Red Paws Inn

by Robin Roseau

  “Is that a lot?” she asked.

  “Seventeen hundred square miles,” I said. “I think it’s a lot.”

  “I thought you couldn’t have motors in the Boundary Waters.”

  “Some of the lakes on the edge, like ours, allow boats with small motors,” I explained.

  “Oh. Um. Is it hard to row a canoe?”

  “We usually refer to it as paddling,” I said. “It’s similar to rowing, but a different motion.” I went through the body language of each.

  “Oh,” she said again. “Is it hard?”

  “No, not at all.”

  “And you rent canoes. I saw a bunch down near the water.”

  “Yes,” I said. “We’re a full outfitter. We can rent or sell just about everything.”

  “Is it dangerous?” Sue asked.

  “Accidents happen,” I admitted. “But it’s easy to make paddling sports very safe. It starts with proper gear and training. It’s important to know your limits. And, as with any activity, alcohol consumption is a contributing factor to accident statistics.”

  “I don’t think we need to worry about that,” Sue said.

  “I imagine not with Megan,” I replied. “But it’s worth noting, and when I offer safety seminars, there are several important points I stress. Alcohol, life jackets, weather, and horseplay. We’re lucky here. Boat motors are limited, so we don’t have huge boats zipping along at fifty miles an hour.”

  “They can go that fast?” Megan asked.

  “Yes, and some are even faster. I’ve been witness to a ski boat colliding with another boat. The driver was watching the skier and not where he was driving. Not on this lake, of course. If you’re smart, then paddling sports are significantly safer than biking at home.”

  “But people tip over.”

  “Sometimes.” I laughed. “I tipped over a week ago.”

  “You?” Wendy asked, somewhat surprised.

  “Ten feet from shore,” I said. I talked for a minute about Blues, and soon the three were chuckling with me. “Were you three hoping to spend time on the water?”

  “The guys want to fish some more,” Wendy said. “Over dinner last night, I mentioned I used to go canoeing, but that was a half lifetime ago.” She glanced at Megan, her friend’s daughter. “I don’t think I’m qualified to teach anyone.” She paused then gave Megan another glance. “However, we might have a rebellion if my kids see Megan canoeing without them.”

  Megan offered a smile. I thought it was a little wry, but she clearly was aware the younger kids adored her. “They’re good kids,” she declared simply.

  “We can teach everyone,” I offered. “With very young children, we teach them to sit in the middle and enjoy the ride. But even little Connie can learn to paddle from the front.”

  The three exchanged glances, and then Sue asked, “Can we start with Megan and Wendy?”

  “And Mom,” Megan asked, then turned pleading eyes to her mother. “You made me leave my phone at home, and you’re always saying you want us to do more things together.”

  I was able to suppress my laughter, and I watched Sue shift uncomfortably then said, “You know, Megan. You’re right.” She shifted her gaze to me. “How much can you teach us?”

  “Well, we have a one-hour canoe basics class,” I said. “And then if you like, we can take another one-hour tour of the lake. Of course, we can also do overnight trips into the wilderness, but that might be a bit more than you’re looking for today.”

  “And sleep in a tent?” Megan asked, putting on an expression of mock horror. “On the ground with spiders and snakes?”

  “Let’s start with the two hours,” Wendy said with a laugh.

  “Good plan,” I replied. “I’ll get you set up with Jenna.”

  “Jenna?” Megan asked. She turned her eyes full on to me and offered the same praying gesture she’d given her mother. “We were hoping you would teach us,” she said in an exceedingly sweet voice.

  The other two women froze, then watched to see what I’d do. I looked into Megan’s eyes and smiled. “I am impervious to those eyes,” I said with a twirling gesture of my finger.

  “No one is impervious,” her mother muttered.

  “Please,” Megan said. “I watched you yesterday, and I like your teaching style.”

  Wendy snorted. I considered the teenager. “I’ll make a deal with you,” I offered.

  Megan put the eyes away and narrowed them instead, even folding her arms. “What deal?” she prompted with suspicion.

