AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She sucked in a deep breath of icy air and did the only thing she could.
She ran.
31
Darkness had fallen hours ago, and the de Havilland Otter still hadn’t returned.
“I shouldn’t have let her go alone.” Ellis paced back and forth in front of the roaring fireplace in the empty dining room of The Roadhouse with Peanut following his every move. He stopped abruptly and she smacked into his leg. He scooped her up and tucked her into the front pocket of his hoodie. “I should’ve forced Bree to go back to Anchorage.”
From his seat at a nearby table, Nate raised a brow. “If you don’t already realize you can’t force that woman to do anything she doesn’t want to do, you’re a lost cause.”
“Fuck.” He dragged both hands through his hair. It was probably standing on end at this point from all the agitated passes of his hand. “Then I should’ve gone with her.” He’d been so exhausted, so pissed off and scared, he hadn’t been thinking clearly earlier. He’d said all the wrong things. He’d very nearly had boarded the plane and gone back to Anchorage without Bree, but even angry, he couldn’t stand the thought of being so far away from her. So he’d elected to stay in Solitaire until she returned, and for reasons he didn’t want to examine yet, his brothers had both stayed with him.
Why wasn’t she back yet?
Josie walked in from the kitchen with two plates of food. “Is he still wearing a hole in my floor?” she asked Nate as she set one plate in front of him.
“Yep. Hasn’t stopped.”
Ellis spun on them both. “Something’s wrong. Bree should be back by now.”
Josie tsked. “Now you’re just being dramatic. Come sit down and eat. Bree told me she might not get back for a day or so, wanted to make sure I was okay to look after her dogs. Of course I said yes. They’re great animals.”
Ellis reluctantly sat down, but his stomach was too twisted up in knots for food. He nudged the bowl of moose stew aside. Peanut poked her head out of her pocket den and snatched a biscuit. Little thief. He pried it out of her mouth and shoved it and the rest of the bowl out of her reach.
He returned his attention to Josie. “The Otter pilot Bree went with. What do you know about him?”
“Oh, well.” Josie produced a piece of moose jerky from her apron pocket and gave it to a sulking Peanut, then pulled out a chair and joined them at the table. “Not much, I guess. People come and go through the airport here all the time. They stop in to refuel, restock. We’re the only travel hub between eastern Alaska and the coast. That guy started coming by regularly a couple months ago, but I never did catch his name. Obi might know it. I’ve seen them talking a time or two. Want me to call him?”
“No. Not unless he has a plane we can borrow?”
Nate froze with a bite of food halfway to his mouth. “Ellis, no.”
“Obi don’t fly,” Josie said. “Gus does, but I think he’s gone to Fairbanks for supplies. Oh, but Coop has a plane. I’m sure he’ll fly you anywhere you want for a price.”
“Perfect.” Ellis stood and extracted Peanut from his sweatshirt. “Would you mind watching this little gremlin while we’re gone?”
“We?” Nate said and was again ignored.
“I’d never say no. Look at her! You can’t say no to that face.” Josie smiled tucked Peanut into the crook of her arm like a baby. Peanut settled in like she belonged right there, and Josie stroked her belly, talking to her in a high-pitched baby voice. “You know what you need, sweetheart? A tiara. Yes, you do. A tiara fit for a little queen.”
“Thank you.” Ellis grabbed Nate by the shoulder and hauled him out of his chair.
“Wait, El. Can I at least—”
Josie held out a biscuit and Nate snatched it as Ellis dragged him toward the door.
* * *
The airport wasdark and quiet.
“Something’s not right,” Nate said as they slowed their snowmachines to a stop in front of the main hangar. “I thought Coop lived here?”
“He does.”
“He wasn’t at The Roadhouse.”
“Maybe he’s visiting friends?” Even as Ellis suggested it, he knew how stupid it sounded.
