Читать книгу An Alaskan Proposal - Beth Carpenter - Страница 13
ОглавлениеSABRINA FOLLOWED THE directions to the address Leith had given her, which appeared to be a middle school. As she turned in, a line of yellow buses pulled out. She found an empty parking spot and got out of her car, wondering how she was going to find Leith somewhere in the building.
She still wasn’t sure why he seemed to think she would be any help as an assistant, unless he just intended for her to fill water glasses and erase whiteboards. Maybe he’d come up with this assignment as a boondoggle, to make her feel she was earning her lessons tomorrow. She hoped not. There were few things Sabrina hated more than feeling useless.
She started toward the main entrance, but as she reached the edge of the parking lot, she heard someone call her name. “Sabrina. Over here.” Leith waved from beside a pockmarked white Land Cruiser two rows over. He walked over to join her, carrying a large duffel. His eyes skimmed over her and he pulled his eyebrows together. “I should have told you to wear pants, but we’ll manage. Ready for the class?”
“Um, sure.” She walked with him, trying to match his long strides. She’d chosen this outfit deliberately: an A-line navy skirt, a silk T-shirt in a subtle tone-on-tone paisley, and an Anne Li raspberry blazer she’d scored after a trunk show. She’d had to alter it, of course, since she wasn’t as tall as the model, but sometimes being a size four paid off. Sabrina had given many a presentation in this outfit, and it always made her feel competent and in charge. “Why should I have worn pants?”
“You may need to get down on the floor, but as I said, we’ll manage.”
The floor? “What is this class?”
“Babysitting.”
“What?” She hurried to catch up, wishing she hadn’t worn heels. “Why are you teaching babysitting?” She’d thought Learn & Live was about outdoor survival stuff.
“I’m not teaching the whole course. I’m just today’s guest instructor.” They had reached the main office. Leith signed them in and led her down the hall to a classroom. Inside, a dozen or so young teenagers, mostly girls but a couple of boys, sat in chairs at the front of the room and chatted with a happy-faced woman with brown curls. When Leith walked into the room, the teacher jumped up and beamed at him.
“Welcome back. Students, this is Leith Jordan. Oh, and you brought someone this time.”
“Yes. Hi, everybody.” Leith waved. “As Mrs. Livingstone said, I’m Leith and this is Sabrina.”
“Hi, Leith. Hi, Sabrina,” the kids chanted, more or less in unison.
“Let’s jump right in. Does everyone have their dummies?” Leith asked as he unzipped the duffel bag. He pulled out a first-aid kit and a life-size baby doll.
All the kids reached under their chairs and pulled out dolls. Leith handed his to Sabrina. She took it, and after a quick glance at the kids, she cradled the doll in her arms like most of them were. Sabrina had never spent much time around babies.
Leith had her sit in a chair. “Okay. Now suppose Sabrina here is taking care of this baby. Maybe she’s been feeding him, or the baby has been crawling around on the floor. All of a sudden, she notices the baby is distressed but can’t seem to make much noise. His skin looks a little blue. Who knows what’s wrong with the baby?”
Sabrina hoped she wasn’t supposed to come up with an answer because she had no idea. The kids whispered among themselves. After a minute, one of the girls raised her hand. “It’s having a heart attack?”
“Probably not, but good guess. Think about it. What would make your skin turn blue?”
“He can’t breathe,” someone said.
“Exactly. And what is the most common reason someone suddenly can’t breathe?”
There was a moment’s silence. “Choking!” another of the girls blurted out.
“Yes!” Leith flashed the girl a smile, and Sabrina almost dropped the doll. Wow. When he smiled a genuine smile, not just the snarky smirks he’d thrown at her before, everything changed. His rugged face grew animated and the cobalt blue eyes, framed by thick dark lashes, seemed to be creating a magnetic force field. Sabrina wasn’t the only one who felt it, either, judging by the way all the girls suddenly leaned forward.
“So what do you do when someone’s choking?” Leith asked.
“The Heimlich,” the first girl said.
“Right. Have any of you seen the posters in the cafeteria about how to administer the Heimlich maneuver?” Several hands rose. “Good. We’ll practice that in a few minutes but right now we have a baby choking. Babies are fragile. We can’t give them the same treatment we’d give an adult or teenager. Here’s how to treat a choking baby.”
Leith took the doll from her and demonstrated how to position the baby, supporting it with one hand while slapping it on the back five times with the heel of his other hand. “Not too hard. We don’t want to break any ribs, but hard enough to dislodge whatever is blocking the airway.” He had all the students practice, going from one to the other to check their positioning and technique. Then he explained the next step to take if that didn’t work and had them practice that. Sabrina was impressed. He really seemed to know his stuff, and he had the kids’ full attention. By the time they’d finished the lesson, she felt like even she would be able to treat a choking baby.
