Finding Paradise

by Barbara Dunlop

  “Grab a seat.” Raven gestured to the only chair in the room as she set the thermos on the dresser and opened the small corner closet.

  Marnie hung her jacket over the back of the chair and turned it from the little desk to face the bed.

  “Brandy?” Raven asked, holding up a half-full bottle.

  “You bet. Can I help?”

  “Absolutely not.” Raven set down the bottle and ducked into the bathroom, calling over her shoulder, “You’ve done nothing but cook and serve all evening long.”

  Marnie smiled. “I grew up in a small town.”

  Raven reappeared with a white ceramic mug in each hand. “You did?”

  “Merganser, Kansas.”

  “I thought you grew up in LA.” She gestured up and down at Marnie with one of the mugs. “You’re so . . . citified.”

  “It’s a learned look, believe me. I’ve been to dozens if not hundreds of community picnics. I know the drill.”

  “You did seem at home.”

  “It gave me something to do. I’m not wild about standing around cocktail-party style and chatting with strangers.”

  “Well, the cooks sure love you to death.” Raven poured a measure of brandy into each of the cups.

  “You should always make friends with the cooks,” Marnie said.

  “Words of wisdom.” Raven opened the thermos with a little hiss of pressure and added the hot chocolate.

  “That smells wonderful,” Marnie said. She’d ended up serving it for much of the evening but hadn’t gotten around to drinking any.

  Raven handed Marnie one of the mugs, then peeled off her boots and settled herself on the bed, leaning back against the wall. “I saw you were talking to Cobra at the fire.”

  “I was.” Marnie took a sip. The hot chocolate tasted every bit as good as it smelled—creamy, rich and sweet.

  Raven crossed her legs and cradled her mug between both hands. “He actually carried a conversation with you.”

  “He did.”

  “That’s unusual.”

  “Wouldn’t it be more unusual if he didn’t?”

  Raven grinned. “Your conversation seemed intense.” She lifted her brows and left a pregnant pause.

  “He bought me a blouse.”

  The answer clearly confused Raven, as Marnie had expected it would, particularly without context.

  “At the flightseeing tours,” Marnie continued. “I went into the shop for a look at one of the planes. I accidentally got some grease on my blouse and Cobra felt like it was his fault. So, he ordered a new one, and it was delivered to my assistant at the office.”

  “He knows where you work?”

  “You can find my office address online, or Breena knows. Or any of the others know. You wouldn’t have to be a super-spy to find out.”

  “Was it his fault? The grease, I mean.”

  “No. Hence the tense conversation. His gesture was way off the charts.”

  Raven paused for a drink. “Why did he think it was his fault?”

  Marnie couldn’t decide what to say to that. It wasn’t as if anything real had happened. It was a silly slip-up, a moment in time, a simple kiss between a man and a woman.

  Raven shifted forward, obviously curious. “There’s something. I can see it in your eyes. It’s a good story. Did you trip, break something, touch something you shouldn’t?”

  Marnie grinned and shook her head. “No. I know my way around a repair shop.”

  “You do?”

  “Merganser, Kansas.” Marnie smoothly changed the subject. “Mia said you grew up in Alaska on a gold mine.”

  “I did. Me, three brothers and my dad. Mom died when I was seven.”

  “I’m so sorry. I lost my mom when I was twelve. You never truly get over it.”

  Raven nodded to that. “It was tough at times, being the only girl in such an isolated location.”

  Marnie raised her hand school-room style and waggled her fingers. She could relate. “Only girl here too. One brother, plus my dad and my uncle. We were on a couple of acres just outside town. Tumbleweed Fuel and Service.” Some of her isolation had been geographic, but a big part of it had come from her family’s suspicious worldview.

  “Hence, knowing your way around a repair shop.”

  “Right,” Marnie agreed.

  “And the grease stain?” Raven tilted her head and leaned slightly forward again.

  Marnie had hoped they’d dropped that. On the other hand, she saw no real reason to lie. “He kissed me.”