  “When you tell your friends about this trip, you be honest.”

  “Oooh,” Wendy and Sue said together. “She’s raising the stakes, Megan,” Sue added.

  “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean,” Megan said.

  “Right. Everyone in this room was a teenage girl, once upon a time,” I said. “And admitting you had a good time going on a trip with your parents has never, ever, ever been cool.” Then I smiled. “Jenna’s a good teacher.”

  Megan leaned away from me and looked me up and down, her arms still folded. “You want free advertising or something.”

  “I want you to promise to be honest.” I thought about it. “Completely honest. No selective editing. The lake was beautiful. The cabins are clean and cute. You enjoyed fishing, and you got to drive the boat, but you taught Connie to drive it, too. And you had mother-daughter time, which you also enjoyed. If you want to bitch about the mosquitoes, I can’t stop you. But the loons are cool and make the most eerie sound at night.”

  “Is that what those were?” she asked. “I thought they were wolves!”

  “They do sound a little bit like wolves,” I admitted. “But only loons. Do we have a deal, Megan?”

  She didn’t answer at first. I thought all three adults were waiting with hushed expectation, but no one rushed an answer from her. Finally Megan said, “Deal.”

  I smiled broadly and held my hand out. Megan paused then took my offer. We shook on our agreement. “Boathouse in twenty minutes,” I said. “Swimsuits. Hats if you have them. I’ll see you there.”

  * * * *

  The three of us had a good time. I taught them everything I could in an hour, and then it was time for our tour. Megan turned to Sue. “So. Mother-daughter time?”

  “Sure,” Sue said immediately. “But I’m an old lady. You get the back of the canoe.”

  Megan grinned and immediately agreed. I gestured Wendy to the back of ours, which she took somewhat reluctantly, but both she and Megan would do a good job.

  We had a nice tour. We found the pontoon with the guys and four kids about twenty minutes in. We paddled past them and received a fishing report, but we didn’t slow down.

  We were women on a mission, after all.

  Later, with the canoes put away, Megan bounced up to me with a spontaneous hug. “Thank you,” she whispered into my ear. “Am I now licensed, or whatever it is if I want to go out again?”

  “If you decide to take the little kids, I’d rather they get their own safety class. It’s shorter, but important. And I can trust you to be safe, right?”

  “Right,” she said. “It’s all fun and games until someone drowns.”

  “Right.”

  She released me, and I saw she was smiling broadly. “I had a nice time. What are you going to teach me tomorrow?” I laughed, but she said, “I’m serious.”

  “Really?”

  “Really,” she assured me.

  “Is this about getting away from the kids?”

  “The kids are okay, but Chris thinks I should be the full-time babysitter. I don’t mind being a part-time babysitter. Come on, Janis. There must be something you can teach me tomorrow.”

  “When you made disparaging remarks about sleeping in a tent, were you serious?”

  She laughed and shook her head. “I was making a joke.”

  “Have you ever been?”

  “Camping out? A guy tried to get me to go last summer, but I think what he really wanted was to ge
t me alone somewhere. Are you going to teach me to set up a tent?”

  “How about if I teach you how to cook for a camping trip? You’ll need to get your folks to agree to pay for it.”

  “How long?”

  “How long did you want?”

  “You tell me?”

  “We can stay here and spend an hour, or we can take a trip and spend as long as you want.”

  “We’d canoe somewhere?”

  “If you want. And make lunch, then come back.”

  “So no tent.”

  “No tent,” I confirmed. “It can be just us, or you can invite your mom again.”

  “The longer trip,” she said. “How long? Four hours?”

  “Sure,” I said. “Ten AM. But you have to confirm with your folks.”

  “We’ll let you know at dinner. Okay?”

  “Okay,” I agreed.

  * * * *

  Promptly at ten, Megan and Sue appeared in the lodge. I smiled, and Sue asked, “Does it work if there are three of us?”

  “Sure,” I said. “You understand that lunch will be trail food, right?”

  “Freeze dried,” Sue said.

