by Gail Sattler
Garrett remained silent.
Gwen continued. “Lighten up. Don’t you want a cheering section?”
“No.”
“How about a fan club? Doesn’t that sound like fun?”
All he did was give his sister a dirty look.
Finally, Roberta couldn’t stand it. In a way she felt sorry for him. He didn’t deserve to be embarrassed by his sister in front of the campers. His position of authority demanded that he be respected as a park ranger, not harassed during a presentation. “I think we can find something else to do, don’t you?”
Gwen sighed loudly. “Oh, all right. I’ll behave, but under protest.”
“Thank you,” Garrett grumbled, and he turned around and left.
Gwen grumbled the entire time while the three of them washed the dishes, but her smile gave her away. “I’d been looking forward to pestering him, but I’m not going to do it alone. Maybe as Robbie gets to know him better, she’ll see Garrett needs a little convincing to come out of his shell.”
Molly giggled. “Forget it. He’s a lost cause.”
Roberta listened as she stacked the dishes in their respective plastic boxes. At first she’d wondered if she’d met the wrong Ranger Garrett, but now that she knew she hadn’t, she really didn’t understand what Molly and Gwen were talking about.
“Are you coming?”
Roberta nearly dropped the plastic tub of cutlery. “Are we going somewhere?”
“Yes. To Garrett’s presentation. We only promised to behave. We didn’t promise not to go. Come on.”
She really had wanted to learn a little about the animals and natural phenomena of the area, but not at Garrett’s expense. “I don’t think so.”
“Come on,” Molly said, waving her hand to try to convince Roberta to join them. “It’s going to start soon. The flyer said tonight they have a slide show about the local parks. It’s going to be interesting. We were planning on going even if Garrett wasn’t going to be the one doing it.”
“All right. Why do I let you do this to me?”
Molly laughed. “Because I know what’s best.”
“Not likely.”
Upon their arrival at the small amphitheater, Gwen sat center front, Molly sat beside Gwen, and Roberta sat beside Molly. Garrett kept glancing at them nervously but said nothing, which Roberta thought was unusual, but a welcome change. Since it was already dusk, he wasn’t wearing the sunglasses, which emphasized how handsome he was in his uniform. Yet, his appearance was slightly marred by the slight discoloration on his cheek. Roberta suspected Gwen wouldn’t lose a chance to tease him about it, once she noticed.
For awhile Roberta watched as Garrett smiled and chatted with the campers surrounding him. She also noticed most of them were female.
More and more people arrived, until the small amphitheater was almost full. Garrett started his presentation with a short speech while he showed a map of the local provincial parks. He then started a slide show, where he gave an explanation about each picture shown.
Next, he elaborated on the presentation and invited questions. When all queries were answered, he thanked everyone for coming and encouraged all present to take advantage of the features and activities provided by the Parks and Recreation Department. As he sent everyone on their way, Roberta thought Garrett would have made a good teacher.
She was anxious to leave him alone, but Gwen and Molly wanted to stay. Having seen enough of him in the last day and a half to last a lifetime, Roberta returned to the campsite alone, grateful she had brought her flashlight. She remembered the hard way how very, very dark it got at night with no streetlights. After piling everything up to start another fire, she fetched the lantern. She was in the midst of searching the camper for the matches, when she heard the footsteps crunching in the gravel of their campsite.
Her hand froze on the drawer. Molly and Gwen’s chattering and laughter would be heard long before she heard their footsteps. She knew Garrett would be there long after them, since he would need to pack the projector and other paraphernalia and return them to ranger headquarters after the last of his audience left.
She doubted it would be another park ranger.
Already on her hands and knees from picking through the cupboard, she flicked off her flashlight and stayed low, slowly lifting her head to peek through the corner of the window.
It wasn’t Garrett, nor was the man a ranger. All the valuables were locked in the cars, so if it was a would-be thief, he would get nothing. Roberta gritted her teeth, hoping the man wouldn’t check to see if the camper was locked, because it wasn’t.
The man remained in the center of the campsite. “Hey, little darling,” he called out, “where are you?”
Roberta’s stomach churned. It was the same man who approached her last night at the outhouse. But he hadn’t called her “darling” then. The only one who had called her that was Garrett, in his dreams.
Her mind raced. It wasn’t a raccoon last night, it was him! He had come in to the campsite in the middle of the night, expecting her to be alone.
Roberta covered her mouth with her hand to prevent herself from screaming. The flashlight in her hand could be used as a weapon as a last resort, but she doubted she’d be very effective against a man that size, or any man, for that matter. At only five-foot-four, she wasn’t much threat to anything or anybody. Even the four-year-old child had gotten the better of her. She suddenly regretted not taking the self-defense course advertised in the newspaper last fall.
After what seemed an eternity, his steps retreated and disappeared.
She knelt to peek out the window to be sure he was gone. Her heart pounded and her hands shook as she slowly opened the door and poked her head out, an inch at a time. Searching the area slowly, she exited the camper when she was sure he was truly gone.
