Chapter Five
“Ihave an idea,” Eric blurted as they drove through Sylvan. “We should see if the water park is open.”
“The one with the bouncy castle on the water? The water would be freezing. I’m sure the ice has barely even melted. Besides, we have a bus to catch.”
“Come on. It’ll be fun. You must have brought a swimsuit.”
“Yeah, no. I don’t know if you recall, but our bags are currently under a bus that’s getting further and further ahead of us.”
“Right.”
He looked so downcast, she said, “We could buy new ones.”
“Yes!” He thrust his fist in the air in triumph. He handed her his phone. “Google the best place to get suits.”
After a quick stop at a big box store for suits and towels, they were lined up for admission.
“You know this is crazy, right?” She looked up at him. Dang, he was tall. And the sun put reddish highlights in his nearly black hair.
“It might be crazy, but it’s going to be a blast.” They were already decked out in their suits; their clothing and valuables stored in a nearby rental locker. “I’ve been here once before. There’s a set course. I’ll race you around it.”
She looked him up and down. “Clearly, you have the advantage. Your legs are way longer than mine.” She shrugged. “What the heck? Game on, Mr. CEO.”
The youth who had been listening to their conversation, and manning the gate, opened it just wide enough for her to slip through.
“See you on the other side,” she shouted over her shoulder, carefully sprinting ahead of him toward the combination bouncy castle and floating obstacle course.
“Not fair!”
She hurried along the wet, rubbery-plasticky surface, careful not to fall into the lake, but didn’t get far before he caught up and passed her.
He jogged up an incline, only to be stalled by a young boy trying to climb in front of him.
Losing his momentum on the blowup surface, Eric staggered sideways and tumbled into the lake with a screech and an enormous splash.
Wanda stared into the water, trying to see him. When he didn’t surface immediately, she began to worry. She glanced around. Where was the lifeguard? Heart thudding in her chest, she kneeled down looking for Eric.
The water wasn’t deep, but the bottom was stirred up enough to make it nearly impossible to see anything.
Or anyone. All around her, people carried on as if nothing had happened, and a man was drowning.
She leaned further forward, preparing to slip into the water and start a manual search for him.
She was a very strong swimmer; she could find him.
Heart thudding in her chest; her pulse beating triple-time, she searched. Another scan of the area enclosed by the play structure, and she prepared to slide in. What if he’d bumped his head or hurt himself?
“Whatcha lookin’ at?” Eric’s voice sounded in her ear.
A squeal burst out, and she was down…sliding into the water with her mouth and eyes wide open.
She floundered for a moment and came up sputtering and coughing.
She went under twice before managing to control herself.
Thank heaven for hours of kayaking, practice spills, and muscle memory, which she was surprised was still there.
It must be like riding a bike. Once you learn you never really forget.
She coughed up more water and hovered near the edge of the equipment, dog-paddling to stay in place.
“You’re a jerk.” She sucked in more air, coughed, and managed to get control of her breathing. “I thought you were drowning. I was coming in to save you.”
“Sorry.”
He didn’t sound particularly contrite.
She glared at him for a moment, part annoyed, part amused. He’d pranked her good.
“Can I help you out?”
She squinted at him. “Can I trust you?”
“Absolutely. Or there’s a rope ladder over there.” He pointed to her left.
She glanced at the ladder and back at him. “Help me out.” She paddled closer and raised her arm.
He squatted and grasped her hand, just as a naughty thought hit her.
“Lean forward and pull,” she demanded. He leaned and squatted lower down.
“On three.” He paused. “One, two…”
With each number, she gave a little bounce, pushing herself further out of the water.
“Three!” He leaned a bit more and pulled.
Pulling him harder, she ducked under the water.
He soared over her head and landed in the water behind her. She spared him one quick glance before swimming, as fast as she could, to the ladder and climbing out. Hands on hips, laughing uncontrollably, she watched him sputter and slowly make his way toward her.
