Coraline #2
An icy wind rattles the leaves and branches. God, he’s so tall.
“Fine,” I offer. “I’ll help you.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Coraline, go back to the cabin.”
“No.”
“Do you know any other word than no?”
“Whatever. So why do you like shed hunting?”
“You’re annoying.”
“Yes,” I tell him, stepping over a branch.
He’s given up on trying to convince me to go back, and I cherish the small victory over the long silence. I gaze up at the mountains, wrapping my head around the beauty. Now that the snow fog has cleared, everything is clearer. There’s a bright blue lake running not too far from here.
“Every spring, animals shed their antlers. I collect them. That’s why I call it shed hunting.”
Finally!
He’s opening up to me.
“I used to do this when I was a kid. It’s…
fun for me. Every winter, I get out of the house, search for them, and add them to my collection.
I started this tradition when I was five years old, whenever my parents would argue.
I didn’t want to be around them when they would fight, and we don’t live near the city.
I didn’t have friends nearby. Only Merelyn. So, I went shed hunting.”
“Your parents fought a lot, too, huh? My parents are still together, even though they argue all day, every day, like it’s a competition to see who can instigate the most fights, wins.”
“Yeah, except when my mother wasn’t around, he’d take his anger out on me with a knife.”
I still, almost tripping over my feet. He says it like it’s a regular part of childhood. He keeps walking until something catches his attention. I stare at the back of his head as I spot a scar on the back of his neck.
I remember those scars. I spotted them all over his back when he slept in the corner of his bedroom with me. Are those from his father?
He bends down, pulls a shed of antlers out of the snow.
“A three-pointer. Where’s the other one?
” he mumbles to himself. “If I get lucky, I can find the other one nearby.” He takes a long stride to the right away from me.
“Anyways, they’re dead. Died before I could understand the meaning of death.
I never understood what it feels like to have a family. Merelyn is the closest I’ll ever get.”
How the hell is he so nonchalant right now?
His father would stab him.
No, that can’t be what he said, right? I want to ask him to repeat himself to make sure, but I hold back.
“What animal is this from?” I ask, trying to push down the rock in my throat with a long swallow, rolling with the topic change. I don’t want to imagine a five-year-old Gavin, afraid and lonely, getting stabbed by his own father. It hurts.
“A Sitka black-tailed deer.”
I nod like I know what that means and force a smile anyway through glassy eyes. He’s opening up about something personal. It’s a window for us to talk. This is an opportunity to share something, too.
“I’m getting stalked,” I blurt.
“You told me.”
“I have a feeling the man after me won’t stop until I’m dead.”
Gavin looks at me over his shoulder.
“If this person tries to get near you again, I’ll kill him. It’s simple, Coraline. You worry so much, all the time.”
I don’t know how to respond, so I give him a reluctant nod. Is he starting to believe me?
“Gavin.”
“Yeah?”
“Have you ever thought of leaving this place?”
“It crosses my mind every time it snows,” he scoffs with a lazy grin. He exhales—a puff of white swirls from his parted lips. “But no. I could never leave Merelyn up here alone. She’s also rooted herself here, with no plans to move. She’s more stubborn than I am, and this is my home.”
He stands back up and hands me the antler. I look over it, studying every crease and edge—the scratches. It’s an older animal with history written all over it.
“This is beautiful.”
“Keep going, Coraline. Tell me more,” he says, walking faster. His boots easily push through the mountains of ice. He finds another one, this time it’s smaller. We add it to the growing pile in my arms.
“My husband cheated on me with my best friend.”
He doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t stop or flinch, but I think he likes hearing me talk, even if he won’t admit it…I think he secretly likes my company.
“I stopped drawing after that. I was sad for a long time.”
“When did this happen?”
“A few months ago.” This time, there’s no overly emotional tone to my voice. It doesn’t hurt to talk about it. “I came to Sleepy Coldwater after receiving an invitation via email. I was going to pass it up because this year was rough on me mentally, but—”
“You’re here,” he finishes for me.
I nod.
“I’m here.”
He stops and glances at me, making my lungs seize. I’m ashamed of how quickly this man pulls me in like gravity.
“Good,” he says. His voice is rougher than what I’m used to. Empathy flickers through his eyes as he stares at me longer.
He closes the distance, facing me, looking deeply past my blood and bones until I feel him inside me—something warm invades my swelling chest, and the need to feel how his lips would feel on mine enters my head.
But then Gavin breaks the moment with a fast blink, catching himself before he can say or do anything more.
He turns around, his tongue dragging against his lips before he gives me his back.
Was he thinking the same thing as me?
I press my lips together, trying to fight the fire he’s ignited.
“You’re stubborn, but you’re a good person. I know you are.”
“I’m not perfect.”
“None of us is,” he says.
During one of the most challenging moments of my life, I shut down completely. I didn’t want to talk or see anyone. Even when my sister reached out to help, I couldn’t get out of the hole I was sinking into. I didn’t give them a chance to be there for me.
Since coming to Alaska, I’ve found something to hold onto.
Hope.
My foot hits something hard. I look down and spot another shed. I yank it out of the snow and smile.
“I found its match!” I bristle, excitedly, twisting it around in my hand.
“Would you look at that?” He turns around and ambles toward me. He grins. Holy shit, Gavin’s smiling. And it’s the kind of smile that’s infectious. I can’t help but mirror it with my own. I miss being able to smile like this, but around Gavin, it’s instinct. I don’t even realize I’m doing it too.
“You’re finally pulling your weight around here. I don’t have to throw you out of my cabin today.”
“You know you can say, thank you, right? Say nice things?”
“It’s not a part of my vocabulary.”
“Right.” I roll my eyes before I take more antlers from his hands and add them to my collection. I stick out my tongue playfully, and I swear I spot a small smile, but he turns around before I can define it.
“What do you do for a living, Gavin? Rescue girls from wreckages?”
He chuckles.
“And you’re a veteran, correct? You were in the Navy?”
“Yes. I served 15 years in special operations before I got out. I loved it. I didn’t want to leave the teams, but I was forced—ordered to.
There were multiple reasons. The main reason was that I got injured and could no longer do my job.
” He takes something out of his pocket. It’s a knife.
He twirls it around his palm. “I wanted to leave Alaska for good, but Merelyn needed me as she got older. She’s too prideful to say it, but I know she needs me.
She has no one. No children or family nearby, but me.
So I moved back home to the cabin. I’m a fisherman now, looking for Salmon, King Crabs, Snow Crab, and Halibut.
I’ll leave for days to weeks on a boat with a crew. ”
“That’s why Merelyn needs Georgia?”
He nods.
“I think Georgia likes you.”
I don’t know why I feel a curious pull toward Georgia’s and Gavin’s relationship. But there has to be history there.
He doesn’t say anything.
“Do you like her?”
Nada.
“She’s pretty,” I add, pulling teeth.
“She’s not the one I want.”