Sweet Serenade (Riverbend Romance 3) (3 page)

~*~

“I warned you about Reed Daniels.” Brittany grabbed the take-out bag of fried chicken, French fries, and coleslaw from the backseat.

Carly reached in for the jug of tea and colas they’d picked up from the apartment on the way by. “What do you have against him? Is he some kind of abuser or addict?”

Brittany’s lips tightened. “Nothing like that.”

“Then why? What’s the big deal? Just because he’s not your type doesn’t mean he’s not mine.” Carly narrowed her eyes. “Or did you have a crush on him and he wouldn’t pay attention to you?” Bet anything she’d nailed it. That’d burn Brittany through and through.

“Oh, look! There’s Joseph and Peter.” Brittany pressed her key fob and the locks beeped. She strode off across the grass.

Carly shook her head as Reed’s red pickup pulled into a nearby parking spot. Did she dare wait and walk over with him? Why not? Just because he seemed a bit shy didn’t mean she had to pretend she was. She waved at him as he swung out of the truck.

He grinned and waved back as he crossed the asphalt toward her, carrying a paper bag.

“What did you bring?” she said when he neared.

“A couple of sandwiches from Loco-To-Go. You?” He glanced at the drinks in her hands.

“Crazy to go?”

“I think they meant it as a play on local. It’s a little deli and bakery beside that mini-mall just off the highway serving locally-grown and sourced food.”

“Neat. I’ll have to check them out sometime.” She lifted the jar of tea as she fell into step beside him. “Mint sun tea.”

He nodded but said nothing.

So that left her to keep conversation going if one was to be had. “This is a nice park.” Okay, so she wasn’t going to win awards for dialogue starters. Since when did a cute guy tie her tongue?

“It is. The town takes pride in its green spaces. They even grow their own flowers from seed in those greenhouses.”

She followed the direction he pointed and nodded.

“Not much in them this time of year, though. Everything’s been planted out.”

“I like it here. It seems like a town normal people live in, not just folks who work for Parks Canada or run tourist-oriented businesses.” She was one to talk, here for the express purpose of showing visitors the local sights.

“Tourists keep a lot of wheels greased in Riverbend, too. Yours,” he pointed out. “Mine.”

“Oh? Where do you work?”

His mouth pulled into something that might have been a grin as he glanced down at her. “I’m part owner in Sandon Adventures with my uncle.”

She was supposed to infer something from those words? “What is Sandon Adventures?” It sounded like...

“Neil Maddrey’s chief competition. We guide whitewater rafting, kayaking, and canoeing trips. Single and multi-day.” He watched her for a response.

Carly pulled her eyebrows into a frown. “That seems like peripheral competition. Base Camp only offers one-day canoe outings and day hikes. Sounds like there should be plenty of room for both.”

“You and I might think so, but your boss doesn’t look at it that way. All he can see is where the two overlap, and it makes him see red.”

“Red like the floating plastic cooler he calls a canoe?”

Reed’s full-throated laughter caught Carly by surprise. She glanced up to see his brown eyes dancing above a deep dimple in his left cheek. Oh, man. She was such a sucker for dimples.

“I knew I liked you for a reason.” The gleam disappeared from his eyes. “Sorry. Shouldn’t have said that.”

Had she missed something? Oh, wait. Had he admitted he liked her? As in,
liked?
She grinned up at him. She might have to be a bit more forward than usual to get anywhere with this shy guy. “I like you, too. And not just because you have the prettiest canoe in Riverbend.” She waited a beat. “But it helps.”

Chapter 3

Carly couldn’t get Reed out of her mind. Last time she’d been on Sandon Lake, he’d been out here, too. But there was no sign of a cedar-strip canoe anywhere on the water this morning.

She angled the canoe north along the shore. Her clients, Garret and his tween daughter Drea, wanted the guided tour, and she’d give it to them.

“I see something moving on the bank!” the girl said. “Is that a bear?”

Carly scanned the shoreline. “Nope, much too small. Maybe a beaver, though. Stay really quiet, and let’s see how close we can come.”

“I’ve got my phone ready to take a picture,” Drea whispered.

