by Edie Claire
Haley sat quietly for a moment. “So…” she said finally. “There is no bear prowling around my uncle’s place?”
Ben hedged. “Well, I do believe he saw a bear. It’s always safe to assume that bears are out there, whether you see them or not. But an aggressive, predatory bear? No. I really don’t think so.” He stole a look at her, but her reaction was hard to read. “Does that make you feel any better?”
She looked at him as though it were an odd question. “I feel bad that my uncle died so young, and that I never got to know him. I’m glad he didn’t die in a violent way. But if you think I’m ever going to wander around that creepy place without looking over my shoulder every second, you overestimate my mettle.”
Ben chuckled softly. The woman was a trip. Eminently practical, refreshingly down to earth. She was probably not afraid of much.
“Where do you live, Haley?” he asked.
“Newport Beach, California.”
He nodded with understanding. Tourists who lived in built-up areas were often irrationally phobic of wild animals.
“You can’t enjoy everything Alaska has to offer if you’re afraid of bears,” he insisted. “Be ‘bear aware,’ as they say, and you’ll be fine.”
“I’ll be fine because I’m not getting more than six feet from my car,” she retorted.
The sign for their destination rose up on the right, and Ben slowed the truck.
“Are there mooses in Moose Pass?” Haley asked.
“No more or less than anywhere else around here, but yes, probably. Are you afraid of moose, too?”
“Of course not!” she said defensively. “They’re herbivores.”
Ben started to inform her that moose could also weigh up to 1600 pounds, stand over six feet tall at the shoulder, and get belligerent if annoyed, but he decided to keep his mouth shut. The fewer animals she was nervous about, the easier it would be to convince her to go hiking with him.
Hiking? Where had that come from?
“Chuck’s place is right on Trail Lake,” he explained as they drove through the tiny, picturesque town. “I won’t be long, but you might as well get out and enjoy the view while we’re here.”
“I’ll do that,” she agreed happily.
Ben pulled up to the cluttered garage, and a stooped older man with wild white hair looked up from his workbench with a wave. Ben’s task for the morning was to pick up an outboard motor that had been rebuilt by the semi-retired mechanic. Kenai Marine had its own mechanic in Seward, of course, but whenever an obscure replacement part was needed, it was Chuck who always came through.
Ben waved back and parked the truck. “Just head around the side of the house and you’ll see the dock out front,” he instructed Haley. “I’ll come get you when the motor’s loaded.”
Haley said nothing. She merely bobbed her head in thanks, scooted out of the truck, and headed for the water. Ben couldn’t resist watching her lithe movements as she strode away, her ponytail swishing around her confidently squared shoulders.
He walked on into the garage, where he listened with less patience than usual to Chuck’s recounting of every detail of the rebuild, his last fishing trip, and the state of his lumbago. Although Ben knew he would miss seeing Haley’s first reaction to the lake, he hoped to join her later and share her admiration for a while before they had to turn around. But by the time he managed to run through the necessary script with Chuck and get the motor securely stashed in the truck bed, it was already too late to tarry.
He hurried around the side of Chuck’s ancient house. Haley could have swum to the other side of the lake and back by now, he thought ruefully. But then he grinned to himself. Come to think of it, that was something else he would like to see. He emerged around the corner to find her sitting on the dock, her feet swinging idly over the water. Her hands were behind her, and she hung her head back as if happily relaxed. He wished he had his camera handy. With the calm blue lake spread out before her, bordered with straight green trees and nestled in the shadows of the towering white-peaked mountains, she looked just like a postcard.
He walked toward her and was about to call out when she jerked suddenly, then cast a disparaging glance at the bag that lay on the dock beside her.
No, Ben pleaded silently. Don’t answer it.
For a long moment, he thought she might not. But finally, with a look of pure torture on her face, she grabbed up the phone and put it to her ear. “Is this an emergency, Mom?”
