by J. H. Croix
Thank God for that because it made us good money. We made money at our resort as well, but the flights were really good money. I’d been able to expand in large part because I had enough pilots to fly the planes. In addition to Elias and Tucker, two more friends from the Air Force, Gabriel Hall and Diego Jackson, had also come out to work with me. Tucker’s sister, Aubrey, would be joining us next year. Grant, my younger brother by five years, had finished his flight training last year. That gave me six pilots, including myself. My sister Nora was working on her flight training too.
I didn’t trust many people, but these guys were like family to me. I trusted every single one of them implicitly.
“Damn, it’s busy here,” Elias said as I turned my truck into the parking area in front of Red Truck Coffee.
“It’s always busy here,” I returned. “Cammi’s fast, though, so she’ll have our coffee ready in no time.”
We stepped up to the back of the line at the aptly named Red Truck Coffee. Housed in an old red truck that had been converted into a drive-by coffee shop and located right before the turn to the harbor docks in Diamond Creek, it did a brisk business from spring until the snow flew.
When we got to the front of the line, Cammi graced us with a wide smile. “Well, hey, boys. Flying the sunny skies today?” she asked, her blue eyes twinkling.
Cammi mostly ran this little coffee place on her own with occasional help during the busiest times of the year. You could almost always count on seeing her when you stopped for coffee.
I thumbed toward Elias. “He’s flying this afternoon. I’m headed to do some repairs on one of our planes.”
Cammi reached for one of her distinctive red paper coffee cups. “The usual for each of you?”
“I’ll take an extra shot in mine today,” I replied.
Elias gave a sharp nod. “Same.”
Cammi started prepping our coffees. “Is neither one of you sleeping well?”
I shrugged. “It’s just busy. Every fall, I tell myself it’s going to slow down, but it never does.”
“Not until after termination dust falls,” Elias commented.
Cammi nodded in agreement. “Oh, yeah. The past few years, the tourist season seems to last longer and stay busier. It’s like people are in a rush to see everything before all the glaciers melt.”
She handed over one coffee, and I passed it to Elias, then fished some cash out of my wallet while she prepped mine. “When do you plan to close up shop for the winter?”
Cammi lifted one shoulder in a small shrug. “I never have a set day. I just wait until things slow down. Usually, that’s late October or early November.” She paused to fit a lid on my coffee. “Here you go.” She slid the second coffee across the counter.
Handing her the cash, I looked toward Elias again. He was studiously quiet. It hadn’t slipped my notice that he hardly talked whenever we stopped to get coffee here. But then, he wasn’t the chattiest guy in general.
“Keep the change,” I said as she began to open her cash drawer and count it out.
Cammi looked up. “That’s a ridiculous amount of change, Flynn,” she protested.
“And your coffee is ridiculously good. Right, Elias?” I nudged him with my elbow.
When he looked up, he simply nodded.
“Don’t overdo it with the compliments, Elias,” Cammie teased.
“Have a good one,” I said, lifting my coffee cup in acknowledgment.
After we returned to my truck and were driving back toward the airport, I commented, “What gives with you whenever we’re around Cammi?”
Elias shrugged when I slid my gaze sideways to him. “Nothing.”
“Okay, whatever you say.”
Elias took a swallow of his coffee. “It’s not like she needs me to tell her the coffee is amazing every time we go there,” he muttered after a moment.
I stayed silent and turned down the road that led to the runway. Diamond Creek’s airport had two runways. One for the planes that came in from the airport in Anchorage and occasionally Juneau. Running parallel to that one was a shorter runway lined with the hangars for the small planes. A number of the small planes were owned privately, while just as many were owned by small businesses such as mine.
When I came back home after my mother died and stared down the debts she’d left behind, I needed a way to fix things fast. Not just for myself but also for my three younger siblings. My mother had already been struggling to stay afloat after my stepfather passed away. She’d never once complained, but it was clear she was skating by just to keep things above water. I’d never known my father and was the oldest of all four of us at thirty-two. Then came the three kids my mom had with my stepfather—Grant, Nora, and Cat. Grant was five years younger than me, Nora another two younger than him, and Cat was the surprise baby.
After returning home, I’d ramped up the expedition offerings at our small resort. I’d managed to pay off the debts left behind inside of seven years and put Grant and Nora through college. Cat was sixteen now, and the last one I needed to put through college.
To say my life was mostly work was an understatement. It was all work from sun-up until sundown. I was lucky that Alaska had longer days during the money season because every single hour counted.
Rolling to a stop, I glanced over at Elias. “So, you’re all set for this afternoon?”
“I’ll be back before sunset.”
“See you later then. Fly safely.”
Elias paused for a second with his hand hooked loosely on the door handle. “Always.”
As I was driving out, a friend Trey Holden waved from his truck as I approached the stop sign onto the highway that would lead me out past Diamond Creek to home.
Stopping, I rolled my window down. “Hey, man, what’s up?” I asked, leaning my elbow on the window.
“Got something for you to think about,” Trey began. “I’m planning to sell my plane and the business that goes with it.”
“Really?” I asked, my mind immediately skimming through the numbers in the ever-present balance sheet in my brain.
