Far Country (43 page)

           
Then a more disturbing thought struck him.  What had she meant by
'fun'?  That didn’t sound like a wedding ceremony at the Visitor’s
Center…a more extreme kind of wedding flashed through his mind.  He
imagined Pete and Deb saying “I do”, then rappelling over the side of The Wall.
He winced involuntarily, not sure he would even want to attend.

           
Steve had yet to return to The Wall, and now that he was back in the mountains,
he found that he had mixed feelings about rappelling and rock climbing in
general. A shiver passed through him that had little to do with the northerly
breeze. Angered and annoyed by his reaction to the idea of rappelling, Steve
heaved two more bundles in to the truck bed. He jumped in his truck and gunned
the motor, kicking out a rooster tail of gravel as he shot up the private
drive.

           
Suddenly a fox flashed across the road in front of him.  Steve slammed on
the brake, skidding sideways and barely missing the little animal. 
Slumped behind the wheel, Steve found himself shaking slightly, a thin sheen of
sweat dotting his brow.  He took several deep breaths, willing himself to
calm down.

           
Steve wiped his sticky brow in disgust.  Some ranger he’d be if it got out
that he was afraid of heights! And what would he do when Gracie came to visit
if she wanted to try some rock climbing herself?  She had already talked
excitedly about the idea.

           
Soon,
he promised himself.  He would walk out on that outcropping of
rock and face this insidious fear that turned his insides to jelly and made his
knees grow weak whenever he simply thought about standing on that spot again!

           
Of course, he had been saying that for almost the whole two weeks that he’d
been back. When would he get up the courage, and just go do it? Disgusted with
himself, Steve turned the truck toward the campsites, and forced himself to
concentrate on the task at
hand.                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                 
Slowly he cruised the main circle, checking for new arrivals.  He sold
several bundles of firewood and registered three newly occupied sites. He
turned onto the extension where a woman and four teenage girls were setting up
three tents.  At least, the woman and two of the girls were busy working
to set up their tents. The other two girls who should have been working on the
third tent were busy arguing with each other. One girl that Steve guessed to be
about fifteen, gesticulated wildly, her exasperation evident, and her voice
shrill with frustration. The fourth girl was a redhead, tall and slender with
her head held high, who glared stonily back at her angry friend, her arms
crossed over her chest in defiance, her eyes glittering from recent tears.

           
The woman straightened up and sighed at the sight of the two combatants. 
“Alyssa, just go sit over there at the picnic table, and try to work on your
attitude,” she scolded tiredly. “I’m
not
driving you back. I’m sorry
about your boyfriend troubles, but it will have to keep until Sunday.”

           
She brushed some stray hair that was as red as her teenager’s out of her face
and Steve could see that she was working hard to maintain a reasonable tone of
voice with the girl.  “We’ve always enjoyed our weekend up here, Alyssa.
Until last week, you were as excited as your sister about coming on this trip.
Please don’t ruin the whole weekend for everybody.”

           
The girl named Alyssa stomped to the table and flung herself down on the bench.
As far as Steve could see, this Alyssa had no intention of improving her
attitude or making the weekend pleasant for anybody. He grimaced slightly,
wondering how Gracie would behave when she got old enough to date.

           
Forcing an easy smile, he approached the woman, who stood with her back to him,
still shaking her head at Alyssa’s ill humor.

           
“Hi there,” he said. “Welcome to Hanging Rock.”

           
Startled, the woman whirled to face him then smiled awkwardly, clearly a little
embarrassed. Her eyes widened as a strange look, almost of recognition, crossed
her face. She quickly regained her composure though. “Just a moment,” she said.
“My purse is still in the car.”

           
Pretty,
Steve acknowledged in his head.   
Nice smile
.
She must really take good care of herself, he thought, because he would never
have guessed she was old enough to be the mother of
teenaged
girls.  He followed her to the vehicle, taking the moment while she
rummaged in her purse to copy down the license plate for the registration
sheet. “Tent troubles?” he inquired softly.

           
She rolled her eyes toward the picnic table.  “Teenage boyfriend
troubles,” she replied under her breath. “Apparently they’ve been fighting all
week, but the little coward sent her a text message telling her he wanted to
break up about 10 minutes ago.”   She gave him a long suffering
smile.  “It could be a long weekend.”

           
“Roast some marshmallows,” Steve advised with a grin.  “
Smore’s
and a campfire seem to cure a lot of temperamental
moments.”

           
She shook her head dubiously. “I don’t think that they have enough chocolate in
North Carolina to cheer this one up. She enjoys her misery too much.” She
handed him her driver’s license and began to fill out the check.

           
“How many nights are you planning to stay?” He asked as he filled out the
receipt.

           
“She shot a quick glance toward the girl named Alyssa. “Two, I hope.”

           
Steve heard the uncertainty in her voice.  “You can pay by the night, if
you’re not sure,” he offered.

           
“Thanks, I think I’ll do that,” she agreed.

           
Steve began copying the information from the driver’s license onto the
registration. 
Kelly McGuire…nice name
, he thought. …
Hair color
red, green eyes
…he glanced at her again, but decided that despite the
similar coloring, she looked nothing like Deborah. Where Deborah was petite and
freckled, this lady was tall and slender, with porcelain skin. Her hair was a
deep mahogany red-brown and trailed halfway down her back in a French
braid.  
Birthdate
…
.Steve did
a quick calculation and glance back at her in surprise. 
Twenty-three
?
“Tell me these aren’t all your kids!” He blurted unexpectedly.

