Water's Edge (Alaskan Frontier Romance Book 1)

by Jennifer McArdle

  “Enough,” Jake said, getting frustrated with her. “You shouldn’t be putting any pressure on your ankle, and you know it.”

  “I can do this on my own,” she said more forcefully than she’d intended as she leaned against the railing of the boardwalk and shifted all of her weight to her good ankle.

  “Well, I can’t stand by and watch. You’re in pain. I’m going to carry you whether you like it or not,” Jake said. He could be precisely as stubborn as Nora, if he wanted to be. Without another word, he scooped Nora up into his arms again. She struggled at first, but Jake didn’t give in. His strength was more than Nora could contend with. Resolutely, Jake carried Nora the rest of the way into town. Wrapping her arms around his neck, Nora settled in and enjoyed the ride. If I have to be carried, at least I can enjoy the feel of his strong arms around me, she thought contentedly.

  Her contentment turned to embarrassment when they got into town, though, and people saw him carrying her. When Jake turned left onto the boardwalk, taking Nora in the direction opposite her skiff, Nora finally spoke.

  “Where are you taking me?”

  “I would think that would be obvious,” Jake said, looking at her. Her face was so close to his, all he wanted to do was kiss her and make up for letting her get hurt. “I’m taking you to Len’s place. Since he’s the closest thing we have to a doctor, I thought he should take a look at your ankle.”

  “But I’m fine,” Nora protested. “If you’ll put me down, you’ll see.”

  Jake didn’t pay any attention. He carried her to a small, gray house squeezed in between the steep mountainside and the boardwalk. He managed to knock on the door without any problem and only sat her down after Len welcomed them into his home.

  Jake told Len about her fall and her ankle, then he watched closely while Len examined her ankle, refusing to leave her side. The pain returned full force when Len examined her foot, pressing on the bones to feel for a break and rotating her foot to test its mobility. To block out the pain, Nora looked out the window and tried to focus on an incoming float plane, probably bringing the mail. She watched as it descended toward the inlet and as its pontoons skimmed the surface until it settled completely in the water. She was still watching the plane slowly make its way toward the dock when Len patted her on the knee and told her he was finished. Nora’s ankle was wrapped tightly and Len was handing her a crutch.

  “I don’t think it’s broken, but you should stay off that foot for at least a day,” said Len. Suspecting that Nora would try to defy his orders as soon as she stepped out the door, he turned to Jake. “You can get her home, can’t you?”

  Jake nodded. “I’ll take care of her.”

  “Good,” said Len as he got up and began putting his med kit away. “You two can let yourselves out. I have to take care of a few things.” He quickly gathered his things and carried them into a back room.

  “I don’t need you to take care of me,” Nora said as she slowly stood up, keeping all of her weight on her good ankle.

  “You heard the man,” Jake said, taking Nora by the arm and helping her to the door. “You shouldn’t put any weight on the foot. Even with the crutch, you’re going to need some help getting home.”

  “Really, I’m fine,” Nora insisted, but she still let Jake help her out the door. Then he led her to a nearby bench.

  “You wait here. I’ll bring your skiff around to the marina.”

  Jake left her there, with one foot propped up on the railing of the boardwalk. It was ferry day again, Nora realized when she saw the small ship was docked at the south end of town. Has it been another two weeks already? Time really does fly.

  She watched as a few passengers disembarked the small ship. All of them walked right past her on their way to their homes, but one man stopped. He was an older man, looked to be in his early fifties. He also looked uncomfortable in his brand new khaki pants and cotton button-down shirt. Nora had the feeling he would be more at ease in a business suit. He definitely put off the businessman vibe.

  “Excuse me,” he said. “Can you tell me how to find a woman named Nora Cooley?”

  That took her by surprise.

  “I’m Nora,” she answered. “Is there something I can do for you?”

  He smiled.

  “Yes, actually. I saw your ad and I’ve come to see the place.” He saw the shock on her face. “You haven’t sold it already, have you?”

