Chapter 13
Brick was having trouble concentrating. All he could think about was getting back to his cabin…
and Alaska. He was kicking himself for not seeing what was right in front of his face for years.
He blamed it on the many miles between them and their very different lifestyles up until now, but those were excuses.
He knew she was special back when he was eighteen years old.
Why else would he still have the cross-stitch she’d given him on his wall?
Why else would he feel warm and fuzzy inside when he looked at it?
Why else would he feel a heightened sense of anticipation when his phone rang, or when he was notified of an incoming email or message?
Deep down, his subconscious had to have known she was meant for him. It sucked that it had taken such shitty circumstances to get them together. But now that he’d spent almost every waking moment with her for weeks, Brick didn’t want to lose her.
The other morning, he’d had a long talk with his mother. He’d briefly mentioned the circumstances that had brought Alaska to The Refuge, and without prompting, without any hint that she’d begun to mean a great deal to him, his mom had let out a long, relieved sigh and said, “It’s about time.”
Surprised, he’d asked her what she meant.
His mom had gone on to remind him that she’d known Alaska had a crush on him since they were teenagers. It was one of the reasons why she’d gone out to the trash bin to pull out the present she’d made for him.
When Brick had tentatively asked his mom what she thought of Alaska, he was immensely relieved when she declared in no uncertain terms that if he let her slip through his fingers, he was an idiot, and not the smart man she’d raised.
It was safe to say his mom was a big Alaska Stein fan.
“Brick, you paying attention?” Spike asked.
He hadn’t been, but he looked over at his friend and nodded anyway.
Spike had asked for a quick meeting before they all went their separate ways for the day.
“Can’t blame him,” Owl said with a smirk. “If I had a woman like Alaska in my cabin, I’d be scatterbrained too.”
“Shut up,” Brick said, picking up a pen and throwing it at his friend. Everyone chuckled.
“But seriously, man. I think it’s great,” Owl said. “Seeing one of us successfully having a normal relationship gives me hope.”
The others nodded.
“I’m not sure I’d call what Alaska and I have normal,” he said honestly. “We’re both navigating our way through two decades of friendship, trying not to fuck that up, while also dealing with our own PTSD issues.”
Tiny shrugged. “I don’t know. I’d say you two have the most important thing when it comes to a relationship.”
“What’s that?” Brick asked, genuinely curious to hear what his friend had to say.
“A foundation. When we found her in Russia, you were the only person who was able to get through her panic and calm her down. You were the first person she thought to call when she needed help. And when she heard about you in that hospital in Germany…she did what needed to be done to get to you. You guys are perfect together. It’s easy to see. ”
Tiny wasn’t wrong. And his words made Brick feel good. “She’s…a good person through and through,” he said after a moment. “And I can’t say that about most people I meet. She doesn’t have a mean bone in her body, which makes it all the more horrific what almost happened to her.”
“You gonna keep her?” Stone asked.
Brick couldn’t help but chuckle. “It’s not as if she’s a stray, like Mutt.”
“You know what I mean,” Stone said with a shrug.
“If she wants me, yes,” he said simply.
“Good. The Refuge needs her. She’s a hell of an admin,” Pipe said.
Brick’s good mood took a small hit. “I don’t want her because she’s good with the guests and paperwork,” he growled.
Pipe held up a hand. “Whoa! I didn’t mean to imply that at all. But seriously, you can’t help but be a little relieved that she seems as invested in this place as we are. It would suck if she hated it here.”
Brick did his best to rein in his temper. Pipe had a point.
“Right, so now that we all know Brick is serious about Alaska, and we’ve given him our support…hopefully he won’t fuck it up. In the meantime, I wanted to get together real fast and talk about Choo’s visit. Are we ready?” Spike asked.
No one said a word for a long moment.
Spike sighed. “That’s what I suspected. I’ve been thinking…maybe we got overexcited about the fact that someone wanted to invest in this place. That we might be able to expand, help more people. But now that this guy is actually coming next week, I have to admit I’m having second thoughts.”
Brick looked around the table and saw his friends nodding. “I’m not sure we can back out of the visit now. Choo’s paid a lot of money to set everything up,” he said.
“He’s not coming just for us though, right?” Stone asked. “He’s got some other meetings and things planned, I thought. He mentioned he’s going to be in the States for a month and a half or so.”
“That’s what I understood, from what he told us,” Spike agreed.
