Buch lesen: «An Alaskan Proposal»

CHAPTER ONE

HARD TO BELIEVE people did this for fun. Sabrina climbed over a sodden log and hurried around a boulder to catch up with the rest of the group. A sudden gust whipped the hood of her borrowed plastic poncho across her face, momentarily blinding her. In that instant, she stepped on a wet root and slipped, falling to her knee. A flash of pain shot up her leg.

“Are you okay?” Clara, Sabrina’s temporary supervisor, offered a hand up.

“I’m fine.” Sabrina managed to puff the words out between gasps for air. She accepted Clara’s hand and got to her feet. “Thanks.” She rubbed her knee. There would be a bruise tomorrow, but it wasn’t bad.

“It’s not far now,” Clara said. “And I think we’re winning.”

“Great.” Sabrina forced a smile, but she needn’t have bothered. Clara had already turned and hurried up the trail, which left Sabrina to bring up the rear.

What was she doing here, climbing a mountain, in Alaska, in the rain? Sabrina didn’t hike. She didn’t wear ugly boots and plastic ponchos. At least the old Sabrina didn’t. The new Sabrina—the one she’d pretty much created out of thin air—loved spending time outdoors. At least that was the story she’d sold Orson Outfitters’ management during her job interview, and that was the story she intended to live up to. Today’s team-builder outing was her first test.

You’d think all those hours at the gym would have prepared her for this, but it turned out running on a treadmill and hiking rough trails weren’t quite the same. Her muscles complained, forcefully. Still, she couldn’t quit, or everyone would know she was an impostor. Somehow, Sabrina continued to put one brand-new hiking boot in front of the other. Twenty minutes later, they were still trudging uphill, the rain was still coming down and everyone around her was still acting happy about it. What was with these people? Every place she’d ever worked had a resident whiner—someone who made a federal case out of running out of staples or complained about the quality of the coffee—but she hadn’t heard a peep of dissension from this crowd.

Then Clara, who was at least fifteen years older and probably thirty pounds heavier than Sabrina, broke out into a song, but she still didn’t slow down. Several others joined in. How did they have enough breath for singing and climbing? Maybe all of Sabrina’s new coworkers were animatronic robots. That would explain a lot.

Just about the time her legs were seriously considering a mutiny, they crested the top of a rise and saw the company van and another truck parked beside a canopy emblazoned with the Orson Outfitters name. “We’re first!” Clara called out. Everyone cheered. Sabrina cheered along with them, just happy she didn’t have to climb anymore.

The van’s driver was relaxing in a folding chair beneath the canopy. Sabrina would have tried to snag that job, but the woman who’d volunteered to drive all the supplies to the rendezvous point looked to be about eleven months pregnant.

Two guys dressed in matching navy rain jackets were unloading something from the back of a pickup with a Learn & Live logo on the door. What were they doing here? Maybe they were part of the special surprise Walter had promised the group.

Sabrina collapsed onto a big rock and swallowed the last of the water from her bottle. Clara plopped down beside her. Sabrina was lucky to be training under Clara in her first assignment. Clara was one of those people who always assumed the best about everyone, which meant she tended to attribute Sabrina’s lapses to rookie jitters rather than ignorance. “Great climb, huh?”

Sabrina nodded. “Challenging.”

“Oh, yeah. We were determined to get here first this year. Walter’s group usually beats us up. Oh, look. Here they come.” Clara bounced up and hurried over to the other trail to deliver some good-natured razzing.

Sabrina watched from where she was. A brief expression of disappointment crossed Walter’s face when he saw their group had already arrived, but he grinned when Clara teased him. Their store manager was quite a character, about five-four with a walrus mustache and an oversize personality.

He’d insisted that Sabrina call him Walter when they met on her first day and pumped her hand with such enthusiasm he’d all but sprained her elbow. “Great to have you here, Sabrina. I have high hopes for this new management-trainee program. We’ve been telling Corporate for years the managers need to understand how the stores work before they can make good decisions at the corporate level, and they finally listened.”

