Page 6 of Bear My Heart

"That sounds like a yes? How can you stand it?"

"I'm very brave," Shanti said solemnly, and to her delight, Peter Baranov gave a great big surprised belly laugh.

"You must be. I suppose snakes don't bother you, either."

"Ah. Well. They don't bother me, no. I can handle the non-venomous ones. But I'd rather avoid them. I take it you don't like them?"

The big man looked sheepish. "Actually, I think they're cool. There aren't any native to Alaska, so I have zero instinct to stay away from them. Rattlesnakes, though! The first time I heard one, my be—uh, my buddy about jumped out of his skin and I had no idea why. Once I learned to recognize the rattle, though, I started being creeped out by it."

"I've always kind of liked rattlesnakes because they're usually polite enough to warn you before they bite. None of the venomous snakes in Nepal do that. But still." Shanti raised her eyebrows a little. "I'd rather avoid them."

"I'll drink to that." Peter made a show of raising his soda glass, and Shanti tinked hers against it. Their dinner arrived as the toast ended, and she pushed the piping hot halloumi fries toward him, encouraging him to take one and try it. He did, hissing and huffing cooling air around the hot cheese, then, sounding like a man who'd burned his tongue, he said, "Those are good."

"I love them," she murmured happily. "I can't believe I've never come here. Homemade ginger ale and halloumi fries."

"Where else in town is good, if you don't eat here?"

"Oh, I just don't eat out much at all. The Italian Place used to be good. It probably still is. And the Silver Dollar Diner was good when I was little. I don't really know about anywhere else." Shanti shrugged, though she did then tilt her head toward the town square. "Except Imelda's Doughnuts. It's amazing, but she's only open in the winter. Best doughnuts in the world, though. Or at least in Virtue."

"You think she'll expand to summer hours once the train line is in and tourism picks up?"

Shanti ate for a moment, considering that. She had no real idea, of course, but Peter was so good at casual conversation she felt like she could take lessons from him. "I don't think so. Part of the reason she only runs it in the winter is she says it's too hot to fry doughnuts in the summer, so she's got a coffee cart for the summers. But I know there are a lot of smaller businesses looking forward to the train tourism. And some people who aren't at all."

Peter nodded. "Shkalnik is a stop-off point for some of the smaller cruise ships. There's a lot of talk about letting more of them stop there, building a bigger deep-water dock, that kind of thing, and on one hand, I can see the value of it. On the other, it's a huge change, and we're not sure we've got the infrastructure for it. Well, no, that's not true. We just don't. We can barely handle what we've got coming in, so adding more ships would complicate a lot. But of course, it would bring in more business, too, so…yeah, I get it."

"How big is Shkalnik? I've never heard of it," Shanti said apologetically.

Peter waved his burger, dismissing the concern as he finished his bite. "A few thousand people, and don't worry, nobody's heard of it. Do you know where Juneau is?"

Shanti wobbled her hand in response, meaning, kind of, and he smiled. "It's about forty air miles to the northwest of there. So basically somewhere no one would ever find it."

"Air miles? Does that mean the only way you can get there is by flying?"

"You can take a ferry, too," Peter said cheerfully. "Takes a lot longer, but the whale watching is better."

"Really?"

The man across from her looked surprised. "Oh. Yeah. I forget that's not all that normal, Outside."

"Outside? Do you usually keep whales inside…?"

He had a very good grin, which she was reminded of as he flashed it at her. "No, 'Outside,' with a capital O. It's what people from Alaska call the rest of the world. Especially the Lower 48, though."

"The Lower…" Shanti shook her head. "You're kidding."

"Nope. Lower 48, Outside, the continental US. We have all kinds of names for the rest of you."

"What about Hawaii?"

"Going to Hawaii isn't going Outside, it's going to Hawaii, because it's not part of the Lower 48. And because we go there so often."

Shanti laughed, quiet but surprised. "You do? Isn't it too hot for you?"

"That's why we go. Usually in December. Although I've never actually been. You?"

"No. It's really just Virtue and Nepal, for me."

"That's still quite a spread. Ww—you'll have to go someday."