“No worries,” Lily cut in. “We all cook around here. I’m obviously the better cook,” she looked over at her dad playfully, “but Dad and Jake can both hold their own.”
“You learned from the best,” Samuel teased.
They joked with each other so easily, so comfortably. Nora could see the love between the father and daughter and wished she’d had that with her own dad.
“Are you sure you’re Lily’s dad?” Nora cut in. “You don’t look old enough.”
Samuel laughed heartily. “We married young, Madeline and I. We were only 23 when Jake came along. And Lil followed right behind two years later. I don’t know what’s taking these kids so long to settle down,” he said, winking at Lily. “By the time I was their age I had two kids and a business to run. Taking their sweet time, they are.”
Lily snorted back a laugh. “Here we go again. He acts like I’m an old maid... at the ripe old age of 26.”
“I just want you to be happy, Lil. You’re young. You should be out having fun, dating. Not spending all your time working. You spend too much time at the pub.”
“That place couldn’t run without me.”
“See what I mean? Too focused on work.” Then Samuel turned to Nora. “So, Nora. Tell me what you do.”
The question caught her off guard. What did she do? Like, for a living? She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to think of something good-sounding. She was rather embarrassed she couldn’t think of anything, so she avoided making eye contact with either of them when she answered, focusing instead on the pattern of the dinnerware. “Honestly,” she said, “I don’t know. My last boyfriend didn’t want me to work, so I didn’t. He believed my job was to look pretty, so that’s what I tried to do.”
When she looked up, she expected to see judgment. Instead, they were both looking at her encouragingly. “Well, I’m sure there’s something you’re good at, other than looking pretty,” Samuel said.
“The restaurant already hired on some extra help for the summer, but if you’re interested in a job we could probably take you on next year,” Lily offered. “We always need help during the tourist season.”
“That’s a very nice offer,” said Nora. “You might regret it once you see how bad my waitressing skills are. In the meantime, I suppose I should try to find some way to earn a living.”
“Don’t you have a lot of things in your car?” asked Lily. “If you don’t need them, Nate could probably help you get rid of a few things. He sometimes sells stuff on consignment at the store.”
Sell her possessions? Nora didn’t want to do that. There was a good chance she’d need those things again. But she did have a lot of clothes and accessories she didn’t need anymore. They were mostly designer items that might fetch a substantial amount of money anywhere else... but probably not in Heron, where the women didn’t seem too tuned in to the latest fashions.
“Do you really think anyone would want to buy my stuff?” Nora asked skeptically.
“Sure. It’s cheaper than having things shipped all the way out here. Dad, tell her about the time you tried to buy Mom that watch from the catalog.”
Samuel laughed and eagerly launched into the story, with Lily frequently cutting in to insert some minor detail he’d forgotten. It was endearing to watch them together. The remainder of the dinner flew by, with Samuel telling anecdotes about life in Heron and Lily urging him on.
After dinner, as Nora said her goodbyes and got ready to leave, something caught her attention. On the wall hung a framed photograph of a boat, a narrow vessel equipped with long trolling rods for fishing. On the side of the boat were the words, painted on in neat white writing, Lil Pelican. Standing on the deck was a much younger looking Jake, grinning with the day’s catch.
Nora turned to Lily. “Is this your dad’s boat?”
“Yeah. Well, it was Dad’s. He named it after me. Did you notice how he calls me Lil instead of Lily? He used to call me his Lil Pelican. Thank God he doesn’t anymore,” Lily added emphatically. “Anyway, Jake bought it off him a few years ago when Dad decided to retire from fishing.”
“So Jake is a fisherman?”
“Yeah,” Lily giggled at her question. “Don’t sound so surprised. Just about everyone around here fishes.”
So, Jake was the fisherman she’d been talking to on the radio. The last time she’d seen Jake he had been domineering. Bossy. Overbearing. Everything she didn’t like in a man. The man on the radio had been so easy to talk to. Understanding. Considerate. Thoughtful. Were they really the same man? Had she gotten the wrong impression of Jake?