  Raven’s jaw went slack.

  “Don’t get the wrong idea. It was nothing. On a whim. But”—Marnie gestured to the front of her sweater with her free hand—“coveralls, grease, pale pink blouse. Disaster.”

  “You kissed Cobra?”

  “Technically, he kissed me. But sure, I kissed him back. He’s a good kisser.” Marnie kept her tone light, but her chest tightened and her skin warmed with the memory.

  “So, today’s conversation, was it about the kiss?”

  Marnie shook her head. “Didn’t mention it.”

  “Oh. Probably nothing then.” Raven nodded sagely.

  Marnie was surprised but gratified by Raven’s easy dismissal.

  “I kissed Brodie,” Raven said in the next breath.

  “I didn’t know you and Brodie were a—”

  “We’re not.”

  “Were you before?”

  “No. Never. It was just a one-time thing. We were out of town, and we’d had a big win on . . . well, road repairs. It sounds boring, but it was important. We were celebrating. It was a congratulations gesture, nothing more than that. So, I know exactly what you’re talking about.”

  “Right,” Marnie said, realizing that Raven did understand. “Impulsive actions and romantic interest are two very different things.”

  “Exactly.”

  * * *

  * * *

  If a guy was going to be impulsive, he should do it on a Sunday.

  Cobra was normally methodical. He understood systematic, meticulous work kept planes in the air and saved lives, and he respected that. But it was a Sunday, and Riley Stern was a good friend. So, he abandoned his plans for the hundred-hour maintenance on the islander airplane.

  “Sure,” he answered Riley on the phone, swinging his legs from the bed in the caretaker’s suite, appreciating the warm floor beneath his feet. It had been well worth firing up the wood boiler.

  “Yeah?” Riley sounded relieved. “We didn’t expect this much interest in white water rafting. I thought two rafts would be plenty.”

  Riley owned Rapid Release, the local white water rafting company and one of the few tourist attractions in Paradise. He was often away for a week or more at a time, taking tourists on wilderness adventures. It was rare for him to do single day trips from town, rarer still for him to need all three of his rafts at the same time.

  “Can you bring the outboard to the hangar?” Cobra asked.

  “I’m on my way now.”

  Cobra stepped into a pair of pants. “What if I’d said no?”

  Riley gave a chopped laugh, showing he thought the suggestion was absurd. “I’m five minutes out.”

  “I hope you brought coffee.”

  “And cinnamon buns.”

  “At least you know how to bribe a guy.”

  Bear and Bar cinnamon buns were legendarily large, tasty and filling.

  Cobra ended the call. He got dressed and ready, and was heading down the corrugated metal staircase when he heard Riley’s truck pull in.

  He turned on the overhead lights and opened a bay door.

  Riley circled his truck to back it inside. The forty-horsepower motor was lying in the open box.

  Cobra pulled down the tailgate for a look.

  “Water pump impe
ller failed a couple of weeks back,” Riley said. “I just got the new one in last week.”

  Cobra slid the outboard toward him, checking the bolt size on the leg then moving to his toolbox for a socket. “We should be able to change it out in a couple of hours.”

  Riley pulled the coffee and warm cinnamon buns from the passenger side of the pickup.

  Smelling the combined aromas, Cobra decided to start with breakfast. He set down the socket.

  Riley put the food on the workbench, and Cobra joined him, helping himself to a cup of black coffee and tearing a chunk off one of the cinnamon buns.

  “What time are you launching?” Cobra asked.

  “Eleven is the plan.”

  “Doable.” It was a little after seven now.

  “We’re putting in above the gorge. An hour and a half to the sandbar, stop for lunch, then through the rapids, over the mini-falls and into town. You busy today?”

  Cobra paused midbite, his suspicions flickering. “Why?”

  “I need an extra raft pilot.”

  “So, you want me to fix the outboard and run the raft down the river?”

  “I know you’re a full-service kind of guy.”