“Thank you, sir. I’m glad to be here.”

“Trust me, you drew the best assignment.” He straightened the chunk of turquoise that secured a bolo tie around the collar of his plaid shirt. “I know you’re on probation and that only the top half of the trainees will move on to the next level of management, but you don’t need to worry. You’ll learn everything you need to know from this crew. Anchorage has been number one in sales for the past three years running, and we’re not planning to surrender that title anytime soon. The secret to our success is passion. The people who work here love the outdoors, and they enjoy sharing that enthusiasm with our customers. That’s my main criteria when I choose employees.”

Sabrina could certainly see Walter’s passion for his job. She just hoped she could convince him she shared his excitement. “I can’t wait to get started.”

“Good. I think first, we’ll put you on the register with Clara, so you can get an overview of the store before we move you to one of the departments. How does that sound?”

“Great idea.” Sabrina had worked retail all through high school and college, so running a cash register would be a piece of cake, and would give her time to study up on the rest of the store.

“Welcome aboard.”

It turned out she’d arrived just in time for the big annual team-builder. Today only involved half the store employees. The other half, who were working at the store today, would be doing their team-builder tomorrow. Sabrina would lay odds that tomorrow Walter’s group would be the first to the top of the hill. He clearly didn’t like to lose.

Walter and some of the others were shedding their raincoats. The rain seemed to have stopped. Good—Sabrina could get out of this plastic wrap. Everyone else seemed to have jackets made from the latest high-tech waterproof fabric. She’d sold a couple of them in the store this week. Sabrina didn’t even own rainwear. Well, technically there was that vintage Laura Wilkes umbrella she’d gotten at an estate sale, but Sabrina considered that more art than protection. Dealing with rain hadn’t been a big part of her life as a fashion buyer in Scottsdale. But that was then.

Now Sabrina was doing the nature thing in Alaska, and she wasn’t equipped for it. Fortunately, Clara, being the experienced mom she was, carried extra folding ponchos in her glove compartment and had loaned Sabrina one at the beginning of the hike. It had done the job, but Sabrina was glad the rain had finally stopped and she could peel it off.

She stretched, and then turned to see one of the guys from Learn & Live looking toward her. Even from this distance she could see the intense blue of his eyes, and those eyes were sweeping over her from head to toe. He frowned. Sabrina did a casual scan to see if she’d spilled something on her clothes, but her leggings seemed fine. So did the French blue pima cotton cardigan, her favorite sweater. It could have been a little thicker, though, she realized as a sudden breeze cut through the knit. She rubbed her hands up and down her arms to warm them. When she looked up again, the guy had turned away and was talking with Walter.

Now that everyone was removing their raincoats, Sabrina realized most of them had on gray or blue cargo pants and some sort of fleece vest in a primary color. Nobody else wore anything close to leggings. Oops. Sabrina prided herself on always dressing appropriately, and it seemed the appropriate things to wear on company hikes were clothes from the company store. It looked like boxy vests and ugly pants were in her future.

Walter called for everyone’s attention, congratulating Sabrina’s group for being first up the mountain. Judging from the applause and cheering, it was a big deal. He called them all forward and hung medals around their necks. When it was Sabrina’s turn, he patted her shoulder. “Nice job for someone who’s only been here four days. Congratulations, Sabrina.”

“Thanks.” All she’d done was follow the rest of her team along the trail, but it was still nice to be recognized. And it was nice that he remembered her name. It had taken her old boss three weeks to quit calling her Semolina, and she was never quite sure if it was deliberate. The medals were just novelty items—a plastic disk painted gold with the word winner stamped on it—but it was all good fun.

Once Walter had given out the medals, he gestured to the two men from the Learn & Live truck to come over. They’d both removed their raincoats and were wearing long-sleeved zip-necks under fleece vests, with the same logo as the truck embroidered on the chest. The first guy towered a foot over Walter. With his wavy blond hair and relaxed grin, he looked like he’d just put away his surfboard. The other guy, the one who’d been frowning at Sabrina before, seemed more serious. He was a couple of inches shorter than his coworker, which would put him around six feet, with brown hair and those incredible blue eyes. Walter’s cheeks plumped over his mustache. “Everyone, I want you to meet Leith Jordan and Erik Peterman, from Learn & Live. They’re going to be giving us a demonstration on survival skills.”

