by Evie Nichole
“Fine,” Harbour snapped. “I will.” She hit the answer button in a way she hoped expressed her determination and pressed the phone to her ear. “Hi, Stacey, what’s up?”
“Nothing much. We’re going to have a hell of a day with this storm.”
Harbour threw Derek a smug look as she went to reply. Stacey spoke again before she could.
“Hey, is Derek there?”
The question must have shown on her face because Derek once again smiled that obnoxious grin and pulled the sheets back over his head.
***
“That’s it.” Harbour dropped her cell phone onto the kitchen island. Piper instantly picked it up and began to scroll through the recent history list. “That is every last bachelorette in Nowhere.”
Piper smirked. “And a few of the bachelors.”
With a long groan, Harbour flopped onto the kitchen island and smacked her head against the wooden top.
“I don’t think it’s that bad,” Piper said.
“I have to tell Derek that he was right. This is horrible.”
“He might have been right, but that doesn’t mean that you have to admit it.”
Harbour flipped her head up and peered through her hair. “I can’t. I told everyone I would tell them he called, and if I don’t, they’re going to accuse me of screening his calls.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be doing that?”
“They don’t know that.”
Her phone pinged again and Harbour cringed.
“Huh. Question. If they think you’re hiding the phone calls from him, why do they think you’ll pass on texts?”
“What?” Harbour snatched the phone away from Piper to read a text message that made it sound like she had Derek locked away in a castle somewhere. “Are you kidding me?”
“Yeah. If he doesn’t start replying to some of these, there might be a bit of tension brewing.”
Nails clattered down the staircase and Jareth exploded out into the kitchen in a flurry of yelps and slobber. Derek shuffled after him, his steps staggered and muffled under the blanket that he had wrapped around him. His normally gelled hair fluffed out in a thick, dark puff.
He slumped against the wall, eyes still hooded and struggling to open any wider. It was almost impossible to keep from laughing when he closed his eyes and sniffed at the air in almost a perfect mimic of Jareth’s actions.
“Good morning, sunshine,” Harbour smiled.
“Coffee.”
His words were still laced with a deep growl. Harbour shivered again and resolved to check the thermostat later. Derek lumbered towards the kitchen island, eyes closed and one hand reaching out from the sheet to guide his way. It was pitiful enough that Harbour sloshed some coffee into a mug and put it before his groping hand. Derek sipped his coffee and screwed up his face.
“Do you need sugar? Milk?”
He still hadn’t swallowed the mouthful when he answered, “How about decent coffee?”
“This is good coffee.”
Derek growled and ruefully swallowed the mouthful.
“You’re not a morning person, are you?” Piper laughed.
Derek jerked like a startled dog, both hands smacking against the table as he locked her with wide eyes.
“Did you honestly not see me here?”
He blinked once and pulled the sheets tightly around himself. “Why is she here?”
“She kindly agreed to come over and give me a lift so I can get my truck back. You know, so I can get to work.”
The mug was halfway to his lips before he remembered that he hated the brew and grimaced.
“I thought the storm wasn’t supposed to hit until this afternoon.”
“It wasn’t,” Harbour said. “But Mother Nature decided otherwise, so there is an even smaller window of opportunity to get everything done.”
Even though it hadn’t fallen, he pulled the blanket higher onto his shoulder. “So when are we leaving?”
“I was just waiting for you to get up so I could tell you not to mess with my stuff. Food is in the fridge, our TV doesn’t pick up any channels, but we have a heap of DVDs. Have fun.”
Derek scowled. “I told you I’d be helping you.”
“Yeah, but that was before . . .”
She had started the sentence without any real thought on how she was going to finish it. Now confronted with the implications and his cold stare, Harbour felt a rush of relief to be interrupted by her phone’s ringtone.
“Hello?”
Right now, she didn’t even care if it was yet another lonely heart sussing out the possibility of a Derek booty call. A moment passed and all she was met with was silence.
“Hello, can you hear me?”
A shuffle of fabric, a hitched breath. Honestly, they couldn’t be surprised that she answered; it was her phone. Mischief tainted Derek’s scrutinizing glare and she was not ready for that to grow. Muttering some excuse about this being a bad connection and to try calling back, Harbour hung up on the still-silent caller.
“Well, we have to go.”
“Give me a second to brush my teeth.” He swilled back the coffee like it was a shot of tequila and hissed. “Eh, that’s rancid.”
“I just made it an hour ago. You know what? We don’t have time. We have to go now.”
“I can wait a few minutes,” Piper said with a too-sweet smile.
Harbour sighed as Derek hurried up the staircase once more. “Really?”
“Still like to be helpful.”
“You’re not.” Harbour snatched up her phone as it once again let out a piercing shriek. The line was silent. Seriously? It was her phone! She hung up and turned it off.
Chapter Nine
Five hours in the torrential rain left Derek feeling as cold as he had last night. While the slicker that the workers had provided kept him relatively dry, it felt like a sheet of pliable frost taped to his skin. The rain seeped in around the corners and trickled down his back. His shirt was soaked by the time he joined the line to drag in the final boat.
