by Oram, Jean
Double shit.
Laughter and commotion bounced out of the corner where the dead jukebox listed silently, surrounded by smoke jumpers and Amber. That girl had all the men posturing and trying to help out. What was it with that woman? She had a boyfriend. And yet she had all this male attention. They noticed her. Just like that. And, according to Mandy, Amber fell in and out of love regularly, without any seeming consequences. If she could even be one sliver like Amber…
Amber strode over, in command of the room as she squeezed between Rob and Jen. “Hey, Moe! I offered free drinks to the guy who fixes that thing. You mind?”
Moe glanced to the big men surrounding the jukebox and back to Amber. Finally, he gave a slight shrug in agreement.
Amber, her face bright with happiness and satisfaction, turned to Rob, an elbow propped behind her on the bar. “Hey. You look familiar.” She glanced back at Moe. “Can I get a vanilla vodka in Diet Coke?”
“Rob,” he said, sizing her up. “Rob Raine.”
“Well, now.” She shot Jen a wink. “Maybe you need to make my friend Jen as right as rain.” She gave him a playful smile. “Have you two met?”
“Amber,” Jen said with a sigh of embarrassment. She pushed Amber out into the froth of smoke jumpers, her drink sloshing. “Go find your boyfriend.”
“He’s working through writer’s block on his sequel. I’ve been helping.” Amber gave Jen a smile that could only mean one thing.
Jen turned to Rob, feeling the need to apologize. “Sorry.”
“For what?”
“Um…Blueberry Springs?” She gave him a pleading look.
“It doesn’t bother me. I’m from a close family. Close, meaning highly meddlesome. Blueberry Springs has nothing on them.” He smiled and took a sip of beer.
Jen laughed. “Is that even possible?”
He met her eyes, his bright and full of meaning that she couldn’t quite figure. “Anything is possible.”
“How you doing Jennykins? Need another?” Moe sidled closer, making her edge back.
“Pet names?” That was a memo that had been returned as ‘undeliverable’ for years. “What are you doing, Moe? Is there someone bothering you?” Jen took a surreptitious glance around the bar, on the lookout for someone hanging on to Moe and not taking his hints. Nobody.
She smoothed her shirt and tried to think whether she’d done anything differently with herself today.
Nope.
Nothing.
Maybe his biological clock had stared ticking—guys had to have them, too, right? And so he figured she was a sure thing due to the way she’d been after him for years. He was probably envisioning them running off into a sunset to go live happily ever after.
She let out a laugh. Not bloody likely.
Moe flushed. “What?” His voice held a defensive tone as he leaned back and sent a quick glance to Rob.
Oh. You had GOT to be kidding.
Moe was acting jealous and possessive over her because of a man she couldn’t even be friends with.
“Moe,” she said with a laugh. He stalked off and she threw up her hands in defeat. Men were such a puzzle.
“So?” Rob shifted his drink back and forth. “Long time no see.”
“Yeah. New record. Sorry about my friend, Moe. He’s in a weird headspace, it seems.”
“We all spend time there.”
“How about you?” she asked. “Been there lately?”
He laughed. “Hell yeah.”
She smiled, at ease again. “Me, too.” She tipped her glass to clink his bottle of beer. “Cheers.”
“Cheers.”
They sat quietly for a moment, and she began to wonder if she could work this impromptu hanging out to her advantage. Get an update on how hellish her future might be looking. Turn this back to work instead of a flirting extravaganza it would surely slip into if she didn’t stay focused on something else. She’d rather leave on awkward terms because of a hard, honest chat about the fire than because she’d danced over the flirting line and flashed him for all she was worth.
“Have you been out to the fire site today?” she asked.
“Off duty.” He held up his beer, a tired expression weighing down his shoulders. “You’ll have to call my cell and make an appointment to talk to Rob the fire investigator.” He said it in a weird voice. Half playful, half exhausted, slightly resentful.
