Gwen and Molly burst into peals of laughter at another of their jokes. Roberta just smiled. With fresh, though slightly burnt, popcorn and a large pitcher of icy Kool-Aid, they sat around the campfire, huddled in their jackets, telling jokes and behaving as she thought typical campers would behave. She only half listened as Gwen started in on another joke, with Molly butting in and trying to guess the punch line.
She’d called him stupid. She’d taken all her frustrations out on poor Garrett. He hadn’t deserved that. He hadn’t said a thing, he’d taken it all in stride. Neither had he brought up about her hitting him in the face with her book. Even if no one else noticed the bruise, she knew it was there. Fortunately neither Molly nor Gwen had said anything yet, at least not that she knew of.
Gwen and Molly roared with laughter again, so much that neither of them heard the sound of the Parks Department truck or the crunching of footsteps in the gravel. Roberta did.
“Hi! Did anyone save me some?”
Gwen and Molly jumped, spilling their popcorn, then laughed even louder. Roberta stared at the ground.
Molly stuck her tongue out. “Make your own. You and your ranger buddies spend more time sitting around goofing off than doing any real work anyhow. I know what you really do all day. Nothing.”
Garrett grinned. “Think what you want. It’s hard work handing out maps and pointing out the signs that lead to the nature trails all day. And beach duty, with all those bikinis. It’s a tough job, but someone’s gotta do it.” He smiled so wide his dimples appeared and his teeth shone in the flickering glow of the campfire.
Gwen threw a handful of popcorn at him. He never lost his grin.
“Gotta go. Catch you next round.” Garrett started to walk to the truck, but Roberta didn’t want the earlier incident hanging over her head. She ran after him.
“Garrett! Wait!”
He stopped with one hand resting on the truck’s door handle. “Yes, Robbie?”
She stood beside him, but she couldn’t face him. She stared at the ground, knowing by now he’d seen a lot of the top of her head.
“I’m sorry about earlier. I know you did what you thought was best, and you were right. I apologize.”
“It’s okay, Robbie, I know you were upset.”
She cringed. That’s all he’d seen of her was upset, and she didn’t like it. Normally a friendly, happy-go-lucky person, no one she knew would equate the Roberta Garland of the last few days with the Roberta Garland they already knew. On the other hand, nothing had ever gone wrong in her life before. She coasted happily along from day to day without any hindrances or stumbling blocks in her path. If this was the way she behaved when troubles happened, then maybe she didn’t know herself either.
“Is that it? I’ve got to get back to work, Robbie.”
She raised her head and blinked dumbly up at him. “Uh, yes,” she mumbled, nodding as she spoke. She almost turned around, but his smile stopped her. One day the woman he called “darling” for real would be a very lucky woman. But instead of daydreaming about Garrett’s future, she had some serious thinking to do about her own.
“See you next round, then.” He gripped the brim of his hat, tipped his head slightly forward, and drove away slowly, looking for whatever it was that rangers looked for.
With that burden lifted, she returned to the campfire, but she continued to think about Garrett, much to her dismay. Not only had she questioned his intelligence and his judgment, she’d done it in front of his sister and Molly, and also within earshot of several other campers. Garrett was the local authority, the camp police, so to speak. Judging from the way he talked about the other rangers, he seemed to rank above them. Yet, he’d forgiven her in a flash. If the situation had been reversed, she doubted she would have done the same.
Molly and Gwen bantered jokes back and forth, and Roberta only listened with one ear while she thought about Garrett. After one particular loud burst of laughter, Gwen suggested they pack up for the night. Roberta readily agreed. She knew the hard way that morning came early in the middle of nowhere.
She poured water on the fire while Molly and Gwen poked around in the embers. The wood hissed as the water touched it, and all three of them stood clear of the steam.
Obviously not wanting to go to bed, Molly grumbled. “When I’m camping, why do I wake up earlier than my alarm clock?”
Gwen nodded. “I know. Happens to me too.”
Roberta nodded as well. “Yes, we were up early this morning too.”
Molly and Gwen exchanged glances. “We?” they asked in unison.
Roberta blinked and looked at them. “Yes, Garrett and I were up at dawn. He had to go to work.” She was about to complain how he left her all alone to do the dishes, but stopped. Molly’s and Gwen’s sticks remained planted in the ashes as they stared at her like she’d grown another head. “Why are you looking at me like that? We weren’t the only ones up at that hour.”
“Garrett spent the night with you? Here?” Gwen asked, lifting the stick out of the ashes.
Roberta gulped. “In his tent.” She’d done nothing wrong. “He said Molly asked him to keep an eye on me. When some weirdo scared me, I guess he took it upon himself to be my guardian angel or something. To tell the truth, I was glad he did, because someone came into the campsite in the middle of the night, but Garrett scared him off.”
