Chapter 9 Mina
Mina
Ihad lost my ever-loving mind.
What was I thinking, inviting Luke to research with me? I could have easily waved goodbye as we left Claire’s and gone to the library by myself.
But no. Here I was, in my car, following him along Glacier Highway into Juneau.
The twenty-five-minute drive was entirely too long. I had too much time to think. To second guess myself and to wonder about the man in the pickup truck, leading the way.
Things like, so what if he was six years younger? We were both adults. And he was kind. How often did I meet a handsome—unattached—man who wasn’t full of himself?
Never.
Because I lived in the boonies, where the most action I saw on a regular basis was in the summer months when Garrett Wier came down off the mountain to do his grocery shopping, but also decided his clothes needed a better clean than what he could do at his off-grid cabin and stripped down to nothing but a pair of cut-off jean shorts as he walked around town, while every other stitch he owned was in a washer at the laundromat.
He inevitably ended up at my coffeeshop for his monthly coffee splurge.
I never had the heart to tell him to cover up.
I might not want to see his wrinkly, old-man chest, but he was harmless and one of the kindest souls I’d ever met.
So, where else could I meet a single man who I wouldn’t mind seeing bare-chested and didn’t disgust me with his attitude?
I might as well be on Mars.
With a huff, I ran a hand through my hair. Maybe I could try one of those online dating sites. Juneau wasn’t that far away, so if I set my search distance to include it, I might find a decent guy.
There’s one right in front of you.
My lips pursed as my inner self voiced her opinion. Apparently, she didn’t care about the age gap or the fact that we were in a pseudo employer/employee situation.
Just give him a chance.
I rolled my eyes. She wasn’t giving up, which made me think.
Was I wrong to push him to the side because of those things? Maybe not for the employment situation. It was never a good idea to get involved with someone you worked with. But was the age difference really that big of a deal?
I mean, he didn’t seem all that immature.
My mind wandered to how I was at that age. Immaturity had long since flown the coop when I was twenty-six. A year later, I was a business owner.
Perhaps Luke was similar. He had a good job, and so far, there had been no talk of partying.
A quick chuckle escaped. Listen to me—apparently, mid-twenties equated frat boy in my mind.
An image of a man I rarely thought about floated through my mind.
Corbin Battle.
My jaw worked.
Oh, yeah. There was the reason I had that idea of men in their twenties.
That jerk had played me, led me on, then dumped me when I wanted to get serious. All because he was more interested in chasing all the tail he could than in building a solid relationship.
A bona fide womanizer, whom I’d fallen for hard.
Not all men in their twenties are just out for a quick lay, my inner self cautioned.
Chewing on my lip, I glanced out the side window for a moment. Rationally, I knew that.
But emotionally?
Maybe younger men weren’t the only ones who were immature.
I let out a low, soft grunt, not liking the hard truths his presence in my life had brought out.
They were long overdue to be dealt with, though.
See? I could hear the eyebrow raise in that one word.
I couldn’t help but chuckle at myself. I knew my subconscious mind was right. It was the part of the human mind always on the ball.
Lips pressed tightly together, I vowed to listen to her a little more often.
Because there was one thing for certain: I didn’t want to end up alone. Watching Claire with Ozzie, lately, had made me face that fear head-on. And if Luke was the man meant to keep me from aging by myself, I didn’t want to turn him away because of a past hurt.
“Be open-minded,” I muttered as we pulled into the library parking lot. “Just let things happen as they’re supposed to.”
Peptalk over, I turned into a space beside Luke’s truck and shut off the engine.
Climbing out, I met him in front of the vehicles, and we went inside.
“Reference is this way.” He gestured toward a desk off to the side.
“Do you know how to use a microfiche machine?” I murmured as we approached the desk. “Because I haven’t used one since grade school.”
He tossed a quick grin at me. “I’ve never used one. But that’s what the librarians are for.”
“How have you never used one? You work for a construction company. Don’t you have to… I don’t know… search databases and such?”
“Yes, but usually just property and permitting records. That’s all digital.”
We stopped in front of the desk, where a middle-aged gentleman sat. His thin, mousy brown hair was a bit mussed, and thick gray glasses sat on the bridge of his nose.
He greeted us with a kind smile. “Hello. How can I help you folks?”
“We’d like to look at some of your microfiche newspapers,” Luke said.