  “We can do a little better than that,” I said. “Let’s step into the outfitting shop, but then I’ll show you what we really have today.”

  * * * *

  We had a nice trip, but that was the last time Megan asked for lessons. However, she assured me she’d had a good time, and I saw she spent a lot of time on the water, sometimes alone, sometimes with Sue or Wendy, and sometimes with one of Wendy’s kids.

  Sunday morning, Megan appeared in the doorway of my office. I looked up and smiled.

  “We’re leaving,” she said.

  I stood up and stepped around my desk. She moved to me, and we hugged. “Thank you,” she whispered.

  “You’re welcome.”

  “I thought I was going to be miserable,” she said. “I had a nice time.”

  “I’m glad.”

  She stepped away, but she was wearing a shitty grin. “I’m, like, one of your success stories.”

  I laughed. “Is this attitude going to last long enough to keep a promise you made to me?”

  “Yeah,” she said. “I want a job.”

  My jaw dropped. “What?”

  “Next summer,” she said. “I want a job. I graduate from high school in the spring. I’ll be 18. I don’t have a car, and I have no reason to expect Mom and Dad will give me one for graduation, but I want a job. I’ll get them to drive me up, the day after graduation.”

  “You know, any job I have for you is going to be housekeeping or waiting tables, and it’s going to pay minimum wage with no benefits.”

  “Not true,” she said. “Minimum wage, housing, meals, and I get to go canoeing when I’m not working. I bet you have staff housing here somewhere.”

  “I have a closet that’s big enough to put a bed,” I said.

  “Is it in the basement?”

  “No.”

  “Does the roof leak?”

  I smiled. “No.”

  “Are their spiders?”

  “Almost assuredly, and it would be your responsibility to deal with them.”

  She held her hand out, offering to shake. I stared at it. “You’re really serious?”

  “I am, as long as I get to canoe, and you teach me the rest of what I need to learn.” She paused, her hand still out, but her smile faded. “Or don’t you have turnover?”

  “Not very much,” I said. I thought about it. “What if it’s not full time?”

  “More time for canoeing. What if I can’t get a ride?”

  I took her hand. “Then I’ll come and get you myself.”

  “Deal,” she said, the smile returning. She pulled me into another hug then ran out, throwing over her shoulder, “I’ll email you.”

  “Do that,” I said. As she flounced away, I tried to think if any of the storage rooms was big enough for a bedroom and had a window. I couldn’t put her in a room without a window.

  I had time to worry about that, but I knew time could fly past.

  Return Visit

  “Do you think they’d do a testimonial for the web site?” Alyssa asked when I told her about Megan. “Honestly, Janis, I’m not at all surprised. Do you connect so closely with all your visitors?”

  “I have to say: you’re the first one I sobbed with.”

  She grew quiet for a moment, and I mentally kicked myself, but then she said, “That’s when I knew I needed us to be friends.”

  “Until I realized what was going on, I thought you were…”

  “A raving bitch?”

  “No,” I said.

  “A psycho?”

  “No,” I said more firmly. “I don’t know what I thought, but I couldn’t figure out what you were doing in the north woods.”

  “I’m glad you were with me,” she said. “Thank Jenna’s boyfriend for getting sick, will you?”

  I laughed. “Right.”

  “So, it’s supposed to be decent weather for the next few days.”

  “So it is,” I said. “And we have several cabins open.”

  “Cabin three?” she asked.

  “I thought you’d want a change of views.” She said nothing. “But I suppose I could kick out a couple of old grannies and let you have their cabin, if you decide to drive up.”

  “You didn’t put a couple of grannies in the furthest cabin,” she said, sounding indignant. “Who is really in my cabin?”

  “Well, if you really, really insist, yes, Cabin Three is free, but I have a specific request for it Thursday night. It’s a couple, and it’s the one they stayed in the first time they came up.”

  “So it’s mine until Thursday morning.”

  “Check out time is eleven,” I said.

  She laughed. “Good. Look outside.”

  “What?” I asked.

