Daylight came early in the wilderness. Roberta awoke to the smell of coffee and the sound of faint stirrings outside. She opened her eyes, orienting herself to the small sleeping compartment of Garrett’s camper. The early light gave the unit a strange glow, giving everything inside a yellowish hue. As soon as she opened the camper door, she smelled food. Good food. Bacon and eggs. Garrett stood beside the picnic table, using a small green camper’s cookstove.
Trying to be discreet, she quietly slipped out of the camper and up the entrance to the campsite for a trip to the outhouse. She almost thought she made it undetected, but his head turned, and he smiled and nodded as she left.
Upon her return, two plates of bacon and eggs and toast and two cups of steaming coffee sat on the picnic table.
“Good morning, Robbie. Did you sleep well? I did.”
“How did you cook this out here? Are we going to eat all this for breakfast? What time is it?”
He turned off the flame and raised his head to the sunrise, the brilliant colors already starting to fade. “5:17 A.M.”
Roberta looked up. Wisps of pink and purple clouds were losing their colors to bright white against the blue of the early morning sky as she watched. Birds twittered and squirrels chattered. “How could you tell that?”
“I checked my watch.”
She would have said something nasty if her stomach hadn’t growled. “Where did you get that thing?” She swooshed her hand in the air over the stove. “And all this food?”
“Ranger camp. I’ve got connections. I make breakfast like this every day.”
“If I ate breakfast like this every day I’d weigh six hundred pounds. I brought cereal for breakfast. There’s milk in the cooler that’s got to be used up.”
“I suppose we could eat that too. Unless it’s some kind of healthy granola stuff. I won’t eat that.”
She had always assumed that anyone who made a career out of being in touch with nature would lead a healthy lifestyle, including plenty of exercise as well as a nutritionally balanced diet. Somehow, she couldn’t see a breakfast of high-fat, high-cholesterol bacon and eggs with thickly buttered toast fitting into that plan.
“It’s sugar-sweetened processed kid’s cereal, loaded with food coloring and preservatives. Multicolored sugar bombs. The kind my mother would never allow me to have when I was a kid. You’re welcome to help yourself if you want.”
He grinned ear to ear and rubbed his stomach, which she couldn’t help but notice was extremely flat. “Yummy.”
A plastic tablecloth covered the picnic table. Despite the questionable nutritional value, not to mention the megacaloric content of the food, she could hardly wait to dig in. This time, she knew what to expect as he sat down. Just as he started to close his eyes, she stopped him. “It’s okay, Garrett, you can pray out loud.”
His eyes widened as his head rose. He stared blankly at her, then smiled again. Something inside her stomach flipped, but she was sure it was only the growlies.
He bowed his head and folded his hands on the table. “Thank You, dear Lord, for all You’ve given us, including this food, this wonderful day, and that we can share it with our friends. Amen.”
At Roberta’s mumbled “Amen,” he dug in. Not only did he consume a huge plate of his own breakfast, but he also helped himself to a large bowl of cereal. He even drank every last drop of the milk.
He turned his wrist to read his watch as he chewed his last mouthful. “Sorry to be rude. I’m on duty, and I’m late.”
While she stared at his empty plate and her still half-full one, Garrett disappeared into the camper. In what seemed like seconds, he reappeared in his uniform, including the pants with the stripe down the side, the hat, and the dark sunglasses to complete the picture. He’d also done up the laces on his hiking boots. From the dark shadow on his jaw, she suspected he would be shaving at the ranger camp, where they probably had electricity.
“I’ve got beach duty after lunch. Want to go for a swim?”
“Swim?”
“There’s a beach down that path over there. It takes about fifteen minutes to walk. You can swim, can’t you?”
“Of course I can swim!”
“Good. See you after lunch.” Tipping his hat, he smiled beneath the sunglasses and walked away with his duffel bag slung over his shoulder and his rolled-up pup tent under his arm. Roberta couldn’t help but notice that he’d again forgotten the poles to go with it.
She smiled until she realized she had been railroaded again. Yesterday Molly had wangled her into going on this camping vacation, and now Mr. Ranger Garrett had conned her into a swimming expedition. Plus, he left her to do all the dirty dishes.
Since it was so early, despite all the time it took to heat the water on the propane elements, wash, then dry and repack all the dishes in their plastic boxes, she had plenty of time before lunch and Garrett’s expected return. Unless he made the rounds as often as he did yesterday.
Short of hiding, she considered what she could do and where she could go that he wouldn’t find her. Very few people were in the campground, and those who were, she suspected were mostly still asleep. The only place she’d seen so far besides her own campsite was the wood stockpile at the entrance. She had seen a sign directing campers to a nature trail, so she decided to check it out.
Preparing for the heat of the day, she changed into her shorts and sandals. After brushing her teeth, she picked up her camera and the rest of the bag of bread that Garrett brought, and she was on her way. If she had three hours to kill, she might as well feed the squirrels or any other wildlife that came along.
