by Gail Sattler
The light in Garrett’s pup tent went on again. He unzipped his sleeping bag, then she heard the shuffle of clothing. He crawled out of the pup tent with the flashlight at his side, pointing to the ground, and stood beside her at the screened window. “Robbie, believe me,” he whispered into the opening. “It’s a raccoon.”
A scraping sound drifted from beneath the picnic table.
“Garrett …” Roberta couldn’t keep the waver out of her voice. “Do something!”
He chuckled softly, then aimed the flashlight beam toward the noise. “Look.”
From beneath the picnic table, animal eyes glowed from the reflection of the light. He aimed the beam directly at it. A raccoon huddled in the corner, eating bits of cereal that had spilled at breakfast time.
Roberta gasped. She’d never seen a live raccoon before, only on television. Aside from the fact that it was much bigger than she expected, the black mask around its eyes and the way it huddled under the table made it look like a cuddly little bandit. “It’s so cute!” She looked toward the door, then started to wiggle out of her sleeping bag, when Garrett’s open palm pressed on the screen.
“Robbie!” he called in a harsh whisper. “What are you doing? Where do you think you’re going?”
“Uh, to see it …,” she stammered, then glanced back and forth between his hand pressing against the screen and the path to the camper door.
“Don’t let their adorable expressions deceive you. Raccoons are vicious. I hope you don’t think you’re going to walk up to it and pat it. When a raccoon feels threatened, it will attack. It’s not a cute little puppy dog. It’s a wild animal, very used to fighting for survival. Never forget that.”
“Oh.”
They watched it finish the rest of the cereal and waddle off in search of more treats left by other sloppy campers. Garrett’s palm still lay pressed against the screen. Roberta was amazed at the size of his hand. Very lightly, she touched her fingertips to his, then trailed her hand down ‘til the heel of her palm rested against his. His fingers extended a couple of inches beyond her own. She stared at their hands, touching, with the screen between. “Sorry to wake you for nothing. I’ve never seen a raccoon before.”
Garrett’s voice came out hoarse and croaky. “Then it wasn’t for nothing.” He dropped his hand, then backed up a step. “Good night, Robbie.”
At sunrise, armed with a handful of quarters, Roberta tiptoed past Gwen and Molly, who was still snoring, exited the camper, crept past Garrett’s quiet tent, and headed to the amenities building to have a shower.
Upon her return nothing had changed, except the sunrise had brightened. The sun shone gaily in the blue sky above, promising another gorgeous day for camping. Rather than chance disturbing anyone, Roberta eyed the silent hammock. Did she dare?
She dared. She tiptoed into the camper, snagged her book, and returned to the hammock. Very carefully, she settled in it like Garrett had shown her and lifted the book.
Approaching footsteps crunched in the gravel. “Hi. You’re up early.”
Not having read a word, she rested the book on her stomach. “Good morning, Garrett.”
He stood beside the hammock and peered down at her. His duffel bag lay slung over one shoulder, and his wet hair evidenced that he, too, had snuck off for a shower. He also held a steaming mug in one hand. “So, did you dream about patting raccoons? Or feeding them, perchance?”
“No.” During what little sleep she did manage to get, she dreamed about him. Roberta inhaled deeply. Coffee. He had coffee. She wanted one, but she suspected he had been to the ranger camp to get it.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were up, or I would have brought you one too. But I’ll share.”
She narrowed her eyes to stare at the steaming cup. After a gentle sip, he held the mug forward a few inches. It seemed a little too intimate to be sharing a morning coffee, so Roberta shook her head and raised her book. “That’s okay, but thanks, anyway.”
“Do you know what their plans are for today?” He jerked his head toward the camper.
She lowered the book back to her stomach. “No, but since the day looks promising, we’ll probably go to the beach.”
“Sounds like a good idea.”
He didn’t say anything, so she raised the book again.
“How long do you think they’ll sleep? The day’s a-wastin’.”
