Chapter 2
Chapter Two
By the time he and his crew returned to camp, it was dinnertime.
“Any volunteers to start the fire while I prepare dinner?” Hunter asked.
“I can do it,” Hannah replied.
He wasn’t surprised she was the one who offered. For starters, she was probably the only one who had ever started a campfire in a fire pit before, and second, he assumed the other two were used to being waited on.
She dropped her pack and rummaged through it until she pulled out a round, watertight container.
It was one of those survival kits one can buy at any sporting goods store.
The kind with fire starter, waterproof matches, signaling mirror, and one of those silver, reflective survival blankets.
There were several other necessities in that bin.
Hopefully, none they’d need, but it never hurt to have them.
Hannah retrieved kindling from the stack next to the split wood pile. A puzzled look washed over her face.
“Something wrong?” he asked.
Her brows knit. “Not really, but I don’t recall seeing this pile of wood before when I walked past here to set up my tent.”
Ahh, she’s perceptive.
“That’s because it wasn’t there.”
“Where did it come from?”
Hunter grinned. “We have staff that services the campsites. They check on each site daily to make sure there’s enough firewood, food, and water, and to make sure the campers and guides are okay.”
He winked at her. “So, I guess our campers aren’t getting the full outdoors experience since they don’t have to find and split their own wood. But hey, if you don’t want to use that, you can go scavenge for your own.”
Hannah opened her mouth to respond, but Bianca beat her to words. “We’re good, we’ll use it.”
A hint of sound escaped Hannah’s lips, and Bianca shot her friend a silencing glare.
Hunter nearly chuckled out loud, sure that Hannah would have offered to gather her own firewood.
Once the coals in the fire pit were red hot, Hunter flipped the grate over it and set the pot of pork and beans on it.
Alyssa looked at him. Her pert nose wrinkled. “What is that?”
“Pork and beans.”
“Seriously?” she asked.
“Hey, nothing but the best for my campers. And that’s just not any ole pork and beans. I cut these venison hot dogs up myself to put in those beans, so technically it’s venison and beans.”
Alyssa’s eyes widened. “Venison?”
“Yep. I’m giving the most outdoorsy experience I can. You gals paid for that, and I will not let you down.”
Alyssa’s olive colored skin turned pale, Bianca’s hand went over her mouth, and Hannah’s lips curved upward.
He figured if the girls were hungry enough, they’d eat the venison.
Heck, they may actually find they like it.
Hannah accepted the bowl of food from him while the other two moved with apprehension and ate in silence.
The ladies were probably rethinking their choice of vacation.
In fact, their choice puzzled him. They probably had enough money to go anywhere, yet they chose the remote wilderness of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
Odd. There had to be something more to this story.
After they finished eating, he sent Bianca to the river with an empty pot to fetch water for washing the dishes. Alyssa took more photos while Hannah stoked the fire.
Bianca returned with the water and handed him the pot and then stayed next to him, shifting from foot to foot.
He shared a knowing glance with Hannah, then looked at Bianca. “You can’t hold it for three days. You’re just going to have to use the pit toilet.”
The model-grade woman sucked her bottom lip into her mouth and chewed on it for a moment as she looked past him to the pit toilet shielded by one wall. The wall served as a privacy screen from the campsite, but beyond that, it was open to the great outdoors.
“How often does that motorized boat come by to check on campers?”
She wasn’t the first city girl to ask that question, but it still amazed him when they did. Did they honestly think he’d call the staff for a bathroom run? Yes, they did.
“Unless I do an emergency call, they’re done checking on campers for the day.”
She eyed him intently. He waited for the customary eye-batting to start and it came quickly.
He shook his head. “Sorry, princess, this is not an emergency. Plus, there isn’t much for phone reception in these parts.”
Bianca bounced her gaze between her friends.
Alyssa shrugged.
Hannah offered a crooked smile. “For crying out loud, it’s not going to kill you.”
Hunter pulled a roll of toilet paper from his bag and handed it to Bianca.
“Fine,” Bianca said.
She stomped down the path to the toilet. Her long legs carried her there quickly.
Hunter watched as she inspected the toilet. Looking for spiders and other creepy, crawly critters, he presumed. Eventually, she ducked behind the privacy wall, resurfacing moments later, she trudged back up the path.