Survival skills? Wasn’t that like making huts from tree branches and eating bugs? No, thanks. Surfer-dude Erik talked for a few minutes about a course they’d set up a little farther along the trail, where they were going to be giving the lessons in orienteering. Sabrina didn’t know what that was and wasn’t sure she wanted to find out. When Walter asked for volunteers to stay behind and cook lunch, Sabrina’s hand was the first one up.

“Great. Thanks, Sabrina, Will and Amy. The rest of you follow Erik and Leith.”

Will was one of the few people in the store whose name Sabrina remembered, other than Clara. He looked like a high-school student, but when he’d sold Sabrina the hiking boots yesterday, he seemed to know all about them. He’d steered her toward this slightly more expensive pair. It pained her to drain her anemic checking account for ugly footwear, but she had to admit, the boots he’d recommended kept her feet dry and comfortable despite the rain and rough trail.

Will introduced Sabrina to Amy, the pregnant lady, who seemed to be his supervisor. “You’re the management trainee, right?” Amy asked.

“That’s right.”

“So, you’ll be working in Seattle once you finish up here?”

“Yes, assuming I make the cut. They only plan to move the top half of trainees to the next level, based on evaluation scores.”

“Walter will take care of you,” Will said.

“He’s right,” Amy said. “I’ve been with the store for seven years. Once you’re part of his team, Walter treats you like family. Although, I don’t know why you’d want to live in Seattle. I was there last year, and I couldn’t believe the traffic. There are some nice hikes in the area, though.”

“That’s what I’ve heard.” The other management trainees wouldn’t shut up about the trails during breaks in the orientation meetings. Sabrina had just smiled and nodded. “I hope I get the chance to try them out.”

Amy gestured toward the van. “We’d better get started if we’re going to have everything ready by the time they get back. Will, can you get the cooking crate out, please?”

Will carried a yellow-and-black plastic case from the back of the van. He opened it to reveal various pieces of equipment that looked as though they might belong in a science lab. Huh. Maybe Sabrina should have gone to the survival demo after all.

Amy pulled out a rolled bundle and, through some feat of origami, turned it into a table. “I’ll cut up the veggies and make the dip. Can you two build the fire, heat the beans and handle the grill?”

“Sure,” Will volunteered before Sabrina could say anything. “Where do you want the table?”

Sabrina had to admit, Will was a nice kid—he moved Amy’s table and equipment under the canopy and arranged everything for her so she could sit while she worked on the vegetables. Meanwhile, at Amy’s suggestion, Sabrina unloaded a bunch of logs from the van and stacked them near a circle of stones in a clear area not too far away. A few minutes later, Will returned, shaking his head. “I wish she’d have that baby. I keep thinking one of these days it’s going to pop out in the middle of the shoe department.”

“When is she due?” Sabrina asked.

“Yesterday. Walter told her she didn’t need to do the team-builder this year, but she didn’t want to miss it. You want to build the fire, while I get the rest of the wood?”

“Why don’t you build the fire, and I’ll haul the firewood? You shouldn’t be stuck with all the heavy lifting.”

Will gave her an odd look, but he didn’t argue. Of course, as a management trainee, she technically outranked him. Probably.

She tried to watch how he built the fire, but since she had to make a couple of trips for firewood, she missed a few steps. She was pulling the last of the wood from the van when her finger got pinched between two logs. “Ouch.” She shook her hand. “Cielos!”

“What’s wrong? You break a nail?”

Sabrina spun around to find the survivor guy with the blue eyes pulling something from the back of his truck. Leith Jordan, according to Walter. She looked down at her hand, where a big scratch ran across her polish and the ragged edge of a fingernail hung by a thread. She grimaced. That was going to take some time to repair tonight. “As a matter of fact, I did. Don’t you have anything better to do than sneak up behind people?”

