Val grabbed one from Nate and shoved it at Elsie. “I typed them, and Nate did the illustrations. He does the best cartoons. Have you seen them?”
She opened the half-page program and scanned the artwork. She couldn’t resist smiling at the humorous big-headed caricatures. “Is this Red?” She pointed to one. “And Maguire?” Her gaze settled on a grim-faced man in a flat hat in the bottom corner. Teddy. She slapped it closed and handed it back to Nate. “Very nice. I can see the resemblance.”
His Adam’s apple bounced in his throat as he slid the bundle of papers behind his back. “I…I’m sorry, Miss Brookes. I didn’t intend—”
“No, please don’t apologize.” She forced a smile to her face. “You fellows need to let off steam. I understand.” She shifted the books to her hip. “I’m just glad there’s not one of the sourpuss teacher.”
Val lifted his hands. “Oh, we’d never—”
“Elsie, I am sorry.” Nate repeated. “And if you’d like to come tonight, we’ll make it up to you.”
“Oh, I don’t know. I don’t want to be the only woman.”
Those heart-stopping green eyes locked on her. “Bring Mary and Rose and any of the other girls you want. Red’s doing an Irish ballad. He’d love to have his favorite blonde there.”
She resisted touching a hand to her own mousy-brown hair.
“And I’m reading Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18. ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?’ ” Val offered. “If I knew you were in the audience, it’d be…it’d be…” Red splotches mottled his cheeks. “It’d be swell.”
She reached out and touched his sleeve, his embarrassment melting her resistance. “I’d be honored to attend.”
A grin spread across his angular face.
She turned to Nate, who was already sliding tables across the tile floor. “What about you—are you reading too?”
Nate straightened, releasing his grip on the wooden table. “I…uh…no—”
“Nate’s not much for books, Miss Brookes.” Val left the programs by the door and hurried over to grab the other side of the long table.
“You don’t like to read, Mr. Webber?” Elsie shifted her books to the opposite hip. How could a man so intelligent and witty not also be well read?
“I…” His attention shot around the room before focusing back on Val. “I should get these moved.”
Perhaps it wasn’t that Nate didn’t like to read. She rifled through the facts. He avoided her classes, even though he was interested in the subject matter. He asked intelligent questions. He had all the hallmarks of an excellent student, yet he treated books like they were something that could turn around and bite him.
Maybe…She spent a long moment observing the fellow shifting chairs from one side of the room to the other. Was it possible that Nate—sweet, kind, bright man that he was—couldn’t read? The idea rippled through her thoughts like a stone tossed into a quiet pond.
“You’d best set up plenty of chairs, then,” Elsie called out. “I’ll go round up a fan club.”
Nate stood in the back of the room, leaning against the wall rather than taking a seat anywhere in the audience. As exhausted as he was, if he sat down, he’d be dozing in minutes. And to be honest, he wanted to be as far from Elsie Brookes as possible.
He’d seen the realization flash across her face like the theater lights on Fulton and Flatbush back home. So far, he’d succeeded in hiding his problem, even from Val, who’d typed five of his reports. Were women more perceptive? He’d never been able to hide anything from his mother, either.
Nate leaned his head back against the wall as he shut his eyes. He’d been up since dawn, cutting trees, hauling brush, scouting forest, dealing with Vaughn. Now this?
Elsie and her friends probably had a good laugh about his situation. She’d returned for the show less than an hour after leaving and had brought Rose, Mary, and four other young ladies with her, plus a handful of male employees from the hotel. Even Graham Brookes had shown up, taking a seat next to Rose.
His crew could probably care less about the extra men, but they were delighted to see a handful of pretty girls in the audience.
Nate studied the backs of the audience’s heads. A group from the Bronx performed a comedy routine sparring with jokes about camp life. The two Polish and two Irish boys were trading ethnic digs so fast, the audience barely had time to catch their breath because they were laughing so hard. The tensions in camp between the different nationalities seemed to be dissolving day by day and had now apparently become a source of comedic pride between the guys.