“Now, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” Hunter asked as he took the roll of toilet tissue from her and held out the container of hand sanitizer to her.
Judging from the scowl she wore, she either didn’t appreciate his teasing tone, or using the pit toilet. He imagined, if by choice, she’d opt to bathe in the bottle of sanitizer, so he squirted a dime-sized amount onto her palm, saving enough for the rest of the trip.
The clear night sky moved in. The moon and stars glowed brightly, and between the sky and the roaring fire, the campsite was well lit.
Alyssa and Bianca sat on the bench opposite the fire pit from him.
He watched Hannah as her eyes shifted from the spot next to him on his bench to other options for her to sit.
Those choices being the ground or a large rock immediately to the left of his bench.
She chose the rock. That rock couldn’t be comfortable, not in the least bit.
“I don’t bite,” he teased, then he patted the spot next to him.
“I’m fine here,” Hannah replied without so much as a glance in his direction.
Hmm. He didn’t recall having said anything to make her angry.
“Okay, but if you change your mind...”
“I said I’m good,” she snapped.
Yikes.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Bianca’s scolding glance directed at Hannah.
Alyssa cleared her throat. “She’s just...”
“Stop! Why can’t you guys just leave it alone? I don’t need you to make excuses for me,” Hannah barked.
Alyssa’s gaze landed on the ground.
What the hell? What set her off?
The group silenced, and everyone stared at the fire.
After a few beats, Hannah rose to her feet. “I’m sorry I snapped at you guys. I’m going to turn in.”
The apologetic tone she used implied she meant it, and the fact that she’d made no eye contact with him or any of her friends let him know she was embarrassed.
She slipped into her tent, taking the tension in the air with her.
Hunter chatted casually with Bianca and Alyssa about everything and anything, ranging from their childhoods to college, and the career paths they planned to explore now that they’d graduated.
Bianca hadn’t worried about getting a job yet because she and her mom planned to travel internationally for a couple of months when she returned home from this trip.
Looking like she came from old money, that didn’t surprise him.
The woman would probably marry from a list of her father’s well-to-do suitors for his daughter, and Bianca’s days would be spent at charity luncheons.
But hey, charities were needed. She’d probably never work a day in her life.
Alyssa would soon be off to her parents’ furniture gallery to help her mother in the interior design department. She seemed truly excited about it.
Hannah, what would she do? Earlier, Alyssa had spoken for her friend, mentioning that she’d earned a degree in marketing that she could do a lot with. But where would it take her?
Alyssa tapped the screen of her cell phone. “Nothing. No reception,” she said with a complete look of disappointment on her face.
“Yeah, I’m not surprised. It’s spotty. You should have been informed in the paperwork when you booked the trip.”
She nodded. “I remember reading that. It’s just...well, I’d hoped for the best.”
At least the woman admitted she’d read it in the paperwork. Many did not and threw little hissy fits when their phones didn’t work.
She set her phone on her lap and stared into the fire for a moment, as if mesmerized, then looked up. “It’s so peaceful here.”
“The U.P. is heaven on earth.”
“Have you been doing this a while?” she asked.
He couldn’t help but smile when he thought about how long he’d been hiking, camping, fishing, and hunting in the U.P., at his uncle’s place. And how much he loved it.
“My uncle owns this property and business. I’ve been coming up here ever since I can remember. I’ve guided since I was sixteen years old. It’s the best job ever.”
Bianca waved her hand in a circular motion. “This is what you plan to do in the future?”
Her degrading tone let him know she’d certainly thought there were bigger and better things to do with his life. What did she know? This was his happy place. But she was right in a way. This job wouldn’t pay the mortgage. Not that he had one yet, but he would someday.
“I’d love to do this my entire life, but I won’t, as I plan to make use of my MBA degree soon. You know, get a big boy job,” he replied with an intentional edge in his tone to inform the princess that he was educated as well as her, if not more.
With her silence, he wondered if he’d bit back a smidge too much.
Bianca pulled her cell phone from her pocket and glanced at the screen. Her shoulders slumped.
“Well, since there’s nothing to do, I may as well just go to bed,” she said as she rose and stretched her long, thin arms into the air.
“Me, too,” Alyssa said, and then they both climbed into the small tent.