Page 21 of Thunder Pass

“Maybe. But more keep showing up. I’ve seen three little groups like that so far in just the past month.”

Two weeks after that conversation, Ruth got a chance to see for herself. Martha came down with a cold. She was too sick to make the airstrip delivery, and none of the Aussies dared to drive her ancient truck, with its manual transmission and almost completely dead shocks.

Sarah begged to come along, but Ruth insisted on making her first trip to town alone. Testing the waters, seeing if any Chilkoots would pounce from the trees.

But during the entire trip—all the way out to the airstrip, then to The Fang to drop off some sheep’s milk, then to the general store to pick up some decongestant for Martha—all she met was nods and smiles from the residents of Firelight Ridge. No questions. No curious glances. Just…acceptance.

She appreciated that down to her core.

As she completed the long list of errands, she kept an eye out for Gunnar. Had she adequately thanked him for rescuing them? Just in case, she wanted another opportunity to do so. But she never saw him, not even at the gas station. Instead, a young kid in glasses manned the pump.

The only unusual sight was a stranger sitting on an ATV parked by the side of the road on the edge of town. His machine was painted in camouflage colors, and he held a bulky-looking cell phone to his ear. Since Firelight Ridge had such terrible cell service, it was rare to see someone on their phone anywhere besides the general store or behind The Fang. This man must have some special kind of phone, she figured.

He ignored her curious scrutiny as she drove past. After all the friendly greetings from the townspeople, it gave her a strange feeling to be so completely disregarded. It reminded her of…well, of the Chilkoots.

When Bridget arrived to pick up Nelson, the boy surprised them all and begged to be able to stay for the rest of the summer.

“What’d you do?” Bridget gave Gunnar a suspicious frown, after Nelson had disappeared back into his video game.

“Nothing, unless you count all the candy and alcohol. Kidding,” he added quickly before she blew a fuse.

“Are you okay with this? Him staying?”

“I am. He’s helpful. He’s a good kid.”

“He’s not cramping your style? This is summer, your time to…well, get laid.”

“Oh stop. I can get laid all year round.”

They both laughed, although the truth was, this summer had been different so far. A lot less flirting, a lot more digging around for information about his father.

Then Bridget sobered. “Let’s go somewhere private, I need to tell you what I’ve been up to.”

With the kitchen door firmly closed, they sat at the table and shared a beer while she recounted her wild adventure.

“It started when my old friend T.J. messaged me on Instagram that she’d seen Dad.”

“Dad?” It took a moment for that to click. “Our dad?”

“Our dad. Anthony Amundsen. Look.” She showed him her phone. He peered at the photo, which showed one side of what looked like their father’s face. Hard to say for sure.

“Where was this?”

“Key Largo, Florida.”

“Florida?” Florida was about as far away as anyone could get from Alaska, while still being in the same country. “Why didn’t you tell me all this?”

“I didn’t want to get your hopes up. I wanted to confirm it was him first.”

Gunnar’s heart drummed against his chest. He could barely form the next words. “Did you find him?”

“No. Sorry.” Bridget put a comforting hand over his. “But I did talk to several people who knew him. It was definitely him, even though he wasn’t in the area anymore.”

“So he really is alive.” Of course he’d believed it—but without seeing his father with his own eyes, sometimes it was hard.

“He is. Or he was. I found the place where he’d been living. I even went through the trash in the dumpster behind his condo.”

“Find anything?”

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