Trey was a fellow pilot who ran a much smaller version of what we did. It was just him and his one plane and very part-time. Additionally, he was an attorney, which I figured kept him plenty busy.
Trey nodded. “Yeah. Emma’s pregnant again.” A wide smile broke across his face.
“Congratulations! I know you’ve been hoping for another one. When’s the baby due?”
“Six months.”
“That’s awesome. I’m seriously happy for you. I’m guessing you’d like to work a little less?”
“You got it. And stay closer to home. I have more business than I know what to do with as it is. Honestly, if I could just fill in and take flights for your business in a pinch, I would love it. That would scratch my flying itch, and I wouldn’t need to worry about the business end of things. I’m gonna finish out the season because I have too many booked, but you let me know come winter what you wanna do. I’d rather sell to you than anyone else.”
“Might be able to get more money than I can give you. Just being honest,” I offered.
Trey shrugged. “Maybe. But I trust you, and I like you. So, there’s that. I gotta run, though. I already have customers waiting.”
We waved, and I drove off, seriously considering Trey’s offer. For one, that would give me another plane and hangar. Two, I immediately had a backup pilot, and Trey was as solid as they came. Three, more money.
Chapter Five
Daphne
Standing on the beach, I breathed in the crisp, briny air while soaking in the view. The icy cold waters of Kachemak Bay lapped at my feet as small waves broke along the shoreline. My eyes landed on a deep red piece of rock, and I leaned over to lift it out of the cold water. It was light, and I guessed it was probably a piece of hardened lava.
Drying it on my jeans, I tucked it into my pocket and continued to walk along the shore. Nora had given me directions to this trail when I told her
I wanted to go for a walk on the beach. She assured me it was a well-traveled trail, and I didn’t need to worry about too much wildlife. She had cautioned, “There’s always some wildlife, but I wouldn’t send you there if I thought you were gonna run into some brown bears. Moose are everywhere. Just make a bunch of noise and yell at them if necessary.”
Because this entire trip was about me trying new things, I’d hoped she didn’t see the anxiety I felt inside. I’d nodded and driven into town. I’d been in Alaska for almost five days now. So far, every day had brought something new, starting with the hike planned by Flynn’s younger brother, Grant. Another day took me out on the water in a boat to fish, and I’d taken several hikes near the resort itself.
I was definitely escaping, but I hadn’t had much time to myself. On day three, Flynn had offered to look at the electrical problems with my rented SUV and magically fixed it. Although I doubted it was magic. It just seemed like it to me because I knew nothing about cars and wiring.
When I offered to pay him something, he turned his glacial blue gaze on me and shook his head, dismissing me. I was pretty sure he could hardly stand me. As for me, well, it felt as if a switch flicked on in my body when I was near him. My signals went haywire, and I couldn’t think. He made me feel hot; a kind of hot I’d never encountered. Every time I was around him, my heart thumped so hard it felt as if it were trying to break free from my chest. And here I thought myself well beyond desire and perfectly content with that state of affairs.
Flynn had me horny. That’s right, horny. Meanwhile, he could barely look at me for more than a few seconds. He still called me princess, which drove me just crazy enough that I was determined not to let it show.
As I walked, occasionally kicking stones with the toe of my boot, Brandon’s face flashed in my thoughts. It had been a year since he died—to the day, in fact—yet I could still remember his round blue eyes and his silly smile. He was the goofiest little boy—was being the operative word.
I was strangely relieved to reach this day and realize I could still breathe and move. Because the loss of my son literally took my breath away at times and left me staggering.
When a loss that brutal is experienced, several things happen inside. For one, I’d become an absolute master of faking it to make it. There were days when I couldn’t do that, but other days when I learned to put one foot in front of the other and go through the motions of life while trying not to look like I was completely out of my mind with grief. Over time, the brutally sharp pain did start to fade and lessen.
I knew some people worried they would forget their child’s face. Sometimes I wished I could, if only to ease the pain of remembering. I clung to those memories in my mind, like opening a scrapbook and flipping through all of my favorites.
There was a splash in the water, and I glanced out, seeing nothing at first. My eyes skimmed up to the mountains across the water. Cat told me the other day about termination dust. At sixteen, Flynn’s younger sister was filled with information and offered it freely. She loved to talk.
Apparently, the first snow that coated the tops of the mountains was called termination dust. Cat told me sometimes it came as early as October or November, but we weren’t there yet. Termination dust or not, the mountains were spectacular. The sun glinted on the ruffled surface of the water as I stared out over it.
A sleek head appeared out of the water, maybe fifteen feet from the shore. It was a seal, and my heart gave a beat of wonder. It stared at me curiously, and I could see its liquid dark eyes. After a moment, it dove underwater before surfacing. I smiled, thinking Brandon would’ve loved to have seen a seal.
There it went. It was like a knife slicing through my lungs and heart at once. The pain was sharp, and my eyes stung from it.
I was used to it now. Once I could breathe again, I resumed walking. Glancing down at my watch, I realized I’d been walking along the beach for an hour, so I figured I should probably turn back.