“All right.” The man pushed away from the desk. “Have you searched the catalogue yet?”
“No. We weren’t sure where to start.”
“Come this way.” The man motioned us to follow him and led us to a computer along one wall. “All our microfiche is catalogued in various ways on here.” He tipped a finger toward the monitor. “Do you know what newspaper and what edition you’re looking for?”
Luke and I shared a look.
I lifted a shoulder. “Sort of? We have a list of names and dates.” I reached into my purse and removed the folded-up sheet of paper.
“That’s more than what some people come with.” The man held up a hand. “May I?”
I handed him the list. “Please.”
Taking it, he unfolded it and sat down. “I’ll get you started, so you know how to use the database.” He typed the first name into the search bar.
A list of results popped up. Withdrawing a pen from his shirt pocket, he wrote down the catalogue number for the first couple of listings, where the name appeared exact. “We can search by date as well, if you want?”
I glanced at Luke, and by some silent communication, we both agreed not to do that. He shook his head, and I turned to the librarian.
“For that name, I think we’re good,” I said.
The man nodded. “All right.” Leaving the paper on the desk, he got up.
“I will leave you to it. When you finish your search, bring me the catalogue numbers and I’ll fetch the microfiche rolls for you.
I will also tell you I don’t think you’ll get through all the rolls tonight before we close. That’s a lot of names.”
After we thanked the man, he wandered back to his desk.
Luke motioned for me to take a seat, then crouched beside me. “You search; I’ll write.” A small crease formed between his brows. “Although I need a pen.”
Smiling, I passed him my purse. “There’s one in here.”
With slightly wide eyes, he took the bag. “You want me to dig through your purse?”
A half-smile tipped my mouth, and I turned toward the computer screen. “There isn’t anything in it that’s embarrassing.” I traded bags like my underwear, so any purse I carried usually only held the essentials.
He opened it and peered inside. “Still. I know several women who guard their bags like Cerberus guards the gates of Hades.”
I sent him a quick look, surprised at the reference, then chuckled. “Maybe if you got into it without permission, I’d get a little grouchy.”
“Understandable.” He reached in and pulled out a pen. With a quick click, he was ready. “Hit me.”
I typed in the next name on the list. Within seconds, we had several entries. I read off the catalogue numbers for Luke to write down.
After checking two more names, I paused. “Do we want to get reference numbers for all of the names, or should we stop here for now?”
Luke looked at the paper, cocking his head. He clucked his tongue, then met my gaze. “We could stop. See what pans out in what we have.”
I nodded once and pushed back from the desk. “Let’s go find that librarian.”
That turned out to be the easiest thing about the next fifteen minutes. Who knew microfiche could be so uncooperative?
I heaved a sigh as the microfiche tried to unspool itself again from the machine. “I don’t remember it being this hard.” I cast a quick look up at Luke, who hovered next to me.
“You want me to try?”
Thoroughly done with fighting the film, I stood up before he could change his mind. “Have at it.” I swept a hand toward my vacated chair.
Grinning, he sat down. Lacing his fingers, he stretched out his arms and turned his hands, cracking his knuckles. “I think you just weren’t paying attention. It didn’t look that difficult.”
“Mmm, sure.” I crossed my arms and waited for the inevitable chaos.
On his first try, the film slipped right off the reel, flapping noisily.
A soft chuckle escaped my lips.
He shot a wry look at me and tried again.
This time, it tried to slide off again, but he stopped the machine more quickly than before, then manually wound the beginning of the reel until it was no longer loose. When he pushed the button to make the spools automatically spin, it stayed on and advanced the reel.
The grin he tossed me was nothing short of smug.
“That’s not the way he showed us how to do it,” I argued.
Luke lifted one broad shoulder. “But it worked. Now, what’s the first date?” He turned the paper on the desk so he could read it.
I huffed. Show off.
“Grab a chair and sit, so you can read this too.” He motioned to the unoccupied rolling chair at the next microfiche station.
Doing as he said, I scooted close.
A second later, I eased away a fraction. He smelled yummy.
The distance didn’t help much, but I was soon able to push his deliciousness to the back of my mind as he found the first article. It was about the woman’s disappearance.
We both skimmed it, but there was no mention of Parker’s Landing or any of its residents.