“You’ll pay for that,” he warned with a grin. “I don’t know how or when, but you will pay.” He enunciated each word slowly and carefully.
“Truce?” She raised her brows and grinned.
“For now.”
Three hours later, after another stop for food because playing in the water burned a lot of energy, they pulled into the campground on Lake Wabamun.
“Here we are,” Eric declared. The area was beautiful, with the lake shimmering in the distance beyond the shore. The area was covered in trees with multiple paths running through the sparse underbrush, and the air was fresh and sweet in a way you couldn’t ever get in the city.
“It’s a good thing your assistant could find out where we needed to be, but I wonder where everyone is.”
Their bus sat in the parking lot near a long, low building, but there weren’t any people to be seen.
“I’m guessing they’re inside.” He pointed toward the building. “Probably some type of orientation.”
“Let’s check it out.” She hopped out and hurried toward the green, wood-sided building.
Inside, their coworkers milled around, drinking coffee and eating snacks.
“There you are,” Brent declared. He’d changed out of his jeans into board shorts and a Varner Industries T-shirt. “We just finished handing out sleeping assignments.” He smirked. “Too bad you were late.”
“Why’s that?” Eric asked, dread crawling up his spine.
“Seems there was a fire last week, and one cabin sustained major damage. There aren’t enough cabin beds for everyone. You two,” he glanced back and forth between them, “will have to share a tent.”
“We don’t have a tent or sleeping supplies,” Wanda declared, her voice rising in alarm.
“Lucky for you, we have what you need. You can set up the tent while the rest of us go on a short nature hike.” His smile was a bit malicious. “After all, you missed all the other team-building exercises on the bus. You understand, right?”
“Yeah, right.” He wasn’t thrilled about sleeping in a tent, but he was going to be a good sport about this. “We totally understand, don’t we, Wanda?”
She gave him the stink-eye, and he chuckled.
“It’ll be great,” she declared with obviously fake enthusiasm. “I haven’t slept in a tent since grade six camp. Though I would have loved to go on the nature walk.”
“Maybe you can get it up quick enough to follow us.” Brent gave them a brief description of where the group was headed.
“Your assistant let us know that you’d be along.
The staff has put your bags, the tent, and your sleeping bags down there.
Follow the path behind those cabins, all the way to the end.
There’s an area set up for tents.” He jabbed a finger toward the row of quaint cabins, which resembled log bunkhouses.
They faced the lake and were surrounded by wraparound porches.
“Let’s do this,” Eric declared. “Catch you later, Brent.”
“Certainly.” Brent nodded. Pretentious much?
There had been a few pretentious executives at Varner Industries in the past. They’d never lasted long within the company’s business-casual atmosphere.
Sure, the upper echelon wore suits and ties, but none of them were exempt from getting their hands dirty when the need arose.
Himself included. If this guy weren’t a contractor, he’d soon be looking for a new job. His attitude sucked.
“Come on, bunkie. Let’s get set up.” He placed his hand on Wanda’s elbow and led her toward their destination.
“I don’t really feel comfortable sharing a tent with you. No offense.”
“Come on, we’re both adults. We’ll survive.”
She wrinkled her nose at him, but followed along, her still-damp hair blowing in the early afternoon breeze.
The light brown strands had turned dark, nearly brown, after her dunking in the lake.
Now they were dark at the roots and lighter towards the ends.
He noticed that, unlike many of the women he knew, her hair seemed to be her natural color with zero hints of dye.
Her nails were short, likely due to working with plants on a regular basis. He was impressed that the pink tips were clean and neat. Even after mowing his small lawn, his nails were a disaster. He shook off the idle thoughts.
He was outside, in the great outdoors, among the birds and trees, with a beautiful, entertaining woman. Why in the world was he fixated on personal grooming habits?
Just ahead, in the middle of a grassy space, beside a gravel parking stall, a pile of equipment lay haphazardly on the ground.
“This must be us,” Wanda quipped as she started shifting things from the grass to the parking pad. He pitched in, and in under a minute, the only thing left on the grass was the tent. There was no groundsheet. “When’s the last time you put up a tent?”
