by Keri Hudson
Quinton was impressed to see that she was so scrupulous, but also that she was so prepared. Among her camera equipment, she’d brought one of those smartphones Quinton had seen people using, the tiny telephones that seemed to have every function under the sun. In this case, she was using a technology Quinton found surprising: a satellite circling the Earth could tell her where she was in relation to where she wanted to be, leading them directly to the coordinates.
They reached one spot and Quinton shut down the motor sled. Jessica climbed off the back of the snowmobile, and Quinton could only regret it. Ignoring it, he climbed off too and looked around, just as Jessica was doing. She took a deep breath of the crisp, mountain air, her sterling green eyes dipping shut. She seemed to be drinking in all that natural beauty, savoring every bit of it with all of her senses, heightened and inspired.
Quinton knew just how she felt.
She looked around, a natural smile curling between those smooth cheeks, made pink by the cold. “It really is gorgeous, isn’t it?”
“Breathtaking,” was all Quinton could think to say.
She looked at him with a supple silence that told him she knew what he really meant. But she was coy, demure, telling Quinton he’d been wrong about things he’d presumed before. This was indeed a woman of class and character, not some flirty floozy looking for a fisherman in every port.
She was right, though Quinton certainly had never doubted. The region was rugged and craggy and vast and impressive, seeming clean and pristine, far removed from the violence and corruption of humankind.
“The air is so fresh, so… so clean.”
Quinton nodded. “Must be quite a break from Los Angeles.”
“It really is. I didn’t realize how much of a change it would be.”
“It is your first time here then.”
Jessica broke a little smile, head dipping sheepishly. “I really am sorry about that.”
“Don’t be. I’m glad you watch out for yourself.” Jessica nodded and glanced down at her phone, dragging her finger across the screen. “What’re you doing?”
“Pulling up a photo, silly.” She seemed to give it some thought. “Oh right, you’re not… you don’t do the internet. No smartphone either, I suppose?”
Quinton glanced around and shrugged. “Why?”
Jessica seemed confused by the question, twitching her freckled brow and shaking her head just a little bit. “Quinton, this is a powerful tool! It has more computing power than they used to put a man on the moon! You… you do know about that, right?”
“Jessica, please. I may be a bit more… reliant on the land than most of the people you know, but I’m not Tarzan of the Apes.”
Jessica broke out laughing, covering her mouth with her slender fingers. She looked him over, and Quinton was struck with the idea that she actually might be imagining him in a loincloth.
“Anyway,” Jessica said, “I should get to work.”
Quinton stepped back as she crossed to the motor sled where she’d set her equipment bag. “I’ll keep out of your way.”
Jessica glanced around. “Well, like I said, don’t stray too far off.”
“I promise.” It would be an easy promise to keep.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Quinton stood back and let Jessica go about her business. She fixed a black camera with a lens, then held a strange, black device up to the sky, presumably to measure the light.
Then she started taking pictures.
Her attention was completely engrossed in her work, and Quinton understood all too well that kind of focus. He did the same when hunting, which was just what Jessica seemed to be doing. But her prey was of a different sort, an invisible enemy, one she could never simply stalk and kill as Quinton had done his whole life.
It struck him then that she was, in many ways, a true kindred spirit. He was a guardian of the Earth and she seemed to have taken up the same mantle. He was looking ahead at a brutal battle to come, and she seemed to be doing the same.
And the way her long and shapely legs turned just so to position herself hit him in a way that he felt deep in his soul, and other places too. Her incredible form drew every tissue, every fiber, every inch of him to her.
But he knew he had to resist. Jessica was busy, she was working, and Quinton knew it was wrong. It was too soon. It was sweet torture, a luscious agony.
Jessica stepped back. “Take a look.” She handed him the camera, which had a screen on the back. It showed one of the photos she’d just taken. Then she pulled her phone back out, swiped the screen a few times, and handed him the phone too. There were two pictures of the same landscape from the same angle at the same time of year, as both pictures included dates digitally inscribed on the bottom of the screen.
But it was the differences that were the most striking. In the first picture on the camera, from years before, the landscape was sheeted in white, very little of the black rock beneath. The second picture had recorded the landscape as it had become, white streaks of snow only suggestions of what had been, the natural balance simply disappearing.
She asked, “Terrible, isn’t it?”
Quinton could only nod, handing her phone and camera back to her. “Have you always been so interested in the natural world?”
“Well, it’s the only one we’ve got.” It only inspired a light chuckle as Jessica looked around again. “I was always kind of a nature buff, yeah, loved the documentaries, things like that. At first it was just kind of a hobby, but when this whole Inconvenient Truth came out, I felt like… like I had to do something, y’know?”
“I do.”
“There are bad things coming.”
“There are.”
Jessica looked around. “I mean, everything else—politics, pop culture, whatever—none of it is as important as the mortal health of our planet.”
“I couldn’t agree more.”
Jessica shrugged with a guilty air. “I thought about going into forestry, actually, but apparently it’s a brutal profession for women, misogyny everywhere.”
It was easy to imagine, a network of isolated men with too few women and too much time and secrecy.