“Sorry.” He looked more amused than apologetic. “You’re new with Orson, aren’t you?”

“Yes. Why? Do you know all the people from the store?”

“No, but I’m in there a lot and I haven’t seen you before.” He looked down at her boots and shook his head. “I’d remember you.”

What did that mean? There was nothing wrong with her boots. They were exactly like the ones Clara was wearing. Besides, he wasn’t with Orson, so his opinion didn’t matter.

“I’d better get these logs to the fire.” Sabrina gathered up the wood she’d dropped and returned to the fire ring without looking back.

Whatever Will had done in her absence must have worked, because flames were licking at the wood. He stepped back. “I’ll light the grill and handle all the meat and veggie burgers and stuff. Okay?”

“Sure. What should I do?”

“Uh, well, I guess you just need to watch the fire and heat up the beans.”

“Sounds good.” Surely she could manage that. “Thanks, Will.”

He set up the grill close enough that he could talk with Amy while he cooked. Bushes and boulders partially blocked the view between Sabrina and the other two. That worked out well for her, because it allowed her to paw through the chest Will had brought and try to figure out what everything was without him watching.

The fire seemed to be burning nicely, so she threw a couple more logs on. The flames died down. Oops. Using a stick, Sabrina raked one of the logs toward her and the fire jumped up between the two logs. Okay, that looked good. Digging through the crate, she found a metal box labeled camp stove. Better and better. But when she opened the box, the contents held no resemblance to any stove she’d ever seen. She put it aside for the moment.

The crate held a dozen big cans of baked beans. Probably half of them were for the group tomorrow. Sabrina dug a little more and found some sort of metal circles surrounded by rings of silicone—trivets maybe—and something that looked like a manual can opener, except it didn’t have any handles. How was she supposed to heat beans without a pan? Eventually, she found some tongs but still no cooking containers.

She peeked around the rock. Will was whistling as he unpacked a bunch of stuff from an ice chest. She could ask him how the stove worked, but then he’d know she was a fraud. And if one person in the store knew, soon the whole store would, including Walter.

She picked up one of the cans. It was a metal cylinder, right? Just like a small pan. Why not just put the cans into the fire and let them heat? Once they were hot, she could take them out of the fire with the tongs. Yeah, that would work. And she wouldn’t have to deal with the camp stove. Problem solved.

She added more wood to the fire, careful to leave spaces between the logs for the flames. Then she set the cans of beans onto the coals near the heart of the flames. The labels caught and burned away, but the cans seemed stable. Now all she had to do was wait.

It wasn’t long before the main group returned, laughing and joking. Clara trotted over to Sabrina. “Sorry you missed out on the fun. Those Learn & Live guys are great. I’ll tend the fire and you can go do the equipment tryouts.”

“The what?”

“You know, where we try out all that shiny new equipment we’re going to be selling this season. Walter said to send you over. You’ll be working in one of the departments, so you need hands-on experience more than I do.”

“Oh. Okay. Well, the beans—”

“Sabrina,” Walter called, waving his arms. “Over here.”

“Don’t keep the boss waiting,” Clara said. “I’ll take care of the beans. Go.”

Sabrina went. Her coworkers crowded around the van, where Walter was handing out packages to everyone. The breeze kicked up again, and without the fire to warm her, Sabrina felt goose bumps rising along her arms while she waited her turn. Walter passed an orange backpack to a guy with a gray ponytail and picked up a long, thin nylon sack that appeared to contain something heavy. “Sabrina. This one’s for you.” She stepped closer and Walter leaned in so only she could hear. “Thanks for volunteering to help with the food. That shows leadership. But now it’s your turn for some fun. Here, this new tent design is supposed to make for a faster, more intuitive setup without compromising structural integrity. Give it a try and let me know what you think.”

“All right.” Sabrina accepted the nylon bundle and looked around. Where did this testing take place?

“There’s a flat spot over there,” Walter suggested, waving his hand toward a spot a little past the fire.