  “Look in your parking lot, Janis.”

  I began squealing and ran out my room, through the lodge, and out the back door. Alyssa was standing beside her car, Blues in a perfect sit at her side. Henry and Flapper followed me, saw Blues, and took off for their friend. Alyssa must have released the sit, as Blues gave a bark and began chasing my dogs around the parking lot.

  I ran for Alyssa, who waited for me, and I basically threw myself on her, hugging her tightly. “You came!” Then I stepped back and slugged her arm. “You didn’t tell me you were coming! What if I didn’t have room?”

  “I maybe talked to Jenna earlier,” she said with a grin. “And ow!” she rubbed her arm, then waved her finger at me. “Don’t do that again.”

  “Seriously?”

  She slugged my arm. “Yeah. None of that.”

  “Hey!” I complained.

  “Can dish it out, but can’t take it?” she asked. She looked me up and down. “I may look like a total femme, but I can take ya.”

  “I can’t believe you drove up here without warning me.”

  “What’s the matter? Not wearing your lucky underwear?” She gave me a scorching look. “Come here.” Before I could protest, her hands darted out. She grabbed me by the collar of my shirt, tugged me back to her, then spun me around until my back was pressed against her car.

  And her front was pressed against mine, one knee finding space between my legs. She pressed forward, pinning me into place. She looked into my eyes, and I lost my words. All I could do was stare.

  “I’m not usually this forward,” she said. Then her hand slipped to the back of my head, and I was helpless but to stand there, my eyes closing, as her mouth found mine.

  I could taste her hunger; I could feel my own. She was soft and smooth and tasted so, so good.

  It had been a long time, but my body remembered, and I grew flushed long before we parted.

  But she continued to hold me pinned against her car. I opened my eyes, and she was smiling at me. “You look good,” she said huskily.

  “You like the north woods girl look, do you?”

&n
bsp; “You wear it well.”

  “What are we doing, Alyssa?” I asked.

  “Don’t pretend you don’t want me,” she replied. “You ran to me like something out of a movie.” She pressed even closer. “Maybe you’re accustomed to playing the aggressor. I admit, I’m not.” She looked me up and down. “I think I might like it, though.”

  I wrapped my arms around her neck and held tightly, my head over her shoulder, my eyes closed, our cheeks pressed together. I held tightly, not sure of my words.

  But then I asked, “What are we doing?” I whispered it to her ear.

  “I can’t stop thinking about you,” she whispered back. “I don’t know what we’re doing, but I can’t stop thinking about you. So let’s keep it simple. We’re two women with the hots for each other. Isn’t that enough? One question. Am I welcome?”

  “Yes!” I said firmly, hugging even more tightly.

  “I don’t play games,” she said. “And I’m not playing the game of pretending there’s nothing going on between us.”

  I said nothing. I simply held her, held her so tightly, not letting go.

  Finally Alyssa asked, “Janis, I don’t know what this is. We might just both need a good lay. Or maybe neither of us will be willing to let go any more than you are right now.” I offered a ragged laugh. “In case it’s the former, I intend to savor it. If it’s the latter, well, I still intend to savor it, and we’ll figure it out. Together. Okay?”

  I relaxed my grip, slowly, until finally we could lean away from each other and look into the other’s eyes. “Promise?”

  “I promise to savor,” she said. “And I promise we’ll figure it out.”

  “What does savor mean?”

  “It means I’m sleeping in my own cabin, not your tiny bed.”

  “My bed isn’t at all tiny. It’s perfectly sized for me and two dogs.”

  She laughed. “Yes, but it’s not perfectly sized for both of us and three dogs. Furthermore, I don’t know if Blues shares.”

  We separated a little and watched the dogs, cavorting around us. “Our kids get along,” Alyssa said.

  “She’s a sweet girl,” I replied. And then we separated enough we could both kneel down. It took an instant for the three dogs to run over, pushing against us, accepting their own affection, always shifting back and forth, Flapper accepting scrubs from both of us, but Henry being the largest attention hound.