Retracing my steps, I found the narrow path through the tall grasses just beyond the rocky beach. The landscape transitioned quickly into a boreal forest with spruce trees towering tall, and the golden leaves from the birch trees fluttered through the air, covering the path under my feet, almost in welcome.
As I rounded a corner, not too far from where my vehicle was parked, I heard a huffing sound. Freezing in place, I looked around to see a giant moose. Cat had offered up that they were nearsighted just yesterday, yet even if the moose in question couldn’t see me, it was definitely aware of my presence. Facing me, he pawed the ground.
I swore silently, “Oh, fuck.”
As Nora had said, though, the moose kept his distance and didn’t appear to be approaching me. Although the most direct route for me was to walk ahead, that was where the moose was. Looking to my left, I walked into the trees, glancing back to see that he wasn’t following me. I figured I would detour far enough away and loop back.
For a few minutes, all was well as I picked my way through the trees. Then I hooked a right to bring me back in the correct direction. Another minute later, I was facing a steep rocky cliff. It was maybe only ten feet, but it wasn’t the nice level path the moose was blocking.
“Daphne, just climb on up. You’ve got this,” I whispered to myself.
I did have it. Of course, I managed to scrape my elbow and tear my jeans, but whatever. I thought I was doing great until I slipped in a muddy patch after I made it to the top of the cliff and landed in a bush, the meanest bush I’d ever encountered in my life with sharp spikes on thick branches. It didn’t draw blood, but it hurt like hell.
With my breath hissing, I stumbled back to my feet and was relieved that I could see the glint of my blue SUV through the trees. I only hoped my moose friend hadn’t meandered farther up the trail to the parking area. If so, I was screwed.
Blessedly, there was no sign of the moose, and I was on my way back to Walker Adventures within a few minutes. Cat had actually entered the official map address in my GPS for me.
“So, you can’t ever forget how to get back,” she’d said this morning with a sly grin.
I wanted to stop in Diamond Creek and maybe get some coffee or food at a restaurant, but my scraped elbow hurt, and I was dirty. The town was cute with brightly painted signs along the main street and tourists everywhere. Although autumn was approaching in a few weeks, and the days were getting cool and the nights downright chilly, it didn’t seem to slow down the visitors.
Roughly twenty minutes later, I was driving past the very spot where I’d seen the bear when my tire got stuck in the mud. I couldn’t help but smile. Flynn must’ve thought I was crazy. I’d definitely been overdressed.
Not that I brought too many nice clothes on this trip, but online, the resort was billed as high-end. It certainly wasn’t cheap, and the food was pretty good. I could be a snob about food. Not because I expected it to be amazing, but because I’d once run my own bakery and café. I loved, absolutely loved, to cook and bake.
I swatted away a memory that briefly flickered in my mind—one of Brandon while he stood on a stool I’d gotten for him as he helped me make cookies.
At least this trip to Alaska provided such a departure from my life that I didn’t dwell too much on things. I needed the distance, and I needed the space.
My heart gave a little jump when I turned the corner and the small resort came into view. The building was beautiful, and the views were utterly breathtaking. I still felt like a child in a candy shop, in awe of the novelty and breathtaking beauty.
I parked and sighed as I looked down at the mud on one of my knees and the scrape on my elbow. Although I’d yet to repeat my first day when I got mud everywhere, I was trying not to look like too much of a fool around Flynn.
I told myself it didn’t matter what he thought anyway. Our worlds were so far apart that my body’s insane reaction to him was going to fade. It had to.
Moments later, I was reaching for the handle on the door that led into the main en
trance when it swung open. My pulse took off like a rocket at the sight of Flynn standing there. As usual, he wore a faded pair of jeans and a long-sleeve T-shirt. If there was such a thing as a uniform out here, this was definitely his.
The T-shirt did an utterly poor job of masking his fit and scrumptious body. His glacial blue eyes swept me up and down. He surprised me when his gaze narrowed in concern.
“What happened?” he asked.
Before I could reply, he was tugging me through the door. “Let’s get you some first aid and get you cleaned up.”
“I’m fine,” I said hurriedly. I didn’t like to need anything from anyone.
I certainly didn’t want to impose on Flynn. Spending too much time near him generally left me feeling as if I was knocked off my axis and stumbling for my balance. And hot, usually hot all over. Because he was hot, way too hot for my sanity.
Flynn ignored me. He pulled me through a door at the back of the kitchen, which led to an entirely private section of the resort. We walked through what appeared to be a living room and into a large bathroom where Flynn began rummaging through the cabinet. Next thing I knew, he had me by the sink and was cleaning off my elbow.
“Tell me if it stings,” he said.
I highly doubted I would even notice if it did. My breath was shallow, my heart was banging around inside my chest, and my belly was filled with butterflies.
Flynn was right here, every strong and sexy inch of him. His touch was gentle and light, and my eyes were mesmerized by his hands. He had big hands with long fingers, almost elegant. Rugged as he was, he had a confident grace to the way he moved.
After he neatly cleaned up my elbow and put a bandage over it, he looked down at my leg with mud smeared from my knee upward and the ragged tear on my jeans. “I think you’re going to need to change for me to check on that.”