Pacific Northwest Werebears(5)

The small door at the end of the galley was where Wyatt walked ahead of her and pushed it open. A miniscule room with a single bed, nightstand, and wardrobe occupied most of the space. A desk and chair were pushed up against a window that looked out to the parking lot. A narrow pocket door led to a tiny bathroom, with sink, toilet, and the world’s smallest shower. At least it was private, she thought.

“It’s not much, but it’s yours and safe. The mess hall door locks as well as your room. We hire the best men we can find, but I don’t suggest you take your safety lightly. Lock up every night before bed, no exceptions,” he warned. “Also, don’t go roaming around at night, we are in the wilderness and wild animals like to hunt at night.”

“Oh, I’m not about to go off being frivolous with my safety, Wyatt. I appreciate your concern,” she said, glad that at least one of the bosses was looking out for her.

“A couple of the boys will be in early to throw some cereal out for the guys, so if you hear them banging around don’t get worried. We keep all the food locked up outside in a refrigerated trailer. I’ll show that to you tomorrow. You’ll probably want to do inventory and get comfortable before taking over,” he said giving her a wink.

Sophie kept spinning around looking, trying to get her bearings.

“Thank you, Wyatt, you’ve been really kind. I’m sure this is all going to work out great,” she said, hoping she sounded optimistic.

Nodding, he started toward the door, “Make sure you lock up, I’ll lock the mess hall door myself on the way out. We’ll see you in the morning, Sophie,” he offered, tipping an imaginary hat.





Chapter 5




Sophie couldn’t sleep, the jet lag had reared its ugly inevitable head. All that sleep on the plane had thrown her body out of whack and now she was lying wide awake in the quiet of the forest. Except it wasn’t that quiet. She heard frogs and owls, and things skittering around in the dark.

Realizing that she wasn’t going to get any sleep, she decided to get up and investigate her new kitchen. She had worked with top of the line equipment in England, but she wasn’t scared off by this rough and tumble challenge. She was like an Old West pioneer, making do with what she had.

Flipping on the kitchen lights, she wandered around opening drawers and cupboards, finding all the usual suspects. She checked the burners on the stove, all in working order. She came across a clipboard hanging with a meal menu from the previous cook.

Yuck, it all looked like canned or packaged meals. Obviously fresh wasn’t in the previous cook’s repertoire. She also discovered a key behind the clipboard that had a tag that said ‘storage’ on it. Looking out the window, she could see a trailer like you’d see behind a lorry sitting behind the building.

Grabbing a flashlight by the door, she headed out to investigate what she was now going to affectionately call her refrigerator. Fitting the key into the lock, she pulled open the door and saw a power cord hanging down the side of the container. She ran her hand along it until she found a toggle and flicked it. Three rows of lights flicked on exposing shelf after shelf of food. Some of it didn’t need to be refrigerated but was clearly here as part of storage.

The rest was a bounty of fresh food. Vegetables lined up in wood bins, meat in huge slabs bundled together. There was a wall of dairy products and near the back an entire rack devoted to fruit. Every berry you could imagine, all local and all clearly picked recently. There were a few exotic fruits, papayas, and some mangos, but mostly it was huckleberries, and red currants and the like. There were also chest freezers full of more perishable items like ice cream and frozen cakes.

The last person might have liked frozen cakes, but that was not something Sophie was comfortable with. Looking around she remembered Wyatt saying that they were going to put out cereal for the staff in the morning. Breakfast was still a few hours away, she had time to at least whip them up something hot to keep them going for the day.

Grabbing an armful of supplies, and knowing she was going to be making a few trips she left the light on and headed into the kitchen.

Sophie had to put on her serious planning cap to figure out how to make up enough food for fifty men. She got some venison sausages she saw in the fridge going in the oven. She whipped up pancake batter in the industrial mixer. Once that was setting to rest, she put together three different berries, including some frozen blackberries she found into a big pot. She added sugar, vanilla, and honey and put it on a slow simmer.

She decided to whip up a little honey butter too, to go with the pancakes and berry compote. She noticed there were huge gallon jars of honey stashed not only in the fridge, but the kitchen as well. She discovered them when she was taking inventory. Someone must really like honey.