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The shooter came through the front entrance after arriving late for school. Tina’s office was off to the side of the reception area where kids checked in when they were late. The shooter, a seventeen-year-old boy, had opened fire. She’d gotten shot four times in the side and once in her heart. The bullets came through the wall. They said she died quickly.
I had no visual picture of that, but my memory replayed the sight of the kids who died in front of me. There was blood smeared on the floor in the hallway. I would never forget the girl, shy with a quirky sense of humor, who died running straight toward the shooter as if she meant to knock him over. The shooter’s brother had been shot at home before the student even came to school.
I still couldn’t speak the shooter’s name aloud when I spoke about that day. His name was Bill, a very common, almost ubiquitous name in the United States, a country of guys named Bill and guns. After I’d knocked him down, he’d bolted down another hallway and shot himself when he encountered two police officers. As with so many similar shootings, no one had to answer for it.
I shook my head, lifting the bottle of beer from the table in the kitchen and draining it. I was sitting by the windows, watching the lake. It was that twilight time. The sun had just slipped behind the mountains, leaving lavender fading to purple, blue fading to indigo, and streaks of gold fading into silver as the moon and the stars claimed the sky.
My grandmother had said it would be healing for me to come here when she told me about this job. She was right. Something about the beauty of Alaska that grounded one. Motion caught my eye, and I glanced over toward the dock, Alice’s dock.
Moonlight shimmered on the water's surface, and I watched the silhouette of a person—Alice—walk down the dock. She stopped at the end. In a moment, she lifted her arm in an arc, her shirt dropping to the dock. From here, it was too far for me to see much of anything other than her silhouette. She stripped and dove into what I knew to be icy-cold water. I felt my lips curling in a smile. My hands twitched. I wanted to stand and walk through the trees down to the path that would lead me to that very dock and dive into the water with her.
But that was fucking crazy.
ChapterFive
Alice
The next day
Hoarfrost covered the landscape the following morning, sparkling as the rays of the sun angled over it. I leaned my elbows on the windowsill and looked out, feeling a smile tug at the corners of my mouth. I loved autumn in Alaska. The change here could feel swift with the endless summer days shortening rapidly. The evergreens stayed green while the cottonwood and birch turned yellow and gold, their leaves fluttering in the wind. The fireweed had faded. The undergrowth on the ground was bright with color—reds, pinks, purples, and copper covering the landscape.
The lake hadn’t frozen yet, but it would soon. Willow Brook had a larger lake, but this small one was fed directly from a glacier in the mountains. It had a blue glow to it. Simply looking at it, I felt a sweet twinge in my heart at the feeling of coming home.
The sun rising above the mountains in the distance struck sparks on the lake's surface, the water glinting like diamonds in the crisp air. Motion caught my eye, and I glanced to the side to see a man appearing out of the trees.
Jonah.
Just thinking his name and my belly swooped, tingles radiating throughout my body. I watched as he walked down to the shoreline. He walked to the end of the dock. My breath caught as I watched him strip down quickly and efficiently. Unlike me, he didn’t get naked. He had on a pair of fitted boxer briefs. From here, I could see his muscled shoulders and the clean lines of his back as he raised his arms above his head and dove into the water. I breathed in sharply, knowing the sensation he was feeling, almost viscerally experiencing it myself from a distance. Icy-cold water enveloped you, shocking your system to life and invigorating you in a way nothing else could.
His head broke through the surface, and he leaned back, looking up at the sky. I wondered what he saw. Rather, I wondered what he was looking for.
I told myself to look away, but he might as well have been a magnet for my eyes. I watched as he dove under again and swam quickly back and forth, almost as if he was swimming a set course of laps. After a few minutes, he climbed back on the dock, dried himself with a towel, and walked back up the hill, barefoot and all but naked
I had to fan myself, and my heart was racing by the time he disappeared into the trees. Almost embarrassed, I turned away from the window as if he’d seen me watching. I laughed softly to myself as I crossed over and drained the last of my coffee. I filled the mug again with what was left before quickly rinsing the coffee pot and filter, putting them away for tomorrow morning. Or this evening, when I couldn’t sleep and drank coffee as if that would make the situation better.
After a few swallows, I set the mug down and rested my hands on my hips, circling the kitchen. I needed to make this house different. It ricocheted with the memories of my childhood and, of course, my parents who were gone.
My mind replayed that image of Jonah walking up the hill, his muscled chest visible from my kitchen windows.
You do not need to be thinking about a man, my mind pointed out.
No shit, I volleyed back.
I had been so stupid after my parents died. I fell into what I thought was a harmless flirtation with one of the owners’ sons at the vet clinic where I worked. He was cute and chatted with me about our shared love of all animals.
Up until my parents died, I had been a focused, practical woman, finishing up my vet degree, getting my hours to be independently licensed, and working my ass off at my job. I dated here and there but never had much time for it. After my parents died, I’d become a ball of emotional need.
I’d been careless and not noticed what an ass the guy was. All was well until he began blackmailing me to give him prescription meds. Some medications were used for humans and animals. This guy wanted the anxiety meds and some pain meds. He had photos of me changing from the locker room at the clinic.
All of his kindness became an obvious manipulation. I’d refused to give him the medications. I still don’t know what I would’ve done if this job hadn't come up when it did.
“Dumb, dumb, dumb,” I muttered to myself. I still felt foolish beyond belief.
The one time I was vulnerable, I’d ended up in a bad spot and still worried about what he might do with those photos. “I should’ve reported him to someone other than HR,” I said to myself in the room.
“Should’ve reported who?”
I let out a squeal and spun around, my hand flying to my chest. Jonah stood in the kitchen doorway, fully clothed. His hair was damp.