They said nothing, but continued to stare, eyes wide and completely motionless. Roberta glanced back and forth between the two of them, then averted her gaze to study what was left of the fire. “Ever since I got here, every time I turn around, Garrett seems to show up again.”
Gwen’s and Molly’s eyes opened wider.
Roberta held the bucket tighter. “What? Why are you two staring at me like that?”
“You’re talking about Garrett, right? My brother, the ranger guy who was just here?”
“Of course I know who Garrett is, Gwen! I’ve certainly seen enough of him over the last couple of days.”
“Wow.” Gwen turned her head toward the entrance to the campsite, the last place they had seen Garrett, then back to Roberta. “He’s usually pretty shy and tends to keep to himself.”
“Could have fooled me,” Roberta mumbled. “I wish he would leave me alone.” She hadn’t asked for him to check up on her constantly. But in the end, she was glad he did.
Molly yawned. “Forget him. Let’s get ready for bed. One last trip to the outhouse, and we can change.”
After their trip, they locked themselves in the camper. Molly started to giggle. “I feel like a teenager having a slumber party. What we need now is a big pizza, loaded with everything so we can get indigestion and then sit and talk all night.”
“No, thanks,” Roberta moaned.
“Oh, Robbie, you’re such a party pooper!”
“Molly, we’re going to be sleeping together in this little thing for a week and a half. If we’re going to be doing whatever it is that campers do, why in the world would we stay up all night and talk if we’re going to be together night and day? Don’t you think we’ll get a little sick of each other?”
“No way! We’re party animals!”
Roberta snorted. “Good night.” She pulled the top of the sleeping bag up to her chin. “Party without me.”
Before Roberta fell asleep, she heard either Molly or Gwen snoring. So much for their party.
They all managed to sleep well past sunrise. They enjoyed Roberta’s cereal for breakfast, and after taking a remarkably long time to wash three bowls and three spoons, they were ready for some action.
Following much discussion, they decided to observe Garrett at the amphitheater. The morning’s schedule promised a nature talk about the animals native to the area. Much of his speech Roberta had already heard on the path to the beach, but she sat and listened politely.
Even still, he managed to pique her interest. In addition to an entertaining and informative presentation, Garrett displayed pictures of the animals. He described and drew their footprints, and then encouraged all the campers to try to find some animal tracks and figure out what kind of animal made them. He named a few good places to check out and opened the floor for questions. Caught up in the excitement of the crowd, when the presentation was over, Roberta felt confident enough to enter the trails and go hunting for tracks.
Gwen wanted to stay and talk to Garrett when everything was done, because although they lived in the same house when he wasn’t staying at the ranger camp, she hadn’t seen much of him lately. Molly didn’t want to listen to Garrett and Gwen’s private conversation, so Roberta took the opportunity to drag Molly onto the nearest nature trail to begin their adventure of discovery.
They were considerably farther down the path before Molly finally developed a little enthusiasm. Bending over and scanning the ground, both of them searched for evidence of animal habitation.
Try as they might, Roberta and Molly couldn’t find anything. Molly gave up first and picked a fallen tree to sit on. “Haven’t you given up yet?” she called, not trying at all to keep the boredom out of her voice.
“No. I was feeding the squirrels around here yesterday. They had to leave some footprints, don’t you think?”
“You mean I’ve been hanging around here when all you’ve been doing is searching for lousy squirrel footprints? You’ve got to be kidding!” Molly stood, ready to return to the campsite.
“Molly!” Roberta scolded good-naturedly. “Sit down. I know they were here, so there have to be some footprints. I’m going to turn into a nature lover, you wait and see.”
“Hmph. I won’t hold my breath.”
“Quit being so …” Roberta’s breath caught. “Look! I found something! Right here! Footprints!” Roberta tried her hardest not to jump up and down at her success.
Molly wasn’t as enthusiastic. Slowly, she shuffled her way to the tracks that held Roberta’s rapt attention. She rubbed her chin as she examined the neat set of tracks. “Those are too big for a squirrel.”
“Garrett said there are lots of rodents and the like out here. But this is one of the tracks he drew. Think. What kind of animals did he mention?”
Molly tilted her head as she thought. “Chipmunk? No, that would be the same size as the squirrel. Coyote? No, this is a rodent, too small for a coyote.”
Roberta tapped her foot and put a finger up to her chin as well, to help her think. “What else did he draw? Raccoon? No, that was narrow. Hold on, I think I remember, it’s a …”
They looked at each in horror.
“Skunk!” they hollered in unison. They screeched and ran down the trail back to the campsite as fast as their legs would carry them.
Garrett leaned his head back and laughed. He could picture the scene Gwen had just described, imagining their mother struggling to handle the situation. Just when his laughter subsided enough to speak, Molly broke into the clearing in a breakneck run, full speed, arms waving, screaming his name, with Robbie close behind.