“And now? Is this a… a private project?”
“Lord, no,” Jessica said, stepping back and raising the camera to her face. “May I?”
Quinton didn’t answer and she didn’t wait, clicking off a few shots and then looking into the screen at the back of the camera. “Nice.”
“Jessica?”
“Oh, no, I’m here with the CCC.” She waited and read Quinton’s clear confusion, and he was pretty sure that was not what CCC stood for. “Climate Crisis Committee. We’re fully funded and bonded, it’s all legit.”
Quinton didn’t doubt that. He’d have been shocked if such a woman would have anything to do with a thing that wasn’t legitimate. “Research, then.”
“Knowledge is power,” she said, giving him a little wink. And Quinton knew that to be true. But there were other sources of power, and Jessica was not without her own; nor was Quinton. He drove her out to her second location, once again savoring the feeling of her arms around him. The front of her spectacular legs brushed the back of his own, her sensual presence so distracting he was almost afraid of running the motor sled off the side of the mountain from one place to the next.
The day went on, Quinton fascinated by his stunning new companion. And he had to admit that they were creating an easy friendship, a casual chemistry that didn’t seem forced. She was funny and friendly, he was less and less nervous with every little quip, every little glance.
Can it be? Quinton dared to wonder. Is it possible? I mean, at first, a certain look, but… could there really be more going on here?
A nervous knot tightened along the back of his neck.
What if she’s just being nice, ensuring her own safety? And even if she is interested in more, and I’ll give it to her if she wants it, she’ll still return to Los Angeles. Nobody turns their whole lives upside-down for
someone they’ve only known a week or maybe less.
Anyway, Quinton had to remind himself, she’s got this research work, this organization she works for. Nobody with her obvious dedication would just throw that away.
But… she did take my picture…
The roar of the motor sled was distant, but it grabbed Quinton’s immediate attention. Jessica gave Quinton a quick questioning look, but he had no answer to offer. He did have his suspicions, however.
There weren’t many people living that far from Anchorage, tucked just outside the park. But the park was also a protected refuge and popular among tourists. Of course, no government rules would protect Quinton or Jessica from some of the people in the area, and Red Fellows wasn’t the only one.
Still, Quinton wasn’t surprised to see that familiar, burly body seated on the motor sled as it pushed up the hill toward them. By the look in her big, green eyes, Jessica seemed to recognize him too.
Red drove his motor sled up to the ledge where they’d parked and stopped his own vehicle, a tense silence suddenly surrounding the three of them. He took off his helmet goggles, shaking out his long, tangled, red hair as he climbed off the motor sled and approached.
Jessica took a natural place next to Quinton and just behind his arm, face near his shoulder.
Red nodded at Quinton. “Morning.”
Quinton glanced around. “Red.”
Red looked at Jessica, and he didn’t seem surprised to see her. That worried Quinton immediately. It meant this wasn’t likely to be a chance meeting in the mountains. He nodded at her. “I know you?”
“You do not,” Jessica said, adding nothing.
But it was clearly enough to touch off a spark of consideration in Red’s brain. He twitched a bit, his red brows pushing down before inspiration seemed to strike. “Yeah, you’re the new girl, from last night!”
“I’m nobody’s girl,” she said with a defiant twang.
“This woman’s a friend of mine,” Quinton said, his voice low and calm, confident, certain. The way he looked at Red, he knew there was nothing more that needed to be said about it.
Red seemed to understand the same, looking from her to him and back again. “Well, that’s as may be.” To Jessica in particular, he added, “Hope I wasn’t too… rustic for your tastes. Had a bit too much of the brown last night.”
Jessica glanced around, clearly nervous. Quinton said, “You should watch that, Red. Could be bad for your health.”
But Red clearly didn’t like hearing that, his beefy chest expanding, shoulders pulling back. “I can look after myself. I hope you can do the same.” He looked Jessica over again before adding, “You’ll want to keep this… this woman safe and sound.” Redirecting his attention back to Jessica, he went on, “S’a dangerous place, miss. Yer lucky to have such a… capable guide.”
They stood in the thickening tension, Quinton well aware of Red’s growing sexual aggression, percolating just under the surface. “You two take care now,” he said, returning to his motor sled, gunning it up and roaring it back down the hill with what felt like deliberate loudness.
Jessica looked up at Quinton, and her worried, furrowed brow asked the question for her. He said, “Don’t worry about Red, he’s… basically harmless.”
Jessica shook his head. “He doesn’t seem very harmless to me.”
Quinton knew he couldn’t go into it. He wasn’t about to tell Jessica just why she had nothing to fear in his presence, not from Red or any other normalo. Part of Quinton even wanted to prove himself to her, to demonstrate his skills in a way that would by nature draw them even closer together.
But they didn’t seem to need that. Their company was easy, natural, their bond growing with every minute. Even that unpleasant meeting with Red would pull them closer, Quinton felt certain. And it would never rob Jessica from him, he was even more certain of that.
