Chapter Four
Isaac
The low hum of the television sat in my consciousness. I stared at the meteorological charts and winced.
Three storms in a continuous line from Hawaii all the way to southern British Columbia. The second one had been veering south of us toward Washington State, but the trajectory changed an hour ago and was now on a path to hit the west side of Vancouver Island and Vancouver’s lower mainland.
November had been unusually dry, but much of British Columbia had been scorched during the summer wildfires. That combination meant unstable ground and the likelihood of landslides. Between that and the anticipated gale-force winds, we weren’t going anywhere.
Even if things calmed enough between storms for me to get out to the island, Ronnie would be taking the risk on the return journey. No, better to wait.
An email from headquarters in my inbox assured me she was fine. She’d weathered storms this bad before and would likely again.
The intensity seemed to grow every year. Climate change. Or so they said.
I powered down the laptop and glanced at my watch. Seventeen-thirty-three. My unexpected roommate sat on the bed, propped against the headboard. I pivoted and found him watching the weather channel.
He glanced at me and raised the volume.
A shot of one of those crazy news reporters standing out in the storm, reporting on how bad the storm was. Nuts. The woman was nuts. Whoever thought that was a good idea? Her bosses needed to have their heads examined.
That being said, if I had an equipment failure or something like that, I’d be out as well, so maybe just…doing her job?
At the end of her segment, Ben shut off the television. “Do we go down to get food or do we order room service?”
I eyed Buddy. “There’s a restaurant here that allows pets, believe it or not. Well, dogs. Not cats. And you’re not supposed to feed your dog from your plate, but people do it.”
Buddy perked up at his name.
He truly was adorable. “How old?”
“Eighteen months. I got him when he was six months old. Terrible situation. But now he’s with me and life is great. I didn’t plan to get a dog right as I was starting teacher’s college, but sometimes we don’t get to pick when our destiny comes along.”
“Buddy is your destiny?”
Ben nodded vigorously. His mahogany hair shone in the light and he had a bit of five o’clock shadow accumulating. He was also adorable.
“Well, why don’t we head downstairs?”
I extended a hand to Buddy.
He cocked his head, glanced at Ben, looked back at me, and offered his paw.
“Good boy.”
I petted him on the head.
As a group, we headed to the stairs. Two flights down and we were back in the lobby. Ben and Buddy followed my lead as I guided them to the Paw Express restaurant. We didn’t have a reservation, and in tourist season you definitely needed one, but we were okay tonight. The host pointed to the table by the huge plate-glass windows and I nodded. A perfect view out over the ocean.
We sat across from each other while Buddy tucked himself under the table.
Within moments, our server, Oana, appeared. “Hey, fancy seeing you here.”
I grinned. A little forced, though. I didn’t want to be here. I wanted to be over on the island.
“You landlocked?”
“Until the storms pass.”
“Fair enough.”
She eyed Buddy and handed Ben a smaller menu.
His eyes lit as he reviewed all the options. He selected a serving of beef stew with carrots, potatoes, and peas.
“And for yourself?”
“Oh.”
He blushed. “Like, a burger or something. Or do you have fish?”
“We specialize in fish. How about salmon? Grilled?”
He nodded.
“I’ll have the burger with extra tomatoes and no lettuce.”
She winked. “Back in a jiffy.”
“I thought you said I can’t feed Buddy.”
“From your plate,”
I prompted. “They’ll feed him for you. Beef stew?”
“Oh, he loves it. He’s going to be so spoiled.”
He said the last sentence in that cutesy way some owners spoke to their pets.
Usually I found it irritating. Today I found it adorable.
There was that word again.
Oana returned with a small dish of stew and two glasses of water. “You guys want anything stronger?”
I held up my hand. “I’m good.”
Ben hesitated before repeating the gesture.
“You can have a drink, Ben.”
He eyed me.
Disconcertingly, he seemed to see through me.
“I rarely imbibe. I overdid it a couple of nights ago when I finished my final exam.”
Possibly true. Probably true. But I sensed more to the story.
He took a sip of water. “So what do you do, Isaac? When you’re not landlocked, that is.”
I took a sip of water. “I’m the lightkeeper at Lennard Island.”