Christy Jeffries - A Family Under The Stars

Maybe he should stop and let her change into some dry clothes, that is, if she’d packed an extra set of the name brand gear. And maybe he could take a second to get his own head back on straight and remind himself that she was just another customer. Just another woman.

“Listen, Charlotte, we still have about another hour or so to get to that spot I was telling you about. But, there’s a place up ahead where we can pull out and you can dry off and regroup.”

Alex knew better than to suggest that a lady might need some time to calm down. Growing up without a mother, he’d been a slow learner when it came to figuring the female species out, but by the time he got to college, he’d learned to avoid the high maintenance ones. And in Alex’s opinion, most of them were high maintenance. Unfortunately, he couldn’t exactly avoid the woman shivering in front of him.

“I really don’t want you to have to go to any extra trouble for me. Especially because I never would have fallen into the water if I’d been paying better attention. But...” She hesitated long enough that he could hear her teeth chattering. “Would it be too much of an inconvenience?”

A few clouds had cleared, but Alex had lived on this mountain all his life and knew the weather could change on a dime. “Well, I’d prefer to pull out on the left bank, because the majority of access roads are on that side of the river.”

“Is there anywhere to stop on that side?” She was sitting up straight, now, and even had an oar cradled in front of her. He followed her gaze to the craggy, sheer side of the canyon.

“Not for a couple more miles.” Her nod was swallowed by another shiver. He had to admire her perseverance. Many inexperienced urbanites would’ve been complaining already. “Actually, this spot coming up on the right side wouldn’t be a bad place to stop for a few minutes.”

He saw the relief in her shoulders as she climbed back onto her perch and stuck her oar back in the water. It only took a couple of minutes to steer them onto a wide stretch of riverbank. Alex tied the raft to the branch of a fallen log, then held out his hand to assist a very wet Charlotte, careful not to allow himself to get too close to her again. Her fingers were rigid with cold and he doubted a quick change of clothes would do much to help elevate her body temperature. Yet, despite her quivering lips, she stood on the pebbled shore and stared at the lush green foliage in front of her.

“This is gorgeous,” she said, then blinked a few times as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. “It’s so remote and untamed. I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

Alex smiled, somewhat awed by her appreciation for the land, and his chest expanded as though he was responsible for its design. Since he handled the store and the recreational sports side of the business, his dad was usually the one to witness the tourists’ first impressions of being completely surrounded by nature. In fact, Alex hated to admit it, but having been raised on the mountain, he was so accustomed to the great outdoors that he sometimes had to remind himself not to take it for granted.

“It is pretty incredible, huh?” Alex squeezed her hand, telling himself he was just trying to stimulate more blood flow through her freezing fingers. But when she returned the squeeze, he suddenly had to worry about his own blood flow. And the way it was racing to the part of his body just south of his waistband. He quickly dropped her hand.

Again with the inappropriate thoughts. She was a paying client and he’d never had trouble separating business from pleasure before. Sure, she was a knockout, but she was also from a world very different than his own. If history had taught him nothing else, it was to keep his distance from women like her.

“Too bad we can’t do the photo shoot with this as the background.” Charlotte’s chattering teeth didn’t stop her from smiling. But it did stop him from using his better judgment.

“You know what, why don’t we take the pictures here?” For the hundredth time, Alex looked up at the sky and hoped the weather would hold just a little longer, because his good sense was slowly floating away. “I was actually thinking you could benefit from a little fire and if you can do your cooking thing while I set up a pretend campsite, we can snap a few photos and be back in the raft in an hour.”

“That would be so incredible, if you’re sure you don’t mind.” Her eyes were currently a deep shade of blue and he wondered how to make the violet hue return.

“Nah. To be honest with you, I’d be relieved to just get it all over with quicker and have Commodore meet us at that clearing I was telling you about.” He pulled out his cell phone and looked at the screen. “Too bad we still don’t have reception, otherwise, I could have him waiting for us when we got there.”

“Since we’re being honest...” Charlotte stretched her arms over her head “...I would rather wait on land than paddle through any more rapids.”

It was a normal response for a person who’d never experienced the physical exertion and danger of paddling on one of the most unpredictable rivers in Idaho. Alex respected her candor, even if the admission didn’t surprise him. It was also a good reminder that Charlotte Folsom was from the city and his body had no business reacting to her with anything other than concern.

“Here,” he said, unhooking her waterproof duffel bag and handing it to her. “It shouldn’t be too difficult to find a tree to hide behind and change.”

A blush shot up her cheeks, bringing some much needed color to her cool skin. “How do you know someone won’t see me?”

“This is national forest land and the surrounding thousand or so acres are prohibited to hikers and campers.”

“So, we shouldn’t be here?”

“I know the local rangers. If we get caught, they won’t slap us with too big of a fine.” He was trying to make a joke, but her eyes were completely serious.

“But we’d be breaking a rule.”

“You’ve never broken a rule before?”

She bit her lower lip, her brows scrunched together as though she were trying to recall the answer. “Not knowingly. Besides, I think it would set a bad example for my daughters if they saw me doing something against the law.”

“If it puts your mind at ease, Russell’s Sports has a special permit allowing us access to the river and the areas near the shoreline. Unless we get too deep in the woods over there,” he pointed toward the towering redwoods about a hundred yards away, “we’re not breaking any laws. So, the sooner we get those pictures taken, the sooner I can get you back to your daughters and you can tell them about your great rule-following adventure.”

Charlotte had looked skeptical until he’d mentioned her kids and then the woman couldn’t move quickly enough up the bank and toward to the pine trees surrounding the tall grass meadow.

Alex admired her eagerness to be reunited with her children, refusing to think about other mothers who couldn’t wait to ditch their kids and return to their lives in New York. Not that he was bitter about something that had happened over thirty years ago or anything.

He unloaded several of the dry boxes and carried them to the grass above. Then he returned to the bank to collect a few small boulders to circle around a campfire. He grabbed a small hatchet from the box of supplies and set out in the opposite direction of Charlotte. By the time he returned to the makeshift pit, he had enough dry branches and wood chips to get a small fire going.

Charlotte walked toward him, looking drier and much more relaxed than she had a few moments ago. She also looked more beautiful than she had when she’d stepped out of Commodore’s Jeep. Her damp hair was darker and wrapped up into some sort of loose bun on top of her head, a fringe of bangs covering her forehead. The elastic headband was still in place, but her hair looked more natural, less formal.