  “Umm, no.” Nora responded, feeling guilty she hadn’t cancelled the ad sooner. This man had wasted a significant amount of time and money traveling to Heron, and she wasn’t even planning to sell the place anymore. “This is a little awkward.”

  The sound of an outboard motor interrupted them. Jake had returned with the skiff and docked it nearby.

  “Who’s this?” he asked, smiling as he approached the pair. He held out a hand to the stranger. “I’m Jake. And you are?”

  “Gerald Grainger. Just arrived on the ferry,” he explained genially.

  “So what brings you to Heron? Staying at one of the lodges? Maybe I can point you in the right direction.”

  “No, no. I’m only here for the day. Came to see about buying some property from this young lady.”

  Whoa! That took Jake by surprise. He looked at Nora, confused, then turned back to the man.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, I saw her ad,” he explained. “If the pictures do it any justice, I think it might be exactly what I’m looking for.”

  Jake turned to Nora, bewildered. “You placed an ad for the property?”

  “Yes, but...”

  “You were never planning to stay.” He felt numb at the thought. It was all so overwhelming. All this time, she had been pretending like she was going to stay. And all this time, she had been waiting for a potential buyer to come along. Well, a buyer was there now. Nora had the opportunity to leave, once and for all.

  He’d been right from the start, to think she wouldn’t stick around. And just when he let his guard down, and let her into his life, she was leaving. As if everything they’d shared had meant nothing to her. As if he meant nothing to her.

  An anger rose up in Jake as he thought it. Nora was exactly like his mother. She never would have stayed in Heron. She would have strung him along, just like his mom did with his dad, but in the end she still would have left.

  The pain he felt was unbearable.

  “It’s good that you’re leaving,” he spat out, wanting to hurt Nora as much as she’d just hurt him. “You never would have survived out there, anyway. You never did belong here.”

  His words stung.

  “Jake, it’s not what you think...” She wanted to tell him she wasn’t selling the property. She’d decided to stay.

  But Jake wasn’t sticking around to hear any excuses or explanations. Before she had a chance to explain, he left Nora and the man alone on the boardwalk. He wouldn’t risk any further hurt.

  Lily stopped Jake in front of the pub. He had a look in his eyes like he was ready to spill blood.

  “Hey, what’s going on?”

  “Nora’s leaving. That’s what’s going on.”

  “No, she can’t be,” Lily tried to reassure him. “It’s probably a misunderstanding. You should go find her and talk to her.”

  “Not a chance. She’s made her choice. She listed the cabin for sale weeks ago. I think I always knew she was going to leave eventually, just like Mom did. It’s better if she leaves now.”

  “Jake, you’re being stupid. It took Mom ten years out here before she got fed up with living in the bush. How long would it take for Nora to prove to you that she’s really going to stick around? A year? Ten years? Twenty?”

  “You know what it did to Dad when Mom left.”

  “What are you so afraid of, Jake? That she’s going to leave like Mom did? Or that, just like Dad, you won’t be able to get over her if she does?”

  That was it, exactly. He was a one-woman man, just like his father. If he let himself fall i
n love with Nora, he would love her until his dying day. He would never be able to move on with his life if she left him. And that scared him more than anything.

  “Dad hasn’t been the same since Mom left. You know that. I don’t want to make the same mistake.”

  “Loving someone is never a mistake,” Lily said softly, laying a hand on Jake’s arm. “The bigger mistake is not taking the chance that’s given to you.”

  Lily was a hopeless romantic, but maybe she had a point. Jake looked back toward the harbor, where he’d left Nora. No, he couldn’t assume Nora would be exactly like his mother. Maybe she did have what it takes to stick it out in the Alaskan bush, but she obviously wasn’t willing to give it a try.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Jake said stubbornly. “Some hot shot’s already here, ready to buy the land. She’s probably taking him out to see the property even as we speak.” His heart was breaking at the thought of Nora leaving. “And it’s a good thing, too. Better that she leaves now, before...”