The book dropped back to her stomach. “I have no idea,” she replied. “We were up at dawn yesterday. It’s only 6:30 now.” She acknowledged Garrett’s nod. When he didn’t comment further, Roberta lifted the book.
“Gwen usually gets up early camping,” he said, glancing back at the camper, “but I don’t know about Molly. What do you think?”
The book dropped. “Molly sleeps like a log. I have no idea.” When he didn’t comment further, she picked it up again.
“I don’t know how you could sleep with all that snoring in there.”
Roberta squeezed her eyes shut, thumped the book back down to her stomach, then stared up at him. He smiled down at her. She hadn’t slept well, but it hadn’t been Molly’s fault, it was his. “It didn’t bother me,” she said and lifted the book.
“Yes, the fresh air does that to a person. I always sleep better out here. Do you find that?”
She stared at the book, not seeing the print.
“Oh, are you trying to read? That’s a good book. Watch out for Stanleigh. He’s got something up his sleeve.”
Roberta squeezed her eyes shut, but kept the open book up in front of her. “Garrett!”
Garrett chuckled softly as he walked away, speaking over his shoulder. “Enjoy your book, then, but you might be able to read it better if you turned it right side up.”
She slammed it shut, groaned out loud, took aim, and threw it at him.
“Heads up!” he shouted as he projected its trajectory. Using his duffel bag like a baseball bat, he swung and deflected the book, sending it flying into the bush. He laughed out loud, making no effort to retrieve it.
Gwen stepped out of the camper. “What’s going on out here? What time is it?”
Garrett stopped laughing but grinned ear to ear. “Better get that coffee going. I won’t mention any names, but someone’s crabby in the morning.” He snickered and crawled into his pup tent.
Chapter 10
Garrett, wake up. You’ve been sleeping all day.”
“Leave me alone, Gwen,” he mumbled, and covered his face with his forearm.
Instead of leaving him alone, her finger poked him in the ribs through the fabric of the hammock.
“You win,” he grumbled without opening his eyes. “I’m awake.”
“I can’t believe you fell asleep like that. It’s almost supper time. I tried to wake you before we went swimming, but all you did was grunt, so we went without you.”
Garrett stared blankly at the trees above him, but he still couldn’t make his eyes focus. The morning had been a complete disaster. Having four people in such a small accommodation required careful placement of all utensils and personal goods. It took until lunchtime to take the tarps down and get organized before they could choose their afternoon activity, which ended up being another trip to the beach.
He’d been looking forward to going, but after a big, delicious lunch, the long hours of working from sunrise to midnight all week had caught up with him. He’d only intended to have a short nap, but apparently, it had been longer.
Garrett still couldn’t make himself move. In the background, he heard Robbie telling Gwen to leave him alone.
The sweet sound of her voice brought Garrett to complete wakefulness. It wasn’t like him to sleep all afternoon, but in addition to his long hours all week, instead of sleeping he’d tossed and turned most of the night thinking of Robbie.
Compared to the state she was in when she first arrived, he could barely believe she was the same person. Yet, over the space of a few short days, he’d personally witnessed her change. He realized now she
’d had it in her all along.
He continued to listen to her voice in the background, simply enjoying the sound. If he had to be honest with himself, he had to admit that he wanted to spend more time with her, even if she wasn’t quite so receptive of him. The musical sound of her laugh made him smile even though he hadn’t heard the joke, in addition to doing strange things to his heart.
He couldn’t believe how he’d flirted with her last night, if one could do such a thing beside a campfire. If it hadn’t been for his sister and Molly in the near vicinity, he would have kissed Robbie. As it was, he’d nearly kissed her anyway.
When she called out to him as the raccoon scrounged through the campsite for food, the connection he felt when she touched his hand rocked him to his core.
“If you expect to eat, you’d better be prepared to work for it after sleeping all day.”
“No problem.” He rolled out of the hammock and helped himself to a barbecued feast, ignoring Gwen as she nattered away at him over her opinion of him sleeping all afternoon.
