His Harbor Girl

by Rekha Ambardar

  Two hours later, sweaty from walking miles in circles, Leanna and Bryce lugged themselves back to their starting point. A wolf lay nestled among the soft leaves of a ground level shrub. “There he is,” Bryce said in a whisper.

  He motioned to Leanna. “You stay here, while we sedate him.”

  After an eternity, when she had begun to amuse herself with following a flitting yellow butterfly, Bryce called out to Leanna. “You can come now.”

  She walked over to where they huddled. Fred and his assistants got up as she approached them.

  “All yours, Bryce. It needs your special touch. We’re off to the next one.”

  Fred shouldered his duffel bag and disappeared into the greenery with the two men following behind him.

  The wolf lay, looking almost like Cody curled up in his corner of the room. She had an urge to cuddle him. “He looks cute, asleep like that.”

  “He’s under sedation now. I’m about to draw some blood for testing. This one is clean, no parasites. He’s a yearling. His mother must have been fairly healthy; he’s got her immunity.”

  Leanna watched him, fascinated by both the gentleness with which he administered the syringe and the look of fondness that played on his face as he examined the wolf’s ears, teeth, and paws. “How calm he looks.”

  “That’s just what I was thinking.”

  Bryce worked in silence for a few minutes as Leanna watched the strong tanned hands gently turn the sleeping animal. She couldn’t help staring at the confident way in 141

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  which he handled his work. A warm feeling enveloped her as she marveled at his expertise and gentleness.

  Leanna shuffled in her crouching position uneasily. “Need any help?”

  He looked up suddenly, an expression of surprise on his face. “Thank you, no. I might need you to carry something later.” He looked at the wolf’s coat in sections. “I’m almost done here. The sedative will be wearing off soon, so I’m going to set him free. See this collar around his neck? It’s got metal studs to prevent another animal from wrenching it off. It will also send beeps to an antenna we have on the plane. This way we keep track of him.”

  “Radio tracking?”

  Bryce nodded. “We’ve also ear-marked him. See?” He pointed to the inner skin on the wolf’s ear. “His number is T15.”

  “You do know your job.”

  “And love it, too.” Bryce unhooked the foot lock and gently prodded the wolf. “Still asleep, thank goodness. We’d better go.”

  “It’s the job, not the place that calls me,” Bryce said as they walked to the next site. “Which means that when my study is done here, I move to where the study takes me.”

  That’s more than clear to me, Leanna thought, which is why you and I don’t have too much in common. With a baby coming, she’d wanted a family, security, and Bryce’s love like a lifeline, not a nomadic lifestyle.

  “And you, Leanna? It’s just the opposite, isn’t it?”

  “That’s exactly right. For me, it’s the place, Pelican Harbor. It’s where I belong in more ways than one.”

  Bryce let out a heavy sigh. “Too bad.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Because maybe we could have had a chance together.”

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  They walked along side by side. Despite being tall herself she came up only to his shoulder. She stared straight ahead, not wanting to look at him. If she did, she might fail in her resolve not to be led by sentimentality.

  A cuckoo chirruped as they edged along the narrow trail, Leanna walking dangerously close to him. A ledge-like promontory stood mocking as Bryce led the way and Leanna followed. One slip of the foot and they’d cascade like dribbling rocks to the sandbar below.

  “Better hold on to my hand.” Bryce held out a hand behind him.

  She could take her pick between the danger of his physical closeness or the plunge of fifty feet below. She extended her hand, fingers outstretched and he enclosed it in a strong, firm grasp.

  “Come on. Follow me.” His footsteps left a mark on the soft earth.

  “Do I have a choice?”

  “Drop the editorial for now. We have to get up the hill first before we can come down to the other side.”

  Something pricked her pride. “I’m slowing you down, is that it?”

  “You’re tired,” he said with a sigh.