  “Before what? Before you fall in love with her?” Lily knew her brother better than he realized. It was already too late.

  Chapter 18

  Jake’s words stung. They cut right through her, leaving nothing but pieces of a shattered dream.

  Maybe he was right. Hadn’t Madeline told her the same thing, that she didn’t belong in Heron and that she’d never be truly happy there? All of the doubt Nora had ever felt about living in the bush rushed back into her mind.

  He never thought she had it in her to live out there on her own. He never believed she could survive. He always expected her to leave.

  It shouldn’t have come as a surprise. Everyone in Heron thought she would fail, she’d known that right from the start. But after all the time she’d spent with Jake, she really thought she had at least one person on her side. She thought he, of all people, believed in her. Obviously she was wrong.

  Maybe she was wrong about a lot of other things, too. Maybe she had been wrong to think she could build a life in that little cabin. Really, what was she doing there?

  “I know I showed up unexpectedly, but I am on a bit of a time crunch. Do you think we could head out to the property? I’d like to get back before the ferry leaves,” said Grainger, looking impatiently at his watch, “which I believe is about an hour and a half from now.”

  Jake was right. She should leave before the Alaskan wilderness swallowed her up. And now she had the opportunity standing right in front of her.

  “Yeah, sorry,” said Nora. “Let’s go.”

  She left the crutch Len had given her on the bench and limped toward the skiff, her ankle still aching from the fall earlier. The man followed close behind.

  “You took quite a chance coming out here,” she said as she carefully climbed into the boat. “You weren’t worried the property would already be off the market?”

  “Not really. I was already in Juneau on business when an associate of mine told me about your ad. Figured it wasn’t too much of a detour to come check it out.”

  “Well, you’re lucky, because up until a few minutes ago, I wasn’t sure about selling it.”

  * * *

  “So, this is it. Five acres, a cabin, and two outbuildings,” said Nora as they walked the property. “I know it’s not much.”

  The torrential rain from the night before left the property littered with branches and leaves. It was a mess. Nora glanced around at the debris that would need to be picked up and the long trench now dividing the property where a mudslide had come down from the mountain. It would take days to clean it all up.

  “Sorry about the mess. We had a storm come through last night.”

  She felt numb as they walked the perimeter of the property. She was telling him about the tides and the run-off from the mountains, but she was only going through the motions. All she could think about was Jake. The look of disappointment on his face when he realized she had listed the property for sale. The tone of his voice when he told her it was better that she sell. His insistence that it was better if she leave Heron sooner rather than later, that she never would have stayed anyway. The anguish she felt in her heart at the thought of leaving it all behind... of leaving Jake behind.

  “It’s perfect.” Grainger was satisfied with it. “The stream, the waterfront, the mountain views. It’s exactly what I’m looking for.”

  “Don’t you want to see the cabin? You haven’t been inside any of the buildings.”

  “Oh, sure, sure,” he said, as if the condition of the cabin was completely irrelevant. “Let’s take a look.”

  She’d been gone for two days and a light dust had settled on everything in the cabin. The old musty smell had settled in again. No matter how many times she had scrubbed the walls, the smell always came back. At first, it had been annoying. Now, it smelled rather comforting.

  The wood stove was cold and Nora winced when Grainger gave the old iron stove a little kick with his boot to see how sturdy it was.

  “Will you be taking any of this... stuff... with you?” He wasn’t very impressed with any of it.

  “Only my personal belongings. The books and clothes. The furniture all stays.”

  “Hmm,” he said, not sounding too satisfied with her answer. “The furniture’s irrelevant. I won’t be needing any of it.”

  They walked back outside, then, and Nora showed him the outbuildings.

  “The cabin’s not much, like you said. And the other buildings are pretty rustic, too. But the property itself is precisely what I need. I’ll take it.”