As Nora pulled on her raincoat, she realized she hadn’t seen Jake anywhere. She’d spent the entire day in town, but she hadn’t gotten one glimpse of him. Now, knowing Jake was the man on the other end of the radio, she was actually a little disappointed not to see him.
“Are you sure you can find your way back to the dock?” Lily asked Nora at the door.
“Yes,” Nora reassured her. “I’m sure I won’t get lost. Just follow the boardwalk, right?”
It seemed easy enough, until she got back to the boardwalk and couldn’t remember which direction they’d come from. Tucked back in the woods, she couldn’t even see the water. But the sight of the school and the community garden off to the right helped jog Nora’s memory and she turned in that direction.
As she walked, she thought of Jake. They had talked so easily over the radio, so openly. If she’d known it was him all along, would she have let her guard down? Probably not. She was actually glad she hadn’t known it was him, glad because those preconceived notions she had about him weren’t able to get in the way when they talked over the radio.
“Hey, there,” came a voice out of nowhere. Nora looked around and saw no one. “Up here.” Nora’s gaze turned upward, toward the voice. There he was. Jake sat perched on the edge of the roof. He swung one leg over onto a ladder to climb down and a few seconds later he was on the ground next to her.
For the past hour he’d been waiting for Nora. He was working on the roof of the community building when she and Lily walked by on their way to the house. Seeing her in town, on the day the ferry was in port, he’d been sure she was saying goodbye to Lily, that she’d be boarding the ferry and leaving for good. But the ferry had departed. Nora hadn’t left, after all.
“Not the best day for building repairs,” Nora said, looking him over. The rain was still coming down and, in spite of the raincoat, Jake was soaking wet.
“No, it’s not,” Jake chuckled. “But we can’t exactly wait around for sunny days, now can we?”
“Apparently not.”
Jake laughed then. “Try not to sound too enthusiastic about it,” he said cheerfully.
“Sorry. I’m just not looking forward to a half-hour boat ride in the rain.” Nora started to walk away. Since she found out Jake was the mysterious fisherman, she’d been hoping to see him. Now that he was there in front of her, she didn’t know what to do or say.
To Nora’s surprise, Jake immediately fell into step beside her. They followed the boardwalk through the forest toward town. The wooden planks were slick from the rain, so they walked slowly to avoid slipping.
“I wasn’t sure you’d be staying,” he said.
“You and everyone else, it seems.”
“I’m glad you did.”
Nora stopped and looked at him, then. “Really?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“You know, I saw a picture of you with your boat,” Nora said casually. “It was hanging on the wall at your dad’s house. Why didn’t you tell me it was you on the radio? You let me go on and on. Not once did you bother to mention your name.”
“You never asked.”
“You’re right.” Nora shrugged. “Maybe I liked the mystery of not knowing who was on the other end of the radio.”
“And now that you know?”
Nora smiled at him. “Well, I’m not disappointed.”
“That’s good,”
said Jake, relieved. “Look, I’d like to take you out sometime. On a date.”
Nora started to laugh, but then stopped herself. “A date? In Heron? What on earth would we do?”
Jake’s smile disappeared. “It was a bad idea. Never mind.”
“No,” said Nora. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it that way. I just… I’m sorry.”
“So, you’d like to go out sometime?”
Nora liked him, that much she knew. There was no other explanation for why he kept popping into her thoughts. She wasn’t sure about starting a serious relationship, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t at least try and enjoy her time in Alaska. Jake could turn out to be the perfect distraction.
“Yes. I’d like to go out with you,” she decided. “I just don’t know where we’d go.”
“I’ll figure something out,” Jake said, his smile returning. “I’m heading to Juneau for a few days, but I’ll get in touch with you when I get back. We’ll make plans then.”
“You’re a busy man, aren’t you?”