  Twenty minutes of muscle-tightening climb later, they reached the flattened top of the hill. Down below, on the other side, was a trail they had to follow. Their steps quickening, they walked on, while Bryce whipped out his map again.

  “Straight ahead.”

  But when they got there, Fred and his assistants were waiting, looking as if they’d lost their best friend.

  “What’s up?” Bryce said.

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  “We set this up a long time ago. But we haven’t got a wolf.”

  Bryce shrugged. “We’ll take what we have. I don’t want to leave the foot lock here unless we’re in the vicinity to monitor it.”

  “You mean we walked all the way up the hill for nothing?” Leanna asked sharply. The next moment a feeling of shame washed over her. She probably sounded like a petulant child.

  “We wouldn’t have found out that we didn’t get a wolf if we didn’t get here, now would we?”

  In the next site, to their relief, a wolf waited to be sedated and examined. Leanna watched Bryce, savoring each moment. He is easy on the eye, she thought. The incline of his head, the steady fingers working deftly as he radio collared the wolf, his hair falling on his forehead riveted her attention.

  She wakened from her daydream when he spoke. “All right. All done. Off you go, boy.” He unlatched the foot lock, opened up the muzzle and then stood up. “When he awakes, we’ll be out of here.”

  Leanna hadn’t realized the afternoon sun had weakened as they hiked back to the cabin in the same configuration they had set out. Fred and the two men were walking quite a way ahead of them.

  “It’s way past lunch time,” Bryce said. “Hungry?”

  “A little. But I can eat when I get home.”

  “Are you in a hurry to get home?”

  “If you don’t need me for any more work.” This would be a good time to tell him about her loan and the work on the snack bar. “I’ve taken out a loan to build an addition to The Tug. I’m having a snack bar added on.”

  “I’m impressed. Quite the businesswoman, aren’t you?”

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  “Which means as soon as it is complete, I’ll have to leave work here to manage it.” She looked straight at Bryce to sense his reaction.

  “Now, who’s the workaholic? Just be sure you finish the work I give you now.” His gaze held her for a second. “As soon as our work is completed, we’ll be leaving.”

  “Where will you go?”

  “Minnesota, Washington State, wherever there are wolves to be monitored. You, however, are anchored here, I take it.”

  “This is where I belong. You and I are in different orbits now. You shouldn’t have come looking for me, Bryce.” She said the words that were inevitable.

  “Yes, I know.” He walked on without turning to look at her, his profile a strongly etched study.

  It caused her a twinge of pain that he had accepted her remark so easily. Part of her knew there was no chance that they could have a life together and part of her wished desperately that they had.

  When she finally saw the dark brown log cabin she felt as if she were meeting a much-needed friend. Ever since she started working here, she felt a camaraderie with its unconventional environment. But one person took away her composure. Bryce. Still, why worry about that? She’d be leaving to manage The Tug and the snack bar soon enough.

  But then, another little worry cropped up in her mind. That this might be the beginning of the end.

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r Girl

  Chapter 9

  Leanna watched from across the faux marble counter top as small knots of customers straggled in, filling the tables laid out in twos along the length of The Tug. Additions Inc. had done a marvelous job of constructing the snack bar.

  It was a curved addition to the original gift-store structure. An entire wall had been removed to allow more space for a deli section with seating and a counter from where food could be served. A side door led outside, where a few more tables were arranged under a brightly colored awning.

  Most customers gravitated to this outside seating area with its hanging flower baskets and clear view of the lake.

  “Hi, there.” Leanna smiled at a young couple that wandered in holding hands. They, no doubt, didn’t care where they sat, just as long as they could gaze into each other’s eyes. They walked to one of the window tables, still hand in hand, seated themselves and ordered a chicken salad sandwich and coffee.

  Leanna smiled to herself. Ah, the foolishness of young love! It petered away like a distant echo. How well she knew young love, another name for infatuation.