“Perfect. Thanks.” Sabrina smiled at him and carried the tent over. She waved at Clara as she walked by. Okay. A tent. Let’s see what she had to work with. Sabrina opened the drawstring at the top of the bag and dumped everything out. Hmm. A bunch of nylon, two short bundles of colored sticks, small metal sticks with hooks on the ends and...oh, instructions. Good. She grabbed the paper and looked at the picture. Step one: spread tent on the ground.

Clear enough. She unrolled the nylon and spread it in a neat rectangle. Presumably the heavier side was the bottom, and the net side went up. So far, so good.

Step two: assemble shock-corded tent poles. Was that stick in the picture the big one or one of the little ones? Another gust sent a shiver up her arms. She stamped her feet. It was hard to concentrate when she was so cold.

“Problems?”

Sabrina jumped and turned. Those blue eyes, watching her again. This was starting to get weird. “No, I’m just reading the instructions.”

He looked over the pieces she’d set on the ground. “Looks like it sets up just like the old design except they color-coded the poles, shortened the sleeves and used minicarabiners to make setup faster.”

Minicarabiners. Uh-huh. “Yeah, well, I’m approaching it like a customer who hasn’t ever set up one of these tents,” Sabrina said. “I want to make sure the instructions are clear, even to a novice.”

“I see.” His lips twitched into a small smile.

Sabrina couldn’t be sure whether it was a friendly smile or if he was laughing at her, but she suspected the latter. She made a point of turning her back to him while she read, shivering as she did. Maybe he would go away. “Shock cord? What the heck is a shock cord?” she muttered to herself. “Cielos, these pictures are confusing.”

“What did you say?” He was still there. “Cielos? What does that mean?”

“Nothing.” Just something her grandmother used to say when she got flustered. Heavens. But he didn’t need Sabrina’s life story.

“Where’s your jacket?”

She gave up and turned to look at him. “I’m wearing it.”

“That’s all you brought?” He shook his head. “Where are you from, anyway?”

“Arizona. And I’m fine.”

“Scottsdale?”

“As a matter of fact, I used to work in Scottsdale.”

“I figured.” He unzipped his fleece vest and removed it. “Here, wear this.”

“What? No. I’m okay.”

“I don’t think you are. Shivering, mumbling, confusion. All symptoms of hypothermia.”

I’m not mumbling because I’m hypothermic. I’m mumbling because I’m annoyed. She thought the words but managed not to say them. Instead she repeated, “I’m okay.”

“Are you wet?”

“No. I was wearing a rain poncho.”

“Then you’re probably not hypothermic, but you’re obviously cold. Take the vest.”

It was tempting, but she hated to be in anyone’s debt. Especially someone who seemed to disapprove of her. “Then you’ll be cold.”

“I have a fleece jacket in the truck.”

Of course he did. The survival expert would always be prepared. Another cold gust convinced her. “Fine.” She pulled the vest over her sweater and zipped it closed. Still warm from his body heat, it covered her from her shoulders to her thighs. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” He continued to stand there. She pretended to be studying the instructions, hoping he’d walk away, but he remained where he was. “I’m Leith Jordan.”

“Sabrina Bell.”

He nodded. “So, Sabrina. Why are you here?”

“For the team-builder, obviously.”

“No, I mean why are you in Alaska? Why didn’t you stay in Arizona?”

“I came for the job.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You came all the way to Alaska to work at the Orson Outfitters store?”

“Not that it’s any of your business, but I’m training. Headquarters hired me as a management trainee, and the first part of that is to work in different positions in one of the local stores.”

“Oh, so Alaska is just a temporary stop for you.”

“Yes.”

“That makes more sense. Why are you pretending you know anything about camping?”

She looked around sharply to see if any of the other employees were within earshot, but it was just the two of them. She picked up one of the metal sticks and examined it as though she intended to do something with it. “I told you. We’re supposed to be testing the products, and part of that testing is to see if the instructions are clear.”

“If you say so.”

“I do.” She rattled the paper and tried to concentrate on the instructions. She felt warmer already. Now, if she could just figure out step two.