Page 13 of Winter's Heart
Nikki’s head snapped up, and her eyes flew open.“What… Where…?”
“It’s okay.You fell asleep.”Jacob leaned in the door of the car, saying, “I stopped for gas and snacks; figured you were asleep and I didn’t want to wake you.We’ve still got over an hour to go before we hit Luleå, and I’m starving.”
“Oh.”She scrubbed a hand across her brow, trying to work some sense into her comatose brain.Harsh spotlights beat down through the windshield, and she blinked in the brightness, focusing on the gas pumps beside the car and the small, brightly lit shop to the right.
“You’re cute when you sleep, you know,” he said, folding his long legs into the vehicle as he pulled the door shut behind him.
“I beg your pardon?”What did he mean by that?
“It’s okay, you weren’t snoring or anything,” he said with a mischievous grin.“Just cute.”Was Jacob flirting with her?If he was… Her mind was too muzzy to process that properly.Perhaps he was picking up on their earlier conversation, where he’d admitted that he thought she was beautiful?And now he was addingcuteto the mix.She should tell him she considered him pretty damn hot too, but she wasn’t sure where all these intriguing thoughts were leading.They’d been thrown together by a whirlwind of circumstance, and they might be torn apart just as fast.Once he delivered her to his superiors in Luleå, she might never see him again.The idea pained her more than she liked to admit.So perhaps flirting should just be left off the table.If they couldn’t act on any of their feelings, what was the point?Gosh darn it, this was all too much to work out at one a.m.in the morning.
Before she could form any sort of reasonable reply, however, he handed over a paper bag, then started the car, easing it onto the highway, and they picked up speed.
“There’s water and candy bars in there,” he prompted when she continued to stare at him without looking into the bag now sitting in her lap.“While Petar’s hot chocolate was reinvigorating, well…” He gave a shrug as if to say it wasn’t enough.She understood that they’d already imposed on Petar’s hospitality sufficiently that night, as well as taking away his only means of transport, and the last thing Jacob was going to ask for was provisions to stock the car.
She was hungry too, but when she opened the bag and looked inside, she gave a groan of censure.Inside lay the bane of her life.
“What’s up?”He asked, pursing his lips in confusion.“Did I get the wrong chocolate?”
Nikki reached in and held one of the two bottles of water aloft.“Single use plastic,” she accused.When he looked at her blankly, she continued, “Do you know how many of these are floating in the ocean right now?Clogging up the beaches and waterways, and being ingested by marine mammals?”
“No.”Uncertainty edged his words, but she would not let him get away with this.Nikki had made it her mission to educate people about their polluting habits, and just because Jacob had saved her life—multiple times—didn’t mean he was exempt from her reprimands.
“I make a point never to buy single-use plastic items,” she said.“There are always alternatives, like buying in glass or metal containers, or taking your own water bottle.And if there aren’t, well, you go thirsty.Or drink from a tap.”
“Really?”He seemed genuinely perplexed, glancing away from the darkened highway to shoot a look at her.“But sometimes you don’t have a choice,” he argued.
“Yes,” she replied.“Everyone always has a choice.If even one less piece of plastic discarded into landfill might help to save the life of a turtle who mistakes it for food, or a shearwater chick grow to adulthood because its been fed real fish instead of fragments of plastic, then I’ll do it.”
“Okay.I don’t disagree with you.”He shifted uncomfortably in his seat.“But I guess it’s not always top of mind with me.”
“Well, it should be,” she said hotly, indignation getting the better of her.Why were people so unconcerned about what was happening to their planet?Like it was someone else’s problem to fix, not theirs.She was working up a good head of steam now.“It’s all about education,” she went on.“Educating the government as well as individuals.If we can educate the consumer to want more; to want something that’s sustainable and good for the world instead of something that’s the cheapest option, then all those money-centric companies will have to make a change.”
“I agree,” Jacob replied, his brow furrowed with concern.“And I’ll try to do better next time,” he promised.“You’re feisty when you get fired up.”That dimple was back in his cheek, and Nikki’s annoyance deflated in an instant.
She couldn’t help but return his smile.“Sorry,” she said.“Lecture over.For now,” she added with a grin.
Now she was wide awake and feeling a little foolish, knowing that if she’d achieved nothing else with her schoolmarmish tone, she’d poured cold water all over his attempts at flirting with her.They drove in silence for the next few miles, Jacob quietly munching on his candy bar and taking guilty swigs from his bottle, while she stared out the window.
The rumblings of her stomach eventually compelled her to retrieve a nut bar from the bag and take a few gulps of water from the nasty plastic bottle.She’d make sure that at least for the rest of the duration of this trip, they refilled these bottles rather than discarding them and buying more.It was the least they could do.
Drawing a deep breath, she turned to look at Jacob just as he covered his mouth to hide a yawn.It reminded her how exhausted she was, so fatigued that her brief nap had done nothing to assuage her need for sleep.Being a cop, he would be more used to this kind of adrenaline-fueled stuff, but he must be tired too.Now that she was really looking at him, she could make out the dark smudges under his eyes.A stab of guilt hit her in the guts; he was carrying the weight of their worries, and here she was sleeping while he drove through the night, then attacking him about his choice of drink container when he tried to ease his thirst.
She traced his profile as he stared through the windshield.Long, straight nose, dark lashes ringing his piercing hazel eyes, and sable hair short on the sides, but left longer on top to curl enticingly over his forehead.Firm mouth and defined cheekbones partially hidden behind his short, neat beard that made him look even more rugged.He was so damn sexy, Nikki’s fingers twitched with wanting to reach out and stroke the side of his face, to smooth away the lines of worry lining his brow.
If he was going to drive all the way, then the least she could do was talk to him to keep him awake.Searching for something to open the conversation with that didn’t have to do with death or hitmen or plastic bottles, she started with the first thing that sprang to mind.
“So, tell me, what’s it like growing up in a tiny country town in the middle of northern Sweden?”she asked.
“What?”He swung his tired gaze around to meet hers.
“I grew up in a typical American town, with typical American parents and went to a typical American school,” she said.Not completely true, but that wasn’t the point right now.“Your life here is very different from mine.I’d like to learn about it if you don’t mind talking.”
He shrugged those nice, broad shoulders and said, “Sure, why not.”Then, he recounted the story of how he’d met Petar on his first day at school and how they’d bonded over his disgustingly wobbly tooth.He went on to tell her about his family and his Sámi heritage, of which he was very proud.It surprised her to find out he’d been born in America and only moved back here when his parents had divorced.But at least that explained why he spoke such good English.His life in Jokkmokk appeared almost idyllic, the years of his adolescence spent hiking in summer and skiing in winter, learning how to muster the great herds of reindeer owned by his extended family, hunting and foraging for wild food while they spent weeks or months out in the wilderness.It was all so different from her own in academia, which seemed sheltered in comparison.Admittedly, she’d also taken part in many field trips to some rugged and isolated areas, and at least she shared that love of the outdoors with him, even if she didn’t posses the same survival techniques he did.
Time flew past as she listened to Jacob talk, and she told him a little about her life in Seattle in return.Sooner than expected, street lamps lit the road ahead, and Jacob slowed the car to a more suburban pace.Luleå looked to be a substantial city, and while deserted at this time of night, would most likely be buzzing during the day.
“Where are we headed now?”she asked wearily, tired of all this subterfuge.She just wanted a warm bed and a soft pillow and to forget this was all happening for a few hours.