He craned his neck, trying to catch a glimpse of Elsie. What if she told her father or that ranger boyfriend of hers about his little problem? There were no stipulations in the CCCs that you had to be able to read. They were grunt laborers, nothing more. Nate ran a hand across the back of his neck. Except the foremen. He never should have let Lieutenant Stone and the others believe he could read orders and write reports.
Fifteen minutes later, after three songs and one humiliating Shakespeare recitation, Nate saw Graham whisper something to Rose before rising from his seat and sneaking out the side door.
The gear jammer has the right idea. If Nate escaped before the show finished, he could avoid the conversations and mingling. He could avoid certain females as well. Nate slipped out into the yard, shutting the door slowly so as not to make a sound.
Graham had walked to the far corner of the building and lit a cigarette, standing with his back to Nate. If Nate was careful, he could hoof it across the yard toward his tent without being forced to chat with the driver.
He was halfway there when Hutch bumbled out of the darkness and made a beeline for his leg. Nate grabbed the growing coon, grunting as he lifted the round bundle to his chest. “Hey fella, how are you doing? I haven’t seen you or your sister in days. Been keeping yourselves out of trouble?” He kept his voice low.
“Nate?” A woman’s voice called out in the darkness.
Collared. Nate turned, tucking a squirming Hutch under his elbow.
Elsie walked toward him, a troubled expression on her face. “I saw you leave, and I was worried.”
Hutch’s paws were scrabbling against Nate’s side, untucking his shirt and digging at his ribs. Graham had disappeared from sight. Was he avoiding Elsie too?
Nate juggled the animal and jammed his shirt tail back into place. “No need. I just have an early morning tomorrow. I need to help load the equipment into the truck before the men assemble.”
“Equipment?” She tipped her head as she studied him. “I thought you had Saturdays off work.”
“Oh yes—hey!—stop that!” Nate removed the raccoon from his shirt a second time and placed it on the ground at his feet. “You’re right. I guess I don’t know whether I’m coming or going anymore.”
“Who’s this?” A smile spread across Elsie’s face as she kneeled on the ground in front of him.
Hutch was already clambering up Nate’s leg as if it was another sapling in the woods. Nate unhooked the critter’s claws from his dungarees. “Hutch, you’re being rude. Say hello to my friend Elsie.” He managed to free Hutch’s grip and turn him around to face Elsie, his rear paws scrabbling at the air as if he was still climbing.
She bent closer to examine him. “Looks like a youngster. How did you end up with a raccoon in camp?”
“We have two, actually. Their mother met with misfortune, I’m afraid.” Nate lifted Hutch to perch on his shoulder. “Back at Mammoth. We brought the kits with us.”
She reached up and stroked the animal’s back, Hutch’s mottled gray fur ruffling with her touch. “Raccoons can be a handful. I hope they don’t make trouble for you.”
“Oh, they’re plenty of trouble. Just ask Cook, or any of the guys for that matter.”
Raucous laughter from the hall spilled into the night,
and she smiled. “Nate, I wanted to speak with you.”
“I really should get this little fella tucked in.” For all the good it would do, nocturnal creature and all.
A touch to his arm stopped him in his tracks. “Nate. Please.” She narrowed her eyes. “I think I know why you’re not taking my class.”
“I told you, school and me—we don’t mix.”
“Because you can’t read. Am I right?”
Hutch took that as his cue to leave. Scrambling down Nate’s back, he hopped to the ground and bumbled off toward the tents. Lucky guy.
Elsie didn’t wait for an answer, her fingers gripping his wrist. “I can help you, if you’ll let me.”
He lowered his eyes, trying to think of anything other than the touch of her hand. “No. You can’t.”
“Why do you say that?”
He glanced past her at the mess hall to make sure no one had followed her out. He took a step closer and lowered his voice. “I’m not smart like the others, Elsie. I can’t read. I’ve tried over and over, trust me. For some reason, God decided to make me dumb.”
