Read Online Pride's Prejudice by Misty Dawn Pulsipher - Free Book Online Page A

satisfied expression on his face.
    When
William's eyes lighted on Beth's and she couldn't decipher his expression, she
looked away.
    "Oh,
and make sure you get all the bones out of the fish," William charged the
girls.
    Les
beckoned William over to meet the ranger, who recounted his mudslide narrative,
while Beth snuck into their midst to grab the first aid kit and then hurried to
Jenna.
    After
wrapping an ace bandage around Jenna's ankle, applying a cold pack, and giving
her some pain killers, Beth rummaged in her back pack and was relieved to find
a chocolate bar and half a can of Pringles left.
    "Sorry
Jenna, this is all I could come up with.  Kara and Lucy attempted
pancakes, but I don't think either of them aced HOMEC."  She propped
Jenna up with some pillows so she could eat, then handed her the Pringles can.
    Jenna
sighed, her pale eyes fluttering in exhaustion as she munched.  She had
only made it through one chip when she snapped the lid back on the can. 
"I think I'm getting a cold.  My throat's sore."  With
that, she snuggled down in the sleeping bag and turned onto her side.
    Worry
bubbled up in Beth's chest.  People didn't die from sprained ankles, did
they?  She thought of the ridiculous television shows her father watched
on the weekends - Testosterone Vs. Nature and the like.  Beth could
never tolerate the staged drama of the whole thing.  It always seemed so
preposterous.  But if she'd paid attention once or twice maybe she
could've fashioned a splint out of twigs and vines or something.  Of
course, it would be no surprise if Jenna ended up with a head cold.  She
had been soaked through yesterday.  Sighing, Beth watched Jenna for a
moment before quietly slipping out of the tent.  At least the injury had
been wrapped and medication had been given.  Hopefully with some quality
rest, she would be okay soon.
    After
restoring the kit to the ranger, Beth decided to try and be of some use around
camp.  She dumped the water out of the camp chairs, leaving them topsy
turvy to dry while she disposed of the crumb heap on the table and gathered
trash around camp, tossing it into the fire pit.  Then she nipped quietly
into the tent for her novel, noting with pleasure that Jenna slept
peacefully.  Before she could zip the tent closed, Kara and Lucy met her
at the door.
    "How
is our poor little patient, Beth?"  Kara's tone of earnest concern
brought Beth up short.  Had the moon's gravitational pull on the earth
been disrupted, upsetting the earth's axis and inciting odd behavior?
    "She's
getting a cold, but I think she'll be okay - she just needs rest." 
Beth hoped they would get the point from her overly quiet tone.
    " Poor
thing, " Lucy crooned, a hand splayed across her heart in
empathy.  Her concern didn't come off as well as Kara's.  Beth
decided that Lucy was probably more sincere and that Kara was simply the better
actress.
    Lucy
stood in her show of concern, but Kara had a devastated expression as she
looked beyond Beth, into the tent.  Beth scowled and followed her line of
vision, not understanding the sudden change in her countenance.
    "Beth,"
Kara began sweetly, finally tearing her tortured face away from the tent door
and rearranging it into a hospitable grimace, "you really should bunk up
in our tent tonight.  I can't believe the four of you squashed up like
that in there last night.  Lucy and I have air mattresses; I'm sure we
could work something out."
    'Working
something out' would most likely mean trading her bed on the floor of this tent
for a bed on the floor of theirs, but Beth kept this observation to herself.
    "I'd
probably better stay in here with Jenna.  Can you imagine Les trying to
help her to the outhouse in the middle of the night?"
    The
silence was awkward, to say the least.  Beth stole a surreptitious glance
into the tent but could see nothing offensive - just Jenna cocooned in her
bedroll, Les's blanketwich next to her, and then Beth and William's
things.  Had she