AND A little damp, Leith rolled into the office after a long day of watercraft survival training in the swimming pool at one of the local high schools. He unloaded the kayaks and headed to his desk to fill out his reports. Everyone else had gone home for the day. Before he could even sit down, his phone rang. Volta.
“Hi, sis.”
“Hi. Want to come for dinner? I made a big pot of spaghetti and meatballs.”
Leith’s stomach growled at the mention of food. He loved Volta’s spaghetti. She usually only made it when she was having a bunch of people... Wait. “Who else is coming?”
“Just some people from work. You know most of them.”
Nicely evasive. But he knew her. “And who don’t I know?”
“Oh, well, there’s a new nurse. She just came from the military. She has some great stories. So funny. You’ll like her.”
“Uh-huh.” As good as a homemade spaghetti dinner sounded, he was too tired to fend off his sister when she was in matchmaker mode. “Yeah, well, I’m pretty wiped out. I think I’ll just head on home.”
“Oh, but you have to come. I already told—” She stopped talking.
“You already told who what?”
“I, uh, already told Emma you were coming. She’d be so disappointed if her uncle Leith didn’t show up.”
They both knew it wasn’t Emma she’d been about to mention, but he let that pass. He did want to see Emma. He’d helped her put together something for show-and-tell last week, and he wanted to see how it went. “Okay, I’ll be there, but I do not want a setup. Are we clear?”
“Who said anything about a setup?”
“I did. I mean it, Volta. I’m not going out with your friend. Remember Mina?”
“That was a fluke. How was I supposed to know she had a dog phobia?”
“What about what’s-her-name with the purple hair?”
“Jaci was sweet.”
“Jaci wanted to plan our wedding before we’d even ordered appetizers.”
“She was joking.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Okay, whatever. Just come for dinner in an hour.”
“All right. You want me to bring anything?”
“A better attitude. See you then.” She ended the call.
Leith set his phone on the desk and started on the report. If he could finish in the next fifteen minutes, he’d have time to swing by his house for a quick shower and to collect the dog before heading to Volta’s. But he was only halfway through when he heard the chime signaling the front door opening. “Hello? Anyone here?”
Nuts, he’d forgotten to lock the door behind him. “We’re closed. Sorry.” He strode into the reception area. Explosion Girl herself was standing there, a striped tote bag tightly gripped in hands tipped with shiny pink nails. What was Sabrina doing here?
She looked a little different than she had on the mountain. Her dark hair was down, waving across her shoulders. She wore a multicolored scarf, which looked like a watercolor painting, draped around her neck over a bluish dress that stopped just above her knees. Cute was an understatement. His eyes followed the curve of her calf down to highly impractical pink shoes, before his gaze quickly returned to her face. Big eyes the color of milk chocolate stared back at him, as though she was as surprised to see him as he was to see her. But she was the one who’d come to him.
“Can I help you?”
“Oh, uh, I hope so.” She reached into her bag. “I wanted to return your vest. Thanks for loaning it to me last week.”
“You’re welcome.” Good—now he didn’t have to chase it down. He took the vest, but she wasn’t making any move to go. Now what? “Was there something else?”
“Yes. It’s just, um, you teach classes, right? On outdoorsy stuff?”
He chuckled. “That’s not exactly the term we use, but yes, we do.”
“So, if I were to want to learn about camping and whatever, you know, just the basics, do you have classes on that?”
“Actually, most of our classes are a little more advanced than that. We teach survival techniques, first aid, river rescue, that sort of thing.”
“Oh.”
“Besides—” he couldn’t help a little teasing “—you implied that you already have camping skills.”
“But not necessarily Alaska camping skills. I’d like to learn... Oh, what the heck—I’ve never been camping in my life, and if my manager finds out, I’ll probably lose my job.” Her lip trembled, and her eyes opened wide. He got the uncomfortable feeling she wasn’t that far from tears. He hated tears.
“Okay, so let me get this straight. You told Walter you were an experienced camper when he hired you?”
“You’re on a first-name basis with my boss?” she squeaked. He wouldn’t have thought it possible, but her eyes opened even wider.
“Everyone is on a first-name basis with Walter. Orson Outfitters sponsors practically all the outdoor events in the state, and Walter’s always out there greeting people. Why did you lie to him?”
“I didn’t lie to Walter. My camping skills just never came up. Headquarters hired me as part of their management training program. The first part of the program assigns all the trainees to different stores so we can understand the business at the retail level. In the interview, they asked if I enjoyed the outdoors.” She raised her chin. “I do. I like sunshine and flowers and...all that stuff. If they chose to interpret that to mean I like to camp...” She shrugged.
“I don’t get it. Why would you want to work for a company in a business you don’t even like?”
“I might like it once I learn about it. You never know. But whether I do or not, I need this job. I was a buyer for Cutterbee’s department store, but they went bankrupt, and nobody’s hiring right now. I’m a hard worker. Whether you help me or not, I intend to give this job my all. I just need a little help getting up to speed.”
He remembered hearing about Cutterbee’s going under. He’d never understood why anyone would shop at overpriced department stores full of impractical items, but he could see that clothes with fancy labels would be right up Sabrina’s alley.
Why should he help her? Whether it was a direct lie or only implied, she got the job with Orson Outfitters under false pretenses, and Leith had more reason than most to despise liars. On the other hand, when the cans exploded at the team-builder, Sabrina didn’t try to deflect the blame or make excuses. He respected that. Besides, he could see the desperation in her eyes. For some reason, the thought of losing her job terrified her.
“Look, like I said, we don’t really teach basic woodcraft. Maybe you could register for a course from the University of Alaska, Anchorage, this fall.”
“Fall is too late. My assignment here ends September first, when the store managers send in their evaluations. Only the top half move on to the next level of training. Besides...” She paused, taking a sudden interest in the worn vinyl floor.
“Besides, what?”
She took a breath and looked up. “After putting down deposits on my apartment and utilities, I’m a little short on cash right now. I thought maybe we could work out some sort of barter arrangement?”
This should be good. What possible skills could she have that he would find useful? It wasn’t as though he needed his hair braided. “What did you have in mind?”
“I don’t know. What do you need done? I’m