Quinton escorted Jessica to another few sites, another few hours of photography, the gorgeous Alaskan sky slowly brightening and then finally darkening. Once they boarded the motor sled and drove it back to the Gold Dust, the mood and the chemistry between them had become irresistible.
Quinton waited while Jessica put her equipment away in her room. Deliah walked up to him, lingering in the lobby.
“Well, that didn’t take long.”
But Quinton hadn’t touched Jessica, and he was glad to be able to take that position with his old friend and one-time lover. “Spent all day taking photos.”
“I’ll bet.” Deliah shook her head and walked away just as Jessica walked back down the stairs to him. She smiled, an angel descending from the heavens.
“Shall we?”
Quinton smiled and gave her a little nod, almost too much. But Jessica slipped her arm under his. The motion seemed so natural, so right, Quinton could hardly believe he wasn’t dreaming.
Quinton could feel Deliah’s glare follow them out the door, but he didn’t care. It had been a long and wonderful day, a day he hoped to tell their children about. And he hoped for a night to match it.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Quinton didn’t spend much time in Anchorage, that was true enough, but he knew a place or two to take Jessica on what was clearly their first date. Quinton had never felt so nervous, yet still so at ease; it was a feeling he could only think of as excitement, a heady delirium.
Love.
He’d heard of it before. His father had often told young Quinton that he and Quinton’s mother had experienced the same thing. It was a matter of two lost souls being pulled together. But one look at Jessica told Quinton that she was no lost soul. With her face and body, her charm and wit, Jessica could go anywhere and do anything she wanted.
And, Quinton almost shouted out loud, she’s choosing to be with me!
“Quinton?”
“Oh, sorry,” he said, trying to shake it off. Have to be careful, this girl’s too cool to fool. “Was just thinking about dinner. You like crab?”
“Love ‘em.”
Quinton smiled and nodded and led her to Cap’n Charlie’s Crab Shack, just down the street. The place was decked out with all the usual seafaring décor: porthole windows, brass bells on the walls, odometers, and other old-fashioned bric-a-brac. None of it could compete for Quinton’s attention.
They were given their plastic bibs before being served a heaping plate of huge, spiny king crab legs, along with various sides: melted butter, lemon wedges, corn on the cob, steaming hot dinner rolls. Each were given an empty plate and a metal nutcracker.
The shells cracked easily in Quinton’s experienced hands, but Jessica was adorably clumsy about it. She chuckled after one crack went wrong, flinging little pieces of meat across the table.
“Do you cook?”
“I can cook,” Jessica said, “I just can’t eat!” They shared a hearty laugh. It felt good, in a way Quinton could hardly recall. It only struck him then that he didn’t know how long it had been since he’d laughed at all.
But she quickly adapted, and was soon pulling out a long stalk of crab meat, dipping it in the butter before spritzing it with the lemon and slipping the forkful into her mouth. She sighed as she chewed it, eyes dipping shut.
“Oh my God, it’s… wow, better than anything I’ve ever had at home.”
“Never frozen,” Quinton said, “makes all the difference.”
“Amazing. And you eat like this all the time?”
Quinton had to admit, “Rarely, actually.”
“No?”
“No, I… I don’t come into town often.”
Jessica seemed to give it some thought. “Where do you live?”
“I’ve got a little cabin, out in the mountains, a few hours away.”
That she definitely gave a good deal of thought. “And you came all the way back out here so early in the morning… for me?” Quinton’s smile was his only answer. “I appreciate it, I can tell you that. I would not want to have had that big guy Cherry finding me in the woods, nobody around.”
“A few days’ worth at least. Are you… um, available? I mean, I’m not taking you away from anything?”
“The caribou can wait.”
“That’s how you make your living, as a… a hunter?”
“Does that seem so strange?”
Jessica took a sip of crisp white chardonnay. “I don’t mean to be rude, again! Something about you, I… I keep putting my foot in my mouth. But what I meant to say, before I was stupid, was… in this day and age, I didn’t know anybody made a living that way anymore.”
Quinton glanced around. “Things are a little bit different here.”
“Well, I know, but… no TV, no internet, you hunt caribou? It’s like you stepped out of another time.”
She was more right than she knew, though Quinton could say nothing of it. So he cracked another crab leg and withdrew the meat. “Things don’t move so quickly here.”
Jessica seemed to look him over, then cocked her head just so. “I dunno. Sometimes they happen kinda fast.” Quinton knew what she was referring to, at least he believed he did. But this was no slutty hit. She seemed to be cautious, feeling her way up to and then around the subject. “But… but that’s not so bad, sometimes.”
“No… sometimes.”
“In fact, sometimes… it can be kind of… exciting, even thrilling.”
There seemed no doubting what she meant and what she wanted to know: Did he feel the way she did and was he as ready as she seemed to be telling him she was?
“Sometimes… magical,” he answered, his eyes locked on hers. “Miraculous.”
She seemed as locked in their moment as he was. She cracked a little smile and nodded that pretty face. “Yeah, miraculous.”
They went on eating, but the romantic tension between them had shifted into high gear. After more delicious food and sexy chat, Quinton and Jessica left the restaurant to walk further on to Anchorage’s downtown area.