Chapter 7
7
“What are you doing here?” Maura stiffened at the sight of Lachlan as he shook the snow off his hair. SS used to show up at the grocery store where she was shopping and pretend to be surprised to see her.
Lachlan paused in the midst of brushing snow off his coat. He glanced from Maura to Kathy, his eyes alive with curiosity. “Sorry, did I interrupt something? Just here for the Wi-Fi.”
“Oh.” Of course. Lord almighty, she really needed to get ahold of herself. That bastard was ruining any chance she had of a normal relationship with a man.
“Cash only,” said Kathy, sticking out her hand. Her reading glasses dangled from a bejeweled chain around her neck, and she wore a fuzzy hot-pink baseball cap.
“Can the Wi-Fi handle more than one person at a time?” Maura asked. “Because I was here first.”
“First to pay, first to Wi-Fi.” Then she shrugged. “Two is fine, but no streaming. If you want a movie, rent a DVD.” She gestured at the rack of DVDs, VHSs, and Blu-rays, which were organized in no discernible order.
“I’m just checking my email before school.” Maura pulled out her wallet. “How about you, Lachlan? Are you Netflix-ing?”
“Research.” He offered a ten-dollar bill to Kathy. “I don’t know how long I need, so consider this a tab.”
“No tabs. Too much trouble.”
“Fine, just keep the change.”
Kathy wrote down the password on a slip of paper and slid it across the counter. “Share, please. You know the rules. No porn, no gambling, nothing to get me in trouble with the law.”
“Haven’t you heard,” said Maura lightly. “There’s no law out here.”
“There’s law in here.” Kathy pointed to her own chest. “Me. I’m the law.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Lachlan gave her a respectful salute, which made her giggle. Kathy could be an intimidating figure with her all-business approach, but apparently she had a soft spot for Lachlan.
“She likes you,” Maura whispered as they both made their way to the bench at the back of the store set aside for Wi-Fi users. It sat between a humming chest freezer and a rack of shelves that held animal feed.
“Does she?” Lachlan said absently.
She imagined that most people liked him, and that it probably never registered with him one way or the other. There was something universally endearing about Lachlan. Maybe that was why she kept trusting him—mostly, in between moments of reactive caution.
She sat down on the bench, and set her MacBook Air on her lap. He hesitated, digging his hands into the pockets of his coat. “Listen,” he said softly. “I can wait until you’re done. I’m in no big rush.”
“Why?”
“I saw your face when I came in. You didn’t seem happy to see me. It’s a small town, more of a…micro-town. I don’t want you to feel awkward every time our paths cross.”
He thought her reaction had been due to her “rejection.” And now he was bending over backwards to make sure she didn’t feel awkward. Could he be any more thoughtful?
“That’s not…” She wished she could explain. But that might take a while. “Please, sit down. I’m happy you’re here at the same time as me. I promise.” She gave him her friendliest smile, and it seemed to work on him, judging by the way the tension in his shoulders relaxed. “When I’m done with my email I wanted to do a search on moose acting weirdly. We’re probably here for similar things, right? We can research together, or at least simultaneously.”
“Moose?” He gave in and sat next to her, then pulled an iPad from his inner jacket pocket. “I thought you said it was all smaller animals?”
“Yes, but Old Solomon picked up a moose that had been struck by a car. The people in the car said the moose was weaving back and forth across the road as if it was drunk. They were trying to avoid it but it rammed right into them. Strange, right?”
“Very. Were they okay? A moose can do a lot of damage.”
“They’re fine, but their car’s a mess. What are you researching?”
He unzipped the case of his iPad. “Top-secret government contract.” After a moment, he grinned at her. “Kidding. Apparently there was a family that tried living in Wind Valley. I’m hoping to find out more about them.”
She couldn’t help laughing. “You really had me for a second. I didn’t know you could be so deadpan.”
“I know I seem like an open book, but I hold some things back for a surprise here and there.”
She felt herself stiffen again. He was speaking lightly, jokingly, but wasn’t that exactly what SS had done? He’d seemed like a normal, reliable guy, until his other side had burst through.
On their first date, after that fateful debate practice where they’d first met, SS had been low-key, charming, no-pressure, casual, relaxed. If only there’d been an obvious warning sign— keep your distance. Run and don’t look back.
She snapped out of her memory trance to find Lachlan looking at her curiously. “You okay?”