“Never. There isn’t much call for a tent in corporate life.”
“And your personal life?” She unzipped the bag and carefully dumped the contents on the ground. “Holy smokes, this thing is huge.”
“I confess, I’ve never been camping in my life. Glamping in a heated tent with a bed and wooden floor? Yes. In a ski chalet? Also, yes. Actual ground tent camping? Never.”
“Oh, good grief. Tell me you’ve been in a boat, and I don’t mean a yacht, before.” She straightened and crossed her fingers.
“To be truthful—”
She groaned. “Don’t say it.”
“Yes, I’ve been in a boat. Salmon fishing. A seventeen-footer. I got pretty good at steering it, too.”
She shook her head and muttered something under her breath that sounded like, “Oh, for Pete’s sake.”
Determined not to look like a fool, or worse yet, incapable, he grabbed the tent bag. Surely this thing had directions. “Eureka!”
“What?” she jerked upright from spreading the tent on the grass.
“The directions are attached to the bag!” he looked up. She was already spreading out the tent and putting in stakes.
“I’ve got this. Can you sort those poles? They’re tagged with colors on the ends. Each color corresponds to the color of the webbing they’re threaded through.”
“Obviously, this isn’t your first tent.” He set the bag down and picked up a set of interconnected poles. “Where do I put it?”
“On the ground, on the left, beside the matching color.”
“Yes, boss.”
“Isn’t that my line?” She cast him a sly look.
Laughing, he responded, “Not this time. I bow to your superiority.”
“Oh, like you did when I kicked your butt at Sylvan Lake? I totally put you to shame.”
“That wasn’t my fault. I was winning until that family got in the way.” He laughed along with her. Her easy teasing was delightful.
“Sure. Sure. And that kid knocked you into the water, too.”
“Okay, I’ll give you that one. The first time I went into the drink was my own fault; I was cocky and wasn’t expecting that kid to slow me up. However, the next time I went in was entirely your fault.” He picked up another pole and laid it in place while Wanda pegged the tent floor in place.
“Oh, boo hoo. Did you need a Band-Aid for your wounded ego?” She grunted as she tried to push a plastic peg into the grass.
“My ego is just fine, thank you very much. I can help you with that, if it won’t hurt your ego.”
“Actually, that would be nice. I don’t have the hand strength, and there isn’t a hammer.”
He circled the large, flat tent and carefully stepped on the peg, using his weight to drive it deeper into the hard ground. After a moment, it slid in. “I guess we’re lucky there wasn’t a rock there.”
She sat back on her heels and looked up at him. After pushing her hair out of her eyes, she agreed and added, “That’s the last peg. Now for the poles.”
Faster than he thought possible, the tent was up, and they were loading their packs inside. “Hey, look at this. It’s a wall. It hangs down here and clips there. This is a two-bedroom tent. I’m glad we’ll have a bit of privacy. Although it won’t help if you snore like you did on the bus.”
“Funny. Very funny.” She slipped through the door and threw his pack at him.
“Huh. Must have been that mouse you keep in your pocket.”
She shuddered. “Do. Not. Talk. About. Mice.” She shivered and pushed a flat, yoga-style mat at him. “Here’s your sleeping pad.”
She slipped past him and entered the other room. “I’ll sleep on this side. You can have the door side.”
“You’re leaving me on security. Why does the man always get door duty? It’s not fair.”
“Life’s not fair, Mr. CEO. Men are bigger and stronger. Besides, I’m sure the biggest worry is the four-legged animal, not the snake on two legs type. Didn’t you notice the gate and fence surrounding this place?”
“How could I miss it? We’re safer here than in a bank vault.
” Thinking about the four-legged creatures she mentioned made him realize he would be woefully inadequate and unarmed if something wild decided to come into the tent.
He pushed the unease aside. Surely the camp wouldn’t have stuck them in a tent if there was a wildlife danger. Right?