“Yes, but I make time for the important people in my life.” Was Jake saying she was important to him? Surely not. They barely knew each other. But when Jake took her hand in his own and squeezed it lightly, excitement coursed through her body. “I really am glad you decided to stay,” he said.
Nora felt a sudden pang of guilt. Sure, she had decided to give Heron a chance, but she hadn’t really decided to stay for good. At least not yet.
Chapter 9
A helicopter circled the mountaintop, making at least its fourth or fifth trip around the peak that still held a few patches of snow from the previous winter.
Nora first noticed the aircraft hovering over a clearing on the northwest side of the mountain while she maneuvered her skiff toward the store dock. She continued watching the helicopter, even as she cut the throttle and let the boat drift the rest of the way to the mooring. As she pulled up to the floating dock and looped the rope around a post, securing the boat, she glanced toward the mountain again. That time she spotted the helicopter slowly moving around to the other side of the peak. She grabbed her tote bag and a cooler out of the skiff, sitting them beside her on the wooden platform, and turned her attention back toward the mountain. The helicopter turned again, moving back toward the northwest side of the mountain, hovering around the summit a little over 3,000 feet above sea level.
“It’s Mark,” she heard someone say behind her. “Mark Nelson. Went up yesterday morning and didn’t come back down.”
“By himself?” she asked, turning around to see Lars loading a couple boxes onto a float plane tied up on the other side of the dock.
“Humph,” he grunted. “Told his wife he was going to check his traps.”
Nora didn’t know Mark at all, except by name and reputation. He was a local, one of the few that were born and raised there, and his furs were sold at the store. Lily had told her that much during their grand tour of town a few days earlier.
“He knows the mountain pretty well, though, doesn’t he?” she asked. “Lily told me he leads hiking excursions or something.”
“Doesn’t matter. Anything can happen out there. You need help?” he asked, nodding at the dirty, old Coleman cooler by her feet.
“No. I can get this,” she said, picking it up and walking toward the ramp to the store.
“Tide’s low and the ramp is steep,” was all he said as he took the cooler from her, propped it up on one shoulder, and climbed the ramp.
About halfway up the ramp, she was glad Lars was carrying the cooler for her. Trudging up at such a steep incline wasn’t easy. Nora was winded before she reached the top, where Lars had already sat the cooler down outside the store. Without a word, he turned and trotted back down the ramp to finish loading the plane.
“Thanks,” Nora hollered at him after she caught her breath. He looked up and waved casually to her from the floating platform below.
Leaving the cooler right where Lars had left it, Nora walked around the wooden deck encircling The General Store to get one more look at the search mission on the mountaintop. As she watched the helicopter make another pass toward the southwest before it disappeared from view, she wondered what the likelihood was of finding Mark and what condition he would be in if they did find him. At least the weather is on his side, Nora thought as she stepped through the open door into the store. For mid-June, she had been told the temperature was unusually warm – it was in the high-60s. And for the first time in almost two weeks, the rain had stopped completely.
Inside the store, the boards under Nora’s feet creaked with each step she took. She liked that about this place, the creaking floorboards. Everything felt old and weathered, but not falling-apart old, more like standing-the-test-of-time old. There was a sense of history in the timeworn building. It was one of the first structures built in the town when it was settled more than a hundred years earlier, as evidenced by the old photographs of the town hanging on the wall, and it still felt like the pioneer spirit was fresh and young and alive there.
“You hear about Mark?” Barbara asked Nora as she approached a small counter at one end of the store that served as the post office. The mail had just come in off the float plane, and Barbara was still sorting through it. Hunched over the small stack of mail, the older woman held her long black hair in one hand at the nape of her neck to keep it out of the way and quickly tossed the mail into small piles with her free hand. Nora found it remarkable how efficiently Barbara was able to sort the mail one-handed. She stopped sorting for a second, thinking, then turned around and pulled an envelope out from under a pile stacked on the shelf behind her. “This came for you yesterday,” she said, handing a catalog and an envelope to Nora and then going back to her sorting.
