Chapter 12
JONAH
As it turned out, Saturday was too far away, and when life provided me with an opportunity to see her before then, I grabbed it.
Jonah
Change of plans. Still on for Saturday, but there’s something else I want you to see before then. What time does your shift finish today?
An hour later she messaged back.
Mae
Sorry, I was with a patient. Shift finishes at… not telling. Depends entirely on what you want to show me and whether I want to see it.
I chuckled.
Jonah
Is that another one of your sexual innuendos? It’s hard to judge context in a text.
Mae
It wasn’t when I wrote it, but it is now that you’ve pointed it out. Thanks for that.
Jonah
You’re welcome. So…?
Mae
Shift finishes at 4.
Jonah
Excellent. I’ll pick you up at 4.30 p.m. Dress warm. And don’t eat.
* * *
‘I’m hungry,’ she said grumpily, opening the door to me at 4.
30 p.m. on the dot. She had taken my advice seriously, I was happy to see, and was wearing jeans, boots and a warm Patagonia jacket.
‘Which is weird,’ she continued. ‘Because I wouldn’t normally have eaten anything since lunch anyway, but because you told me not to eat, all I can think about is eating. ’
‘It’s the red-button theory.’
‘The what?’
‘You know, when someone tells you not to push the big red button. All you can think about doing is pushing the big red button, even if you’ve been warned that it’s probably going to end badly. It’s temptation.’ I shrugged.
She thought about it. ‘If someone told me not to press the button, I wouldn’t push the button. Would you?’
‘Probably before they’d even left the room,’ I admitted.
‘Good to know. Here’s hoping I never find myself in a hostage situation in a nuclear power station with you.’
I laughed. ‘Ready to go?’
‘Almost.’ She disappeared inside, reappearing a few moments later with her woolly hat and scarf on. ‘OK. I’m ready.’ She pulled the door closed and checked it was locked. ‘Where are we going?’
‘You’ll see.’
‘I know you probably think you’re being mysterious,’ she said as we headed to my truck. ‘But actually, you’re just super annoying.’
I laughed. ‘I’m annoying?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Wow.’ I turned the key in the ignition and my truck roared to life. ‘And here I was just trying to be welcoming. Trying to share a Pine Harbor tradition with you.’
She looked at me sideways as we exited her driveway onto the road. ‘Tradition?’
‘That’s right.’
‘What sort of tradition?’
‘One that’s been happening in these parts for around a hundred and eighty years or so.’
She was quiet for a while.
‘It’s not one of those polar bear plunges, is it?’ she asked eventually.
‘What in the hell is a polar bear plunge?’
‘You know, when a group of people run into freezing cold water.’
‘Why would they do that?’
‘To raise money for charity, usually.’
‘Oh. Right. No, it’s not that. I’d have told you to bring your bikini if it was.’
She snorted. ‘And I’d have told you to get lost.’
I followed the shore road towards the ferry terminal and harbormaster’s office at the dock.
As we got closer, Mae leaned forward to see better out of the windscreen.
The wipers did a valiant job of trying to keep it clean, but light little flurries of snow that danced in the headlights kept blurring it.
‘What’s going on over there?’ she asked. ‘I can see a bunch of lights and people. It was practically deserted the other night when I arrived.’
‘That,’ I told her, indicating to pull into a parallel park, ‘is why we’re here. The annual Pine Harbor turning of the light ceremony, and night market.’
‘Turning of the what?’
I turned off the truck and pulled out the key. ‘The light.’
‘What light?’
I smiled. ‘Instead of telling you, why don’t I just show you.’