The door to the cabin opened, and Topher stepped out carrying the log strap.
“Hey,” he said, plunging through the snow, following Jericho’s trail to the woodshed. “Thought I’d help.”
With his light brown hair and thin beard, Topher had always been a peripheral friend, even though they’d played hockey together, and in a small town like Copper Mountain, everyone knew each other.
“Thanks.” Jericho scanned the lake as he waited for the man. Winter’s blue-and-white plane sat on the ice, on skis, half drifted in the fresh snow. So, that would take a hot minute to dig out. But if the sky kept clearing, they’d probably be out today.
And then he had to track down Mars Sorros. That promise, he made to himself.
Topher came up to him. Set the wood caddy on the snow. “You get any sleep?”
Jericho thumped a log into the caddy, reached for another. Topher, beside him, did the same. “I don’t know. I can’t tell.” He drew in a breath. “But it is good to be back here. I missed Alaska. The snow. The quietness. Harley and I...”
He stopped.
Topher was smiling at him. “I can imagine that you have few memories without Harley in them.”
Jericho made a face. “She did live next door.”
“You two were inseparable.” Topher loaded more logs.
Huh.They were. “Sometimes, in the winter, when the northern lights were out, we had this ... signal. My room faced hers and I’d flash my light, or she’d flash hers, then I’d sneak out and we’d meet on her dock. We’d lay there in the snow, or sometimes in the summertime cold, and watch. It made me feel small and yet caught up into something bigger too. Like God had put on a show, just for us.”
And oh, that sounded wretchedly sappy coming out of his mouth, but, “The first time I kissed her, it was under one of those northern light shows.”
A smile from Topher. “I kissed Winter once, under the northern lights.” He made a face. “It didn’t take.”
Right. Topher had sort of been pining for Winter most of his life, so maybe he did understand the pull of the right woman.
The thought stilled Jericho. Therightwoman. Not just his first love. Hisonlylove. No wonder he’d let the bold words out last night ... truth, spilling out of his disobedient heart.
As if reading his thoughts, Topher said, “Surprising few days. You back, Harley back, now Gabe. Lots of drama.” He picked up another log. “Feels like old times.”
Jericho frowned at him.
“Oh please. There’s been an open wound in Copper Mountain since you two left, and it only deepened with the death of your parents. Except now, God has brought you back for a second chance.”
Jericho stood, clapping his hands, log debris falling off his gloves. “I ... don’t know. I mean, yeah. I used to...” He sighed, looked out at the lake, the forest beyond. “We were always spark and then fire. She knows how to push me to my last nerve, and yet, she puts a sort of steel in me. I find myself doing things way beyond myself.”
“So, she makes you a better man?” Topher asked, also cleaning off his mittens.
Better?“Maybe.” And her words from yesterday rumbled back into his head.“Sometimes all we need is someone toremind us who we are.”
She’d brought Orlando out of his funk by reminding him that he was a search dog. A dog who lived to seek and find.
And with her, Jericho became a protector. A man of promise, of commitment. At least, that’s what he’d sounded like to himself last night.
Huh.
“Well, it’s good you’re back. Hud could use the help.”
“What do you mean?” Jericho asked.
Topher frowned at him. “The Eagle’s Nest rebuild has him in over his head. And I only know this because Hud shows up at our Copper Mountain men’s group sometimes. Always seems tired. He’s been holding off selling the family house—not sure why since he could use the influx of cash. The resort needed an entire new heating system last year, so that sucked away almost all his savings. And then the fires of last summer—the entire town clogged with smoke for about a month—definitely drove down heads in beds, as Hud puts it ... Anyway, he says the place needs all new plumbing, along with a new roof, and he’s sort of a one-man show now that Malachi is running the store. Plus, now Hud’s got the Nest ... it’s a lot.”
Jericho just stared at him, hollow. “He mentioned the plumbing but I didn’t know. He never really said anything.”
“Yeah, well, you’re off saving the world, so...” Topher lifted a shoulder. “He was the guy who stayed behind. Took care of Malachi. Tried to keep the ship afloat.”