“Yeah. Yeah.” She drew in a deep breath. What had they been talking about? Surprises. His hidden deadpan abilities. Innocent, harmless stuff. And she’d freaked out and gone into a tailspin over SS again. “I’m sorry. I’m a little jumpy, I guess. I?—”
He waited patiently. Her longing to spill everything shuddered through her. Back home in Hopper, Colorado, talking about the situation hadn’t helped her. In fact, it had made things worse in many ways. She’d gotten anonymous threats from phone numbers she didn’t recognize. Even the lawyer she’d consulted had warned her that she’d be in for a battle that could get ugly.
But here…none of that was a risk. Lachlan wouldn’t be in danger if she told him about SS. SS was never going to find her here. This was her safe haven. How wonderful would it feel to bring this kind man into her confidence?
But if she did tell him everything…well, he might never treat her normally again. He might walk on eggshells around her, treat her like someone fragile who needed to be shielded from the world. He might look at her as a victim instead of a woman trying to rebuild her life.
“I didn’t sleep very well,” she finally said. “Pinky’s idea of a mattress is a piece of foam dating from the nineteen-seventies. Every time I roll over little bits of it break off.”
He smiled, but clearly he knew she wasn’t saying everything.
“So what are you finding out so far?” She leaned over to peer at his IPad, which had a screensaver with a magnificent photo of a towering crevasse in a shimmering blue wall of ice. “Is that the Korch Glacier?”
“Yup. I took that the last time I was out there.” He pointed to one wall. “If you’ve ever ice climbed, you know how tricky that part is.”
“ Ice climbed? You mean, you went in there?”
“I did.” He glanced over at her, smiling at her shocked expression. “I go all sorts of insane places for my field work. I’m tougher than I look.”
Now that he mentioned it, she could see the strength in his lean form. He might be a scientist, but he was the kind who worked outside in the harsh elements as well as in his office.
“The next time you go, I’d love to give it a try.”
She expected him to scoff at that, but he didn’t.
“Have you rock climbed?”
“Yes, back home in Colorado. I’m pretty good, though no expert.”
“Well, ice climbing has different gear, but you’ll probably adapt quickly. You could probably borrow equipment from the Chilkoots. They have a lot of it.”
She knew the Chilkoots were an off-grid extended family who rarely came into town. “Cool. Well, whenever you’d like to go, count me in.”
He nodded, and that was the end of that. No awkwardness, no discussion of whether it counted as a “date” or not. Friends. They could be friends. And that would be bliss. She felt her whole body relax at the thought, and shifted her focus to her laptop.
As she cruised through her email, she felt the steady, warm presence of Lachlan at her side. Their arms weren’t quite touching, but if she shifted just a tiny bit, they would be. As he typed, frowning at his iPad, she kept giving him sidelong glances, noticing things she hadn’t before. Strong hands with calluses. Sandy brown hairs curling under the cuffs of his sweater. Long, long legs crossed at the ankles.
“Hm,” he murmured as he scanned a website.
“What? Anything interesting?”
“Dr. Jason Reed teaches at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. He’s divorced now. I wonder if Wind Valley was the fatal blow for that marriage. Wouldn’t be surprised. But look at this. He wrote a book about his experience in Alaska. Madness at the Glacier’s Edge. ” He laughed. “A little dramatic, but I’ll bite. I’ll download it now. I usually have a policy of not reading books about Alaska unless the author has lived there more than a few months. But I’ll make an exception for Dr. Reed.”
“Will you give me a book report?”
“Once a teacher, always a teacher, huh?”
She startled, having completely forgotten that she had school today. “Oh my God. Thanks for reminding me. Crap, I’m going to be late for my third day of school.” She closed her laptop and scrambled to her feet.
“How’s that going?”
“Good. It’s a lot of fun. I’ll tell you all about it later. Will you be at The Fang?”
“I’ve got the evening shift. I can have an appletini ready for you, Teach.”
“That’ll get you some extra credit.” She smiled at him as she slung her bag over her shoulder.
“Teachers always did like me,” he said modestly. ”Even without the alcohol.”
She didn’t have a single doubt about that. Count her as one of them.
Then Lachlan snapped his fingers. “I forgot that we’re closing early tonight. We’re having a dinner party at my place. You’re welcome to collect your appletini there.”
Even though he said it lightly, making clear it wasn’t a “date” invitation, she felt herself tense. “Better not. School night.”
He nodded without a single hint of hurt or grievance, said goodbye, and went back to his iPad.
Yet more extra credit for Lachlan.