Almost as though…almost as though his job had a torturous undercurrent. Like his job bothered him as much as it did her. Almost…never mind. A guy such as Rob had to have a ton of friends, even if his job probably kept him from them for several months out of the year.
But it was as though he wanted to be social. Had he come here to seek her out? There were other places to sit in the bar.
Was his job so lonely that even hobnobbing with the accused was something to make his days stand out from one another?
How unprofessional.
Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.
She slid off her stool and walked to the end of the bar, plunking herself down on a new stool. She pulled Rob’s bent business card from her back pocket. Why she carried it around with her, she wasn’t even sure. Oh, yes, of course, in case she thought of something that would get her off the hook. Such as footage of someone else starting the fire. Or she needed backup apprehending the little fire-starter in the old pick-up truck.
She reached for the phone at the end of the bar and punched in the number for Rob’s cell. When his pants started ringing, she glanced over with a sly smile.
Shaking his head, Rob bit the corner of his mouth to prevent a smile.
How cute was that? He was bashful. She was such a sucker for bashful.
So, so dangerous.
Turning to her, Rob said, “Excuse me, I should get this.”
Polite, too.
“Hello, Rob Raine here,” he said into his phone.
“Hi. It’s Jen Kulak. How are you?”
“Oh, just great thanks. Enjoying a beer with some interesting people.” He glanced her way and mouthed, “I’ll just be a minute.” He pointed to the phone still stuck to his ear and mouthed, “Work.”
Jen tried to recall what she was doing. It was a difficult feat considering her brain was trying to work out every possible direction this flirtatious routine might wander and what preparations it should begin with her body’s hormone levels. Evidently, it took the cautious route and sent extra blood to various regions that had been neglected for years.
“How are you?” he asked through the phone.
“Oh, uh dandy, thanks. I was just calling to see if you’d had a chance to go up to the clearing again and if you found anything helpful or if you needed more directions or something.” She tipped her head away from Rob and scolded herself. She was a babbling ditz. What was she doing? If she wasn’t careful she’d end up asking him out again. Considering she hadn’t burned down the town, she technically still owed him a hike.
“Looking for another muddy adventure, are you?” he asked, a hint of humor lifting his voice.
She laughed.
“I’ve actually been doing paperwork,” he said. With an apologetic tone he added, “You know, working with the government. Paperwork, paperwork.”
“I see. I suppose I’m just worried that precious evidence might be washed away, carried off, or otherwise disturbed while you’re…um.” She let out a frustrated breath.
“Drinking a beer?” Phone to his ear, he lifted the beer to his lips. He watched her over the brown bottle as he tipped it back.
“Um, no. Not a beer…just…”
“It’s a valid concern.” He met her eyes in the mirror behind the bar. “I’m planning to head out again tomorrow. Lots of photos. Lots of notes. But do know that your sacrificed hiking shoes were not for nothing. Taking me to the clearing was helpful. Thank you.”
She nodded. His eyes seemed a softer gray-blue today. Possibly it was his soft gray, v-neck sweater. She’d bet it was cashmere or something equally soft. It was the
kind of sweater that would feel good against her cheek should they slow dance. And the way he said ’thank you’ warmed her in a way she couldn’t describe other than as divine.
They watched each other quietly until the jukebox suddenly blared out Burning Down the House by Talking Heads.
Jen jumped, dropping the phone in its cradle.
The music died and Amber called out an apology. “Sorry! Almost fixed. Hope you didn’t all pee your pants.” She aimed herself at Jen. “That song was for you, honey.”
Scowling, Jen returned to her drink beside Rob, nerves on edge.
Rob placed his phone in his pocket. “Can you believe that? I got hung up on.”
“Oh, sorry.” Jen pinched the bridge of her nose before realizing she was probably getting those evil stress lines Amber had been harping about.
“No worries.” Rob tipped his empty bottle in Moe’s direction. Unable to pretend he hadn’t seen Rob, Moe got him another, his movements stilted.
He plunked the beer in front of Rob and asked Jen, “Do you want me to pick up more juice?”
