approached. "Hello," she greeted, "I'm Esme, this is Carlisle." She turned, "And Edward and Bella."
"I'm Alice," she informed them with a perky tone, fixing the back of her pixie-cut dark hair. "And this is my fiancé Jasper."
The four of them looked over her shoulder where Jasper still treaded across the sand. He gave a sip wave and tipped his mouth up in a half-smirk.
"Hello," he said simply.
"Are you two working here for the summer?" Edward asked them.
"Edward, right?" Alice asked. When he nodded she smiled and continued. "Yes. The two of us kind of got placed here last minute. Steve had been bugging me to work but I wasn't sure if I was going to be around for the summer."
"You knew Steve before this?" Bella asked.
She nodded, "He's my uncle. I grew up around here; Jasper too."
"That's great," Esme said, "So you know the area then."
Alice nodded. "Yep."
"Any truth in this Camp Blood thing?" Bella asked.
The two of them chuckled, and Jasper quickly slunk his arm around Alice's waist. "We'll have to have a long talk about that some night." He raised his eyebrows.
"How about tonight?" Edward asked, "Bella was interested in having a fire." He motioned to the fire pit with his thumb.
"That could be great," Alice said with a nod, "I hope someone brought marshmallows."
Esme slowly raised her hand with a grin. "Right here."
"I'm sure there are more in the cabinets," Carlisle added, "Steve left a note saying to help ourselves to the food in the main cabin."
Alice nodded at them, "Right, right. We just threw our stuff on the couches for now." She shrugged and made a face.
"We saw the lists of tasks he left," Jasper explained, "So we went ahead and set up the archery range. We should have a competition in a few days over there."
Carlisle smirked and nodded, "Sure."
"Oh, we also set up a volleyball net and stuck a few new stakes in the ground at the horseshoe pits."
The sound of a siren caught everyone's attention and they all exchanged glances.
"Sounds close," Esme noted. She looked at Carlisle.
"Want to go check it out?" he asked her.
She nodded, and then looked at Alice who stood directly in front of her.
"Let's go see," Alice agreed, prompting everyone to begin their march back up past the cabin toward the area where all the cars were parked in the dusty driveway.
A single police officer sat on a blue and white motorcycle and proceed to remove his helmet and aviator sunglasses. Emmett, Rosalie, Jacob and another young woman were all standing facing him. The four of them all hand their hands on their hips.
"Jake," Bella called out, "What's going on?"
He shrugged and made room for the six of them, eyeing Alice and Jasper as he did.
"Hi," Alice whispered, reaching a hand out, "I'm Alice."
"Jacob." He nodded.
"What are you kids doing out here?" the officer asked, stepping off of the bike.
"We're just fixing the place up," Esme explained. She leaned slightly against Carlisle.
"Fixing it up for what?"
"The summer camp," Carlisle explained, "We're working for Steve Christy."
The officer eyed them and took a step forward.
"Nice bike," Emmett gushed, approaching the vehicle with a grin. He was about to run his hand along the side when the officer stopped him.
"What've you been smoking, boy?"
"Smoking?" he asked, "I don't smoke. Causes cancer."
"You know what I'm talking about," the officer countered, "Weed... grass."
"Hey, what's he talking he about?" Jacob asked, half-kidding in his tone.
"Don't get smart."
"Me?" Jacob continued, "I'm as a dumb as they come."
"Is there anything we can help you with, officer?" Carlisle intervened.
The officer stared at Jacob with a look of disapproval for a minute before switching his attention to Carlisle.
"Looking for a man named Ralph... the town crazy; spouting his gospel."
"This Ralph," Rosalie asked, "Is he dangerous?"
The officer looked annoyed speaking of the man. "Every time that loony gets drunk he gets his calling. I end up spending the morning in court and he gets a week in jail. His old lady's had about enough of it. Never done anything violent. He just likes to talk; spread slander of the town."
"We'll keep an eye out," Carlisle promised, "Is there a number we should call if we see him?"
"9-1-1, right?" Emmett asked.
The officer eyed him again, and then removed a pad and a pen from his shirt. He scribbled something quickly and handed it to Carlisle.
"That's the number at the station. If you see him, phone us. An officer will come down and handle it."
He nodded, "Will do."
The radio on the motorcycle went off, and despite the static the voice was clear. "Cycle one, chief needs you in town on the double. Now."
Emmett and Rosalie looked at each other, and then smirked. He snickered lightly and she cuddled up against him.
"Never keep the chief waiting," the man said sternly. He returned to the bike and looked around them, adjusting his glasses over his eyes and then fastened his helmet. "We don't stand for no weirdness out here."
Esme couldn't help but giggle to herself, but attempted not to let the man see it out of respect. Emmett, Rosalie and Jacob all gave a light laugh as the man rode in the direction of the lake for about ten yards and then whipped around in a quick U-turn to head back into town.
When the officer was out of sight, they all looked around and shared a laugh before Emmett tossed a rag at Jacob.
"Time for someone to clean the outhouses," he joked with a laugh.
Jacob laughed and jumped out of the way as the cloth fluttered slowly down toward him.
"So we have some new faces," Rosalie pointed out, motioning to Alice and Jasper.
"And I'm Leah," the girl next to Jacob said, giving everyone she hadn't met yet a brief introduction.
They all quickly introduced themselves before Edward gave the same suggestion they had to the others.
"Bella found an old, stone fire pit down by the lake. It might make for a good icebreaker tonight."
Emmett pointed at him. "Yes."
Leah nodded, "I'm in."
"Me too," Jacob agreed.
"Great," Alice said, looking around, "It's a date."