When Leith was satisfied everyone had it down, he moved on. “Now, what if you’re not babysitting a baby. What if it’s an older child? Sabrina, can you stand up, please?” She did, and he moved beside her. “Okay, so little Sabrina is agitated. She isn’t saying anything. Maybe she’s bringing her hands to her throat.” Now Sabrina understood what Leith meant by being his assistant. Her job wasn’t to help him teach; it was to play the victim. That, she could do. Sabrina wrapped her fingers around her neck and pretended to gasp as if there was something stuck in her throat.
“Hands on the neck are a classic sign, but even if a person isn’t doing that, suspect choking if someone who was eating suddenly seems panicky. But unlike the baby, Sabrina can talk. Let’s ask her. Sabrina, are you choking?”
“Yes,” Sabrina answered in a stage whisper, tilting to one side and giving a couple of fake coughs. “Please save me.”
Leith grinned. “Remember, if she can answer you, her airway isn’t completely blocked. Let her try to cough it up herself. But if she can’t, that’s when the Heimlich comes in. Let’s try it again. Sabrina, are you choking?”
Still holding her hands on her neck, Sabrina nodded. Leith moved behind her and put his arms around her, explaining to the class how he was positioning his hands just below her ribs. “And then I’d push in hard to drive the air from her lungs and dislodge whatever is blocking her airway. We won’t do that today, because I could injure her that way. A cracked rib is a small price to pay for saving a life, but let’s not risk it today.”
“Excellent decision,” Sabrina croaked. The kids laughed.
“However, I do have a training vest in my bag. First, I want you to pair up and see where to position your hands, and then we’ll get out the vest and practice.”
The kids broke into twos and practiced. Once he was satisfied everyone had the basic idea, Leith had Sabrina wear the vest. “See, this foam plug is the food that’s obstructing the airway.” He stepped behind her and positioned his hands over the air bladder in the vest. “Now let’s see if I can do it properly.” He tightened his arms around her and gave a hard thrust to the vest. The foam plug popped out. The kids cheered.
All the kids in the class took turns using the Heimlich maneuver on Sabrina. It took some of them several tries, but Leith coached them patiently until they had all succeeded. Sabrina was glad when they moved on to the next lesson, until she discovered it involved head wounds.
“You have lots of blood circulation in your head, and so heads tend to bleed heavily. Suppose Sabrina fell against a piece of furniture and cut her head right here.” He pulled a red sticker from a sheet and stuck it to her forehead. “Who can tell me how to stop the bleeding?”
“Put a tourniquet around her neck?” one of the boys suggested, grinning.
“That would do the trick, all right, but it would also stop the blood from getting to Sabrina’s brain, and remember, you’re getting paid to keep Sabrina’s brain safe. Let’s try direct pressure instead.” He pulled up a chair. “Sabrina, can you sit down, please?” Leith took a gauze pad from his kit and pressed it to her forehead. “Here, push here.”
Leith turned toward the kids. “Position. Examine. Elevate. Pressure.” He ticked off the words on his fingers. “If you’re a chicken about blood, remember to PEEP.”
Sabrina groaned. “That pun is more painful than my head wound.” Everyone laughed, including Leith.
Before the day was done, Sabrina had been bandaged and splinted, and had her arm put into a sling. Also, while Leith was busy with some of the kids practicing CPR on a dummy, she’d explained to three girls who asked how she’d created the ombré effect on her fingernails and told them where to find an instructional video on the internet.
At the end of class, Leith held up some papers. “Great job, everybody. For me to certify you in first aid, you’ll need to pass this test. So, before we start, let’s review. What’s the first thing to do if you think an older child is choking? Kara?”
“Ask them.”
“Good.” Leith moved on through all the lessons. Between Leith’s goofy memory aids and the practice sessions, these kids had it down. Leith really was a good teacher. Sabrina only hoped she would be able to learn as much about the outdoors tomorrow as he’d taught these kids today. Because if she could, it was just possible that this unusual plan of hers might work.
LEITH SWALLOWED THE last of the coffee in his travel mug while he waited for the light to turn green. He’d been a little surprised to find that Sabrina was living in this part of town. Not that there was anything wrong with this particular neighborhood, but most of the houses here were old and small. Based on the way she dressed and the amount of money she must spend on manicures, he would have thought she’d have chosen a shiny new apartment in a trendy part of town.
She’d surprised him yesterday, too, when she’d accepted her role as training dummy with good grace. In fact, the melodramatic way she’d acted out the injuries really helped keep the kids focused. The other day at the office, when she’d declared herself a hard worker, he’d had doubts. In his experience, hard workers didn’t talk about it; they just did it. But he was starting to think she might be the exception to that rule. He hoped so, anyway, because if he was going to get through all the lessons he had planned for today, she was going to have to put in some effort.
