by Gail Sattler
Garrett knew how persistent Molly could be when she got herself stuck on something. It appeared Molly had been hard at work again, this time convincing her poor dejected friend to go camping to get away from it all. No wonder Robbie was so incompetent. Not only was it not her tent-trailer, she had never even been camping before. Under those circumstances, she hadn’t done too badly.
He sighed as he remembered the sight of Robbie sailing over the hammock as it flipped over with her on it. He thought she had seriously hurt herself that time, but instead she had made a joke about losing her book. She had even been friendly for a few seconds.
The phone line crackled again.
“Garrett? Are you still there? Hello?”
“Yes, Molly, I’m still here. Just thinking, that’s all. Yes, your friend Robbie is here. She’s set up and everything is fine. Let’s just say she hasn’t been too receptive to my assistance.” He frowned as he recalled her expression as she screamed at him to leave her alone, then ran sobbing into the camper. “About now she’s all settled into my hammock reading a book. Maybe I’d better go introduce myself.”
The volume of the static increased. Garrett was ready to end the conversation, but Molly’s raised voice again broke through. “You’re going to have to do more than that. I can’t come tonight like I promised. I was going to ask if you’d stay with her for the night and keep an eye on her. She’s had a pretty rough time of things.”
Garrett’s frown deepened. “You’re kidding, right?”
“No, Garrett, I’m very serious. You’re going to have to look after her for me.”
Garrett gritted his teeth. Molly didn’t know what she was asking. Twice already her friend had screamed at him to leave her alone. More important, he had no intention of spending the night in the same campsite with a woman, unchaperoned. “I’ll talk to her and see what she says. That’s all I’m going to promise, Molly.”
“That’s fine with me. I have to go. There’s someone else waiting for the phone. See you tomorrow after supper when I come with Gwen. What site is she in?”
“Site 27. At least she picked a good spot.”
“Great. See you tomorrow, and tell Robbie I’m sorry.”
“Sure. Bye, Molly.”
Garrett hung up the phone, his ear ringing from both the loud static and Molly’s shouting. For a few seconds, he squeezed his eyes shut. He imagined himself walking up to Robbie, a stranger, to announce that she was in his hammock, in his camper, and if that wasn’t enough, he was going to spend the night in the campsite with her. Based on her reactions to his presence so far, and knowing now why she was reacting to him the way she had been, he couldn’t even guess her reaction to Molly’s request.
Garrett picked up his hat and sunglasses and put them back on as he walked out the door toward site 27, deep in thought.
Roberta lay in the bottom of a small boat, rocking as the waves sloshed against the side, the lull of the splashing soothing her. Clouds drifted through the bright blue sky. Birds sang overhead.
Suddenly everything darkened. A voice drifted from a cave, and she could feel an evil presence. It called her name. Frightened, she cowered as she continued to lie in the bottom of the boat. A dark claw reached toward her neck, ready to strangle her. A voice again called her name. The ugly clawed hand touched her.
Roberta jolted to a sitting position and screamed. With the book still in her hand, she flung her arms out. Upon impact with something hard, the book flew out of her hand. She grabbed onto taut pieces of cloth at her sides, and gasped for breath while she became aware of her surroundings.
As the world swayed back and forth, Roberta slowly remembered that she was at a campsite, and she’d been reading a library book in a hammock, of all things.
To give a name to her nightmare, Mr. Ranger stood beside her, except he looked different. He wasn’t wearing his hat, and the sunglasses she’d never seen him without were askew on his face. Both hands covered the lower half of his face, and blood dripped out from between his fingers.
Realizing what had happened, everything fell into place.
She had hurt him.
She covered her mouth with her hands. “Mr. Ranger! I’m so sorry! Are you all right? Let me get something for you!”
Roberta tried to get out of the hammock quickly, but fell out on her hands and knees, banging her sore knee for the third time and this time taking off a few layers of skin. She tried to ignore the sting as she ran into the camper for a towel, hobbling as fast as she could.