  Nora almost didn’t trust her ears. Had she heard him correctly? “You... want to buy it?”

  “That’s what I said, isn’t it?” He pulled out his cell phone and held it up in the air, searching for a signal.

  “That won’t work,” said Nora, pointing at his cell phone. “At least not until we get back into town.”

  “Well, that’s one drawback, I guess. No matter. People come to Alaska for the peace and quiet, right? That’s the beauty of this place. The remoteness. It’s the perfect place to get away from everything and relax.” He looked around one more time, taking in the surroundings. “Come on. We should be getting back to town so I can call my attorney and have the papers drawn up. I want the paperwork to be ready and waiting for us when we get to Juneau. I assume you can make the trip today? It shouldn’t take long to get the deed and title transferred.”

  Nora stood there in shock. She was a little taken aback by the man’s take-charge attitude. He exuded confidence, an air of importance. He was obviously a business man, someone who was used to giving orders and getting his way.

  “But we haven’t even discussed the purchase price.”

  “There will be plenty of time to talk terms on the ferry,” he said abruptly, climbing into the skiff and waiting for Nora. She followed, pushing the boat out into deeper water and then climbing in as carefully as she could with her still swollen ankle.

  He looked at his watch impatiently as they bounced along on the waves, heading toward town. “Can this thing go any faster?”

  “Sorry,” Nora hollered at him. She already had the throttle open all the way.

  “I don’t know why I bothered with the ferry, anyway,” he muttered. “I should have chartered a flight in and out. That’s what I get for listening to my therapist. ‘Take time to enjoy life,’ he said. ‘Don’t always be in such a hurry.’ So instead of flying, I took the seven-hour-long boat ride. Do you have any idea how much nothing there is between here and Juneau? Thought it would give me time to relax. All it did was remind me how much time I was wasting.”

  This guy’s really annoying, Nora thought, trying hard not to roll her eyes whenever he spoke. It was a wonder he wanted to buy a vacation cabin so far out, considering how much he evidently hated being disconnected from the rest of the world.

  He looked at his watch again. Town still wasn’t in sight. “We’re never going to make it before the ferry leaves. There has to be flight service out of here, right?
”

  “Yeah,” Nora shouted back over the sound of the outboard motor. “Gus has a float plane service in town.”

  Not surprisingly, when they arrived in town the ferry was already gone. Nora pulled the skiff up to the dock at the store and helped the man out of the boat. Like she had been when she’d first arrived in Heron, he was a little wobbly as he stepped up onto the aluminum seat and then onto the dock. Just like Nora had, he would learn.

  From the dock, Nora pointed him in the direction where he would likely find Gus. Then she went in search of Jake. She had to see him. It wasn’t too late to change her mind. It wasn’t too late to tell Grainger she didn’t want to sell. If only Jake would be willing to hear her out.

  She found him at the pub, sitting alone at a small table in the farthest corner of the restaurant. He had a cup of coffee in front of him, but he hadn’t taken a single sip. He just sat there staring at the hot, black liquid.

  Slowly, she approached the table. Nora had never felt this awkward around Jake before, but now, she didn’t know what to say to him. She didn’t know how to begin.

  “Jake,” she said cautiously.

  He glanced up at her and then returned his attention to his cup of coffee. “What do you want?” he asked. It sounded more like an accusation than a question.

  “I wanted to explain,” she said, stepping closer to the table. “I didn’t know Grainger was coming. I never thought anyone would be interested in buying the cabin...”

  “So that makes it better? You wanted to leave, but you didn’t think you’d be able to? Well, now there’s nothing holding you here anymore.”

  Her eyes pleaded with him. Ask me to stay. Tell me the night we shared on the mountaintop meant as much to you as it did to me.

  “Please, Jake. Don’t be like that.”

  Jake stood up, then, and looked her in the eye.

  “Why didn’t you tell me you were thinking about leaving?” he asked quietly, his eyes searching hers for an answer.