If she thought she’d upload that straight to Instagram or Snapchat, she’d be sadly disappointed. Carly would hazard a guess they were a dozen kilometers from the nearest cell phone tower. Just the way she liked it. Out here a girl could see the hand of God, experience some serenity, and get some perspective. Just breathing in the fir-scented June air and feeling the gentle breeze against her face relaxed her. Yet at the same time she felt more alive than ever.

The smooth wooden paddle in her hands could propel her anywhere she wanted to go with only the gentlest tinkle of water droplets dripping between strong strokes. She could pull the canoe up close to wildlife slowly and silently...

“It
is
a beaver! I see the tail!” yelled the girl.

Thwack
.

With a smack of its tail on the water, the animal disappeared. In seconds, only a ripple remained.

“The guide told you to be quiet.” Garret turned and glared at his child.

“I’m sorry. It just caught me by surprise. I didn’t even get a picture.” Drea sounded chagrined.

“Maybe if we wait, it will come back up for air,” Garret said. “They can’t hold their breath forever, can they? Beavers are mammals.”

“Beavers don’t need to come to the surface to find air.” Carly scanned the shoreline before pointing out the telltale signs of construction. “That’s its den over there, which has an underwater entrance. No doubt the beaver is already inside, taking a break until we’re long gone.”

Carly turned the canoe along the shoreline and began to paddle again. “If we’re quiet, we may see something else.”

“Are there any bears?” Drea asked. “My friends would be so jealous if I saw one.”

Reed had mentioned a grizzly sighting at the north end. That would be something. Sure, bears could swim, but, if she kept the canoe at a good distance, there’d be no problem.

“There might be. You never know. Keep an eye out along the bank. You never know what you’ll see, a grizz or something else. Maybe some loons or a white-tail, even.”

She paddled for nearly an hour, Garret assisting as he could in the bow. He didn’t have much previous experience, but he was more help than hindrance. Drea, sitting not far in front of Carly, sank into her life vest like a turtle. Dozing, if Carly didn’t miss her guess.

An object loomed at water’s edge in the distance, but they were still too far away to make out its identity. Definitely an animal, as uniformly dark as it was. Probably not a bear, though. Wasn’t that a bit of daylight she could see beneath it? Long legs, then. Black. It had to be a moose.

“Okay, stay really quiet. Get out your binoculars and focus on that dark spot ahead of us where the waterline meets the trees. See it?”

Garret laid his paddle across the bow and lifted a pair of binos. “A moose...” he breathed, adjusting the eyepieces.

“Let me do the paddling from here on in. It will take a while to get there, but you should get a really good look at it if we don’t spook it first.”

Drea straightened. “Dad, can I see?”

Her father handed the binoculars back.

“Way cool! But I thought moose had those funny antler things.”

Carly shrugged, not that the girl was looking behind her. “Bulls do, but the females don’t.”

“Oh.”

Drea lifted her phone and zoomed in the camera app. It wouldn’t be enough at this distance but, if the moose left the scene before they got closer, this might be her only chance.

Carly increased the power of each stroke, keeping the canoe pointed in a straight line. Twenty minutes later, they coasted into the lily-pad-clogged section of the lake where the moose browsed.

“Can we get closer?” whispered Drea.

“This is plenty close enough. She can move an awful lot faster than you’d think.”

“What’s that in the rushes?” asked Garret quietly.

Carly caught her breath. “A calf moose. Good eye. Do you see it, Drea?” She sculled the canoe sideways half a meter to provide a clearer view.

“Awesome.” The girl dragged the word out, her eyes fixed on the sight as she raised her phone and snapped a few more images. “My friends are never going to believe this.”

Carly grinned. And that’s why she loved sharing the wilderness.

~*~

He hadn’t seen Carly since Sunday. Was it too much to hope she’d be at the bonfire tonight? If she was, he was going to ask her out. Really. He’d almost done it Sunday but couldn’t force out the words. His palms on the truck’s steering wheel grew sweaty just thinking about it, but he’d find the nerve somewhere.

It’d been five years since he’d last said those words to a girl. “Want to go out with me?” And he’d regretted it less than an hour into the date. Brittany had expected... Well, he didn’t know exactly what she wanted. All he knew was that it had been more than he was prepared to give.

Carly seemed nothing like her cousin. They didn’t appear to be close friends, judging by how little they’d talked at Sunday’s picnic. Or maybe Brittany steered clear because Carly was near him. Might have even looked like she was
with
him.