He pretended to gripe when they told him to wash the dishes, not admitting he welcomed the chance to have something to do with his hands. He also wanted to watch Robbie from a distance. Strangely silent, Gwen dried the dishes, but left everything on the table for him to put away. He didn’t mind.
Molly and Roberta made a fire, and all three women huddled around it while he tidied everything up. He suggested they go for a hike to enjoy the evening, but they complained about being too tired. On the other hand, after sleeping all afternoon, Garrett was wide awake and raring to go.
It didn’t take much convincing for him to haul another load of wood, nor did he protest when they cajoled him into cutting it all into smaller pieces, even though he knew it would burn faster that way.
He still had lots of energy. They complained he was making them more tired just watching him.
What he really wanted to do was go for a long hike up the mountain, but the sunset had already begun. He knew the dangers of venturing outside the designated camping area after dark. He had no intention of merely walking around the campground because he did that often enough when he was working.
When they all went to bed early, Garrett once again tidied up the campsite, fixed up his tent, then watched the fire for awhile.
He couldn’t believe it. He usually enjoyed spending time alone, but this evening he was bored.
Garrett stacked up the lawn chairs beneath the awning, doused the fire, and extinguished the lantern. He crawled into his tent and somehow managed to drift off to sleep.
Roberta only half listened to Gwen and Molly’s endless chatter the entire walk to the beach. Garrett walked alongside them, not saying a word, much to her disappointment.
Even though the day was already hot, the beach was nearly deserted, just like Gwen predicted.
As before, Molly and Gwen inched in, making faces as the cool water tortured them with every slow step. Roberta ran in, with Garrett running at her side. He splashed in slightly ahead of her, diving in a split second before she did. Roberta rose out of the water and, as always, tilted her head back and swooshed her wet hair back off her face. When she opened her eyes, Garrett stood before her, his hair also slicked back, his body glistening in the sunlight. Tan lines on his muscular arms drew her attention to his physique in general. Although she’d already seen him without a shirt, she had to force herself not to gawk.
Roberta turned her head. This was Garrett. Mr. Ranger. Molly’s friend’s brother. Someone she’d never see again after her camping vacation was over.
She didn’t want to think about never seeing him again, yet she had to. Yesterday when they went swimming without him she’d had the feeling that something, or rather someone, was missing. She didn’t want to miss him, but she did. Throughout the afternoon, she kept expecting him to show up. She was disappointed when he didn’t.
But today he was with her, promising to be fun.
Together, they watched Molly and Gwen, who were in only up to their hips. They gasped and flinched with every little step as they walked into deeper water.
Garrett met her gaze, grinned, and winked, making her aware that the ever-present dark sunglasses were missing. Roberta caught her breath and nodded back.
They dove in again, surfacing in front of Molly and Gwen. Garrett slapped the surface of the water with both hands, then laughed when they screamed. Roberta froze. She liked the sound of his laughter. Instead of joining in the splashing, she chose to watch as he splashed them again.
Molly shrieked. “No! No! Stop! Garrett, we’re going to get kicked out! You’ll get fired!”
“I’m not on duty, and no one here knows I’m supposed to know better.” With that, he slapped the surface again, showering all four of them. “Besides, it’s a weekday. We’re almost the only ones in the water, so who cares?”
Gwen splashed him back, which Roberta thought rather pointless, since he’d already been completely immersed twice, as had she. He couldn’t possibly get any wetter.
Without warning, Garrett ducked under the surface, flipped Gwen up by her legs, then swam away, surfacing where she couldn’t get him. When Gwen and Molly approached Roberta, suspecting her of some degree of involvement, Roberta sank beneath the surface and joined Garrett a distance away, begging him to save her. This time, it was a relief to only be kidding.
As their vacation went on, Roberta relaxed more and more. She found that the more time she spent with Garrett, the more she enjoyed his company. In the mornings, the four of them discussed and voted on the chosen feature activity of the day, and they stayed together the entire time. Evenings they spent talking and joking around the campfire, enjoying the sunset and continuing the playful banter until bedtime.
