Page 23 of Thunder Pass

That thought gave her an ache in her heart. No matter her feelings about the clan, it hurt to think they didn’t miss her at all. Who was teaching the kids? Maybe they’d get the summer off after all.

She’d met John Frank during one of her Wi-Fi sessions at the store. As he’d browsed through the rack of DVDs next to the bench, he’d asked her about some of her favorite trails. Then he kept asking more questions until Kathy had called her over to the checkout counter and whispered, “He likes you.”

Once her eyes had been opened, she’d realized he was cute, in a puppy dog kind of way, eager and open-faced and full of enthusiasm for his Alaska adventure.

He would do very nicely for the next step in her project of reclaiming herself from the hold of the Chilkoots. She wanted to lose her virginity. And she specifically didn’t want it to happen with anyone she deeply cared about.

Martha thought she was making a mistake. “Gunnar is right there. Why would you pass up that gorgeous hunk of Viking manhood? Even I can see he’s a hottie.”

“That’s the whole point. I don’t think I can handle getting intimate with someone like Gunnar. He’s too…much. Baby steps. Baby steps are working for me. Besides, Gunnar’s been ignoring me. I haven’t seen him since he brought us to the farm.”

“He gets busy in the summer, like the rest of us.”

She could guess what Gunnar was busy with. Every time she drove past the gas station, there was some girl in a rental car chatting with him.

As she stepped into the Caribou Grill, the aroma of grilled meat made her mouth water. The Grill was just as down-home as all the other businesses in Firelight Ridge. Guests sat at long picnic tables, sometimes alongside strangers. Its walls were covered in license plates from around the country, along with a stuffed and mounted deer head. She knew it was a Sitka deer, very common around here, and not a caribou, but tourists might not know that.

At a table near the window, John Frank shot to his feet and waved eagerly at her. “Want a beer? I ordered one for you, but I can drink it if you don’t want it.”

But Ruth was distracted by the occupants of the table just behind John’s. Gunnar sat across from a woman whose long hair tumbled down her back in sun-streaked waves. Ruth couldn’t see her face, since she was facing toward Gunnar, but no doubt she was young and beautiful.

Gunnar met her gaze, waved, then paused as he caught sight of John Frank. He went still and alert as he took in the situation, but just for a moment. Then he gave her a wink and turned his focus back to his date.

Fine. If he was going to dismiss her like that, she’d do the same. She brightened her smile as she hurried toward John, even gave him an enthusiastic kiss on the cheek that nearly knocked him off his feet.

The rest of the “date” passed in a blur of distraction. She couldn’t stop herself from checking on Gunnar between bites of her mushroom cheeseburger. He, on the other hand, seemed oblivious to her. He was entirely focused on the woman across from him, his sky-blue eyes intent on her face, his muscular arms folded on the picnic table. He could probably lift the table up with one hand, spin it around overhead and launch it across the road. She remembered the strength of those arms, how he’d carried Sarah into Martha’s farmhouse without blinking an eye.

John was talking about his backpacking trip through Canada. It was the kind of story she’d normally be very interested to hear, since she’d never been to Canada, or even known Canada existed until a few years ago. But it was so hard to concentrate with Gunnar right over there, the sunlight like glitter in his hair. He looked tired, she realized. Under stress. He was probably working too hard this summer.

Or playing too hard. Yes, that must be it. He probably went on dates like this every other night, all summer long. He and the blond woman would definitely be having sex tonight. Well, so would she. She was going to do this. With John. Ready or not.

Finally, mercifully, Gunnar and his date rose to their feet. Once they were gone, she’d be able to give John her undivided attention. Then she could suggest going back to his room at the Lamplight Motel and they’d….

“Hey, Ruth.” Gunnar paused next to her table, smiling down as if everything was normal between them. “Haven’t see you around in a while.”

“Well, I’ve been busy.” She cast a meaningful look in John’s direction, as if he was the cause of her busy-ness. “So have you, I imagine.”

“Yes.” His expression was serious, sober. More so than the moment required, she thought. “Have you ever met Bridget? She’s my sister.”

“You have a sister?” In shock, Ruth stared at the blond woman, who, now that she could see her face, was a good ten years older than Gunnar.

“Half-sister,” Bridget clarified as she offered her hand. “You’re Ruth Chilkoot?”

She said it as if she knew who Ruth was. Had Gunnar mentioned her? In what context?

Flustered, Ruth shook her hand. “Yes, I’m Ruth. Nice to meet you.” When Bridget turned her gaze to John, Ruth remembered that she wasn’t the only one at the table. Poor John—she’d forgotten all about him. “This is John. He likes backpacking.”

Which was the only tidbit of information she could retrieve from her scrambled brain. Gunnar wasn’t on a date. He was with his sister.

Gunnar’s lips quirked as he shook John’s hand. “What trails have you checked out around here?”

“Just about all of them. I did Ice Falls, I did the Korch Glacier, went around Smoky Lake. I tried to do Thunder Pass, but there’s some weird dudes in ATVs out there blocking the way in.”

“It’s still closed? Really?”

“For the season, they said. They weren’t the kind of guys you want to argue with. Now I’m trying to get Ruth to hike the ridge with me, but that’s a several-day trip.”

Ruth felt her face burn as Gunnar shot her a curious glance. Hiking for several days with a member of the opposite sex was very far from anything she’d done in her previous existence as a Chilkoot. “I’m pretty busy with the sheep,” she murmured.

---