Panic started to overtake her. She wanted to bolt and go home, but she’d already given Molly her car keys, so that wasn’t an option. Above all, she couldn’t stay in the campsite alone.
Flashlight in hand, she fled the campsite and ran to where she hoped everyone else would still be.
After all the campers left the amphitheater, Garrett packed everything up. He closed the lid on the last box as Gwen and Molly chatted with another ranger.
Out of the corner of his eye, Garrett saw Robbie running toward him at a breakneck pace. Her wide eyes showed fear, and her abrupt halt as she skidded on the cement beside him bespoke frenzy. His breath caught as she grabbed his arm and started shaking it.
She gulped for breath so badly he barely made her words out. “A man … outhouse … raccoon … looking for … hid in … went away …”
“Calm down, Robbie.” He tried to speak slowly and softly, but his heart hammered in his chest. “Take a deep breath and tell me, slowly, what’s wrong.”
She squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them wide. Garrett rested his hands on her shoulders and waited. From the way she couldn’t catch her breath, he suspected she had run the entire way from the campsite to the amphitheater.
Molly came running. “Robbie! What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”
Roberta swallowed hard as her gasping subsided. Garrett could hear the tension in her voice as she spoke. “That man from last night. He came into the campsite looking for me. He called me ‘darling’ just like you did. It wasn’t a raccoon, you idiot!” she screamed. She thumped his hands off her shoulders and settled her fists on her hips. “I was all alone hiding in the camper, terrified! I couldn’t stay there so I ran here.”
Garrett opened his mouth to speak, but she started up again. She grabbed one of his arms and shook it again and continued to shout at a slightly lower volume level, but her voice was still raised and tight and rapid. “Even I could tell it wasn’t a raccoon. How could you be so stupid! Can’t you tell the difference? Even I could tell it was footsteps! Why did I let you convince me it was a raccoon?”
Totally ignoring their audience, Garrett trapped her hands between his forearm, which she
held like a steel trap, and his hand. He lowered his voice to speak slowly and evenly. “Listen to me. I knew it wasn’t a raccoon. I can certainly tell the difference between an animal and a human. I didn’t want you to be frightened. I made sure to speak loudly so he would know you weren’t alone and he wouldn’t bother you again. Do you understand?”
He paused long enough for his words to sink in. Robbie nodded.
“When we went to the outhouse I radioed the rangers and told them to be on the lookout for a prowler, but they couldn’t find him. You have to trust me, Robbie. I did what I thought was best so he wouldn’t think you were all by yourself. Just don’t go off by yourself again until we find out who he is.”
“Okay.” She nodded again, and he allowed her to pull her hands away. “I won’t go anywhere by myself.”
Molly stood to the side, gawking. “Come on,” she said, “let’s all go back. No one will bother us if the three of us stick together.”
Garrett didn’t like the three of them camping alone, but there was nothing he could do about it. “With one man short, I’m going to have to stay at the ranger camp for the weekend.”
Gwen stepped in. “Don’t worry about us, Bro, we’ll be fine. Safety in numbers.”
Roberta stared at the ground.
Molly touched her shoulder. “Let’s go back now. I can hear some popcorn calling me. Come on, Gwen.”
Gwen nodded and said a quick good-bye to the ranger she was talking with.
Garrett had turned his back to lift the boxes when he heard Gwen’s voice behind him.
“Darling? Last night? What exactly was going on last night?”
“None of your business,” he grumbled, balancing the boxes so he could carry them all in one trip. He steadied the pile and walked to the truck, ignoring his sister.
He shuffled the boxes in the truck bed, watching the three women walk down the dark road, three flashlight beams zig-zagging across the road as they made their way.
He didn’t know what to do. As much as Robbie felt singled out by the prowler, in all likelihood, the prowler would act the same with any lone woman. The thought didn’t ease his mind.
He knew he should be out walking around the campsite, keeping an eye out for trouble, but his heart told him to stay in site 27 with his sister, Molly, and Robbie, even though it wasn’t likely they’d be bothered.
Being Friday night, if anyone was going to get drunk and disorderly, tonight would be the night. Already the rangers had kicked out one undesirable group before the rush traditionally started. Not only did the group have a car full of beer and half-empty liquor bottles littered all over the site, he’d also detected the smoke from a hastily butted joint. That group was trouble looking for a place to happen, and it wasn’t going to happen at his campground. As good as it felt to evict them for leaving a campfire unattended, Garrett would have derived more satisfaction from punching the guy’s lights out for harassing Robbie, but as a peace officer and park representative, he couldn’t. He needed to work this out with God, but for now, the picture in his mind of the man holding Robbie’s wrist made him see red.
Garrett shoved the last box roughly to the front of the truck bed. He had to get started making his rounds, checking up on the campsites, although he’d never felt less like it. If he was being honest with himself, he would admit the real reason he wanted to join the three ladies was to talk to Robbie, even though she’d made it quite plain that she didn’t want to talk to him.
He was a glutton for punishment. As soon as most of the campers turned in for the night and he could make arrangements, he knew where he was going.
Chapter 7
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 c
lock?”
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.”