It still bothered him that she was hiding her lack of experience from her employer. He’d been lied to and taken advantage of, and it stank. But she was trying to acquire the skills she’d claimed to have. And was her deception any worse than what he was doing, having Sabrina pretend to be his date to the wedding?
Dinner at his sister’s had gone just about the way he’d expected. Volta, with all the subtlety of a locomotive, had seated him next to the new nurse at the table and kept throwing out random pieces of information designed to force them to bond. “Leith, Marley’s blood type is B negative, just like yours and mine. That’s only two percent of the population. Interesting coincidence, huh?”
What did you say to something like that? Marley had seemed like a perfectly nice person, but after going through a divorce three years ago, Leith had decided the safest route was to avoid getting involved with women, period. So, when Volta made a point of asking him if he had a date for the wedding in front of Marley so that he’d almost be forced to invite her, it had given him great satisfaction to assure her that, yes, he did have a date. He’d almost laughed out loud at the expression on his sister’s face when her plot failed. Fortunately, Marley didn’t look all that brokenhearted. She was probably glad to have gotten out of Volta’s trap unscathed as well.
Leith couldn’t understand why his sister was so fired up to find him a girlfriend. As far as he knew, Volta had been on less than a dozen dates since her daughter, Emma, had been born seven years ago, seven months after Volta’s husband had died in an avalanche. Leith worried about his sister sometimes, but he didn’t push her. So why did she feel entitled to push him?
Anyway, this nondate with Sabrina would take care of that problem for the time being, and all he had to do was teach her a few basic camping skills. How hard could that be?
He found her apartment building, a weathered fourplex split-level. Her door was down a half flight of steps. He knocked. A minute later, she opened the door a few inches, pulling a restraining chain tight. “Oh, hi. You didn’t have to come get me. I thought you’d just call my cell.”
“No, I...” He’d been lectured by his mother that a gentleman always walked a lady to and from her doorway. Of course, she’d meant on a date, and this wasn’t a date. “Never mind. Are you ready to go?”
“I think so. Let me grab some yogurt for lunch.”
“No need. I brought food to cook. That’s part of the lesson.”
“Oh, thank you. In that case, I’m ready.” She closed the door to unhook the chain and slipped out before he could see into her apartment. Today Sabrina wore tight jeans, a long-sleeved shirt and an Orson-brand fleece vest. She carried a small leather backpack that was obviously more for looks than practicality, since it wouldn’t last a day in the rain. At least she was wearing enough layers this time, and the sky was clear today. The jeans weren’t the most practical, although he had to admit, they fit her well. She carefully locked the door and turned to him with a smile. “I appreciate you doing this for me.”
It was a disarming smile, but three years ago, he’d developed immunity. “No problem, as long as you keep up your end of the bargain. Remember, you still have to do that wedding next week.”
“Yeah, but weddings are fun.”
“Maybe from your perspective. From mine, camping is fun. Weddings are a pain. But one of my best friends is getting married, so I got stuck as a groomsman. I even have to wear a suit.”
Sabrina laughed. “You’re a true friend to sacrifice so much. Where are we going?”
“I thought we might head over to Ekulna Lake, do a little hiking and set up a mock camp. Sound okay?”
“You’re in charge.”
Sabrina approached his ancient Land Cruiser without the usual comments about what a dinosaur it was. One point in her favor. Whatever she drove probably required premium fuel.
As they approached, Tal jumped up from her spot on the back seat and stuck her nose out the window he’d left open a few inches, madly wagging her tail.
“Oh, you’ve got a dog! Hi, sweetie,” Sabrina crooned. “What’s your name?”
“Talkeetna.” Leith reached past Sabrina to wrench open the stubborn passenger-side door. “Tal for short.”
“Hello, Tal.” Sabrina climbed into the seat and twisted around to reach for the dog. “Oh, my goodness, your ears are so soft. You’re just a big love bug, aren’t you?” All the while, she was rubbing Tal’s head, and Tal was eating it up, thumping her tail against the seat back. A long thread of drool dangled from her lip, but if Sabrina saw it, it didn’t faze her. “Is Tal a boy or a girl?”
“Girl.” Leith slammed Sabrina’s door closed and went around to the driver’s seat. “Better buckle up.”
Sabrina fastened her seat belt. “She’s so soft and fluffy. How long have you had her?”
“Almost six years. I got her as a puppy.” Not long before Nicole decided she needed a graduate degree from an out-of-state college and moved in with a guy in Seattle who she’d insisted was only a roommate. Leith couldn’t believe he’d fallen for that story. He patted Tal’s head. Happily, this female in his life had remained loyal.