“Um, yeah. I saw the helicopter out there looking for him,” Nora responded absentmindedly, looking at the envelope for a return address. Seeing none, she checked the postmark. Los Angeles.
A warm breeze drifted in through the propped-open door, bringing with it the smell of salt water and fish, and Nora looked up from the envelope. Barbara had stopped sorting the mail and was staring at her. “I hope they find him,” Nora said lamely before stuffing the envelope into the catalog and shoving them both in her tote bag.
“It’s just like Jerry and his two buddies last winter,” Barbara said, filling in the silence, and going back to sorting the mail. “Oh, you wouldn’t know them, now would you? Jerry was my brother-in-law. Him and Cal Lawrence and Finny Larson used to go across the inlet to hunt all the time. Last winter, they were on their way back, crossing over a pond, and they all three fell through the ice. Finny’s the only one that made it out of the water. They found his body almost a week later near the edge of the pond, but they never did find the others.” Barbara stopped talking long enough to gauge Nora’s reaction. Nora didn’t know what to say, so she only nodded sympathetically, and Barbara continued. “But that’s the way it is. Live here long enough and you’re bound to know someone who went out into the wilderness and never came back. We all have stories like that. You will, too, someday.”
“Or maybe I’ll be the one to disappear,” Nora said with a smile, trying to lighten the mood. Her joke fell flat and Barbara stared at her. As Nora turned to leave, she thought she heard Barbara say something under her breath, but she couldn’t quite tell.
Nora made her way back through the store toward the grocery section, where she grabbed some ground coffee, a box of dried milk, and cereal. Two days earlier, Willie promised to start bringing her homemade bread and eggs once a week, so she didn’t need to buy either of those. But she still had a craving for a good old-fashioned hamburger, so she picked up a pound of ground beef and some cheese.
Then she made her way to the checkout counter. On a shelf behind the counter sat a small collection of Nora’s only slightly-used designer handbags. Not surprisingly, none of them had sold yet, but then again it had only been three days since she’d handed them over to Nate to sell. She’d briefly tho
ught about selling some of her electronics, but she was hesitant to get rid of those things. The designer handbags, on the other hand, she’d never need again. They were merely a reminder of the superficial life she’d left behind.
After she paid for her groceries, Nora took them outside and put the perishables in the cooler. Then she went back inside, to the separate area that served as the liquor store. She bought a box of wine. As an afterthought, she grabbed a case of beer and a bottle of Scotch for Willie, something she could give him in return for the fresh bread and eggs. As she walked out the door, she ran into Lily.
“Having a party?” asked Lily, eying up the box of wine, the beer, and the liquor. “Because if you are, then I expect an invite.”
“Does a party of one count?”
“I suppose it could,” Lily grinned. “Speaking of parties, the town is having its Summer Solstice Festival in a week. It’s a big deal. There’s a huge potluck and a ton of games. Everyone stays up all night, listening to music, playing music, singing, dancing. You have to come.”
“When is it?” asked Nora.
“The 21st, of course. For some people, it starts the night before. But most people start gathering at sunrise and party right on through until morning on the 22nd... if they can stay awake that long.” Lily grinned mischievously. “Everyone will be there. Even Jake.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing.” Lily enjoyed playing matchmaker, and she had a pretty good hunch it wouldn’t take much to get Jake and Nora together. “Just that it would be the perfect opportunity for the two of you to get to know each other a little better. I think you two would make a cute couple.”
Nora chuckled awkwardly and shook her head. “Uh, uh. I agreed to a date, but that’s all.”
“A date, huh? Jake didn’t tell me that.” Lily looked pleased. “Give me the scoop. When are you two going out?”
Nora didn’t know the answer to that question. He’d asked her out, but they hadn’t actually made any plans. And Nora hadn’t seen or heard from him since then. Of course, it had only been three days, and Jake did say he was going to be in Juneau for a few days.
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