Apparently, this was supposed to be the easiest part. If the waters had been still like predicted, he supposed it would have been an easy case of dragging the small boats to shore. But since the water now crashed in waves, partially submerging the docks, it took five people dragging with all of their might to bring the boats in. And with each new boat, Harbour was the one who jumped in and swam out to tie the ropes up.
They said it was easier this way, that Harbour could move more swiftly than they would be able to with a canoe, and that all of the jet skis had already been stored for the season. Harbour went willingly each time, seemingly unbothered, but for Derek, it got progressively harder not to latch onto her wrist and keep her on shore. Her lips were turning blue and she hissed each breath on a shudder.
She was on the last boat now, hunched on the railing, watching the water to get a sense of the waves. The ocean heaved in a steady pattern, or so Harbour said. She insisted that, once she got in sync with the heave and flow, it was easy going, but that was hard to believe as the waves grew and began to form whitecaps that broke with an audible roar. On the shore they fought against the waves, the thick coarse rope grinding against their hands even through the work gloves.
If she had just waited a little longer, it would have been fine. But just like before, Harbour leapt into the ocean like she was born from it, like there wasn’t the very real possibility she could be dragged out into the harbor. Derek caught a glimpse of her golden hair with every lurch of the water. His gut twisted every time she disappeared again.
The boat was halfway in when she pulled herself onto the submerged dock and jogged to take her place in the towline. She was practically quaking and, drenched already, didn’t bother to put her slicker back on. It took a lot of effort and more time than Derek would have liked, but they finally got to beach the boat on the shore. The others rushed to secure it.
Before Harbour could join them, Derek looped one arm around her shoulders
and pulled her flush against his side. He had hoped some of his warmth would seep into her, but she shrugged off his grip and cast him a dirty look.
“We’re not done yet,” she told him over the howling wind.
She trotted off and for a moment he could only watch in slight puzzlement. So she was fine with him cuddling her later? Out of the corner of his eyes, he noticed a figure standing by the boat house. With a full body slicker and a large hat to protect from the rain, it was impossible to see who the person was. Like a living shadow, the person stood there, watching, and then seeped back into the pouring rain.
***
Sitting in the passenger seat of Harbour’s truck, water tipping from his hair, Derek struggled to open his hands. Hours of pulling, tugging, and fighting the swell had cramped each muscle in his hands. Trying to straighten his fingers was an exercise in pain and he was glad Harbour was taking her time getting changed.
The thick work gloves hadn’t protected his hands very well. Already the skin across the tops of his palms had the promise of blisters and his knuckles were ground raw. He had spent long days at the gym, and had been known to take his frustrations out on a punching bag, but none of that had been enough to keep the muscles of his shoulders from turning to stone with the strain.
The slam of a door drew his attention. He looked up to see Harbour lock the small storage boathouse and make a bee-line to the truck. Harbour had changed into a dry set of clothes and had her hoodie pulled up to protect her face. Once again, she was in plaid. Where did she keep finding those? Derek forced his hands open and was barely able to hide the pain before she made it to the truck door.
A gust of cold air ripped into the cabin as Jareth scrambled up onto the bench seat. Once he was settled, he shook out his fur, spraying droplets of icy water over the entire cabin. Harbour leapt in, slammed the door shut, and pressed her fingers against the heater vents.
“It’s freezing.”
With one hand, Derek gently coaxed Jareth over his lap to sit by the passenger door. Free to move over the bench seat, he slid closer and wrapped an arm around Harbour’s shoulders. Since he had expected her to shove him away again, he didn’t know what to do when Harbour curled against him with a contented sigh.
“You’re so warm,” she practically purred against his neck.
“I didn’t keep throwing myself into glacier fed water.”
“It’s just quicker.”
He grumbled and rubbed his hand along her arm. “I don’t think it’s consistent with workplace health and safety.”
“Yeah.” She gently balled her hand in his jacket, subtly seeking out the warmth that gathered underneath. “You guys are real sticklers for that.”
“What does that mean?”
“Ask around; there’s a list.”
“I definitely think that’s something I should have.”
Harbour squeezed a little closer and he felt the back of her knuckles wash down his sides like ice-cubes. Derek shivered and rubbed her with more strength. They remained like that as the engine slowly heated the cabin. The shift in temperature fogged the glass and reduced the world outside into shadows and shapes.
Without thought, Derek reached up and gently tucked some wet strands of her hair behind her ear. Even there her skin was almost painfully cold to touch. He froze when he realized what he had done but, once again, her reaction caught him off guard. She downright purred as she slipped her hand boldly across his stomach and clutched his side. Her fingers hadn’t gathered any warmth, but he didn’t try to shift away.
Harbour snapped up so suddenly that the cabin rocked with it. She stared at him, wide-eyed and nervous until she wrapped her hands around the steering wheel.
“I’m really hungry,” she mumbled.
“You’re hungry? I’ve just worked a shift on nothing but a cup of coffee.”
“No one made you sleep in late,” she said as she put the truck into gear and switched on the windshield wipers.
“I was comfortable.”