Dear God.
Reed parked the truck with his friends’ vehicles beside the river.
I sure could use some wisdom here. Should I stretch out of my comfort zone for Carly, or should I leave things alone before I get hurt?

Now that was a crazy prayer. He wasn’t afraid of pain. Not physical pain, anyway. He’d broken bones taking chances with his bicycle as a kid and with his kayak three years ago.

Emotional pain scared him more. Other fellows bounced in and out of love every week if the changing couples by the bonfire were any indication. Okay, give the gang some credit for maturing. They were in their mid-twenties now. Changes were less frequent. More like monthly or seasonally these days, with occasional wedding bells. Still, why was he the only one to fear the pain of commitment and breakup equally?

The Mazda parked beside him. His heart clenched and he wiped his hands down his swim shorts as he slid out of the truck.
Buck up, Daniels. How will you ever find The One if you can’t even talk to a girl without practically passing out?

It was so junior high of him.
Here goes, Lord.

He didn’t have to fake the grin once his gaze met Carly’s over the top of the compact car. Her face lit up at the sight of him, her beautiful mouth spreading into a generous smile.

Man. He was a goner.

Brittany shot him an aggravated look then elbowed past him on her way to the river. He hadn’t been in her way. Would it have killed her to avoid him? But thinking about that distracted him from Carly.

She approached around the back of the car. “Hey.”

He swallowed hard. “Hey.” Did a man tell a girl how pretty she was? He could hardly think about anything else. “You look great. Did you have a good week?”

Smile lines crinkled around her blue-green eyes that matched her tank top. “I did. I took a few tourists out on Sandon Lake. We’ve seen a moose and her calf at the north end several mornings.”

This he could talk about. “That’s a beautiful spot. I haven’t been up there much yet this season. Evan and I did a multi-day rafting trip with a youth group from a church in Castlebrook most of this week.”

“Oh, that sounds fun. On the Sandon?”

“Yes, further north.” He took a deep breath. “Done much paddling in rapids?”

Carly nodded. “Yeah, some.”

From the faraway look in her eyes it seemed her mind had wandered. He’d have to get that story from her sometime.

He took a deep breath. Here went nothing. “Want to run the rapids at kilometer fourteen after church next Sunday? They’re a lot of fun this time of year.” He’d done it. Now it was up to her.

Her face lit up. “Canoe?”

“Or kayak.” He dared breathe. “I could nab two of our rentals.”

“Oh, man, I’d love to. But if it’s doable in open craft, I should try that first. Then I’ll have a better idea for work.”

Reed’s hand reached up to rub the sleek finish of his canoe on the overhead rack. “We’ll take the cedar-strip, then.”

Carly’s eyes shone. He’d like to think a bit of that was for him, not just for his canoe. But whichever way, he’d take it.

She glanced past him to the river. “Going for a swim?”

“Yeah, figured on it.” He grinned down at her. “The water hasn’t warmed up much in the past week.”

She smacked his arm. “Oh, you.”

“Hey, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“You tried to, but I wasn’t listening.” Her intense eyes caught his. “I’m listening now.”

She might be listening, but he had nothing to say. He wasn’t going to be the man who rushed into a relationship with a girl he barely knew. They were going to take this nice and easy and give both of them plenty of room to back away.

Wait. Was her hand still on his forearm? He pulled his gaze from her eyes and glanced down. He watched his own hand come across and rest on top of hers as though it belonged to someone else. A little squeeze. That was all, then he stepped back and broke contact.

Nice and easy, eh, Daniels? Leave room to not get hurt?

Yeah. Tell that to his heart.

Chapter 4

Give me words, Lord.

Reed glanced at the woman in the passenger seat of his truck as they jounced up a mountain road. In the brief time he’d known Carly, he’d figured she was quiet. Introspective. He liked that. But she seemed quieter than he’d expected. Never before had he felt like he needed to be the one to carry a conversation.

“It’s sure a beautiful day.” Like that. Who talked to a gorgeous woman about the weather? The great conversationalist Reed Daniels, that’s who. Yeah, he was pathetic.

“Is this typical for June?”

Well, if she was going to go along with it... “We usually get a lot of rain this time of year. That and the heat get the mosquitoes hatching in droves.” Again, like she didn’t know.