After constantly stabbing her toes on twigs and mulch as she walked, Roberta settled down on a log and spent most of her time trying to take pictures of a very elusive squirrel who must have felt the same way as Garrett about having its picture taken. For awhile, every time she clicked the camera or moved slightly, the squirrel ran away, but after a few tries, he seemed to get used to her and finally ate in front of her. She wondered how one tiny squirrel could eat so much at once, and why he sometimes hid while he was eating it. However, she still managed to get a few good shots of the squirrel with a tiny piece of bread tucked neatly between its cute little front paws.
The little critter must have sent out some kind of secret squirrel radar code, because just as she was about to leave, a whole flock of squirrels descended from the trees. Before she knew it, the whole loaf was gone, except for two pieces she remembered at the last minute to save for her own lunch. She wondered if other campers gave the squirrels the good pieces and left the crusts for themselves. Once they saw no more food forthcoming, the squirrels deserted her. Roberta braved the path again, constantly stopping to empty pieces of the great outdoors from her sandals. Next time she would wear sneakers.
With no sign of Garrett when she arrived at the campsite, she made herself a sandwich and enjoyed her lunch in peace.
“There you are. I’ve been looking for you. Where were you?”
“I went for a walk to feed the squirrels.”
Sunlight glinted off Garrett’s sunglasses as he crossed his arms over his chest and tilted his shoulders slightly back. He would have presented an intimidating stance, if she hadn’t remembered how tender his embrace could be. “I didn’t know where you were. You were gone a long time.”
“So?”
His frown deepened. “I was worried.”
She shrugged her shoulders. “I wanted to be alone and check out Mother Nature. You’ve been very nice to keep an eye on me, but you don’t have to check up on me every minute of every day.”
Garrett lifted his hat, swiped his hair back, then replaced his hat. “Maybe I have been overdoing it a bit. I apologize.”
All the harsh words she nearly let loose were forgotten at the sight of his smile. For such an annoying man, he really had a kind smile.
“I’m sorry too. I didn’t mean to be rude. You’ve been very kind, and I do appreciate it. I guess I haven’t been myself lately.”
“I can understand that. Still want to go to the beach?”
She opened her mouth to protest, but the words didn’t come out. It wasn’t as if she had anything better to do. She nodded. “Sure. It’ll only take me a minute to change.”
They walked to the beach in silence at first, but soon Garrett started explaining things he probably thought might interest her along their way, pointing things out in the strangest places. Roberta said very little, content to listen. Some of the things he said were interesting.
Garrett couldn’t help himself. Towering above her as they walked side by side, he tried to be a gentleman and not gawk at Robbie in her bathing suit. Most women would have draped their towels over their shoulders as they walked, but Robbie wasn’t most women. She wrapped the towel around her waist like a skirt, and instead of her dainty little sandals, she wore a tiny pair of pristine white sneakers and little white ankle socks with baby pink pompoms on the back. He felt like Grizzly Adams clomping along beside her in his favorite hiking boots.
Instead of staring, all he could do was look around and talk about points of interest along the way. He also talked about things that weren’t very interesting. Anything. Plants. Animals. Birds. He wasn’t usually such a motormouth, but he had to do something, anything rather than stare.
He turned his head as he pointed and explained about a particular species of squirrel that chattered at them in the treetops. He made the mistake of glancing at her when she asked a question. Garrett squeezed his eyes shut for a second and pointedly kept his focus straight ahead.
The near-deserted beach stretched out before them. Garrett assured her that tomorrow would be another story. In a few hours, people would start arriving as they got off work for the weekend.
“Enjoy it while you can.” He sat on the grass and leaned back, resting his weight on his palms, his arms stretched out straight behind him, his ankles crossed.
“Aren’t you coming in?”
“Nope. I’m on duty.” For a second, he almost hoped the expression on her face was one of disappointment, but she simply shrugged her shoulders, untied the towel from her waist, then laid it out on the ground. She ran into the water, then at the right depth, lifted her arms over her head and dove in the rest of the way.
Robbie shot up out of the water, glistening in the sunlight as a spray of water splashed around her. She arched her back, tipped her head backward, and used both hands to swipe her wet hair from her face, then stretched her hands to the sky, radiating total freedom.
He forced himself to blink and added up the hours until he was off duty.
She smiled and waved and dove back in. Garrett forced himself to start breathing again. The next time she came up, she started walking toward the shore, so he stood and walked to the water’s edge to meet her. “This is wonderful!” she called from the waist-deep water.
Rather than stand there staring like an idiot, Garrett turned his head and noticed a movement in the designated picnic section. He raised his hands to his mouth to call out to her. “There’s someone with a dog in the restricted area. I’ve got to go kick them off. I’ll be right back.”
Roberta waved as he walked away, then turned around to dive into the cool water once again. She’d never been swimming alone, but with Garrett on the shore, she didn’t feel alone, until he left. She swam back and forth a few times, then stood still to catch her breath.
As she stood, she heard a child splashing nearby and turned to watch. A little boy about four years old played happily on a float toy in water that was almost shoulder height on herself. Worried, she glanced around the near vicinity, searching for a parent. She knew many children took swimming lessons, but no matter how well he swam, he shouldn’t be unsupervised, especially in water that would be over his head.
The child tried to stand on the float toy, lost his balance, and fell off. The float toy bounced away atop the surface of the water. The little boy screamed and flailed his arms and started to go under.