“Nate Webber.” She frowned. “You are not dumb. I lectured the class on the geology of Yellowstone’s geysers. You grasped in five minutes what I spent days trying to teach them.”
“I’m a good listener, college girl. You should have figured that out by now.”
She dropped her hand to her side. “You’re a smart man.”
Nate finally met her gaze, suddenly aware of how close she stood. “I really have you snowed, don’t I?”
“I mean it. I can help. Does anyone else know? Red? Val?”
“I think Val suspects.”
She nodded. “What if I talk to Lieutenant Stone? I’ve already added some creative writing courses for Val and a few others. The lieutenant doesn’t seem to mind as long as I don’t charge the government extra for my time. I could arrange for us to do some one-on-one classes. In fact, there are probably others—”
“No.” Nate jerked his head up. Why wouldn’t she listen? “No thank you, Elsie. I don’t want to study with you.”
Her brow wrinkled. “With me?”
The hurt look in her eyes cut into him. “That’s not what I meant.” For some reason his thoughts always turned into a scrambled mess whenever she got too close. He’d been around women plenty of times, but no one had ever had this effect on him. “Elsie, I don’t want anyone to know.”
Applause and shouts caught their attention. The show must be coming to a close.
“I’m sure you’re not the only one,” she repeated.
“It doesn’t matter.” He didn’t like the bitterness in his voice, but she had to understand. “They can’t know. My job—I have to write these blasted reports every week. Val has been helping me, but if Dahl finds out, he’ll demote me. My family needs that money, Elsie.”
“All right. I won’t tell anyone—if you let me try to help. We can meet outside camp.”
Men were starting to trickle out of the mess hall. Best to agree and deal with this later. “Fine. Tomorrow evening?”
“Seven o’clock, by the camp store.”
“I’ll be there.” His heart pounded as he backed away from her. “But you’re wasting your time.”
“We’ll see.”
* * *
Determination flooded Elsie. She had to help Nate learn to read. It was a crime to think of a man like him not being able to enjoy novels and newspapers or to write reports about the good work his crew had been doing.
A man like him. Her heart skipped. She needed to stop thinking about him so much. It couldn’t be right for someone who was seeing one fellow to be—
A familiar smell sent her pulse racing. She jerked her head up. A wisp of smoke appeared behind the hall. Filled with dread, she whirled toward the tents. “Nate?”
He was only halfway across the yard. Glancing over his shoulder, he paused.
She scurried toward him. “Are you fellows burning trash behind the kitchen?”
“No.” Nate’s attention turned to where she’d been staring. “Is that—”
“Smoke.”
He jolted forward and sprinted past her, disappearing around the side of the building.
For a moment she stood frozen, then she took off after him. The wispy plume had thickened, curling up into the night sky. As she rounded the corner, she spotted Nate, his shape silhouetted by the flames leaping from the two trash bins just outside the mess hall. He raced over to the structure and pounded on the rear windows, shouting the alarm.
Within minutes the yard filled with men. The hall sat on the edge of the clearing, only thirty feet from the forest, the trees illuminated by the glare of the blaze.
Elsie backed away, wrapping her arms around herself to stop the tremors coursing through her body. Nate and two others had grabbed fire buckets kept in the kitchen and were smothering the small blaze with sand before it had time to crawl up the side of the building and onto the roof. How many people had still been inside the hall when this started? She shuddered at the thought.
Graham was among the men spooling a hose out of the back of the latrine area.
Mary came running over and swept Elsie into a tight hug. “Oh, Elsie. I can’t believe this. What happened?”
“I…I don’t know. Where’s Rose?”
“I saw her come out of the hall. She was one of the last. Came out with Graham, of course. She’s besotted with that man, no matter what he says or does.” Mary searched the milling crowd. “She’s over on the other side with some of the other girls. Do you suppose the cook dumped something hot into the garbage bins? Grease? Ashes from the stove?”