He moved ahead, and we read the updates, but those, too, were devoid of any clues that would lead us back to town.
For each of the subsequent names, we found more of the same. Nothing that tied any of them to Parker’s Landing or Mr. Shuman.
“Well, that was a bust,” I said as we left the library.
“No. We can cross all those names off the list.”
I raised a finger. “Ozzie would tell you no one is off the list until proven otherwise.”
Luke’s mouth tipped up on one side. “Okay, we can knock those names down, then. Pin them as highly unlikely to be the woman in your wall. You have to admit, it’s better than where we started.” He stopped in front of his truck.
“I guess so.” I gripped the strap of my bag hanging off my shoulder. “Sorry. I’m just upset we didn’t find a smoking gun. One thing you’ll learn about me is I’m not the most patient person. And after all I went through to get that building, having to wait even longer is driving me insane.”
“I get it. And I’ll have a crew on standby, so we can get in there as soon as Detective Quartermaine gives you the all-clear.”
“I appreciate that.” I would be badgering Ozzie every day about releasing the scene.
He’d probably get sick of me, but I didn’t care.
The café renovations needed to happen sooner rather than later.
If it wasn’t open, it wasn’t making money, which meant the mortgage on that part of the business was coming out of my coffeeshop profits and my savings.
“Try not to stress, okay?”
Warm fingers briefly touched my crossed arms, glitching my brain. It took me a moment to register that he was still talking.
“… tomorrow night?”
I blinked. “Sorry. I spaced out.” I waved my fingers. “Thinking. Can you repeat that?”
That same look he gave me last week when he showed up in place of his dad entered his storm-gray eyes. The one that said he felt the spark too.
Like the last time, he ignored it. “I asked if you want to come back tomorrow night and look at more names on our list.”
“Oh. Um…” I ran through my calendar in my head. There wasn’t anything special going on, so I nodded. “Sure. Maybe a little earlier, so we can get through more names, though.”
“I can do that. How about we grab dinner first, then come here?”
The glitch from earlier returned and shifted into a full-on meltdown. My mouth worked, but nothing came out.
He chuckled. “We don’t have to.”
“No!” I shot a hand out, then reeled it back in and cleared my throat.
Dial it back a notch, Mina, sheesh.
I wanted to roll my eyes at myself, but didn’t want Luke to think it was aimed at him. His request took me by surprise, as did my response to him backpedaling. Apparently, I was more eager to see where things could go between us than I thought.
Inhaling, I tried again. “Dinner sounds fine. I can be in Juneau by five-thirty.”
A slow smile broke over his chiseled features. Those stormy eyes warmed as his grin grew. “Okay. How about we meet here? I’m pretty familiar with the city, but I don’t know about you.”
“That’s fine. I don’t come here much.” I knew where the big box stores were, but that was about it. I avoided Juneau. Cities weren’t my thing. “Just don’t pick anything fancy for dinner. I’m coming from the coffeeshop and will likely still be in my usual work uniform of jeans and a t-shirt.”
“That works. I’ll be coming from work too.” He took a step back toward the driver’s door of his truck. “So, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”
I backed toward my car. “Yep. Tomorrow.” With a quick flip of my hand, I spun on my heel just as the eye roll finally released. I couldn’t hold it back this time. I sounded like a teenager with her first crush, not a thirty-two-year-old woman who’d been on her fair share of dates.
But none of the men from my past made my insides liquify the way one lopsided smile and a heated look from Luke Decker did.
“Be careful driving home.”
His voice carried over the hood of his truck.
The gooeyness going on in my belly intensified. Forget his looks. It was the genuine niceness that truly did me in. I wanted to wrap myself around him and let him hold up my liquifying bones. It was his fault, after all.
I also wouldn’t be opposed to him making the liquefaction worse, but in much more delicious ways than with just his smile and his words.
Down girl. You barely know him, I reminded myself.
I cast a quick glance over as I reached the driver’s door. The sun highlighted the blond in his hair, giving him a bit of a halo effect.
Somehow, I doubted the thoughts running through his mind were angelic. His eyes blazed with the same heat burning in my belly.
Barely trusting my voice not to crack, I replied, “I will.” My thumb found the button on my door handle to unlock my car. With a quick click, the locks popped, and I climbed inside before he could say or do anything else to turn more of me into a gooey pile of horny woman.