An Alaskan Proposal. Beth Carpenter

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СКАЧАТЬ She picked up the instructions and turned the page. “Stake corners.” She pointed at the diagram. “Right here.” She set down the paper and pushed one of the stakes through a grommet into the soft ground, anchoring the corner. Leith did one of the other corners. He wasn’t so bad after all.

      Bang! Sabrina whirled toward the sound of an explosion. Something came whizzing out of the fire and flew several feet before crashing into a rock. Something about the size of a can.

      “Oh, cielos! The beans.” Sabrina rushed toward the fire.

      “I don’t know what happened.” Clara stared wide-eyed at the fire. A silicone-sided pan of beans simmered nearby on the camp stove Sabrina hadn’t been able to figure out.

      “It’s my fault.” Sabrina looked around for the tongs. Before she could grab them, another can exploded and sailed off to the right, knocking over the stove and spilling the beans onto the ground.

      “Get back.” Leith pulled Clara away from the fire. “Sabrina, you, too.”

      “I just have to get the rest out before they go off.” Sabrina grabbed the tongs and reached into the fire, extracting a blackened can.

      “What is it?”

      “A can of beans.” She dropped the can in the dirt and tried to locate the next one.

      Leith grabbed a shovel and pushed the logs apart. “How many are in here?”

      “Six.” She spotted another can and pulled it out. “Two more.”

      Leith pushed in his shovel, scooped out another can and dropped it on the ground, away from the fire. Sabrina spotted the last one, but before she could get to it, it went off, zooming out of the fire like a missile and spraying a trail of beans all over the tent she had just erected before it landed in a bush. Sticky sauce dripped down the sides of the tent.

      “You’re sure that’s all?” Leith asked.

      “That’s it.” Sabrina turned to see Clara and all the other employees gathered behind her staring at the tent and at her. Super. Walter pushed through the crowd.

      “What happened here?”

      Sabrina swallowed. “It was my fault. I thought it would save some mess and equipment if I heated the beans in the fire.”

      Walter narrowed his eyes. “You put the cans in the fire without opening them?”

      Sabrina nodded.

      “Any casualties?”

      “Only the tent.”

      Walter marched over to the tent. He examined the beans oozing down the fabric, then unzipped the tent and crawled inside. A moment later, he popped out, smiling. “Not a drop inside, and the rain fly wasn’t even completely staked. I think we have a winning design here. Sabrina, please clean that tent before you return it to the store. Everyone else, looks like we’ll have to do without beans today, but Will says the burgers are ready. Let’s eat.”

      With a few headshakes and some laughter, the rest of the employees drifted away. Sabrina picked up a spatula and went to scrape baked beans off the fabric.

      Only Leith followed her. “You have to be careful. When the contents of a can are overheated and the steam can’t escape, pressure can build up past the tolerance of the can.”

      “Thanks, Admiral Hindsight.” She “accidentally” flicked the spatula so that beans flew in his direction, but she missed. “Any other words of wisdom?”

      He flashed a snarky grin. “Well, I could tell you the best way to wash a tent, but I’m sure an experienced camper such as yourself already has a preferred method.” And with that helpful comment, he turned and went to join the others crowding around the grill, leaving her to clean up her mess.

       CHAPTER TWO

      LEITH PULLED THE truck into its assigned parking spot near the back door at Learn & Live. Erik jumped out and opened the tailgate.

      Leith grabbed the checklist and followed. “Do we need more maps for tomorrow’s demo?” he asked, his pen hovering over the clipboard.

      Erik pawed through the supplies in the crate. “No, looks like we have plenty.”

      Leith checked off the item and locked the truck. They headed inside the office. As soon as they stepped into the lobby, a black-and-tan dog dashed out of Carson’s office. Leith knelt to give her an ear rub. “Hey, Tal. There’s my girl.”

      Their boss, Carson, followed her out. “Good. You’re back. Did the Orson Outfitters demo go okay? Anything you need to change before doing it again tomorrow?”

      “No problems.” Leith stood but continued to stroke Tal’s head. “I think they all got something out of it.”

      Erik laughed. “Except for Explosion Girl.”

      “Explosion?” Carson narrowed his eyes. “You were teaching orienteering. How can that explode? Was anyone hurt?”

      “No,” Leith assured him. “It wasn’t at our demo. For some reason, this management trainee Orson Outfitters hired decided she should put cans of beans directly into the fire.”

      “Oh, yeah?” Carson grinned. “I thought that was an urban myth. Did they really explode?”

      “Launched a couple of cans like rockets. One of them splattered a tent that was a good twenty feet away. We managed to get the rest out of the fire before they turned into grenades.” Leith shook his head. “She was clueless. Brand-new hiking boots, no jacket. She’d obviously never been camping a day in her life.”

      “She was cute, though,” Erik pointed out.

      “The cute ones are the most dangerous.” And Leith should know. His ex-wife used her looks like a precision tool. “They’re so used to everyone falling over backward to make them happy, they don’t realize nature can kill you no matter how pretty you are.”

      “Uh-huh.” Erik nudged Carson. “That must be why our white knight over here gave her his vest.”

      “Nuts. I forgot to get it back from her.” Now Leith was going to have to decide whether chasing her down or paying for a new company vest was the lesser of two evils. That was what he got for being a nice guy. He probably should have stayed far away from Sabrina, but it was painful to witness her struggle to set up a simple tent. Then when he’d noticed she was shivering, he couldn’t just stand there and watch.

      When Carson raised his eyebrows, Leith shrugged. “It would look bad for the company if someone went hypothermic on our watch.”

      Carson snorted. “I’m happy to hear the company’s reputation is so important to you.”

      The break-room door opened and Zack walked out, his phone to his ear. “It’s too bad you couldn’t get the ones you wanted, but I think daisies sound fine. No, really, they’ll look great. Okay, babe, I’ve СКАЧАТЬ