Ben backed up again. Haley didn’t realize he was there, and he didn’t want to eavesdrop. But he couldn’t retreat fast enough to avoid hearing more than he wanted to. “No!” Haley said heavily. “I will not call Tim and I will not tell him anything! And if you really want to save Micah’s marriage, you will stop letting her complain to you all the time and encourage her to talk to her husband instead!”
He winced as whatever response Haley was hearing caused her body to contract into a knot. She pulled her feet up and wrapped her arms around her knees. “The baby will have a happy home,” she said fiercely, even as her voice sounded suddenly less assured. “No matter what happens.”
Ben moved out of earshot. He sighed to himself as he staked out a spot near the corner of the house where he could watch for her to hang up. Clearly, the sister she mentioned earlier was having problems. Why Haley was so obviously affected by them, despite repeated attempts to disengage, was harder to figure.
He did not have to wait long. Haley rose a few seconds later and stuffed her phone back into her bag. She saw him as soon as she turned and began to walk toward him. She smiled at him, but her eyes were too bright; a child could see that she was fighting tears.
“Captain Parker,” she said crisply, avoiding looking directly into his face. “I’ve decided that I want to know everything there is to know about everything we’ll be seeing on the drive back. Natural history, animals, plants, funny local anecdotes. A continuous, running commentary, preferably delivered with a few laugh-out-loud jokes. Know where I can hire a good naturalist?”
Ben’s answering smile was guarded. She was obviously just looking for a distraction. She had no way of knowing, after meeting him less than twenty-four hours ago, that with the singular exception of “take me now” she had just said the most exciting words she could possibly say to him.
Chapter 8
Haley’s first sight of Resurrection Bay nearly made her heart stop. She considered herself a connoisseur of beautiful views, forking over a significant portion of her salary to rent an upscale one-bedroom apartment from which she could look out over Balboa Island and Newport Bay to a sliver of the Pacific beyond. But the vistas she had seen this morning were beyond compare, and the feast of nonstop beauty that surrounded her on the drive to Moose Pass and back left her feeling surprisingly buoyant. Her mother’s last, ridiculous outburst had almost precipitated the crying jag for which she was so overdue, but thankfully, Ben’s performance as a naturalist had made her laugh out loud instead. She’d been expecting him to drop her off at the cabins and go on to Seward, but when it became clear that he was worried about getting their cargo back to the marina on time, she had agreed to ride along for the delivery as well. Spending a little more time with her amusing new neighbor was no hardship.
“Welcome to my workplace,” Ben said proudly, sweeping a hand before the windshield as they reached the marina. Ocean vessels ranging from tiny fishing craft all the way up to a giant cruise ship sat moored on the edge of a glistening blue body of water. Gentle chop stirred up the bay’s surface as seagulls swooped and dived before a backdrop of endless, snow-painted mountains.
“Mine has free bagels,” she said tonelessly.
He chuckled. “Yeah, well, I get cookies sometimes. If there are any left after the passengers get done with them.”
Haley turned toward him. “What sort of tours do you do, exactly?”
His eyes sparkled with pleasure, and she marveled at the sight. Never in her life had she met anyone who enjoyed his job so
much. Certainly no one at her firm. The attorneys all liked the money, of course, and many got a charge out of confrontation and the gamesmanship involved. But in reflecting on the average, hour-by-hour tasks of a typical workday, none of her coworkers would express such glee. She sure as hell wouldn’t.
“All kinds,” he answered gaily. “Today I’ve got two short tours of just the bay. A mid-afternoon and an evening. But most days, I do the full-day runs down to Holgate Glacier. Occasionally I’ll do a fishing charter, but my boss really loves those, so he does most of them himself. Me, I like handling the first-time tourists. People who’ve never seen a whale before. That’s the greatest.”
His face beamed, and Haley couldn’t help but chuckle. “Well, I’ve seen whales before, plenty of times, but it still sounds like fun. I’ll have to check it out.”
