by Amy Vastine
“You think because I used the clay on Louis that I would discard modern medicine whenever I feel like it?”
“Well…I don’t know. And it’s not just Louis now, is it? You seemed pretty convinced in Ginger’s situation, too.”
Debates about medicine she was used to, so thankfully everything Abe had taught her kicked in. This topic she could discuss with complete confidence. She tried to decide how best to proceed.
He beat her to it. “Since you brought this up, I feel like I need to give you some advice. Despite our rough start, I have a good feeling about you, Ally. Aside from the mu…clay, Louis’s evacuation went well. You made the right call regarding the hospital. And I admire the way you handled Jacob Weil. He can be pretty intense, if not outright intimidating. I know you had Ginger’s best interests in mind. Anyone could see your compassion. Except…”
“Except what?”
“Except that I’m wondering if you’re aware of Dr. Boyd’s opinion on this subject.”
“Which subject?”
“The subject of medical marijuana. He’s very much against it.”
“But it’s legal now.”
“Not at the federal level. And he lobbied hard against it here in Alaska.”
“Ginger brought it up.”
Tag exhaled. “I know, and like I said, I think you handled it very well. But you need to be careful.”
A million invisible needles pricked at her skin. “Careful?” She repeated the word flatly. Careful was the opposite of what she needed to be in order to get her message out, especially when medical marijuana was a topic about which she should be able to speak freely.
“Yes, if you don’t want people to think you’re…”
She smiled and asked, “What? I don’t care what a few people say, people who don’t know the facts. All I want is to help people who want to be helped.”
“You might not think you care right now, but even one person in a position of power can have a lot of pull. What if you lost your job? How would that help anyone?”
That part did bother her, the job-losing bit. She’d worked so hard to get here. Her grandfather had sacrificed so much. “Dr. Boyd can’t fire me, not by himself. The board hired me.”
“I know, but…he has a lot of influence in the hospital and on the board, and in the community, for that matter. At the very least, he can make your life miserable. Please don’t think I’m being condescending here. I have no doubts about your skill and experience. But, on another level, I don’t want to see you get yourself into a…situation. I’m afraid you might not understand how powerful bureaucracy and politics can be.”
These words hit another nerve, reminding her of both her vulnerability and the importance of building a strong reputation. She might be young, but she wasn’t stupid, not where her profession was concerned, anyway.
“Did you not hear the part where I spent four years in the Army?”
“That’s one of the things I’ve been wondering about. How did you reconcile all of this? I can’t imagine Uncle Sam being very tolerant of your alternative methods.”
“My job in the Army was to follow orders. I was there to learn as much about modern emergency techniques as I could. The military is not exactly a flexible, open-to-change type of organization. Not when it comes to my cause, anyway.”
He grinned. “But a small hospital in Rankins, Alaska, is?”
“It’s a place to start.” She shrugged, not willing to talk about her plans or her grandfather’s. She just needed a little time to prove herself.
“A revolutionary.” He winked. “What do your parents think of your accomplishments and ambition?”
“Parent. One. My grandfather. And he is extremely proud. I am everything he hoped for. At least, that’s what he tells me. So far, anyway.” She couldn’t help but smile when she thought of him.
“How…did your parents die?”
“No. My mom dropped me off with her parents when I was only a few weeks old. My grandmother died when I was three. It’s been my grandpa and me ever since.”
“Where is she now, your mom? And what about your dad?”
Ally fidgeted with her silverware. “Last we heard, which was a few years ago, she was alive. She was—is—totally messed up. Ran away when she was fifteen, had me at sixteen. I’ve never met my father.” She grimaced. “I don’t even like calling them my mom and dad because my grandfather is both of those things to me.”
“Wow. I don’t know what to say… I can’t imagine what that would be like. I’ve been inundated with family my entire life. They kind of, uh, consume me. I’m so sorry.”
Ally forced a smile. She was used to this reaction, and while she appreciated it, she didn’t need it. She was fine. Mostly fine. Sure, a female opinion would have been, would be, helpful now and then. But her grandfather was more than a lot of children had in two parents and she was incredibly grateful for that.
“It’s fine. Families come in all shapes and sizes, right? So many kids out there have it way, way worse than me. Honestly, I’m very lucky.”
Tag nodded, and the way his eyes were searching hers made her feel…she wasn’t even sure beyond the fact that her skin was hot and her throat felt tight. The pity in his gaze was gone, replaced with what looked like admiration, maybe? She found herself hoping it was that.
CHAPTER SIX
“HOW LONG IS Iris staying?” Bering handed one end of a banner to Tag and backed away, unrolling it as he went.
“Not sure yet.” Tag fingered the thick textured paper that said Welcome Home & Congratulations, Iris! He climbed the stepladder next to the gazebo in Bering’s yard, pausing at the top while Bering scaled the ladder on the opposite side. He then tacked his end to the beam. “She’s job hunting right now. Why does this paper feel weird?”