“So, we still meet with him—but we need to tell him that we haven’t made a final decision,” Tonka said, speaking up for the first time.
“I agree,” Spike said. “I just wanted to make sure we were all on the same page. I mean, I’d love to get more money to make this place even better, but I’m not sure doubling the number of cabins would make it better.
I don’t know about you guys, but as long as we’re not losing money, I’m satisfied with what we’ve built here. ”
Everyone agreed.
“So, what? We just entertain Choo, then say, ‘sorry, we changed our minds’?” Tiny asked. “That would make us look like assholes, not to mention possibly hurt any chance in the future of us getting another investor if we wanted one.”
Everyone was silent a moment. Then Brick said, “We were going to have Tex look into this guy if we decided to go forward, right?”
“Yeah. Why?” Spike asked.
“This might sound completely asshole-ish, but what if we requested he look into him now? Before he gets here? That way, if he finds anything hinky, we’ll definitely know we’re doing the right thing by declining the partnership.”
“I’m not sure that will make it any easier to say no,” Pipe said with a shrug. “I mean, it’s not like we can just come out and say we had him investigated and didn’t like what we found.”
“Why not?” Brick asked. “We’d be stupid not to have a foreign investor, someone we don’t know, checked out.”
“True. Or we can simply say that after discussing it, we decided to go in a different direction,” Tonka said with a shrug. “Keeping it simple is always better than mucking up the waters.”
“He’s right,” Spike said. “But it still won’t hurt to see what Tex can find. I’ll give him a call today.”
“Last I heard, he and his wife were going on that two-week vacation to Maine,” Tiny said.
“Shit, I’d forgotten about that. What about that other woman he works with all the time?” Spike asked.
“Elizabeth,” Owl supplied.
“Yeah, that’s her. Maybe I’ll give her a call.”
“I’ve heard she’s scary good,” Brick said. “Her expertise is the dark web. If there’s something to be found on anyone there, she finds it.”
“Well, here’s to hoping she doesn’t find anything on our friend Mr. Choo,” Spike said.
“I’ll second that,” Stone said. “The last thing we need if he’s involved in something shady is to have the Chinese Communist Party breathing down our necks.”
Brick frowned. The more they talked, the more uneasy he felt about the investor’s visit.
Truthfully, he’d been uncertain from the beginning, but he’d hoped it was just paranoia.
He didn’t want to unintentionally jeopardize the future of the camp, and the niggling feeling wasn’t something he could be certain of, anyway.
That said…he was a big believer in the idea that nothing was a coincidence.
And he couldn’t dismiss the fact that a guy from China contacted them out of the blue, wanting to invest in The Refuge, just days after Alaska’s rescue.
Again, it wasn’t the first time he’d thought it, but he figured he was overreacting because of his deepening feelings for Alaska.
He snapped out of his troubling thoughts when he realized the meeting with his friends was over, as Tonka got up to head back to the barns, as usual, and the others followed suit.
“You okay?” Tiny asked Brick as they headed out of the room to start their day.
“Yeah, I guess,” he said with a shrug.
“I’m glad Spike said something. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately.”
“Same,” Brick agreed.
Tiny slapped him on the back and said, “For the record, I’m fucking thrilled about you and Alaska. I really like her. She’s…relaxing. She doesn’t get ruffled when shit goes sideways with the guests. She’s able to keep everyone calm and her problem-solving skills are phenomenal.”
Brick agreed one hundred percent. “She mentioned that she’s learned a lot from all the places she worked overseas. I think being exposed to so many different cultures and nationalities helped her look at situations in a different way, made her more tolerant.”
“I agree. And she’s good for you.”
“In what way?” Brick asked.
“You aren’t so jumpy. You seem more relaxed around the guests.”
Brick thought about his friend’s observation and had to agree. “I don’t know if it’s that I’ve changed, or that I’m just always happy about getting back to my cabin and seeing Alaska again,” he admitted.
“Not a bad thing, my friend,” Tiny replied, slapping his back once more.
“Have to say, I’m kind of jealous. Not that I want Alaska; it’s clear she only has eyes for you.
But that you’ve found someone who makes you happy.
Who soothes you. What else could washed-up old military grunts like us want?
Anyway, you need a hand with the hike today?
Two of the guests are apparently really struggling with their demons. ”
“If you wouldn’t mind, I’d love company,” Brick told him.