“Yeah, I was too, but I still got up. Because I’m an adult.”
He smiled. “So you did like being in bed with me.”
“What?” She was silent for a moment before her shoulders slumped. “Oh yeah. That happened.”
“Did you really forget?”
“I’m really trying to.”
Derek smiled and stretched his arms along the back of the bench seat. Harbour shifted a little at the close proximity, a soft flush warming her cheeks. It was a good look on her, and he missed it the second it melted into a look of confusion.
“Who’s that?” she asked.
Following her gaze, he caught sight of what she was looking at. That man was back, this time watching from the little ridge that enclosed the area. The wind and rain battered him and ripped at his slicker, but he didn’t seek out any shelter.
“I don’t know.”
Harbour twisted in her seat and glanced out each window. “All the other cars are gone.”
An uneasy feeling wove into his stomach. “Maybe we should just go.”
“We can’t just leave him here. It’s like a forty-five-minute walk into town.”
“Well, it doesn’t seem like he wants a lift,” Derek said.
Harbour flashed the truck’s lights and waved with exaggeration. The man made no response. She leant against the steering wheel and tried to peer closer. Jareth released a low, rumbling growl, the hair on the back of his neck beginning to rise. Derek and Harbour shared a quick glance, neither wanting to admit the eerie feeling that claimed them both.
“I’m sure they have their own car over the ridge,” Derek said.
Harbour nodded, “Yeah, and if there’s any problem they can call for a taxi.”
The gears ground as she shifted the truck into reverse and edged the truck over the mud and gravel.
***
Harbour had more or less shaken off the odd occurrence by the time they pulled into the diner’s parking lot. There were only really three places to eat in Nowhere. One was basically a bar, another was considered the ‘fancy’ place since it had tablecloths, and the third was her favorite.
It was warm and inviting. What it lost in aesthetics it more than made up for with its food. While the menu was simple, mostly home cooking and comfort food, the owners made their pastry desserts from scratch. Their bear claw doughnuts were amazing.
Derek didn’t comment as she pulled up into the muddy puddle that the dirt parking lot has disintegrated into. She reached across Derek’s lap to cup Jareth’s face. The dog made a noise, but wasn’t interested enough to get up.
“Stay here.”
“You mean Jareth, right?”
She glanced up at Derek and tried to smother her need to blush. She had been so fixated on Jareth that she hadn’t realized that she was pretty much at the same level as Derek’s belt buckle.
“No, you can stay here too.”
Derek shifted his hips, reminding her yet again how close she was to certain areas, and smiled.
“You know, this whole dominant side of you is rather appealing.”
Harbour hurled herself up and glared at him. It wasn’t all that satisfying when all she wanted to do was hit him. To get away from the temptation, Harbour kicked her door open and slipped out into the rain. Her stomach hollowed out when she heard Derek following, his chuckle coiling out to be heard over the rain.
There was a small sheltered area designed to let people take off their jackets and shuck off their layers of snow in the winter. Rows of jackets hung along the walls, each one drizzling water into the growing puddles on the concrete floor. Harbour added hers to the array and fished her cell out of the pocket.
Derek came in and flapped his coat a few times. Droplets rained down and she stepped back out of splatter range. She flipped her phone in her palm and decided that it was probably time to turn it back on. After all, her parents were supposed to be checking in.
As she fiddled with the keys, she didn’t notice Derek s
lip around her. She jerked to a stop when he opened the door. They each stood, watching the other, until it hit her that he was holding the door open for her. Hesitantly, she walked through.
“That was weird,” she said.
“I can be a gentleman.”
She made a noncommittal noise and he narrowed his eyes playfully. Her phone lit up and then began to vibrate like a hungry bird as message after message came through.
Seriously? She must have let out her frustration on a groan because Derek turned to her, his eyebrows itching towards his hairline.
“I wanna a burger. And sweet potato fries. You’re paying.” She spun on her heel, but there was no getting away from his amused attention.
As what might possibly be the highlight of her day, her favorite table was still free. It was tucked away in the corner, right next to the heater and the window that overlooked one of the few flowering bushes planted along the side of the building. She settled into her seat and began to search through the messages.
It seemed to be a common consensus that Derek should have called people back by now. They had also decided that she was to blame for the lack of contact. It startled Harbour how many people were unhappy with their lot in Nowhere. Of course, finding someone to love wasn’t the easiest thing in a place with a limited population, but was it really so hopeless that you would pin all your hopes on someone you barely knew?
A tinkle of laughter drew her attention over to the counter. Derek was surrounded by women, each smiling broadly and tossing their hair. There was a slight smile on his face, tiny, and obviously forced. He looked about a second away from hurdling the counter to get away from them. But he held his ground like he had a point to prove.
Harbour rolled her eyes and went back to the phone. The laughing continued and she did her best to ignore it. After a few texts that directly questioned her character, Harbour wasn’t in an all too pleasant mood. She was hungry, annoyed, and still damn cold. It made the continuous laughter that echoed from the front counter all the more annoying. The chair next to her scraped across the tiles as Piper flopped down.