“It’s some sort of super-biodegradable paper that Reagan made for a science project. The paint, too. He’s going to put the whole works in Emily’s compost pile after the party and then chart how long it takes to degrade and how it affects the surrounding…molecules or plant life or whatever. I don’t know. Emily and Aidan are helping him.”
Tag let out a chuckle. “Of course they are.” Aidan was Janie’s husband and Gareth and Reagan’s stepdad. He was also a scientist as well as Emily’s brother.
“What kind of job is Iris looking for?”
Ally had asked Iris the same question the day before. Those two had hit it off like long-lost pals. Tag and Ally had walked back to the airfield after the game where they’d talked for hours before Iris arrived. She’d taken one look at them and asked if Ally was his girlfriend, which prompted them to share the story about Rita and their pretend marriage. Thinking about yesterday’s trip filled him with a disconcerting mix of exhilaration and anxiety, much the way he felt when he piloted a new aircraft for the first time.
He’d nearly jumped out of the booth when Ally reached across the table and took his hand. The feel of her skin on his had been intense, the force of his attraction catching him off guard. It had also kept him up way too late the night before, leaving him a little irritable today. Eventually, he’d worked his brain around to accepting that it was perfectly normal to be attracted to a smart, funny, beautiful woman. Even one who was too young for him. He just needed to admire her and appreciate her from afar like one would a movie star or a model in a magazine.
He realized Bering was waiting for him to elaborate. “Iris has applied at different government agencies in DC and a few independent think tanks. She wasn’t super specific. I’m not sure she knows what she wants.”
Bering stretched an arm toward the middle of the banner and secured it there. “I swear, nothing would surprise me where she’s concerned.”
“Me, either. I just want her to be happy.” Of all his siblings, he worried about Iris the most. She didn’t seem to have the same innate contentedness that
the rest of them possessed. Even with her academic success and innumerable accolades, she seemed to be constantly searching for some elusive element.
Bering added a couple more tacks. “Jack is stopping by later. Did I tell you that?”
“No, you didn’t.” Tag wondered why the senator was coming here.
“He’s in town, and he wants to talk to us. He’s bringing Randall.”
Randall Fincher was the state senator serving in their district. He’d been in the legislature for eleven years and had committed to assisting Tag when he retired and the time came for Tag to run.
“Huh. Okay, well, I’m curious.”
“Yeah, me, too.” Bering climbed down the ladder.
They both stepped back to admire their handiwork. Bering nodded, and in tandem they picked up their ladders, folded them and carried them to Bering’s shop. After stowing them away, they headed back toward the house where Shay and Hannah were preparing the picnic tables scattered around the grassy yard. Shay smoothed out a tablecloth while Hannah tacked it down so it would stay put in the breeze.
Shay said, “Hey, just the guys we were looking for.”
“Oh, yeah?” Tag nabbed a chip out of the bowl Hannah placed on the table.
“Yeah.” Hannah grabbed a handful of chips for herself and leaned a hip against the table. “A kind of weird thing happened to me a couple of days ago, and I was sharing it with Shay, who then told me that a kind of weird thing happened to her, too. And when taken together, these two things seem big weird.” She held her hands apart for emphasis before biting off half a chip.
“Big weird, huh?”
“Yep.” She grinned. “Lucas and I were outside playing catch a few days ago when these two women pulled up in this fancy rented SUV. I figured they were probably lost until they asked for me by name. Then they asked about buying the house.” Lucas was Tate’s nephew. Hannah and her husband, Tate, had adopted him. They lived in the largest, most luxurious home in Rankins. With the real estate market improving as it had been lately, Tag wasn’t all that surprised, although it would take someone with pretty deep pockets to buy their place.
“Don’t tell me you guys are going to sell?” Hannah adored the house. Not only had it been built by one of her close friends, but it also had an atrium with a large pond, where Hannah’s treasured koi lived.
“Of course not. I haven’t finished my story. They made an offer on the spot—almost double what the house is worth.”
“Wow.” Bering was shaking his head. “Double?”
“I know, right?” Shay stepped forward. “Listen to mine—a woman and a man came into the inn late Wednesday morning. They strolled around for a long time, took a walk outside, snapped some photos and finally went for lunch in the restaurant. Adele was hostessing, the way she often does when it gets busy, and they asked her a bunch of questions, like did she know the owner and did she think the owner would be interested in selling. She texted me, and I came out to meet them.”
Bering crossed his massive arms over his chest. “Were they serious?”
“Not only were they serious, they already knew everything about the Faraway Inn. I mean, everything a person can get a hold of through public records and internet searching. The offer they made was outrageous.”
“That reminds me,” Tag said, knowing he was about to deepen the mystery. “I stopped to see Mickey and Mrs. P. on my way home the other night, and you know that piece of property Park bought across the highway?”
Bering nodded. “Yeah, I saw the for-sale sign, too. I figured Park was just trying to make a buck.”
“Me, too, but when I asked Mick about it, he told me Park was asking more than double what he paid for it.”
“Which means Park probably knows something.”
They all looked at Hannah, who huffed out a breath. “Which means I have to talk to Park?”