“Our tours get booked up way in advance, I’m afraid,” he warned. “But I can keep an eye out for a cancellation if you like.”
“I like,” Haley replied, smiling.
When they reached the tour company’s office, Ben delivered his cargo quickly to the waiting mechanic, then returned to the truck. “I don’t have to be back at the marina for another two hours,” he said thoughtfully. “I can take you to your cabin now, or we can grab some lunch first. What’s your pleasure?”
Haley’s stomach growled. Her oatmeal- and flax-bar breakfast seemed like a very long time ago, and she was enjoying Ben’s company immensely. “You have someplace particular in mind?”
Within minutes, she was seated at a window-side table with a view of the bay. “Is that another bald eagle?” she asked, staring at the top of a pole rising out of the water just beyond the docks.
He followed her eyes and nodded. “Yep! Told you they were everywhere. Everywhere there’s fish, anyway.”
“Well, hey, Ben!” effused a waitress who appeared with menus and ice water. She looked young, in her early twenties maybe, and as she flipped her blond hair casually over her shoulder she made her interest in the redheaded boat captain painfully obvious. “Decided to eat up top with the tourists today, huh?” She cast a guarded look at Haley. “What’s the occasion? Is this another one of your sisters?”
Ben made no immediate response, so Haley shook her head.
“What have you got today, Alexa?” he asked in a voice that was perfectly friendly, even as he ignored both of her questions. “Is the sockeye fresh?”
Alexa threw out her chest. “Just came in this morning!” she said brightly. “What’ll you have to drink?”
The waitress took their requests and departed, and Haley studied the menu. Fish did sound good. She had a choice of cod, halibut, or salmon. She wanted to try the salmon because it was an Alaskan thing, but she couldn’t remember which species were taboo. Her hand reached automatically for her cell phone. She was used to texting all such questions to Micah, who had read every major pregnancy guide from cover to cover and could probably quote the mercury content of every fish on the menu from memory.
Haley pulled her hand back. No, she would not consult Micah. She wasn’t going to look it up online, either, since she’d be vulnerable to interruption the second she turned her phone back on. There had to be a less stressful way.
“How long do salmon live?” she asked lightly, looking at Ben. For all she knew, he might be able to quote mercury levels from memory, too. But the last thing she wanted to do was explain why she was asking.
He shrugged. “Four or five years, usually.”
“Do they get very big?”
“Depends on the species. The king — or Chinook — salmon can get to five feet. But the sockeye, like they serve here, are smaller. Maybe two and a half.”
Haley considered. She knew she was supposed to avoid large, long-lived, carnivorous fish. But what was large and long-lived for a fish? “What do they eat?” she pressed.
“Plankton,” he answered. “Little invertebrates. Some of the bigger salmon can eat smaller fish.”
Haley caught a flicker of something strange in his eyes, and her heart skipped a beat. But she quickly calmed herself. He couldn’t possibly suspect her motives. Besides, it would be easy enough to cover her tracks. “And how many species of salmon might one find in Alaska?” she asked seriously. “Be careful. I can verify all this later.”
He grinned, and Haley put her concern to rest. They placed their orders (she went with the sockeye), and passed a pleasant few minutes discussing fish and fishing. As she listened with fascination to him expound on yet another subject about which she had no previous interest, it occurred to her how alert he must be to the cues of his audience. The second her attention even came close to flagging, he magically either stopped talking or switched to another topic. If only she could teach her co-workers that trick, she might be home for dinner once in a while.
“So, you have sisters?” she inquired during a rare pause in the conversation, remembering what the waitress had asked. “How many?”
“Four,” he said heavily, feigning agony. “All older. I’m the only boy. And no, I am not ‘more sensitive’ because of their influence, only more traumatized. You’re afraid of bears? Well, I’m afraid of dress-up clothes.”
Haley laughed out loud. “They didn’t!”
“On a regular basis,” he said grimly. “With pictures. What about you? Any other siblings besides the sister you mentioned?”
