Mina laughed. “Well, that, and I want you to be happy. He seems like a nice guy.”
“He is. He also carries a lot of baggage. I’m not sure what’s going to happen.”
Her smile smoothed out as her forehead wrinkled. “Baggage? What do you mean?”
“Did you know he was married?”
“What? No. Wait, was? What happened?”
“She was killed by a drunk driver several years ago. And he really loved her.” I blew out a breath, ruffling the fine hairs around my face. “So, yeah. I’m competing with a ghost. And I don’t know what to do about that.”
Mina’s face melted, sympathy shining from her eyes. “I’m sorry. That’s rough. Is there anything Luke or I can do?”
“Distract me,” I answered, immediately. “He needs time. I need to sort out my own head. Distract me.”
She clapped her hands together. “I can do that.” Spinning on her heel, she marched back to the espresso machine. “Come over here. You can be my guinea pig.”
Relief loosened my shoulders. I followed her over. “Guinea pig? You already know how to make espresso. You own a coffee shop.”
“Right, but one”—she held up a finger—“this is a new machine, so I need to figure out how it works. And two”—she held up another finger—“I want to play around with some flavors. I’m thinking of doing some seasonal things.”
I hopped up on to the counter, swinging my legs. “I have a meeting in Juneau in a couple hours, but I have time for a cup.” I waved a hand at the machine. “Fire it up.”
The next hour was exactly what I needed. No pressure. No questions about what happened or how I was feeling. Just laughter and friendship. My brother had picked well for a wife. Mina knew when to ask questions and when to just be there in whatever capacity someone needed.
Back in my car, I let the breeze flow through the window, ruffling my hair, as I drove back to Juneau much more relaxed than when I left earlier. I knew I’d still need to process things later, but I felt like I was in a better headspace than before.
Pulling into my office twenty minutes early for my meeting with Tina, I saw her in her car, waiting. Dustin was in the passenger seat.
I parked and got out, smiling at the couple as they emerged from their vehicle. “Hey guys. You’re early. Come on in.” I motioned toward the building as I walked toward it.
“They released Dustin just a little while ago. We got some decent food, then came here. We’re just ready to go home,” Tina said.
I could understand that. I’d been in the same boat last night.
“How’s Toren?” Dustin asked as we walked inside.
Flipping on the lights, I glanced over my shoulder at him. “He’s doing all right. He needs surgery on his hand, which is Monday, and an MRI on his ankle, but otherwise, he’s fine.”
“His ankle isn’t broken?”
“Nope. It’s just a bad sprain. They’re checking the soft-tissue damage to see how long he needs to be off of it.”
Dustin’s shoulders sagged. “Good. I was afraid he did some serious damage.”
“He got lucky, that’s for sure. He took a nasty fall.” I still got a little sick to my stomach thinking about him disappearing over the rocks the way he did. “How are you doing?” I motioned for them to sit down in the chairs in front of my desk as I walked around it.
“I’m okay. I was dehydrated, so they pumped me full of fluids. They broke my nose too.” He touched his bruised face near the inside corner of one eye. “I got lucky too. It wasn’t terribly displaced, so the doctor doesn’t think I’ll need surgery. I’m supposed to see an ENT doc next week.”
“All things considered, I think everyone got lucky,” Tina said. “But no more solo hunting trips.” She aimed a look at her fiancé.
Dustin waved his hands. “Nope. Never again. At least, not that far from home. Maybe to a stand I’ve set up nearby that I’ll only be in for part of a day.”
“That sounds like a good plan.” I folded my hands on top of the desk. “So, about this wedding…”
Tina’s nose scrunched. “Yeah. We probably lost all of our deposits, didn’t we?”
“Actually, I’m hoping not. Before I left to look for you”—I tipped my head toward Dustin—“I called the vendors, explained the circumstances, and placed everything on hold. We’ll have to do some coordinating, and you’ll have to compromise on the location—I can’t fix that one unless you want to wait a whole year—but we should be able to keep the rest with maybe a bit of a penalty.”