Grateful she had already discovered where the towels were stored, she pulled one out and quickly limped back to Mr. Ranger. She offered him the towel at the same time as she bent down to press her knee, wishing she had brought a second towel for herself, because she was bleeding too. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to hit you! I feel so awful!”
Mr. Ranger removed the sunglasses and pressed the towel against his face. “Don’t worry about it. I’m sorry for startling you, Robbie. I should have thought before I woke you.” He repositioned the towel. His deep baritone voice came out muffled as he spoke through the towel. “How’s your knee? You should get some ice on it.”
Roberta looked up at him from her crouched position as she continued to press her hand to her wounded knee. This time she could only see the top half of his face. The hat and glasses were gone, but the towel obscured his face from his nose down.
Above the towel, Mr. Ranger had beautiful dark brown eyes, long lashes, and gorgeous, thick, straight dark hair, although it was quite messy from having his hat knocked off.
She studied the top half of his face, trying to imagine what both halves would look like together.
Garrett looked down at Molly’s friend as she hunched over clutching her knee. He had sure seen stars when she hit him in the nose with that book. With all the accidents he witnessed today, he should have known better than to get too close.
“What did you call me?” he asked slowly, still speaking through the towel.
Her face turned red. “I called you Mr. Ranger. For some reason I’ve been thinking of you as Mr. Ranger in my head every time you’ve come by. Why did you call me Robbie? Only my friends call me Robbie. How did you know that?”
Garrett shuffled the towel to hold it to his nose with his left hand as Robbie narrowed her eyes to glare daggers at him. He examined his right hand and wiped it on his shorts, just in case, before extending it to her for a handshake.
“Molly just called me. Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Garrett, Gwen’s brother. We’re going to be camping together.”
She stared at him with her mouth open. She did not reach out and shake his extended hand. Instead, all the color drained from her face as she buried her face in her palms.
“Oh, no!” she moaned as she bowed her head.
Chapter 3
Garrett held the towel away from his face and dabbed at his sore nose with the back of his hand to make sure the bleeding had stopped. In addition to the dull throb on his cheekbone where the frame of his sunglasses had smashed into his face on impact with the book, his eyes still watered from the blow to his nose. If he hadn’t been wearing the sunglasses, she would have taken his eye out with the corner of that thing. He had never considered a book to be a lethal weapon before. He’d heard the pen was mightier than the sword, but this was ridiculous.
Garrett looked down at Robbie, who still refused to look at him. She remained hunched over, her face hidden by her hands. With her track record today, Garrett could see why she didn’t want to face him, and he felt bad for her, but it couldn’t be avoided. They were more or less forced into each other’s company.
He cleared his throat and picked up his hat. “Molly phoned to say her mother had an asthma attack. She has to stay with her mother tonight, so she asked me to check up on you. I hope you don’t mind.”
Robbie uncovered her face and looked up at him with big, round green eyes. She didn’t say a word.
He ran his fingers through his hair, scr
unched his hat in his hand, then stared at the crinkles he’d made in the canvas. “She also told me what happened. I’m very sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you earlier.”
When she still didn’t say anything, Garrett looked at her again. She remained hunkered down near the ground, looking up at him with sad doe eyes. Garrett forced himself to smile. This did not look like the start of a fun evening.
He tried to think of something to say, but nothing came to mind. All he could do was stare down at her. The one time she smiled at him, it struck him how pretty she was. She was pretty even now, almost cowering, her face pale, in that half-kneeling squat. Delicately featured, she had deep sea green eyes and a long, flowing, wavy mane of beautiful hair so light brown it was almost blond.
Earlier, he remembered restraining himself from reaching out and touching her hair to remove the stick that lodged in it after she’d fallen, but he was stopped by her foul expression. At least now he understood why she was in such a state of emotional upheaval.
