The Reluctant Bride. Anne Duquette Marie

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      “Oh, yeah.” Anita worked for a local commuter airline. She’d graduated from college with a degree in accounting and had landed a plum job in the finance department right away, quite an accomplishment for someone with no experience. She’d kept that job after marrying Cory Hunter. Unfortunately, many airlines had suffered serious financial difficulties in light of increased costs and the latest national recession. Several had declared bankruptcy; layoffs had been the norm rather than the exception at Anita’s corporate office.

      “I’m so sorry,” Karinne said.

      “Maybe you can find me something,” Anita said mournfully. “At least you’re safe. Talk about job security. No one ever downsizes in professional sports.”

      Karinne’s job as sports photographer for a consortium was quite secure. Even during recessions, professional baseball and football never lost favor with the public. The Diamondbacks and the Cardinals were her specialty. She’d always been a devoted techie when it came to computers, and her skill as a digital photographer had quickly garnered attention.

      The Cavanaugh name was well-known. Despite her youth and the tradition of male photographers in men’s locker rooms, at the team owners’ personal request, Karinne handled much of the workload. Everyone knew her qualifications and could vouch for her get-along-with-everyone character. She concentrated on capturing digital stills of professional athletes in motion, stills that could be sent instantly to media news sources on the internet and posted just as quickly.

      “What am I gonna do?” Anita moaned. “I’m unemployed!”

      “Something will come up,” Karinne assured her.

      “When? It won’t be easy to get a job as good as my old one. I had great benefits, too.”

      “Nita, I’m so sorry,” Karinne said again.

      Anita stared at the open backpack. “I’m surprised you’re taking time off. Baseball season isn’t over.”

      “I’m a bride on a mission. My boss knows it, and I’ve got plenty of vacation hours on the books. I can use it or lose it.” Karinne gestured to the backpack. “I’m definitely using it. Max had a cancellation on a rafting trip.”

      “If you two weren’t such lovebirds, I’d ask if I could I come along, too. I’ve certainly got the time now,” Anita said, her voice rueful.

      Karinne hesitated, not wanting to be rude or to hurt her friend’s feelings. Max and Karinne were rarely together, and she missed him terribly. Their last reunion had been months ago.

      Cory and Karinne had attended school together from first grade on. Both of their families still owned the same homes on the same street. Anita and Karinne, on the other hand, met as computer-assigned college roommates. The computer had glitched; Anita had wanted a friend from high school as her roommate, while Karinne had requested a single room. Anita had originally planned to refuse the dorm room, but the two women hit it off instantly. As an added bonus, Anita had met Cory. The two married, despite the warnings of family and friends that a long-distance marriage was gambling with the future.

      Karinne worried about that, too. Would her own marriage be at risk? Her parents had both traveled extensively, and it sure hadn’t helped.

      The wedding was only a few months away. Max’s job rafting down the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon made casual get-togethers geographically difficult, if not impossible, while her job as sports photographer meant she accompanied the teams on out-of-state games.

      “If you don’t mind giving me a ride, we could split up when we get there. I could stay with Cory at the guys’ place,” Anita suggested. “Maybe I can do some wedding legwork for you.”

      “Of course you’re welcome to ride up with me. And to come rafting, if you want. But you’ve never seemed interested in the water,” Karinne said slowly, her desire to be alone with Max warring with sympathy for her roommate.

      “I’m interested in anything that would cheer me up. I can foot the bill,” Anita insisted.

      “I’m not concerned. You know that.”

      “I didn’t get a chance to tell you,” Anita added. “But Cory said if you don’t mind, four would be better than two for the raft trip.”

      “When did you talk to him?” Karinne asked, confused.

      “A few days ago. I was working at the time, so I said no. He just called me again today, though. They have extra provisions because of the cancellation, and he doesn’t want to waste the perishables.”

      “Oh.” Karinne blinked.

      “If you’d rather I didn’t come,” Anita backtracked, “I’ll stay topside with Cory and update my résumé. Review the want ads. Do some wedding preparations for you.”

      Karinne hated seeing Anita’s disappointment. So far this vacation had been full of surprises, and it hadn’t even started yet. She thought of the pink sweatshirt still in her drawer, and the goose bumps ran down her neck again. If a ghost intended to show up, maybe having reinforcements around wasn’t such a bad idea. And if Cory had invited his wife rafting, it wasn’t Karinne’s place to tell them no.

      “Forget the want ads. There’s plenty of time for that later.” Karinne gestured with her chin. “Get packing. We’ll start the drive north early tomorrow morning.”

      Chapter Two

      Topside,

       Grand Canyon Village, Arizona

      The rain continued its steady downfall. Arizona forecasters didn’t call it the monsoon season for nothing. Moisture-laden air from the Pacific’s California coast hit the Rocky Mountains and rose high to cross the peaks. The moisture moved toward the hotter air above the desert, where its coolness clashed with the heat, mushrooming in purple thunderheads that drenched the area in violent downpours with stick, chain and ball lightning.

      Inside the personal quarters provided for park concessionaires topside, Max Hunter stared out the window, fascinated as always by the force of water. Harnessed correctly, it could water the desert and quench the thirst of millions of plants, animals and humans. Left to its elemental nature, water would erode the canyon below, just as it had in prehistoric times.

      The Colorado—Spanish for red—was one of the nation’s three ancient, prehistoric rivers, along with Utah’s Green River and the Mississippi. The Colorado continued carving the massive canyons with its abrasive red silt, fed by the rain and snowfall of the Rocky Mountains.

      “Tourists want sunshine. If this keeps up, they’ll have to open the spill gates upriver, then who knows what the white-water conditions will be this weekend. We’ll have to do more of the trip on foot,” Cory grumbled.

      “If it wasn’t for the weather, we couldn’t have invited Karinne and Anita up,” Max reminded him. “Although I thought it would just be me and Karinne,” he said with a trace of annoyance. A long-distance courtship, preface to what would be a long-distance marriage, made Max cherish whatever time he could spend with his fiancée, especially time alone. Unfortunately, Cory suffered from the same problem. But at least Cory had made faster progress. He’d become engaged, gotten married and was saving СКАЧАТЬ