  “I’ve been trying to stay away from the circus.”

  “Breena is meeting us at the sandbar with lunch. You won’t be a babysitter, just a boat pilot. You know that river better than most, and I’d really hate to lose a raft full of tourists.”

  “They’re not tourists.”

  “They’re not locals.”

  “True.” Cobra wasn’t about to argue the point any further.

  “So . . . ?” Riley pressed.

  “All of them are taking the trip?” Cobra asked.

  He wasn’t going to pretend Marnie didn’t enter into the equation for him. He’d like to see her again, and today was the last day of the matchmaking event. A fancy wind-up dinner and dance was planned for tonight, then they were all taking the twin otter back to Fairbanks early tomorrow morning.

  “All of them, even Raven and Mia.”

  “Raven’s doing something recreational?”

  Riley tipped a flattened hand back and forth. “Part work, part recreation, since she organized it.”

  “Still,” Cobra said. “It’s not like her to have fun.”

  Riley grinned.

  “No disrespect,” Cobra quickly put in. He hadn’t meant it that way. Her work ethic was noble.

  “I know,” Riley agreed. “If anything, we need more like her. So, you in?”

  “Sure,” Cobra said, since it sounded as though Marnie was likely to be there. If this was going to be his last chance, it might be nice to say goodbye.

  They finished eating, replaced the impeller and had the rafts towed up to the put-in by ten thirty.

  Cobra and Riley each drove a company pickup, while Riley’s employee Nicholas Constantine drove the van filled with life jackets, helmets and equipment. Between them, the three men set up the rafts on the rocky shore, readying them for the trip. A cool breeze swept down from the glacier, rustling the dry fireweed stalks and the remnants of golden leaves still clinging to the poplar trees on the hillsides.

  “What do you think of all this?” Nicholas asked Cobra as they connected the fuel lines.

  “The river trip?”

  “The women.”

  “Oh. I’m against it.”

  “Against women?” Nicholas’s grin showed he was joking.

  “Not in general,” Cobra returned easily.

  Nicholas turned toward the road where an engine sounded in the distance. “I think it was a really good idea.”

  “How so?” Cobra scanned his way around the raft, checking for the first-aid kit, extra life jackets and the emergency paddles.

  “They all seem nice, and so pretty.”

  “You think any of them would actually move here?”

  “I think they’re at least open to considering it. I mean, why else would they come?”

  Cobra had to admit, he hadn’t thought of it that way.

  The town school bus pulled up with Kenneth at the wheel.

  As the women filed out, Cobra was glad to see they were dressed warmly, all of them looking like they’d layered up beneath their Rapid Response nylon splash suits.

  He watched until he saw Marnie leave the bus. The splash suit practically swamped her slight frame. She wore plain canvas trainers on her feet. The shoes were scuffed and worn, so he guessed she must have borrowed them. Her hair was braided close to her head, and her eyes were covered in sunglasses.

  She looked gorgeous.

  Riley gathered them all together for a safety briefing while Nicholas handed out life jackets and helmets.

  Cobra perched on a boulder to change from his boots into his lightweight trainers then left the boots and his wallet and keys in the van. Kenneth had brought AJ, Xavier and Breena along to ferry the other vehicles back to town so they could meet the rafts at the boat launch after the ride.

  Cobra zipped himself into a life jacket and tightened the chinstrap on his helmet.

  Riley would lead in the first raft, followed by Nicholas, while Cobra would bring up the rear. If there were mechanical problems along the way, it would be easier for Cobra to pull in behind the troubled raft than to turn back and fight the current to get to them.

  He was disappointed to see Marnie in raft number two with Nicholas—not that they would have been chatting along the way. Cobra would be busy driving, and she’d be busy hanging on and possibly screaming for dear life as they bounced up and down in the rapids. She was up front in the raft, so she’d get a very exciting ride.

