Chapter Twenty-Seven
F or the next several days, Mav threw himself into work on the lodge and with EMS. He had an ambulance service to keep running, no money to do it or enough medics on staff. Ditto with the lodge, which was now getting more inquiries and reservations.
Thanks to a certain woman who didn’t know if she was sticking around or not. Didn’t know if she wanted to be in Yukon Valley or if she would rather make extra money.
Yes, she deserved to recover from the financial blow her ex had given her. Mav could appreciate the difficulty of that situation. She deserved to get back on her feet again. He couldn’t blame someone for having those goals.
Except for the fact that doing so might not involve him.
He couldn’t count the number of times he had started a text to her, then deleted the message. What he really wanted was to sit with Lee in a room, hash their situation out, make promises that he could now deliver on, take back some of the words he had said, and hold on to her with both arms.
Instead, he worked and took care of the babies. Despite his busy schedule, he got out before or after his shifts to take the dogs for daily exercise. Even in terrible weather, their lolling tongues and happy yaps brought him a little bit of peace every day.
Now that there was a good chance he wouldn’t have to give them up, it made him work that much harder to turn the lodge business into a success.
The booking volumes slowed down, but they kept on coming. He had requests to use the property as a wedding venue, a family reunion, and for various retreats. Mav shook his head. Whatever Tuli had done with that word-of-mouth social media blast had worked. Not only did they have bookings for almost every day Dee and Mav could host, but the lodge now boasted great reviews. Folks from town who had never stayed there posted about how much they liked Mav and Dee and what a beautiful property they had. Previous customers updated their reviews or added new ones. The uplifting support kept him going almost as much as the full schedule.
With the deposits for future reservations secured, he and Dee scraped together December’s past-due mortgage payment along with January’s and February’s payments, keeping their heads above water and the property out of foreclosure. Barring unforeseen disasters, they would make future monthly installments on time. For the first time in forever, Mav didn’t want to hide his mail.
After Lee had left his house on Sunday afternoon, he had opened the drawer that was stuffed full of bills and correspondence. The USGS letter confirmed what Randy had said about the minerals on the property. It explained how the initial survey had been misfiled. It described the legal process if he wanted to excavate himself or if he wished to lease the rights. USGS outlined the tax implications if the mine started producing. Sounded like a ton of regulations and safety processes, regardless of whether they mined for gold or extracted the rare earth elements.
The BLM letter referenced Randy’s inquiries into Mav’s property. Randy was looking for other ways to access targeted points bordering the property. The guy wanted to mine the vein with or without owning Mav’s land. Based on BLM’s wording, their response to Randy’s request for access to adjacent land wasn’t just no , but hell no .
Early in the week, Mav had contacted Alaska Mining Claims to ensure the property was safe from any other outside speculation or prospecting. The discovery of ores and minerals in the area might benefit everyone in town, and Mav and Dee were discussing it with other citizens who might have involved property.
If his bed seemed empty, he was too busy to think about it, except late at night in the period of minutes between lying down and falling asleep.
Lee wasn’t Skylar. Mav could see the vast differences in those situations now. He was a different man now, too.
He wanted to fight for Lee. Convince her of what was right in front of her.
She loved Alaska. He had seen it in her eyes. Heard it in the way she described the land around her and the people in this town.
The connection they had was real. Damn it, he deserved a chance to see where it could go. He wanted to be a support for her.
He wanted to be enough for her.
The choice was no longer his.
Lee would make a decision soon, if she hadn’t done so already.
When Mav had questioned Dee, she hadn’t heard anything definitive about Lee’s plans.
He pressed his hand to the empty pillow next to him, imagining her tart and sweet salmonberry scent.
Today was Wednesday. He’d text her tomorrow. They needed to talk.