Haley’s mirth dampened. She would give anything to keep talking about dress-up clothes. “No,” she answered. “It’s just me and Micah. We’re fraternal twins. And no, we don’t look alike. We’re nothing alike at all.”
The change in tone from the beginning of her answer to the end was so pronounced that Haley could hear it herself. Her last words sounded like a funeral oration.
Ben heard it, too. As usual, his response was spot-on.
“So,” he said merrily, clapping his large hands together over the table. “What do you plan to do with yourself the rest of the day?”
Haley smiled with relief. She was really, really liking this man. “Well, I hadn’t thought about it,” she admitted. “But I suppose I’ll drive my car back to the marina and walk around a bit, enjoy the bay. I was going to check out the hotels, but now that I know our resident bear is only 10% likely to kill me, I may just stay at the cabin. They really are cozy little places, aren’t they? It’s a mystery to me how my uncle could build such nice rentals while living in such a dump.”
Ben shook his head. “He didn’t build them. He didn’t build the house, either, or accumulate all that junk. He told me that whoever built the original house sold it “as is” to a speculator about four years ago. That owner built the cabins, but he never lived on the property and he went bankrupt before they could be rented. Your uncle picked up the property on a short sale, just before last summer. He rented to me and another guy who managed one of the hotels in town. He didn’t mind the house being a wreck because he spent most of his time on his boat.”
“Well, that explains that,” Haley said. “But why isn’t the cabin I’m staying in rented out this summer?”
Ben’s eyes widened. “Oh,” he said with sudden remorse. “Crap. I forgot about that. Your shower doesn’t work.”
Haley’s high hopes took a nosedive. “It doesn’t?”
He shook his head. “Pipe burst last winter. Randy capped it off underneath until he could get a plumber out, but as far as I know, he never got around to it.”
“I see,” Haley said miserably. She’d had visions of stockpiling some groceries and basic supplies and spending the rest of the day alternating between staring at the mountains and napping. But she needed a shower. Desperately. She hadn’t had one since the day before yesterday. “Well, that’s a problem.”
She could always move to a hotel in Seward, of course, but the idea didn’t excite her. For one thing, she really did like her cabin. It was cozy and quaintly rustic, but still airy and clean, and it came with a beautiful porch view and extremely pleasant company next door. A hotel room
would come with fresh linens every day. But it would also come with cellular service. Probably even Wi-Fi.
She sighed.
“You’re welcome to use my shower,” Ben offered.
Haley raised an eyebrow.
He chuckled. “I wasn’t planning on being in it at the time,” he clarified. “Although I’d happily consider an invitation.” He reached into a pocket, pulled out a key ring, and slipped off one of his keys. “Seriously,” he continued, setting it down on the table in front of her. “Feel free. I won’t be back until after nine tonight. It’s not what you’d call spotless, but it’s decent. Just drop the key in one of my boots on the porch when you’re done.”
Haley hesitated. Neighbors or not, it seemed weird to be using the man’s shower. Then again, it was technically her shower, wasn’t it? And he wouldn’t even be there.
“All right,” she said finally. “Thank you. I think I already have a key, though.”
He shrugged. “Take it, just in case. I have an extra at the tour office.”
“Sockeyes!” the waitress called cheerfully as she approached their table with two heaping plates on a tray. She set the food down in front of them and tossed her hair again. “So, Ben,” she said pointedly. “Are you going to introduce me to your friend?”
Haley reached for her lemonade and took a sip. This was awkward.
Alexa cast an appraising look sideways at Haley. “Is she your girlfriend?”
“No,” Ben said offhandedly, picking up his fork. “We’re just shower buddies.”
Haley spewed lemonade across the table.
“Ben Parker!” the waitress chastised, grabbing extra napkins off the next table and handing them to Haley, who was attempting to sop up the mess with her own. “You are so bad!” She whirled around with a huff and departed.