Threading the Needle Ch. 06

"I'm not sure whether I really even like Liz," Lena realized. She was attracted, of course, but so far, Liz hadn't been particularly likeable. "She needed to be the training boss. Hopefully now that it is almost over, the real Liz will show up."

"Done!" Rikki said, holding up a cup of coffee to prove her point. She walked over to the back of the car and opened the tailgate. "Wake up Sunshine," she said. "It's time to get up!"

"Mmrrmpf," was all Winnie said before turning over and burying her head under her pillow.

Chuckling, Rikki went around to the side and opened the door right by Winnie. After putting the coffee in the cup holder, she reached in and ran her hand down Winnie's back. "I know, Sweetie," she said softly. "We have to get going though. I made you coffee."

The touch of Rikki's hand penetrated where her voice didn't. It was different from last night. Rather that feeling arousing, it was comforting and filled Winnie with a feeling of being cared for. She peaked out from under the pillow.

"Coffee?" she said. Her voice croaked from being dehydrated, and she tried to clear her throat.

"Yup! It's right here," Rikki said. "You have about 15 minutes, and then we need to be gone."

Winnie reluctantly sat up and reached for her coffee. Sipping on it, she found that Rikki made it sweet with a little milk, just how she liked it. She tried to take a big drink but it was still too hot. She watched as Rikki and Lena talked. After a couple of minutes, she began to feel almost human and she pulled on her shoes. There were things to do, even if she really just wanted to sleep for hours more.

The rest of the morning went by quickly. For Winnie, though, it seemed like she was always a step behind. The lack of sleep fogged her brain, and she made uncharacteristic mistakes. After weeks of doing the safety lecture without a problem, she twice forgot her place and needed to back up. On the river, she was just a little behind in calling her commands. Her boat never got into trouble, but she missed the best waves since she didn't get where she needed to be.

For the first time in a few trips, Rikki and Winnie were in the same raft. When they pulled out at the lunch spot, Winnie was still guiding. She misjudged her approach and came in a little too fast. Rather than finding a vacant spot, she bounced her raft off one that was already beached. Back in the current, the river swept her down past everyone else. She recovered well, but they would have to walk up the shore about 50 yards to get back with everyone else.

Winnie just sat on one side of the raft and hung her head. Indigo got out of the raft and put her hand on Winnie's shoulder. "Hey, don't beat yourself up. Everyone has a bad day. You've had one bad float in eight. Don't make too much of this," she told her before starting to walk upstream and find Alex.

Getting their food out of the drybag, Rikki sat down next to her. She took a long drink out of her water bottle and handed it to Winnie. She watched as Winnie gulped down a few swallows.

"What's wrong, Winnie? Are you hung over?" Rikki asked.

Taking a smaller sip this time, Winnie shook her head. "No, I just didn't sleep well," she replied. She put the water bottle down and got out her sandwich.

"Did I snore?" Rikki asked. "Because Samuel says every once in a while, I snore."

Winnie laughed. She couldn't imagine Rikki doing something so unladylike. "No, you did not snore!" she said.

"Why then?" Rikki wanted to know.

The bright sun hid the little bit of a blush that came over Winnie's face. She couldn't tell Rikki the real reason. "I don't know. Just getting used to a new place to sleep, I guess," she answered.

"Well, finish your sandwich and then rest on the tube. You can get a little cat nap in the sun," Rikki told her. Both of them readjusted to lie out in the sun. It was comfortable and the warmth made both of them drowsy.

They were close to falling asleep when the sound of rocks shifting alerted them that someone was coming over. Rikki opened her eyes and saw it was Liz. She started to smile at her friend when she noticed that Liz had her guide-training boss look on.

"What the hell was that?" Liz said without preamble. "Winnie, your run today was piss poor. And that landing at lunch, well that was just embarrassing." As soon as Liz started to yell at her, Winnie sat up. She dropped her head and took the tongue-lashing. "Someone who guides like that, I don't know if they are ready for customers."

"Hey!" Rikki said sharply. Liz stopped, unused to anyone ever interfering with one of her lectures. She swung her attention over to Rikki with a glare. Fortunately, this was not the first time Rikki was at the receiving end of one of Liz's scowls. They ceased to intimidate her long ago.