           
Kelly McGuire started, her green eyes wide in surprise then she laughed. 
“The girls? Heavens, no! Two of them are my nieces, and the other two are their
friends. I take '
em
camping every year as an
anniversary present to my sister – but this year I just might be charging,” she
ended grimly.

           
“I hear you,” Steve agreed, handing her back the license.  “Need any
firewood?”

Kelly nodded. “Two bundles,
please.”

           
She walked with him to his truck. Steve handed her a bundle, but carried the
second bundle back to the fire pit himself. He looked around the campsite,
where the two younger girls were beginning to make headway with their tent, but
the older girls had yet to do more than empty the bag.  Steve took pity on
the miserable group.  He pointed at the older girl who was now sitting
glumly next to Alyssa. “What’s that one named?” He asked.

           
“That one’s Jenny,” Kelly replied.

           
“Not yours?”

           
Kelly shook her head. “Unfortunately, I’m related to the drama queen.”

           
Steve looked at her questioningly. “Do you mind?”

           
Kelly shrugged.

           
Steve walked back to the site.  “Hey, Jenny. Let’s work on this tent
together. I bet you and I can get it set up in no time.”

           
Jenny spun around on the bench in surprise. She looked at Steve and flushed
with embarrassment. Steve had already picked up the tent rod that supported the
roof, and slipped it into the first sleeve. “Grab the end,” he encouraged her.

           
Nervously, Jenny reached for the end and with Steve’s help, slid the rod
through the second sleeve.  Steve tied the top strap to steady the rods
and then he and Jenny tucked the ends of the rods into the corner grommets. The
top arched up and Jenny grinned shyly at the handsome ranger.

           
Steve smiled back in approval.  “Good job. Can you stake the corners
yourself?”

           
Jenny nodded, and accepted the mallet and four tent pegs.

           
Steve turned to Kelly. “Would you like help with your tent, too, Mrs. McGuire?

           
For the first time, Kelly truly smiled and Steve felt as if the breath had been
knocked out of him. Kelly McGuire was beautiful!  “Thanks, that’s kind of
you,” she said, her green eyes alight with relief.  She picked up a rod,
walked around to the opposite side of her tent, and pushed it through the
sleeve. Steve caught it and guided it down the second sleeve section on his
side.

           
“And it’s Miss.”

           
“Excuse me?” Steve looked up, confused for a moment.

           
“My name.” Kelly said a slight flush on her cheeks.  “I’m a Miss, not a
Mrs.”

           
Steve flushed too, but for some reason, he felt inexplicably pleased with that
information. “Right,” he replied lamely. “I’ll fix it on the registration
card.”

           
To cover his mixed feelings, he began talking about the various trails in the
park, and the guest preacher who would be at the amphitheater on Sunday
morning, if they stayed that long.

           
In just a few minutes, they had Kelly’s tent set up, and Jenny hurried over to
hand the mallet off to Kelly, flashing a shy smile at Steve as she did.

           
“Looks like you’ve got things under control now,” Steve said after a moment.
“If you need anything else, just flag me down on one of my rounds.” He nodded
to Kelly, wishing he had an excuse to stay and talk to her some more. “Enjoy
your stay.”

           
Then he turned to Jenny. “Hope your friend gets feeling better soon.” Everyone
glanced in Alyssa’s direction, who had the grace to look slightly ashamed.

           
“You should get that fire started soon,” Steve advised them again. “
S’mores
always make me feel better.

           
Jenny’s eyes shone, “Come back later!” She begged him.  “Come back and
have 
s’mores
with us tonight!”

           
Steve laughed kindly. “I’m afraid I’m on duty until nine tonight, but thanks
for the offer.”

           
Kelly flashed him another heart stopping smile. “Then come back after nine,”
she encouraged him.  “We’ll save you a couple. It’s the least we could do
after your help here.”

           
“I was just trying to help you through a difficult moment,” Steve protested.

           
“And we appreciate it, Jenny and I. So, we’ll expect you around nine o’clock
then?”

           
“No promises, but I will try,” Steve stuttered, feeling confused and pleased at
the same time. He waved a hand in farewell and hurried back to the truck.

           
As Steve drove on to the next campsite, he kicked himself squarely. What had
gotten into him? ‘Fraternizing’ was generally frowned upon. But it was the girl
who had asked…
awwww
, who was he kidding? Kelly
McGuire had shaken something loose that had been long buried.  Even now,
the memory of her smile caused a ping pong ball to ricochet off the inner walls
of his chest!

           
Stupid behavior! He told himself sternly. A girl with a smile like that wasn’t
likely to be single, even if she wasn't married! No point in even considering
such a thing!
But why would she have made a point of telling him that she
wasn’t married then…?

           
Steve registered two more sites and sold several more bundles of wood by the
time he exited the extension sites. Still preoccupied with his encounter with
Kelly McGuire, he drove back to the Visitor’s Center and found Deborah and Pete
waiting for him with a baked potato and roasted chicken, surrounded by a sea of
healthy vegetables. Steve knew that Deborah regularly checked out the contents
of his and Chuck’s refrigerator, and whenever she got the chance she force fed
them something besides canned ravioli and hotdogs.  She made it a point to
over cook
whenever they all got together, and then
sent the boys home with the lion’s share of the leftovers.

           
They parked at the far end of the parking lot and walked down to the picnic
tables that marked the trailhead for Window Falls. Pete and Deborah had brought
their dinner, too, and there was silence for a few minutes as each one
concentrated on wolfing down Deborah’s excellent meal.

           
As he shoveled another large forkful of chicken into his mouth, Steve noticed
Deborah contemplating him as she ate her dinner in small civilized bites.