His stomach clenched. Both of them looked like they had seen a dead body. Ignoring Gwen in midsentence, he jumped to his feet and bolted off to meet them. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
Molly’s chest heaved as she gasped for air, holding one hand up to her throat. “Garrett! In the bush! On the trail! It’s … it’s …”
Garrett hoped she wasn’t going to be sick. After all the things that happened around Robbie, it could be anything.
Robbie managed to blurt it out first. “Skunk!” she wheezed. With her arm outstretched, she pointed to the entrance of the trail as she puffed. “Over there … by the tree …”
Garrett’s breath came out in a rush. He hadn’t even realized he’d been holding it in. “That’s it? You saw a skunk?” He bent his head and pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. “A skunk?” he asked again, in complete disbelief. “You almost gave me heart failure over a little skunk?” He shook his head, still holding the bridge of his nose. One of these days …
Robbie regained enough breath to stop gasping for air as she spoke. “We didn’t actually see it, but we found its footprints, just like you drew.” She continued to point to the path, staring with her eyes wide, as if she expected the wild killer creature to appear and maim and destroy them all.
Garrett covered his face with his hands and groaned, trying to contain himself. “You mean you didn’t even see it?” He hated campers like this. It could have been days ago the skunk was there if all they saw was tracks.
Robbie’s arm dropped to her side. “It was there! I know it! A skunk! It could have attacked us!”
Garrett lifted his face out of his hands. Robbie’s eyes still held the wild fear of a frightened doe. He tried to speak slowly, evenly, and calmly. “Skunks do not attack people. Skunks are timid animals. If a skunk sees a human, it runs one way and the person runs the other way. They’re more afraid of you than you are of them. The only thing they do is spray, and they only spray when threatened. Did you threaten the poor little animal that wasn’t even there?”
Robbie’s and Molly’s faces reddened. “Oh,” Robbie mouthed. She and Molly turned and looked at each other like bad children who had been caught with their fingers in the cookie jar. “Then maybe your next nature talk should include what to do if you see a skunk.” She made a sad, pathetic little laugh, then backed up.
Garrett didn’t laugh. He didn’t say anything. He pressed his lips together tightly to avoid saying something he would regret. At least Molly should have known better. Molly had been camping before.
The corners of Robbie’s lips curved up for a split second in a quick grin, probably meant to disarm him, then dropped. “Maybe I’d better go back to the campsite now. Anyone coming with me? Molly?”
Molly took one look at him, glanced back at Robbie, then nodded. “Yes, I think I forgot to turn off the television,” she said in a timid little voice, not like Molly at all. “We had better go right now.”
Garrett glared at them, standing frozen to the spot, his hands planted firmly on his hips as they hustled down the path leading to the campsites.
“What was that all about?”
He turned to see Gwen scowling back at him in a pose identical to his own.
“What do you want?” he barked.
“Who bit you?” she snapped back. “Why in the world did you get so mad at them? They’re inexperienced!” She waved one hand in the air, then planted it back on her hip. “They were genuinely afraid of getting attacked by a wild animal!”
They stared at each other in silence as her words sunk in. The air whooshed out of Garrett’s lungs. Gwen was right, he shouldn’t have been so angry. He knew Robbie didn’t know the least little bit about wild animals, and Molly wasn’t much better. Yes, they had overreacted, but so had he. Never again did he want to experience the soul-wrenching terror that something seriously wrong had really happened to Robbie this time.
Getting blasted by his sister completely defused his anger. He shrugged his shoulders. “To tell the truth, I don’t know,” he said lamely.
“What do you mean, you don’t know?” Gwen tapped her foot.
Garrett crossed his arms over his chest. “Give me a break. You’re acting like Mom when we were little kids. I don’t owe you an explanation!”
“Yes, you do. Molly is my friend, and Robbie is our guest.”
“Robbie has been nothing but a pain since she got here.” He tried not to shout but failed. He waved one arm in the air in the direction they’d last walked. “Every time I turn around, she’s either doing something wrong, hurting herself, or she’s got some creep or weirdo after her. Now she thinks she’s about to be attacked by some poor defenseless animal that wasn’t even in the vicinity! Women!”
Without waiting for a response, Garrett turned and stomped off, leaving Gwen standing alone in the middle of the empty amphitheater with her mouth hanging open.
Roberta stuck the knife deep into the peanut butter jar, diligently helping Molly prepare lunch as they both worked in complete silence. She’d made a fool of herself in front of him. Again.
They’d made a big deal out of nothing, but really, they hadn’t known any better. What if a wild skunk had appeared out of the bush? What if they had frightened it, and it had attacked them? What if …
“Peanut butter sandwiches, my favorite.” Gwen’s voice broke her train of thought. It was just as well.