“Um, what?” Jen, who had been watching Rob’s fingers tap out an internal song on the bar, tried to focus on Moe. Obviously, she’d missed something. It almost sounded as though he was offering to pick up juice. Juice he’d finished off at her place. He never did that. She stocked it, he drank it while they watched reality TV and pretended to have a life. Or in today’s case, he drank it while she was at work.
“I finished the juice. I’ll get more.”
“Moe, whatever. It’s fine.”
Moe left to serve the smoke jumpers at the other end of the bar, giving Rob a meaningful look as he passed.
Jen fidgeted with her glass, rolling her eyes at Moe. She cut a glance at Rob and exhaled slowly. The least she could do was engage in some idle chitchat to help him pass the time in a new town.
“So? How do you like your job?” She winced. Oh, damn. Was she out of practice or what?
“When I’m not investigating the cutest gal in town?” He turned down his lips. “Not bad.”
OHMIGOD. Did he just call her the cutest girl in town? She gripped the bar to prevent gravity from taking advantage of her muscles’ sudden slackness.
He grabbed her arm. “Are you okay?”
“Oh! Yeah. Of course. Yes.” She took a gulp of her drink and coughed. “Just…um…”
He patted her back and watched to be sure she was okay as the coughing started up again. “Sorry,” he said, glancing toward Moe who was serving at the other end of the bar.
She waved Rob off. “I don’t mind being called cute.” She felt herself blush and rushed to change the subject, reaching out for the first topic to hit her neurons. “Do you ever get lonely?” She turned to him, her heart hinging on the upcoming answer.
Her eyelids briefly shuttered closed. What the hell was wrong with her? Of course he didn’t get lonely. Only losers such as herself got lonely. A nice guy such as Rob would have eight million friends.
“I do,” he said, attention on the beer between his hands.
Wait…what?
“How is that even possible?” A guy like him.
He blinked. “I’m alone for days, sometimes weeks on end. It’s hard to hold onto a relationship.”
“Oh, well, yeah. Girls are funny about disappearing boyfriends. Their families think they’ve made up the guy and all.” She added quickly, “Not that I’ve ever done that.”
“Why would you have to?”
Jen snorted. “If you’re implying I have them lining up, you are sadly mistaken.” She took another glug of her drink. She was going to be plastered if she didn’t slow down, but how else was she going to keep her mouth busy? She needed to create opportunities to think first seeing as so far this evening her mouth was flying solo a lot more often than its learner’s permit allowed.
“I find I am sadly mistaken quite a lot these days.”
“I can tell there is a story there. But I won’t pry.”
“Why not?” He turned to face her.
“Um. Because…you’ll tell me if you want me to know?”
“But if you never ask…”
“Oh, fine. What the hell is your backstory? Some girl run off on you while you were in the bush?” Oh, wait…that sounded familiar. Cindy. Canoe trip. Cancellation. Oh, hell. “Moe! I’m going to need another drink to wash down my foot. On the double.” She slapped the bar, avoiding the expression on Rob’s face that would tell her everything she didn’t want to know about how far she’d shoved her foot down her throat.
“Actually,” he said quietly. “She did. Apparently ‘exclusive’ has various regional meanings.”
“Regional?” Without thinking, she faced him. His face was a view she wanted to gaze at all evening, but his eyes held a sadness she could identify with. She resisted the urge to give him a hug.
Wait…she was supposed to be giving this whole ‘friend with the monsters’—i.e. her fears—a shot. Friends hugged.
She reached over and grasped him around the shoulders, just about flinging herself on him as her butt lost traction on the wood stool.
“What are you doing?” he asked through her hair as he grabbed at the bar to support them.
“Hugging you.” She leaned back and pushed the loose tendril that has slipped out of her ponytail back in place.
“Uh, thanks.”
Oh, wow. Things could get more awkward. How about that?
“Sorry, it just looked like you needed a hug. And you’re all alone in Blueberry Springs. And someone broke your heart. And it was just…sometimes people need hugs but there’s nobody there to give them one.”