On Wednesday they awoke to an overcast sky. The odd raindrop had already begun to fall, so they scrambled to resurrect the tarps, then stood beneath them, dry if not warm, and watched it rain. For awhile they played a board game Gwen found in one of the cupboards. Roberta even laughed when Garrett pretended to have difficulty choosing whether he wanted to be her partner or sit close beside her.
Because of the rain, they couldn’t barbecue, and since it was Roberta’s turn to cook, she did the best she could on the two propane burners inside the tent-trailer. She had thought the close quarters all day, marooned in the small unit or in the lawn chairs beneath the tarp, would drive them all crazy, but they’d had a good time in spite of the weather.
She had to laugh when Garrett started the usual evening campfire huddled under an umbrella at the edge of the tarp. Amazed that no smoke drifted under the tarp, they sat close to the fire, welcoming the heat after a damp, chilly day. After spending the entire day in the confines of the campsite, except for the occasional trip to the outhouse, they called it an early night. Roberta couldn’t believe she’d enjoyed the day so much.
The sound of the rain on the camper roof lulled all four of them to sleep.
“If I were at ranger camp, I’d be eating bacon and eggs.”
Roberta noticed Garrett consumed every bit of cereal in his bowl and every drop of milk, despite his dissatisfaction.
Gwen crossed her arms and glowered at him. “If you want bacon and eggs, then you can cook breakfast. Don’t expect me to go through all that work in the morning. I’m on vacation.”
Molly’s eyes opened wide. “Bacon and eggs … wow … Someone has to go grocery shopping this afternoon. If we buy bacon and eggs, you can cook, we’ll all eat it, and then you can clean up the mess.”
Garrett smiled. “I can handle that.”
Molly enthusiastically created a shopping list filled equally with things they needed and things she wanted. It took them all morning to agree on what they would eat every day as they made up the shopping list, and then they argued about who was going to go do the shopping. In the end, Roberta insisted she would go later that afternoon, since she hadn’t paid for a thing so far, and she had been there almost a week.
Roberta and M
olly were elected to do the lunch dishes. Another ranger making the rounds stayed to talk to Garrett on the road, leaving the women alone at the picnic table as they worked. Molly tilted her head toward Garrett, then leaned toward Roberta. Roberta leaned closer to hear Molly’s whispered words. “So, what’s going on between you and Garrett?”
Roberta flinched. She didn’t know the answer herself. “Nothing,” she mumbled.
“Could have fooled me,” Molly whispered, glancing at Garrett as he laughed at something the other ranger said.
Roberta carefully studied the scratches on the plastic plate as she dried it. “Nothing’s going on,” Roberta mumbled again.
“Don’t think I haven’t noticed the way he’s been hanging around you.”
Roberta had noticed herself, but she had lost the ability to decide if that was good or bad. “He’s just being friendly, I’m sure.”
Molly snorted in a very unfeminine manner. “Just watch out. He’s, like, really religious, you know.”
Roberta paused, then wiped the plate with more force than necessary. In her opinion, the degree of Garrett’s faith and conviction spoke volumes about his character and strengthened her opinion of him. But most of all, she wondered why Molly thought his faith would be a concern. Molly knew she was a believer, even though she’d allowed Mike to draw her away from the church temporarily. She dearly wished Molly would make a decision to follow Jesus, but Molly remained passive, and it hurt. Knowing from experience that Garrett held nothing of his faith back in his everyday lifestyle, Roberta wondered if Garrett’s good example could make a difference to Molly.
“We’ve had a few good discussions, and I find his commitment refreshing.”
“Oh.” Molly mouthed the word more than actually said it.
Garrett jogged down the entranceway to stop beside them, thankfully halting their conversation. “A few of the guys are having a flag-football game, and they’re short a few players. Are you ladies interested?” He paused as he looked down at Robbie, not needing to say how much shorter she was than everyone else. “If you want to be the cheering section, Robbie, we’ll understand.”