Tag grinned at his sister. “He loves you, Banana,” he said, hoping to soften her up by using her childhood nickname.
“Yes, he does,” Shay added with a chuckle.
“Ugh. Well, he does owe me for the pool lessons I’ve been giving him. Fine. If he knows something, I’ll get it out of him.”
* * *
ALLY SAT IN the passenger seat of Flynn’s SUV and tried to enjoy the scenery as they traveled out of town. A difficult feat, what with her stomach feeling like a wind spinner on a breezy day. After several miles, they turned onto a gravel drive. An attractively carved and painted sign read James Guide & Outfitter Service.
Where the long driveway forked, Flynn took a left, away from the house, and parked among the other cars already scattered near some outbuildings. Removing a gift bag from the back seat, he climbed out of the car.
“Should I have brought something?”
A grin played at his lips. “No, this is a little joke between Iris and me.”
“You guys are good friends, huh?”
“Um, sort of.”
“Hey, that reminds me, you never told me she was a triplet.”
“I didn’t?” He cocked his head. “Huh. I guess…I don’t think of her that way.”
Ally gave him a curious look, but there was no time to ask questions because Flynn was already moving. They headed toward a growing crowd of people near the large house, some bunched under a gazebo, others congregating in clusters around the spacious yard. They passed the professional-looking basketball half-court Flynn had mentioned. Kids were bouncing balls and shooting baskets.
“Wow…” Ally gawked at the parklike setting.
“I know. It’s pretty great, right? Bering and Emily love to entertain, and they’ve spent a lot of time on this place.”
A cluster of people milled around a horseshoe pit. Off to one side, there was a badminton net where four teenagers were laughing and smacking at a birdie. Farther away, the white wickets of a croquet course had been set up, and Ally heard the distinctive thwack of croquet mallet against ball.
Ally recognized Iris as she broke away from a group near one of the picnic tables.
“There’s Iris.” She glanced at Flynn, only to discover that he’d already spotted her. His body tensed even as his smile brightened. He waved and headed in Iris’s direction. Interesting.
Ally felt the back of her neck prickle. Her gaze swept across the sea of people and quickly latched onto Tag’s. His knowing grin paired with a quirk of one brow suggested he’d been waiting for her to catch sight of him. A furnace blast of heat radiated from her core all the way out through her skin. She returned the smile, and the next thing she knew they were moving toward each other.
“Hey,” he said, stopping in front of her. “Nice of you to come today.”
“Thank you. Flynn actually invited me like a week ago. I didn’t know any of you yet. I mean, you and I had met, but, well, I didn’t know who you were. And anyway, you know…it will be more fun now than if the party had been last week.”
She loved the deep sound of his laughter, the way it seemed to vibrate through her. “It sure will. Do you think we can find a few minutes to talk later?”
Ally wondered what about. She’d spent the previous evening trying to decide if she imagined the connection they’d forged and what to do about it. She wanted to explore it, spend time with him. But she had no idea how to go about it. She hadn’t dated much and when she had, the guy had always done the asking. Should she invite him over for dinner or maybe see if he wanted to grab lunch one day soon?
“Yeah, sure. There’s something I’d like to ask you, too. As long as you don’t plan on beating this age thing to death?” she teased.
“Hey,” he joked, “I’ll have you know age is not an issue with me. My pretend wife is years younger, and we are as happy as can be.”
A fluttery feeling spread through her, because even though he said it in jest, it was exactly what she’d hoped to hear. “How nice
for you that you’ll have someone to push your wheelchair in your later years. Which obviously—” she waved a hand up and down the length of him “—is not too far off.”
Glaring playfully, he said, “Yes, and I’m hoping that soon she’ll be able to go to an R-rated movie without having to show her ID.”
“Oh, well, I doubt she’d care about showing it for that. I know for a fact she loves movies. She grew up in a village in the middle of nowhere, so a movie theater is like a huge thrill for her and… This third-person thing is getting weird now, isn’t it, because I’m talking about myself like some kind of sociopath?”
“A little,” he teased. “But it’s okay—the guy you’re talking to likes it. He finds it cute.”
They laughed, and Ally was still grinning when Iris and Flynn approached them.
“Ally, hi!” Iris said.
Tag greeted Flynn, then hugged his sister. “I’m going to go give Bering a hand with the grill. Don’t forget we’re talking later, okay, Ally?”
Iris beamed at her. “I’m so glad you could make it. Now I feel like I have two people who came here just for me.”
“I’m happy to be here, but it looks like you have a lot of people who came here for you. I’m not even sure I know this many people.”
Iris frowned and looked around. “I know. It’s a little ridiculous.”
“What do you mean?”
“Most of these people aren’t here for me. That sounds bad, doesn’t it? I don’t mean to sound ungrateful. I love my family, and now that you’re a fake part of it…” she paused to wink at Ally “…you should know that they will use any excuse to throw a party. Like herd animals, they like to gather. And graze.”
Ally wondered about her reference to “these people” and “they” instead of “we.”