He nudged her shoulder with a fist. “Thanks. I appreciate it. Sometimes I could use a friend.”
Her stomach did a flip on the word friend.
“Yeah, me too,” she whispered.
He leaned closer, head tipped low. “But you have Blueberry Springs.”
She met his gaze, their nose mere inches apart. “But I’m an outsider.”
Confusion tightened his features. “But everyone defends you. They don’t defend outsiders. I’ve never seen a place close ranks so fast.”
Now she was more confused than ever. Blueberry Springs? Closing ranks? This guy got a lot of things wrong.
She rubbed her face and summoned her courage. “As you know, I have been asked not to leave town, so I am hoping that you can be my police-approved escort for the canoe trip.” She held her breath. “Please?”
“Sure.” He gave a curt nod, turning back to his beer. “About that. I found someone to come with me. Her name’s Dina. I’ll email her info in the morning, if that’s okay.”
“Of course,” she said, her voice tight.
He was closing her out. The way his attention was on his beer, his shoulders tight. Either he figured she’d be in jail by the time the trip rolled around and didn’t want to burst her bubble, or she’d crossed a line hugging him, or this Dina person was the new love of his life and he was uncomfortable having flirty Jen around her while he was playing babysitter to her fire-starting habits.
Oh, this was going to be great. Not only did she have the humiliation of having the man who could put her in jail babysitting her, but she was going to have to do it while he had a woman hanging off his arm.
Her hands clenched involuntarily, her need to have him as hers, and hers alone, scaring her.
CHAPTER 5
Jen closed the bird cage, settling the injured bird into its new, temporary home and checked her watch. People—seven in total—would start arriving for the weekend canoe trip in about an hour and a half. As usual, tremors of excitement whipped into a whirlwind within her, starting in her gut and swirling up to her head. She loved taking people out to share nature and the joy and wonder in the beautiful views. Her worries always drifted away as she paddled across the quiet lakes, the voices of others calling out as they spotted birds or wildlife at the lake’s edge. Food cooked over a campfire encircled by rocks.<
br />
Rob.
She sighed. She still couldn’t believe she’d hugged him and made things all awkward again.
She shook her head. She was silly. All she needed to do was prove that she was innocent, as well as competent. This trip would help her cinch it, and then she could worry about the rest of her life. And that Dina chick he was bringing? She’d only help her stay on task. No flirting. No distractions. Just nature guide Jen at her finest.
And this time she wouldn’t lead him off in the wrong direction or slide down a hill of soot and mud. She would be prepared for the weather. She would rock this.
She wandered outside to double check the van and the trailer strapped with canoes. She had lunches from Mandy’s restaurant already packed along with her killer brownies.
Halfway through her checks, Rob and a woman appeared. Jen froze. It was his new other half.
She almost laughed. He’d said he was lonely—yeah, for five seconds—but obviously he didn’t know the true meaning of being lonely.
She pushed back the jealousy that was rising like bile and shook the woman’s warm hand.
“I’m Jen. I’ll be leading the group this weekend.”
She flashed a glance at Rob. How much had he told this woman about her record in the forest? Had he told her he had to guard her all weekend? Had the two of them had a good laugh about the way she’d walked the wrong way out of the burned out clearing? How ‘only you can prevent forest fires’ seemed to apply directly to her?
“Dina,” the woman said, taking in Jen without reserve. Oh yeah, Rob had talked about her. She could tell. Dina’s bright eyes were taking her in, her gorgeous wavy brown hair looking amazing. Athletic and lithe. Some girls had all the luck. “Pleasure to meet you.”
Rob rubbed his eyes. “I’m going to run to The Diner to grab coffee. You guys want some?”
“I can make a pot,” Jen offered. She excused herself before they could protest, questions about Dina whirling through her head. How was he was so comfortable with someone new so quickly? The way they carried themselves around each other made it seem as though they were connected in a way Jen had never been with anyone. He’d found the right person. Jen had missed her chance. But the thing of it was that he was obviously happy with Dina.