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If not Vicki, then …
“I just got off the phone with Liz. She’s two months along.”
My jaw hangs open for the second time in this lunch hour. “Liz is having another baby?” Liz, who has openly said she didn’t want any more kids? Who booked and drove Jim to his vasectomy appointment? “With whom?”
My mother shoots me an exasperated look.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“You guys have been busy.”
“And you’ve been a ghost,” Jonah counters with a pointed glare.
“I’ve been busy too.” I take in the structure. When I last stopped in at Calla and Jonah’s in early spring, Jonah was cutting down trees on this spot with his chainsaw. Now there’s a two-story log cabin overlooking the lake, its tin roof and windows matching the green of their home across the water.
I guess it has been a bit too long since I’ve been by.
“Cute little place, though, huh?” Jonah pats the porch post. The sleeve of his blue T-shirt falls back to show off the scar he earned from the surgery to reset his bones last year. Aside from that, no one would know the arm had been broken, the muscle tone even with his other. “Two bedrooms, two baths. Not bad for a prefab. Took them no time to put it up.”
“I can’t believe it’s already done.”
His eyes drag across the overhang. “Almost done. The plumber and electrician are finished. Bathroom and kitchen are functioning. Floors are in. Now it’s just a lot of finishing touches.”
“Agnes must be getting excited?” I’ve known the Alaska Wild office manager for as long as I’ve known Jonah. She is the kindest woman I’ve ever met—a soft-spoken Alaska Native without a judgmental bone in her body.
His smothered smirk reminds me of a boy trying to hide his delight—and failing. “I talked to Aggie this morning. Everything’s sold or donated, their suitcases are packed. They’re ready to go.”
No matter how much Jonah loves Calla, I know he struggled with leaving Western Alaska. He built a full life there, with villagers who depended on him as a pilot, and friends who were like family. But then Calla came into the picture—a city girl visiting from Toronto, reconnecting with her estranged father—and that full life was suddenly empty without her.
Jonah had to make a choice, and he chose to build a new life, here with her. He chose Calla, but he hated leaving Agnes and her daughter, Mabel, who he’s watched grow from a stumbling toddler to the fourteen-year-old she is now. He’s been pushing them to move here for over a year. I honestly didn’t think he’d convince Agnes, but as I look around at this perfect life they’ve assembled for themselves in Trapper’s Crossing, with log cabins on a lake, the mountain peaks in the distance, the planes floating on standby, and the community that has welcomed them wholeheartedly, how could anyone say no?
“When are you flying out to Bangor to get them?”
“First thing tomorrow morning. That way we can get back ahead of the fish fry. You’re coming to the Ale House tomorrow night, right?”
“Wouldn’t miss it. Muriel and Teddy always throw a good party.” The couple and their son, Toby, who I dated ever so briefly last summer, run a three-season fishing resort down the street, complete with cabin rentals and a lodge that serves fries and burgers and beer. Plenty of locals find themselves at the tavern on the weekends in the summer months.
The McGivneys have become more than neighbors to Calla and Jonah. In many ways, they’re the family Jonah and Calla have come to love and depend upon as if they were blood relatives. Not that they had much choice. Muriel is a nosy busybody who rammed her way into their lives, dragging her jolly husband along for the ride.
“Goddamn it!” A loud clatter inside the cabin accompanies the familiar voice. “Son of a bitch!”
I lift my eyebrows in question.
“You good in there, Roy?” Jonah calls out.
“Yeah. My level’s shot, though.”
“Let me check the workshop. I’m pretty sure there’s one in there.”
“If it’s Phil’s, then it’ll be a piece of shit.”
Jonah sighs with exasperation. “Lemme look, anyway, and we’ll go from there.”
“He’s in a good mood today,” I whisper dryly.
“Eh, he’s just pissed off that Calla decided to go with stock cabinets for the kitchen instead of letting him build custom.” Jonah scratches absently at his beard. “But custom would have taken forever, and she didn’t want him tying up his days. There’s still a lot to do in there, and his family is flying up from Texas this month.”
“Right. I forgot about that.” The daughter that Roy hasn’t seen since she was a baby and grandchildren he’s only ever met over video calls. People that Calla has somehow befriended. I only know bits and pieces of the man’s past. I don’t think even Jonah knows the whole truth, but Calla and their ornery neighbor have an odd relationship that no one can understand. “He must be a bit off-kilter?” Though it doesn’t take much to ruffle Roy’s feathers.
