Chapter Four
Eric smiled down at Wanda. Her head rested heavily on his shoulder.
For all that she proclaimed to love the movie which their guide, Brent, had chosen, she’d drifted off in less than fifteen minutes.
As they pulled off the highway into a gas station between Calgary and Red Deer, he shifted his shoulder slightly.
He didn’t want to jar her, but he did want to wake her gently.
“Hey,” he said, his voice low and gentle. “Wanda, wake up. Time to pay up on our bet. I saw more vans than you did.”
“Huh.”
He grinned at her drowsy response.
“We’re there?”
His heart skipped a beat at the sleepy confusion in her tone. “Well, not there, but we are at the first stop, and I saw eleven delivery vans while you slept.”
“I wasn’t sleeping,” she declared huskily in a voice that slid right through him, leaving him with a protective streak. “I was watching the movie.”
“You snore. And you drool.”
“I do not!” She jerked around to glare at him and surreptitiously wiped her chin.
“I thought you weren’t sleeping?”
She smacked him lightly on the arm. “I wasn’t.”
“That’s two elbow shots and one smack. I’m going to have bruises by the time this debacle is over.”
“Oh, poo. You will not. I hardly touched you, you big baby.” She swatted him again to make her point.
He raised an eyebrow and stared down at her. “You do realize that, technically, I am your boss. I could fire you for that.”
She scrunched up her nose. “Ya, but you won’t. You wouldn’t be CEO if you were the petty, vindictive type.”
The bus hit a pothole, rolled a few feet, and came to a jerky, abrupt halt. Their cohorts groaned in unison.
The speaker cracked, and Brent said, “Fifteen-minute stop. If you aren’t back on the bus, you have to find your own way to the lake.
” His gaze swept up and down the rows of seats.
“For those of you who are here reluctantly, don’t get any ideas about missing the bus.
If you don’t complete the exercise, you’ll be sent on another, less pleasant group event. ”
“Darn it,” Eric muttered. “I thought this was my chance to skip out.”
“Don’t even think about it,” she warned, her voice deadly serious. “If I lose my partner, AKA you, I’ll have to do this again. No, thank you. Once is going to be enough. I can’t afford to be away from my business that long.”
Slowly but steadily, everyone piled off the bus.
“Geez, can’t they go any faster? We’ve only got fifteen minutes. That’s barely enough time to use the washroom and get food.”
“How about we coordinate our efforts? I’ll get food, you use the facilities.”
“Great! I’ll have two sausage and egg English muffins, an order of hashbrowns, and a bottle of water.” She rummaged in her waist pack as they walked toward the fast-food restaurant, which was attached to a convenience store. “Here, you won the bet, I’ll pay.” She held out two twenties.
“I’ve got it. Catch me later.”
She frowned, but put the money away and stuffed her wallet into her cross-body bag. “Want any snacks?”
“Nope. I’m good. I’ll just grab a coffee.”
She shook her head. “It’s past breakfast time.”
He shrugged at her disbelief as they split apart. She went right towards the washrooms that divided the two-part establishment in half. He went left toward the fast-food lineups.
Ten minutes later, food bag in hand, he went looking for her. She had a basket in her hand and was strolling down the chocolate bar aisle.
“Come on,” he urged, “we’re going to miss the bus.”
“I’m almost done.”
“Almost?” He stared down into her basket. “Chips, chocolate, licorice, Pop-Tarts?, soda, beef jerky? How much food do you need?” And what else was there that he couldn’t see under the other stuff?
“I’m starving.” She stared up at him, one hand on her hip, the other clutching her basket of snacks.
“Besides, everyone knows that all road trip shopping should look like a ten-year-old was given a hundred dollars for snacks.” She waggled the basket at him.
“Find me a Bueno? bar. They’re my favorite. ”
“Hurry up,” he urged again. “We’ll miss the bus.” He scanned the row of treats. “Here!” He snatched up the bar and tossed it into her basket, added a Coffee Crisp? bar, and said, “I love that these are only available in Canada. Now, come on. Let’s pay for this and get to the bus.”
They raced toward the checkout, where an older lady was paying for her milk. “I’ll have four separate Lotto Max tickets for the next draw.”
Eric groaned. Lottery ticket buyers were the worst when you were in a hurry. He looked around for another staff member. Nobody. Dang it. Where was everyone?
“Is that everything?” the pimply teenage boy behind the register asked with a look of absolute boredom etched on his face.
“And two of those summer scratch tickets, please. Oh, I have a winning ticket in my purse.” She dropped her enormous black and gold satchel onto the counter and started digging. “Oh my,” she turned to smile apologetically at Eric and Wanda. “I’m so sorry. I’ll only be a minute longer.”