Roberta continued to stare up at Mr. Ranger, better known as Garrett. Molly hadn’t mentioned Gwen’s brother was a park ranger, but at least now it made more sense why he would be joining them on the camping outing. He worked here.
Without the hat and dark glasses, she could see both halves of his face together for the first time. His dark brown hair, so dark it was almost black, suited his strong features. Cut short at the sides and longer on top and at the back, the style emphasized his Roman nose, which didn’t make him in any way unattractive but instead added to his appeal. The dark tone of his skin matched his deep chocolate brown eyes. They were set off by strong, heavy eyebrows that accented the masculine appeal in his face.
If she had to typecast a ranger, Garrett would definitely be a match. Everything about him shouted “the great outdoors.” Tall, muscular build … he even looked great in shorts, and she hadn’t seen many men who had such nice legs. She’d gotten a good view of those legs from the ground up.
A large red blotch marred his right cheek, probably where she had hit him with her book. By tomorrow it would most likely be a big ugly bruise. She tried not to cringe at the knowledge that it was her fault.
All day long she’d made a complete fool of herself in front of him, in addition to treating him so badly. Even if she had never liked the know-it-all type, that didn’t give her the right to be rude. Most important, since he was Molly’s friend, she was obligated to be nice to him.
He wiggled the arms of his sunglasses, gently slid them back onto his face, and replaced his hat. He smiled, but Roberta didn’t smile back. “Let’s go sit down somewhere more comfortable.” He reached out his hand toward her after wiping it again on his shorts.
She stood on her own. Out of rebellion, Roberta refused to touch his hand. She agreed to this camping vacation to be left alone, not to have one of the park rangers watch her, even if it was at Molly’s request. She knew Molly was only concerned, but Roberta was an adult and didn’t need or want a baby-sitter.
She opened her mouth to protest, but the words died in her throat. The reason for Molly’s concern, Mike’s betrayal, brought back the image of Mike and Suzie together, and Mike’s ugly words as she left the office. She walked to the lawn chairs in silence. She refused to break down and cry in front of Garrett again. The poor man had seen enough tears. From this moment on, Roberta decided to be strong.
Garrett ignored being shunned. He watched Robbie limp over to one of the lawn chairs, where she sat all prim and proper, folding her hands in her lap and saying nothing. He tried to think of a good conversation-starter to take her mind off her troubles. “How do you like my hammock? I see you had a little nap in it.”
“Yes,” she replied quietly. “It’s very nice.” She lowered her head and stared at her hands.
There was a long pause.
“You did a good job setting up the tent-trailer, especially for someone who’s never been camping before. It even looks level.”
“Thank you,” she replied equally as quiet. “But you did all the hard parts.”
Another long silence.
“You picked a real good campsite. This is one of the largest and most private, with all the trees surrounding it. It will be nice and quiet tonight. Most of the campers who come Thursday just park their units to reserve the spot and leave. It will be full tomorrow night.”
“Yes,” she nodded, her voice still soft. “That’s what Molly said.”
More silence.
Garrett resisted dragging his hand over his face. He’d had enough trying to make conversation. He had things to do. He wasn’t here on vacation.
“I’ve got to get back to work now. I’ll stop by and peek in on you from time to time. The rangers usually have dinner in about an hour and a half. Since Molly isn’t coming, would you care to join us?”
“No, I think I’ll stay here. Thanks anyway.” She stared down at her lap and picked at a thread.
“By yourself? You don’t have to be alone, you know. You’re more than welcome to come join the guys.” The other rangers might even be jealous if he brought along a pretty woman to supper break, even if she didn’t talk much. Knowing the rest of them, if she remained quiet, they’d all start to show off, trying to impress her. The last laugh would be on them.
“I’ll be fine, thank you.”
This was one depressed lady. For as much as he tried to think of something to cheer her up, not a thing came to mind. Perhaps bringing her into the ranger camp to sit among all the guys wasn’t such a great idea, but he did have to agree with Molly—Robbie shouldn’t be left alone. He just didn’t know what to do about it.