“I love dogs, but I’ve never had one,” Sabrina said.
“You didn’t have a dog when you were a kid?”
“No.” Sabrina’s effervescence lost some bubbles. “We couldn’t af— Have pets.”
Her mother probably didn’t want dog hair on her nice furniture. Everything about Sabrina—the trendy clothes, shiny hair and flashy fingernails, which, he noticed, were pale green today to match her shirt—shouted upscale. Any outdoor activities she’d experienced growing up probably took place at the country club. Some people would envy her. He wasn’t one of them. His brief experience in high school with country-club life only made him more appreciative of what Alaska had to offer.
Leith drove out of the neighborhood and merged onto the Glenn Highway. He glanced toward Sabrina. Should he mention her clothes? He was supposed to be training her in woodcraft. “I see you’re wearing a fleece vest today.”
“Yes. I bought it yesterday.”
“Good. The vest will be useful, but jeans may not be the best hiking pants, especially up here.”
She tilted her head at him. “You mean because cotton is hydrophilic?”
Huh. She must have been reading the company catalogs. “Yes. If they get wet, jeans take forever to dry. But also because they’re tight on your thighs, and when you’re lifting your feet to climb uphill, that extra effort tends to tire you out.”
“Okay, but these jeans have Lycra, so they stretch.” She paused. “What did people wear outdoors before synthetic fabrics? Wool?”
“Mostly.”
“I know wool is warm when wet, which is one reason they use it for tweed hunting jackets in Britain.”
Leith didn’t know anything about British hunting jackets, but it made sense. “It’s not supposed to rain today, so your jeans should be fine. And I just have a short hike planned.”
“I looked at some nylon hiking pants at the store, but they’re going to have to wait until the next payday.”
He glanced at her before returning his eyes to the road. “I guess they don’t pay trainees a lot, huh?”
She shrugged. “They pay reasonably well. But, you know—student loans, moving expenses, security deposits. And I need to replenish my emergency fund.”
“Emergency fund?” He grinned. “What? For fashion emergencies, like shoe sales?”
She didn’t look amused. “Emergency fund so I can pay the rent if I don’t make the cut in September and I’m unemployed again.”
This didn’t quite jibe with the lifestyle he’d imagined, but it was hard to feel too sorry for her. Even he could tell those jeans she was wearing didn’t come from a discount store, and her manicure probably cost as much as the hiking pants. But there was no use getting into an argument about how she spent her money. “I hope you’ll learn enough today that you will make the cut to management.”
“Here’s hoping.”
Sabrina was quiet during most of the drive to the lake. Leith got the uncomfortable feeling she was annoyed at him. She stared out the window at the birch trees, with their yellow buds just starting to turn to green. In the distance, snow still covered the top half of the Chugach Mountains. He tried to think of something to say to improve her mood, but nothing came to mind.
Finally, just before they reached the exit, Sabrina spoke. “It is beautiful. I was starting to wonder what all the fuss about Alaska was about, but now that the sun has come out and I can see the mountains, I’m starting to understand.”
“It’s been a wet spring, and breakup is never the prettiest season,” Leith acknowledged, relieved that she seemed to have forgotten his stupid joke. “Give it another two weeks, and you’ll be amazed at how green everything is.”
They reached the trailhead parking lot. Sabrina pulled on the handle, but the door jammed. Before Leith could get around to help her, she slammed her shoulder into the door and knocked it open. Without comment, she slid out. “What a pretty lake. I love that color. Somewhere between azure and lapis.”
“Looks blue to me.” Leith opened the tailgate to grab Tal’s leash and went around to let her out.
Sabrina turned, and her eyes widened as she looked at something over Leith’s shoulder. “Oh, a dog.” She trotted past him.
Leith looked up. Oh, nuts. “Sabrina, wait.” He pushed Tal back into the car before she could see what was going on and escalate the problem.
“I’m just going to check out that dog,” she called back to him. “There’s nobody else here. It must be a stray.”
“Don’t go any closer.” Leith slammed the door and hurried around the car after her. The dark gray animal at the edge of the woods startled and ran for a few steps before pausing to look toward Sabrina.
Sabrina slowed to a walk, creeping forward while gently crooning. “Here, pup. You’re a big guy. Are you lost? I think you’re wearing a collar. Do you have a microchip? I’ll bet your family is missing you.”
“Stop!” Leith finally yelled loud enough to get through to her. She turned. The creature at the corner of the parking lot looked toward him as well.
Sabrina scowled at him. “What? I just want to help that dog. He seems shy. I wonder if someone abandoned him.”
“The reason he’s shy around people is because he’s not a dog.” Leith grabbed her elbow and dragged her back toward the safety of the Land Cruiser. “He’s a wolf.”