Elsie ran a hand down her throat. “Someone probably tossed a cigarette butt into it.”
The flames were hissing out, a putrid smoke rolling up into the night sky. Elsie turned away, the sight more than she could handle. “We should go.”
Her friend tightened her grip on Elsie’s arm. “I want to wait and make sure Red’s all right. I know it’s nothing, but I want to see him. He’ll walk us home.”
“I can make it back on my own—it’s not far.”
Mary’s lips pursed. “You will not. There have been plenty of bears around lately. At least have one of the men escort you. I’m sure any of your students would be willing. How about that nice Nate fellow?” She lifted her penciled brows. “I saw you talking to him out in the yard. Is there something I should know? Or should I say, is there something Teddy should know?”
“What? No.” Irritation prickled across her skin. “We were talking about books.”
“Books?” She rolled her eyes. “Of course. I forgot who I was speaking to. Hey”—her face lit up—“speak of the devil. There’s Teddy now.” Mary waved at him and bumped Elsie’s arm. “You didn’t tell me he was spending the night at Canyon.”
“I didn’t know he was.” Didn’t he spend time in Mammoth anymore? She rubbed a hand across her stiff neck muscles.
Teddy hurried up and stopped next to them, face grim. “I was driving past, and I smelled smoke.”
“It was a rubbish fire, but I think they’ve got it under control. I thought you’d left for Mammoth already.”
He wasted no time draping an arm around her shoulder and squeezing it. “I got caught at the ranger station. I went looking for you this evening but couldn’t find any of you. I was worried.”
“The men invited us to a talent show.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t tell me about it at lunch.” His brows knit together, but he glanced toward the activity. “I should go see if they need help.” He rushed to join the milling group.
Mary giggled. “As if a hundred fellows couldn’t take care of a small garbage can fire. Just like a man to want to be the center of things.”
“I didn’t tell him because I didn’t know abou
t it.” Elsie clenched her fists. “He makes it sound like I purposely hid it from him.”
Lines formed in Mary’s brow. “Are you sure you didn’t? Red told me about it two nights ago, and I mentioned it to you. Only we didn’t get an invitation until you batted your eyelashes at your teacher’s pet.”
She turned and stared at her friend. “You mentioned it to me?”
“You don’t remember? Well, you have been distracted lately.” Mary shrugged. “Or maybe you wanted to come without Teddy in tow.”
The truth in her second statement rattled Elsie. She had been relieved to come to an event without Teddy hanging on her arm. What did that say about her?
Elsie turned and watched the mop-up, her pulse slowing now as the danger passed. Nate and Teddy stood to one side, Teddy gesturing toward the bins, evidently angry about the evening’s events. Nate kept his shoulders stiff, listening to the man’s lecture without responding. What could Teddy be upset about? It’s not as if any of this was Nate’s fault.
A wave of exhaustion draped over Elsie, turning her knees to rubber. Teddy, Nate, Graham, Rose—when had her life grown so complicated? Mama had said to let her walls down a little. She failed to mention how troubling it could be.
Nate hoisted Elsie’s bag of books higher on his shoulder and continued walking along the creek, the teacher following a few steps behind. As long as they hiked, he didn’t have to face her expectations. Why did she even want to bother with him? His schoolteachers had given up on him years ago.
“Hey, slow down,” she called out. “We’re at least two miles from camp. No one’s going to see us.”
“What about your ranger friend?” The words slipped out before he could button his lip.
“Teddy?” She stepped over a tree root. “I’m pretty sure he’s back in Mammoth by now.”
Nate waited for her to catch up. “He was pretty steamed last night. Called us ‘careless bums’.” The memory rankled. Just because the man had a hat and a badge didn’t make him any better than Nate’s crew. In fact, Nate would take Red and Val over Vaughn any day. Elsie’s father, Ranger Brookes, had worked beside them rather than shouting orders like a prison warden working a chain gang.
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