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Chapter Eleven
The following day,Sadie tipped the last puppy upside down for the Super Dog training, then placed her on the damp towel. With her mind off in la-la land, she had needed more focus than necessary to get her to-do list done. Well, her version of a list. The scrawling on the back of her hand probably couldn’t compare to whatever Bjørn had for his day.
And there her mind went again.
She hadn’t been able to think about much else after the rescue the day before. It wasn’t just the way being around him made her heart race, either. His focus while on the mission amazed her. Just by studying the wreckage as they hovered above it and, from the evidence he saw, he’d zeroed in on where survivors would have most likely gone. He must’ve learned that in the military, like a form of reconnaissance or something. He’d landed in a tiny clearing on an island, barely big enough for the rotors to squeeze in, and within thirty minutes, Rowdy had scented the survivors.
Sadie also couldn’t keep the excitement of how well Rowdy had done contained. He hadn’t balked once on the helicopter ride. The minute they touched down and she gave the command to search, he was all business. She learned so much from the dog, some days she wondered if he wasn’t the one actually training her.
Pulling out a pen from her pocket, she crossed off Super Dog on her hand. She read the next thing on the list and groaned. She hated cleaning out the fridge. They all took turns with the chores, and this month she got fridge duty. The others had left notes, more like threats, that if it didn’t get done, she’d get all the cleaning duties. She marched toward the front of the kennel. She’d put it off as long as she could.
The door opened, and the bell howled to announce the visitor. She smiled as Scott, the delivery person for The Rez, stepped in with a coffee and paper bag. Jealousy for whoever had ordered reared its ugly head and made her stomach growl in complaint. Maybe she should follow Scott back to work and grab her own coffee and snack.
“Just the person I’m looking for.” He extended the items to her.
Her head shook as she snatched them from him like a ravenous wolverine. “I didn’t order.”
“Someone ordered for you.” He pointed to the bag. “There’s a note in there with the scone.”
Scott’s laugh followed him out the door as she tore into the bag. The lemony scent crashed over her, and she closed her eyes and inhaled. She pulled the note out. For once something other than the pastry drew her focus.
Sadie,
I’m lost and need your help. I think it might be because you’ve addled my brain and make it hard to think straight. Bring your search team, but leave the cameras behind. I bought myself a lemon scone for the trail, just in case Rowdy and Reggie can’t find me.
Bjørn
Sadie laughed as her pulse sped up like rotor blades on a helicopter. The ch-ch of her blood rushing through her veins pounded in her ears. Was he planning on leaving crumbs like Hansel and Gretel? Or was he implying she could sniff out a scone better than the dogs? She shrugged as she broke off a piece of pastry and popped it into her mouth. He was probably right. She rushed into the supply room, grabbed her gear, then poked her head into Aurora’s office.
“Bjørn’s hiding in the woods. The dogs and I are supposed to go find him.” Sadie couldn’t help the joy in her voice, her list completely forgotten.
“He’s hiding? Like hide and seek?” Aurora’s head snapped up, and she pushed her glasses back in place.
Sadie snorted at the thought of Bjørn huddling in a hiding place. “Yeah. Exactly like that.” She waved and jogged to get the dogs.
Twenty minutes later, her head buzzing with Mexican mocha and her excitement building to new levels, she pulled in next to Bjørn’s truck in what she assumed was his brother’s place. Sled dogs yipped from the dog yard, announcing her arrival. She got Rowdy and Reggie out, had them sniff the bag with the lemon scone and Bjørn’s vehicle, and unhooked the leashes.
“Go find Bjørn.” Sadie motioned her arm toward the woods, and both dogs’ noses hit the ground.
They circled the truck, then zigged and zagged through the meadow grass. She followed behind them, taking in the fireweed still only blossoming near the bottom of the stalk. She loved how the flower showed the length of summer with its pretty, purply pink. Though, when the color only graced the top in a few months, part of her would wish summer could hold out a little longer.
Rowdy barked one sharp yip, then shot straight through the grass. He’d caught the scent, his short tail wagging like crazy. Reggie fell in next to Rowdy and bayed in success. Sadie jogged behind them, keeping the dogs in sight. She didn’t have to worry about Rowdy. He never went farther than he could see her. Reggie, on the other hand, sometimes wandered.
With each step, her heart thrashed faster and faster in her chest like a school of fish caught in a bubble net. Her lungs squeezed tight, and at any minute, nerves would consume her… or was it hope? Ugh, she couldn’t think straight.
She paused and took as deep a breath as she could. The warm summer air, full of fresh pine, clean meadow grass, and damp dirt, cleared her jumbled thoughts. A mosquito buzzed in her ear. She swatted it and jogged after the dogs.
She could speculate all day, worry she was setting herself up for heartache, but the reality was, Bjørn had already snagged her with his kindness and unselfish pursuits. What she should do was swim hard and fast in the opposite direction to snap the line tugging her to him. She wasn’t even struggling, not one bit, as he reeled her in. Shoot, she was probably one of those fish that swallowed the whole dang hook.
The dogs veered off toward the glacier, and Sadie rushed to catch up. The glacial till fields were always a pain to traverse with the patches of melting ice, dirt, and rocks all jumbled together. Reggie’s shorter beagle legs might not make it.
She climbed over a large deposit to find Rowdy pointing at the wall of ice. No. She shook her head in denial. Bjørn hadn’t actually gone into the glacier, had he? Terror crashed over her, and her chest squeezed for a completely different reason than a moment before.
“Rowdy, Reggie, wait! Stop!”
She couldn’t … she couldn’t actually go in there. She stepped up to the fissure in the ice, her legs stiff like wood. The blue tint of snow, ice, and sun narrowed and disappeared as the opening twisted to the right. The memory of the avalanche crashing into her, pushing her against the hot stove, then trapping her in frigid cement assaulted her, making her legs and arms shake with the need to run far away.
What if this was an actual rescue, and people were lost? She closed her eyes, gritting her teeth against the tears stinging to be let loose. This was supposed to be a training session for the dogs, not for her. She was Rowdy’s handler. If she couldn’t go into the situations where people needed help, she was wasting her, the dogs’, and her family’s time and money.