Conversation was slow to get started, and they all carefully avoided any subject matter relating to wild animals or Garrett, but soon Molly and Gwen were laughing and joking once more, while Roberta listened and smiled politely.
“So,” Gwen mumbled around a mouthful of sticky peanut butter, then noisily gulped her drink to wash it down, “what are we going to do on this lovely sunny afternoon?”
Molly looked up at the sky, then glanced between Roberta and Gwen. “I know! Let’s go for a swim. The beach here is really nice, Robbie. Lots of nice soft sand.”
“Hmph,” Roberta grumbled. “I’m not interested. I’ve already seen the beach.”
“You have? You told me you’d never been here before.”
“Yesterday. Garrett took me to the beach.”
Gwen’s head shot up. “Garrett? He was working yesterday.”
“I know. He said he had beach duty, so he took me to the beach. It’s very nice. Clean and well cared for.” She smiled as Gwen and Molly stared blankly at her. “They’re really strict about no dogs allowed. When I was swimming, he kicked someone with a dog off the beach.” She neglected to tell them how he ran into the water fully dressed to save her.
Molly shrugged her shoulders.
Roberta felt the heat rising into her cheeks. “A little boy fell off his float toy yesterday. I pulled him up out of the water, but his father was, well, he wasn’t very nice to me. Garrett, well, he helped me again.”
“What did Garrett do?”
Roberta’s finger drew little circles in the layer of ash that had blown onto the picnic table. She’d never forget her shock at seeing Garrett appear in the water fully dressed, the expression on his face when he ordered the boy’s father to let her go, or her impression that Garrett was going to deck the guy.
“He got them kicked out.”
“Kicked out?” Gwen asked, her eyes almost bugging out of her head.
“Wow …” Molly’s voice trailed off.
“Well,” Gwen said, “if Garrett kicked the guy out yesterday, he won’t be there to bother you again.”
“I guess.”
“Well, want to go again, then? It’s a nice hot sunny day,” Molly said.
Molly and Gwen cleaned up and then they scurried into the camper to change.
The beach was crowded.
“It wasn’t like this yesterday.” Roberta turned her head to scan the entire beach, milling with people. They’d be hard-pressed to find a spot to lay all three towels side by side and still have a little privacy. “Yesterday there couldn’t have been more than a half dozen people here. Plus one dog, who wasn’t here long.”
After finding a spot to spread out their towels, they raced to the shoreline to wet their toes. Gwen and Molly shivered and backed up. “Oooh! It’s so cold!” they complained.
“Last one in’s a rotten egg!” shouted Roberta as she sprinted in until she could no longer run, and then she dove. Rising out of the waist-deep water, she swooshed her wet hair off her face as she stood and turned to the shore. “Cowards!” she yelled.
Her mouth stayed open long after no sound came out. Standing alongside Molly and Gwen was Garrett. She wondered what he was doing there, and if he had been watching her. When he saw he had her attention, he waved.
“Hi! I’m on beach duty again,” he called out, as if he had heard her thoughts.
Roberta frowned, not moving from her safe position waist-deep in the water. “Just run in!” she called out to Gwen and Molly. “You’re only torturing yourselves by inching in.”
Garrett smiled and waved, leaving Gwen and Molly alone on the shore as he sauntered slowly down the beach and into the picnic area.
Despite her instructions, Molly and Gwen continued to inch their way in, cringing every time they got a little deeper. Finally Roberta couldn’t stand it. She ran and flopped down on her stomach in front of them, spraying them with a cascade of water, causing them to throw up their hands and screech.
“No fair!” shouted Gwen. “You’re already wet!”
Gwen splashed her in the face, then Roberta splashed back, getting Molly in the face. The three of them laughed and splashed each other like little kids, squealing and splashing, until they heard a voice.
“Excuse me, ladies.”
They all froze. Garrett stood on the shore, his arms folded across his chest, looking every inch the authoritative Mr. Ranger. “I have to ask you ladies to stop splashing. You’re disturbing others in the water.”
Red-faced, they slunk down and swam off quietly without splashing a drop. Meeting at the rope that signaled the end of the designated swimming area, they continued their playful cavorting where no one else was near. Treading water, they splashed and laughed in private, swimming underwater and playing on the rope and buoys until they’d had enough.
Upon reaching the shore, they coated each other liberally with sunscreen, stretched out on their towels until they were warmed up, then headed back to the campsite.
Even though he was gone, all the way down the path, Roberta kept picturing Garrett as he stood on the shore in his uniform. Tall and powerful and handsome, in a rugged sort of way, even though he wore shorts, which should have looked silly on a man. He instantly had the respect of everyone on the beach, herself included.
She couldn’t get his image out of her mind.