He watched as she sat in the chair, her dainty hands folded in her lap, staring down at them. She was even starting to make him feel depressed. He started to nervously brush a fleck of dirt off his shorts before he stopped himself.
“Look,” he said as he stood, “if you don’t want to join the rangers for dinner, that’s fine. I can come here. I know it’s awkward when you don’t know anyone. I’m off around midnight tonight. Maybe we can talk then. I have to go, but I’ll see you later, okay, Robbie?”
Roberta finally looked up at him. “Okay.”
Garrett waited for her to continue, but she didn’t. Rather than make the silence any worse, he stood, adjusted his sunglasses on his face, and touched the brim of his hat. “Enjoy the peace and quiet. See you at supper time.” He turned and strode off, back to the ranger camp.
It didn’t matter that she was no longer in front of him. He could still see her face in the back of his mind. He knew those big, sad eyes would haunt him until the end of time.
Garrett walked along the camp road to check for unregistered arrivals, but his mind was not on his work.
Usually he didn’t go for the helpless femme fatale type, but he couldn’t stop thinking of Robbie. He couldn’t equate her downcast spirit as they sat together with the feisty woman he’d seen attempting to be a first-time successful camper all by herself. When she screamed at him, she’d displayed a burst of temper and independence any five year old would have been proud of.
It was probably just as well that she was out camping rather than at home brooding. When he had something to think about, the serene atmosphere of the great outdoors always served to remind him of God’s presence all around, which told him God was ultimately in control, no matter what disaster befell him. For tonight, though, he did have a problem knowing Molly wouldn’t be there to spend the night.
Although this particular campground was generally family oriented, he didn’t feel comfortable with a woman camping alone. He hadn’t exactly been thrilled to hear Gwen and Molly planned a camping trip by themselves, so he jumped at the chance when Gwen invited him to join them. He had planned to bow out once Molly’s friend Rob arrived, but now it turned out there would be three women, which wasn’t much better. Molly was a bad enough camper, but Robbie’s camping skills defied description.
Therefore, until Molly and Gwen arrived, it was u
p to him to keep an eye on Robbie, not that he knew what to do or say. Only time would tell.
Roberta stared at the empty fire pit. Molly wasn’t coming. It was bad enough she let Molly convince her to try this stupid camping idea, but now, except for Mr. Ranger Garrett, she was all alone. She didn’t know what to think or what to do.
Not that she cared to admit it, but she was nervous all by herself out in the middle of nowhere. She didn’t know what kind of pressure Molly had put on Garrett, but if it was anything similar to the way Molly pressured her into going camping, Garrett would be visiting again. Since Roberta was all alone in unfamiliar surroundings, she was grateful for the presence of someone she knew, even if it was second hand. At the same time, she really wanted to be left alone and didn’t want him to come back.
Roberta’s stomach grumbled. Because of the scene at work and then Molly’s arrival at her house, she had skipped lunch. Now that all the action was over, she was starving.
Not moving from the chair, she stared blankly at the cooler, which contained the supper she’d brought for herself and Molly. Even though he’d offered, she doubted Garrett would abandon his good supper and the company of his ranger friends to join her for scorched hot dogs. Besides, she’d been so rude to him that she didn’t expect him to return except to fulfill his obligation to Molly.
She turned her attention to the empty fire pit. The fire wasn’t going to start itself. Since Molly wasn’t coming, and she knew Garrett wasn’t likely to return, the only way to have a campfire was to make one herself.
Roberta remembered passing a stockpile of firewood by the entrance to the campground. She slipped her camera into her pocket in case she saw the little squirrel again and walked in the direction of the camp entrance.
At the opening to the pullout, she stopped to read a sign about campfire safety, which stated, among other things, that a campfire was not to be left unattended.