Roberta hurried to him and grabbed onto his little arm, pulling him out of the water. The child still kicked wildly and thrashed about.
“It’s okay! I’ve got you!” she tried to call over his yelling. “Calm down! You’re fine now!” Frantically, Roberta tried to get a grip on his other arm, but couldn’t. The child continued to flail about and scream.
Since the boy wouldn’t settle down and no one was on shore to come and help, Roberta carried the boy into more shallow water and left the stupid toy to float away.
When she was finally at a point where the boy’s feet could touch the bottom, a man approached. He grabbed the child roughly from her arms. Ignoring her, the man swore at the little boy as he gave him a resounding smack, making the child scream even louder.
She was about to rebuke the man for allowing the child to go into the deep water unsupervised when he turned, belched in her face, and made a crude comment. The stench of liquor almost made Roberta gag as he stepped closer. He shuffled the child to one arm and reached forward. Quickly, Roberta stepped back, but when she did, her toe hit a rock. For a split second she stopped moving, and in that split second, the man grabbed her wrist.
Her throat tightened. “What are you doing? Let me go!” She glanced down to see a rather ugly tattoo on his wrist, then looked up into his face.
The man sneered at her and said nothing. Roberta sucked in a deep breath to start screaming, when Garrett, fully dressed, appeared in the water beside the man.
His lips were drawn into a tight line, and his cheeks were absolutely rigid. At the sight of Garrett, the child screamed louder. From Garrett’s expression, Roberta wondered if he was going to hit the disgusting man.
“Let her go,” Garrett demanded, enunciating every word clearly and slowly. As Garrett stepped even closer, the man dropped her hand.
Instead of leaving it at that, Garrett crossed his arms, squared his shoulders, and clenched his fists tight. “Now apologize to the lady. And you had better thank her for saving the child.”
Instead of apologizing, the man yelled a string of obscenities in Garrett’s face.
“That does it. Out of the water and get off the beach.” Garrett straightened to his full height, towering over the rude man by at least three or four inches. The wet shirt clung to his muscular body, emphasizing his height and the width of his powerful shoulders. Roberta sure wouldn’t have dared cross him.
The man continued to swear and stomped out of the water, carrying the still-screaming child. Garrett followed him to the water’s edge and stood defiantly on the shoreline, watching the man pick up his belongings and pull the child roughly by the hand down the path to the campsites.
Garrett walked to an untidy pile at the water’s edge containing his boots and socks and his walkie-talkie. He spoke into it briefly, touched his soaking wet shorts and the clip on his belt where the unit usually rested, then held the walkie-talkie in his hand instead.
Roberta ran to retrieve her towel and handed it to Garrett. He wiped his arms, but nothing else, and gave it back. “Let’s go sit down at the picnic table and put our shoes and socks back on.”
By the time they reached the table, her feet were dry. They sat side by side as Roberta pulled on her socks and sneakers, then waited for Garrett to lace his hiking boots. He neatly folded the tops of his wool socks over the rims of the boots, picked up his walkie-talkie, and they walked to the path leading back to the campsites in silence.
His shorts had stopped dripping, but were still soaking wet and hung on him like wet rags. Compared to the pristine ranger of this morning, his bedraggled appearance almost sent her into a burst of giggles.
“I’ve got to get some dry clothes, then get back on duty. If it’s any consolation, I logged this and I’ll be filing an official report. Any minor infraction and his group will be asked to leave.”
“Thank you, Garrett.” She didn’t know what else to say.
He raised his hand and rested his fingers on her cheek. His head lowered, making Roberta think he was going to kiss her. Her heart pounded. Then, instead of what she expected, his eyebrows knotted above the sunglasses and he remained motionless. “Are you sure you’re all right?”
Roberta leaned into his hand, finding strange comfort in the roughness of his fingers against her cheek. She shuffled her feet to bring herself slightly closer to him, until she could sense the cool dampness radiating from him. Part of her wanted him to kiss her. Oddly shaken by the thought, she quickly rationalized it away. This latest incident must have upset her more than she realized. “You’ve asked me that more times in the last twenty-four hours than I can count.”
He let out a sad little laugh. “Do these kind of disasters happen often to you?”
“Never.”
He shook his head as he gently ran his thumb along her temple. “I feel like this was my fault. If I had been there, watching, it wouldn’t have happened.”
His presence on shore would probably have prevented the man from touching her, but that didn’t make anything Garrett’s fault. She was about to reassure him when his walkie-talkie beeped. His hand dropped, and she immediately missed his touch.
“Excuse me.” He flipped the switch and raised the unit to his cheek. “Lamont.”
Being so close, Roberta could still hear the caller’s voice. “We followed him like you said, and we’ve got him. Site 45. Left the fire at a full burn while he was gone, and there’s open liquor everywhere. Soon as you get here, we can evict him.”
“I’m on my way,” Garrett replied. He reached down to the clip on his belt, but instead of clipping his walkie-talkie to it, he pulled his hand away when his fingers brushed the dampness. He held the unit at his side. “I’ve gotta go. I’ll be back when I can.”
With that, he turned and left.