“It’s a thing, Jer,” Winter said, now walking around the nose of the plane. “All you Bowies are the same.”
He didn’t know why those words hit him, slid inside, stuck.
Still, maybe.
Harley finished scraping the wing, lowered her voice. “Really. What’s going on?”
It felt a little like that last summer together, when he’d find her out at her dock, they’d sit and watch the sky deep into the night, as the sun cast shadows from the mountains.
He’d probably told her too much, because he’d just ended up breaking her heart. Now, however, he leaned on his shovel. “Just thinking about what Gabe said. About our parents’ crash.” He paused, watching her face. “The Sorros brothers being behind it...”
“They certainly hated your family. And mine.”
He frowned.
She cocked her head. “After you left, the Sorroses burned down your family’s machine shed.”
He stilled. “I knew it burned, but ... that was them?”
“According to my dad. I was in school in Anchorage, but hetold me about it.” She sighed. “I wish I’d known Gabe had been clean and was helping Dad. I would have come home.”
Silence, and the wind caught the snow, whipped it across the lake, dusting into the air. He didn’t know why he said it, but ... “I missed you.”
Her eyes met his, and he couldn’t place the emotion that flickered. Hope? But wow, she was pretty. Snow powdered her hat and had caught her eyelashes.
“I missed you too. Even when I was mad at you.” She winked at him, and the words simply landed, loosened yet another dark knot inside.
The door of the cabin opened. Jericho squinted and could just make out the figure of Gabe emerging, Sunni cradled in his arms, her face buried against his shoulder.
Harley hiked over to help them through the deep snow. The sight of her caught Jericho, drew him up.
“Ice seems to be thawing between you two,” Topher said, coming up behind him. “I’d call it a near inferno.”
Good thing he hadn’t followed Jericho out into the storm last night. Yeah, he’d call it an inferno too.
Oh boy.
“Just like old times.” Topher helped him finish cleaning off the second ski.
Orlando played in the pristine powder, circling close to Harley, tail wagging against the crystal morning. “Maybe. Maybe better.”
“Mm-hmm,” Topher said, setting his shovel aside. “Help me break this plane free.”
Jericho put his shoulder against the belly of the plane, tried to rock it free from the snowy clasp.
“You never said what brought you home.” Topher grunted.
“Had to check on my brothers after my uncle got arrested.”Jericho, too, grunted. Bird didn’t want to move. “He was such a huge part of the lodge ... I don’t know. I was worried.”
“Of course you were.”
He didn’t know what Topher meant by that. However, “I thought I’d stick around Anchorage. Seemed close enough without being too close, you know?”
They rocked the plane again, started to ease it out of the snow’s grip.
“Then I got a call about training avalanche dogs up at the Copper Mountain Ski Resort ... seemed like a good idea for Orlando.”
“Mm-hmm,” Topher said again.