“No problem, ma’am,” Eric said with a pleasantness he was far from feeling.
She looked up at them. She didn’t even reach five feet tall. “Oh my, aren’t you an adorable couple? You’ll have the most glorious babies. Just like my granddaughter, Jessica. She has three lovely young’uns. Missy, Jimmy, and Conrad.”
“Ma’am, here are your tickets.” He smiled an apologetic, what-can-you-do look over the woman’s head.
“Oh, right, let me just find my winner.” She resumed digging.
Wanda muttered something under her breath, too low for Eric to hear clearly, but she didn’t sound impressed.
“We’re going to miss the bus,” he responded slightly louder. He was starting to sound like he was stuck on autoplay. “Skip the food. We’ll grab some at the next stop.”
“Can I help you?” A young blonde woman appeared out of nowhere and stepped up to the second register.
“Yes!” Eric exclaimed. “Can you be quick, please? We’re sort of in a rush. We don’t want to miss our bus.” He glanced toward the parking lot as the bus slowly pulled out.
“Oh no! There it goes.” Wanda’s voice trembled. “We’re too late. This is all my fault.”
It was, but he wasn’t going to rub it in, even though he wanted to. A fifteen-minute stop with a busload of nearly thirty people was ridiculous.
“What are we going to do? I can’t take the time to repeat this disastrous team builder. I have a business to run.”
“And I don’t?” He chuckled. He might be the CEO, but he’d learned not to sweat the small stuff, and in the big scheme, missing a bus wasn’t a big deal. At least not after he’d resigned himself to being here.
“This isn’t funny.” She glared.
“It’s a little bit funny,” he countered. “There isn’t any sense in getting uptight.”
“Forty-two forty-seven,” the clerk declared. “How would you like to pay?”
Wanda blinked up at the woman, seeming confused by the question.
Eric set the drink tray on the counter and pulled out his wallet. “Debit, please.” In only seconds, the transaction was complete, and the snacks bagged up.
“What do we do now?” Wanda groaned, frustration clear in her tone.
“Come on. We’ll go next door, grab a table, and eat this food before it gets any colder.”
“How can you eat at a time like this?” Her eyes bulged in disbelief.
“Easy. I hate wasting money. I bought it, we’ll eat it before it’s cold, and too gross to finish.
” He picked up the drink tray and nudged her toward their destination.
“Besides, my grandfather taught me to never pass up the opportunity to eat, use the washroom, or take a nap.” He frowned.
“Of course, I’m not the best at that last one. ”
He led her toward a table and sat down. After spreading two napkins on the surface, he laid out their food.
“That’s it? Just coffee, a yogurt cup, and a muffin?” She stared at his food, then turned her attention to something outside the windows. “This is terrible.”
He knew she wasn’t referring to the food, but the situation, and couldn’t help teasing her. “It’s a snack. I’m not starving. I was only going to have coffee, which is my one vice.” He waved his spoon toward her food. “Eat up, Wanda. We’ve got plans to make.”
“I’m not hungry.” Her stomach growled, and the old couple beside them chuckled.
He laughed. “Apparently, you are. Besides, I’ve got this handled.” He pulled a cellphone from his pocket.
“You’re not supposed to have a phone. Where did you get that? Brent took yours.”
He smirked. “I’m the CEO of a hundred-million-dollar company. Do you honestly think I’d be without a backup phone?”
“I-I guess not. What are you going to do? Call the bus back?”
“Nope.” He pushed some buttons. “Betty, I need some help. My team-building partner and I are in a situation. I need a rental car brought to our location. Use my personal card.” He paused.
“It’s a beautiful day, make it a convertible.
” He stopped to listen before filling her in on where they were.
“Okay then. Thank you very much. We owe you big time.”
He banked a smile at the stunned expression on Wanda’s face. He rarely used his money frivolously, but in this case, to keep from having to repeat the exercise, it was well worth it.
“Well,” he teased, “problem solved. Eat up.” He picked up his spoon and dove into his yogurt.
Snack food bag in hand, Wanda followed Eric and a gentleman in a suit into the parking lot.
The man had approached their table and introduced himself as being from the car rental company.
He led them around the corner of the building to a sporty convertible with its top down.
He got Eric’s signature on a form, handed over the keys, and left them.
She stared at the obviously high-end car’s glistening silver paint. “What the heck is this?”
“Porsche 911 Carrera. Hop in.”
“I wasn’t expecting…” she trailed off. She was almost afraid to get into the costly piece of equipment, let alone get in with a bag of junk food. What if she spilled something? “Maybe I should put my snacks in the trunk for later?”