  Xavier settled Scarlett at the back of Cobra’s raft and was busy saying goodbye to her. He was reminding Scarlett and everyone else to properly hang on to the woven straps that wrapped around the big blue tube.

  “Any questions?” Cobra asked after Xavier stopped talking.

  “We’re not going over a waterfall or anything, are we?” a woman at the front asked. Cobra remembered her name was Olivia.

  “There’s a small falls near the end,” he said.

  A couple of the women gasped, and eyes widened all around.

  “Nothing to worry about,” he assured them. “The raft will easily handle it. I’m Cobra, for any of you I haven’t met yet. Olivia, Willow, Ariel, Scarlett and . . .” There was one woman he didn’t remember, short dark hair under her pale blue helmet, a little nervous looking.

  “Kathleen,” she said.

  “It’s going to be fun, Kathleen.”

  “It’s going to be awesome,” the woman named Willow said with a whoop. She’d strapped a camera to her helmet and was clearly ready for fun.

  “She hang glides,” Scarlett told him.

  “It starts out gently,” Cobra said to them all as he positioned the raft, getting ready to push off and hop in himself. “You’ll all be comfortable and used to the motion before we hit any really rough water, so don’t worry.”

  He checked out the other rafts. Riley was pushing off, Raven in the raft with him along with four other women. Nicholas was watching the progress as Riley successfully fired up the outboard and headed into the middle of the river.

  Marnie and Mia were in Nicholas’s raft. Mia in the middle and Marnie up front, looking eager, the bright orange life jacket further engulfing her, her hands properly positioned on the straps. She was going to have a bouncy ride at the bow, and he hoped the motion didn’t bother her stomach. He wondered if she’d taken a motion sickness pill beforehand.

  Cobra kept an eye on her as Nicholas pushed off, settled into his seat and started the motor, turning the raft downstream. As they headed for the bend, Cobra pushed off himself, leaving Xavier standing onshore waving to Scarlett. Sitting down, he locked the outboard leg in the water and fired it up.

  “Read
y?” he called to the women, receiving nods and smiles from them all. He added a little power and sent them heading in the right direction.

  They started out with gentle rollers. A larger one broke over the raft, and everyone shrieked then laughed as the cold water hit them. The boulders at the shore, the fall colors and the birds flying over them slipped along as they rolled their way around a bend in the river.

  The river narrowed after the bend. Cliffs rose up on either side, and they picked up speed, bouncing more sharply over the rolls and hollows.

  “Do you see that?” Willow called out, pointing ahead to a stretch of bubbling white rapids.

  “Don’t let go,” Cobra warned her.

  She quickly put her hand back in place.

  “Get ready,” he told them all, goosing the throttle for a second to make sure they were positioned correctly to catch the fun of the rapids without scraping up against the boulder field on the west shore.

  They hit the rapids to shrieks and laughter that turned to oohs and aahs as they came out the other end and the raft settled.

  “Can we do that again?” Kathleen asked.

  “You ever paddle that stretch?” Willow asked.

  “We could sure use that in a film,” Scarlett said.

  Cobra couldn’t help remembering Brodie’s idea of using Paradise as a film location. “There are more rapids ahead,” he told Kathleen.

  The women all cheered.

  “I’ve paddled it with Riley and some others,” Cobra answered Willow’s question. “But the motor gives a little more control.”

  “For us wimpy paddlers?” Olivia asked.

  “For less experienced paddlers,” Cobra said.

  “I don’t want to paddle,” Ariel said.

  “I’m perfectly happy with a motor,” Kathleen agreed.

  “I’d love to paddle it,” Willow said, a look of anticipation on her face. “I love so much about this place. I haven’t met the right guy here yet, but maybe I should look harder. This stuff is so much fun!”

  “Here we go again,” Cobra warned them. An even rougher stretch of white water was coming up.

  The raft bounced over the rougher rapids, water splashing across the bow, wetting everyone’s faces. They shrieked louder still as they rocked their way through a bubbling, narrow channel and shot out the other side.