"That's bullshit and you know it," Rikki said. The anger was clear in her voice, but she pitched it low enough that no one else would hear her except the three of them. "She couldn't sleep last night, and she had a hard time, but you've seen her raft for four weeks now and you know how good she is. I wouldn't hesitate to go with her, and no customer would either. And you know that, Liz!" She stood up and took a step towards her best friend.

"You've trained us and you did a good job, but it's time to stop being the Drill Sargent. At this point, try being encouraging. I think it will go a lot further," Rikki told her. "And not just for Winnie," she added. "Indigo did that and it was the right touch."

At first, Liz felt her temper flare even more with Rikki's tongue-lashing. Slowly, the words sank in, and she felt it slipping away. "Okay, you're right," she said. "I get into that role and sometimes it is hard to let it go." She looked at Winnie. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that about being ready. You are a good guide, Winnie."

Pausing for a moment, Liz looked over at Rikki. "You've got a good point. I should tell Indigo how well she has done too. It's the right balance between teaching and encouragement."

"Look," Liz said to Winnie. "I know it's fun to party on these weekends, but you can't let the fun interfere with the job. Get your sleep so it doesn't impact your guiding."

"That wasn't it. I didn't drink that much," Winnie said. She smiled at Rikki. "Certainly not as much as some people. I just had a hard time sleeping. It was a few hours before I finally fell asleep."

Liz nodded. "Well not much anyone can do about that." She tried not to look over at Rikki. Over the years, they occasionally shared a bed during a girl's weekend away or while visiting Rikki at college. She always found it hard to fall asleep next to Rikki.

"At least that's not Winnie's problem," Liz thought to herself. Aloud, she just expressed understanding. "Well, I guess we'll just chalk it up to a bad day. Hopefully next time, nothing will keep you up." She looked at them both and frowned a little. "By the way, how many times do I need to tell you not to sit on the tubes, especially when they are on rocks? Get some water and cool them off so they don't pop!" She walked away and pretended to swear as she headed back to the main group.

Both of them looked sheepish as they hurried to obey. Rikki felt a little of the satisfaction from having won her argument with Liz disappear. Focused as she was on cooling off the tubes to the raft, she missed entirely how Winnie's eyes watched her. Rikki coming to her defense just made Winnie admire her even more.

Pretty soon, the rest of their crew split off from the main group and headed back down to the raft. The float would be getting back on the river soon. Both of them already had their turns and would just be paddlers for the rest of the trip.

While Rikki would have liked to guide Black Canyon, part of her was happy just to enjoy the ride. It would be a good end to a fun four weeks. Next week, she wouldn't even get on the river as a guide or a paddler. Samuel had been a good guy and watched Kieran for a month now; it was her turn to let him have some fun.

That night, Rikki got home late. It was a four-hour drive from the Methow, and they stopped for dinner along the way. Winnie was unusually quiet on the way home, lost in her thoughts. It didn't matter. Rikki and Lena made up for it with their chatter. Since they all met at Rikki's house on Saturday morning, at least she didn't have to take them home. After a round of mutual hugs, the other two women got into their cars and drove off.

Rikki looked at her watch. It was almost 11. From how dark the house was, it looked like Samuel was probably already in bed. She remembered him mentioning something about needing to leave early in the morning for a trip south to a client. Sighing, Rikki felt a little disappointment. It would have been nice to talk with him after being gone for two days, especially since he probably wouldn't be back until late tomorrow.

Coming in through the kitchen, Rikki headed over to the refrigerator to get a glass of orange juice. Between the drinking last night and the heat of the day, she was a little dehydrated. Opening it up, she reached in and grabbed the carton. She almost had it closed again, when she stopped and looked inside the refrigerator again. The fresh pasta she bought for Samuel and Kieran to eat was still there. Pulling open the meat drawer, she saw that the hamburger was too.

"That's odd," she thought as she shut the door. "Samuel knew I got that for them." Leaning up against the counter, she slowly drank her juice. The sweet cold liquid seemed to go straight into her bloodstream, and she felt instantly better. "I wonder what they did eat," she thought. When she was done, she opened up the dishwasher to put her glass away.

It hadn't been run yet and Rikki noticed that there didn't appear to be any dinner dishes in it. "Huh," she said aloud. "Now I wonder where they ate." She shut the dishwasher and then headed up to bed.

As she turned out the lights to the kitchen, Rikki thought to herself, "I'll have to remember to ask Samuel when he gets back tomorrow night."