Page 7 of Colton in the Wild
She smothered an inward sigh. Her little brother had his personal life pretty much in order, while she still drifted. Not that she hadn’t ever dated, she had, and once it had been serious. Or so she’d thought. But when she’d realized the man in question had city life in mind, preferably someplace big and highly populated, she’d known it would never work. She didn’t mind a visit now and then, but after that, coming home always felt like escaping.
Spence never left this wild place at all, if he could help it.
And there she was, thinking about her annoying partner again. And no matter how often she told herself it was natural to think about the guy you worked with so closely so often, it didn’t seem to help much. It was still maddening that she couldn’t keep her thoughts from veering in his direction, most times with no warning whatsoever. Her normally quick, decisive mind always slipped the leash where he was concerned.
By the time Hetty got to the RTA headquarters, she thought she had herself well under control. She would focus on this trip and nothing else. And if watching a newlywed, happy couple together ate at her, she would keep it hidden. Well hidden. She didn’t need that as part of her life.
But did she want that…a husband? A family of her own?
She sighed inwardly as she got out of her car and walked toward the familiar building with the A-frame roof over the entry. She was one of seven kids, so family was part and parcel of who and what she was, as was the devastating loss of her father. That was still an ache, even several years later. But she also savored the peace and quiet of her apartment alone, away from all of her family’s well-meaning machinations. She wasn’t quite sure she wanted to follow the path her parents had, producing kid after kid. Besides, if she was pregnant, she’d have to stop flying, at least for a while, and she didn’t like that idea. At all.
The absurdity of worrying about the impact having children might have on her life while at the same time avoiding any serious dating struck her, and she was practically laughing at herself by the time she went through the door.
“Did I miss the joke?”
She managed not to stop dead when she heard Spence’s voice the moment the door closed behind her.
She didn’t turn to look at him. “You often do,” she said, making sure her voice was so cheerful that no one else in the room—Parker and Lakin were both there—would take it as a jab.
“Oh, he’s not that bad,” Lakin said teasingly, defending her cousin.
“Ha,” said Parker, leaving Spence nothing to do but take it as a joke.
“Yeah, yeah,” he muttered. He looked at his cousin. “The big bosses get off okay this morning?”
Parker nodded. “Left right on schedule.”
“Of course,” Lakin added, grinning. The senior Coltons were nothing if not efficient.
“So,” Spence said to Parker, “what’s the big news?”
Hetty, having just set her backpack down on one of the chairs in the lobby area, turned to look at Parker, curious. Big news?
“Well, let’s just say your day suddenly got freed up.”
Spence frowned. “What?”
Lakin sighed audibly. “The Greshams canceled.”
Hetty drew back in surprise. “Just now?”
Parker nodded. “Seems Mr. Gresham took ill last night. Must be serious, if they’re willing to take the cancellation hit.”
Hetty knew there was a percentage fee for cancellations within twenty-four hours before an excursion was scheduled to begin. Perhaps oddly, she was disappointed. She liked this particular flight to her favorite lake. And besides, she’d been waiting excitedly to get back in the air now that the ice on the sound and most of the nearby lakes had finally broken.
“Well, that leaves a gaping hole in my weekend,” Spence grumbled, sounding as if he was as disappointed as she was. And he probably was. For all her frustration with him, she’d never denied that Spence loved this work as much as she did. His passion for the land and its inhabitants rang through in his voice whenever he spoke to their guests.
She thought quickly and then looked at Parker. “I want to take the plane up anyway, make sure everything checks out. I can do a circuit, check the usual sites and fishing camps, see how everything looks before we get really deep into the season.”
“Not a bad idea,” Parker agreed. He looked at Spence. “You need to do the restock of this destination site anyway, right?”
Rats. She’d forgotten that one of the tasks at hand had been to resupply the campsite they’d been headed to.
“Yes,” Spence said.
“You don’t have to go this time,” Hetty said quickly. “The next excursion up there isn’t until a couple of weeks from now, right?”
Spence shifted his gaze to her, and those blue eyes felt even more intense than usual. “I’ve already got the plane loaded up. It would be silly not to just get it done now.”
