Page 1 of Caleb's Salvation
1
Hope’s Point Airport—akathe runway
Five months ago
Cal
“Tell me again why I’m out here?” I turned to my right and looked at Eli, who looked about as nervous as a cat.
“Doogie called and told me he had a drop-off,” he said. “Wasn’t sure how big it was going to be. Didn’t know if I could handle it myself.”
I frowned. “A drop-off of what?”
Eli shrugged. “Not sure. You know Doogie. He’s not very communicative. Hung up before I could ask him what it was.”
Something didn’t smell right. Doogie calls Eli about some mystery drop-off. Eli grabs me to come out here with him when both Jackson and Ark were back at camp.
I heard the plane first, then looked up to see Doogie making his normal approach over the mountains.
There was something too déjà vu about me standing on the runway with Eli waiting for the plane to land. So much so I had this ridiculous suspicion.
“Eli…tell me you didn’t do something stupid.”
I looked over at him and he winced. I could practically smell the guilt on him.
“Okay, let me start by saying that when I made this decision I was still in the whole mindset of fun and games,” he said with his hands raised in a defensive posture.
“What did you do?” I barked.
“Now, Cal, I know you were against the whole idea of dating…”
“Fuck me,” I muttered. “You did it. You did what I asked you not to do. You went and invited some woman up here for me.”
“Her name is Vivienne Chester. She’s thirty-five and a retail buyer from Texas. Super-hot redhead. Nothing like—”
He had the good sense to stop himself before he finished that thought and said her name. My wife’s name. The only woman I had ever loved, the only woman I would ever love.
I owed her at least that.
“It was already set up. The tickets, when she was coming. What was I supposed to do, cancel everything?”
“Yes!”
“It’s a date, Cal. That’s it. A conversation between you and a sophisticated, professional woman. What harm could come from that?”
My eyebrows practically lifted off my head.
“Okay. So maybe things haven’t exactly been simple with the women we’ve brought up here, but at least one of these dates has to go as expected. I mean, what are the odds?”
I cursed in general. Then I cursed Eli. Wasn’t much more to say after that. Together we watched as the plane came in for a landing. A few minutes later Doogie set out the steps for Hope’s Point latest arrival in what Eli had dubbed theAlaska Dating Games.
A woman popped out and stepped off the plane carefully. She was wrapped in a large coat that made it difficult to get a sense of her build. A wool cap was pulled low over her head and I could see she was wearing her hair in a braid down her back.
Doogie grabbed two separate duffel bags and started walking toward us as the woman—Vivienne, Eli had said—followed behind him.
“Hey, check out Doogie being chivalrous. He never carries their bags.”
He approached us and dropped the bags at my feet. With a casual salute he smirked at me and said, “Good luck with this one, Cal.”