  She glanced at them from under her lashes and put together their sandwiches. How old could they be? He might be twenty-one and the girl looked nineteen. Leanna 146

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  remembered her first love, a one and only love, some sweet memories, others bittersweet, but all valuable to her as life experiences. Best of all, she had Kai, for whom she was grateful.

  “Need any help, dear?”

  Leanna looked up from the cutting board holding sliced onions and celery for sandwiches. Alice stood in front of her in a print dress and a saucy straw hat.

  “No. Thanks for asking. How’s it been at your end?”

  Leanna had only a vague impression of people going into the gift section.

  “I had people looking at the copper artifacts.”

  Leanna’s gaze caught the copper model of the Acadian mine hoist, which sat on a wooden ledge near the window in the gifts sections. Prominently displayed, it had elicited questions from tourists. Pelican Harbor used to be a boomtown during copper mining days, she’d tell them, hence the miniature mine hoist.

  “And how are you managing the fetching and carrying?”

  Leanna’s face contorted into a grimace. “I’m sure my feet will have to pay the price. But I wanted this.”

  “You sure did. And worked hard for it. You’ll do fine.”

  Alice’s voice sounded soothing and mellow like the soft afghans she was always crocheting. “I’m surprised Bryce didn’t mind.”

  “My work there is finished.”

  The young couple, who had asked for chicken salad sandwich, seemed to have forgotten their order. But Leanna hadn’t. Too well she knew that people couldn’t live on love alone!

  “Here’s your order. I’ll bring your coffee.”

  She poured out coffee in two mugs and brought it to them.

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  A few more customers wandered in and stared at the view from the window before seating themselves.

  “How soon summer’s gone.” Leanna’s gaze flitted toward the open window behind the coffee pot.

  The tall maples fronting the houses in the distance were starting to turn color. When had summer drifted into early fall? She hardly remembered the number of times she’d been flown over to the island to work on the wolf-monitoring data.

  The trips had become a matter of routine, and the flights there hadn’t bothered her at all anymore. Most of the time she’d concentrated on chewing gum while looking out the window at the curvy contours of the lake and land below them, thinking about the charts she’d have to draw up that day.

  “Have you heard from Bryce?”

  Leanna’s chest hammered. “No, and I don’t expect to.

  He’s busy trying to finish his work.” Her mind suddenly threw into focus the image of Bryce and Fred collecting boxes containing logbooks, syringes, ropes and other odds and ends.

  The scene was etched in her mind.

  “When do you leave?” Leanna had asked him, managing to inject a casual pitch to her voice. Watching them packing to leave created a strange feeling in her mind, like seeing migratory birds disappear forever, despite Nature’s promise that they would return when leaves appeared on the trees again.

  “As soon as we radio collar a few more wolves. We’ve not done too badly. For a while there we thought we might not get the ones we’d targeted.” Bryce’s strong, golden-brown hands pulled on the ropes as he coiled them neatly and set them in piles. Watching him brought back memories of being in his arms, feeling secure and loved. Even a glance at him engrossed in the most ordinary chores sent her senses reeling.

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  The clatter of cups and saucers brought her back to the present and she realized Alice was talking. “I don’t get it.

  You’re head over heels in love with the guy, and you won’t do anything about it. Are you going to let him go again?”

  “Alice, I’m not in love with him.”

  “And I’m a tea kettle.” Alice’s whisper came out in a hiss.

  “You’ve been going around with a stricken look the past week. If you didn’t have The Tug you’d go stark, raving mad.”

  Leanna couldn’t help chuckling at the ferocity of Alice’s remark. But surely, Alice was wrong! Leanna felt no throbbing, languishing pain in her heart, and as far as she knew, she ate like a horse and fell asleep as soon as her head touched the pillow. Ergo, not in love. Of course not. Was she?

  She shook her head with exaggerated vigor. “No, no, you’re mistaken. Besides,” she said quietly, “Bryce doesn’t love me.”

  “Aha, now we’re getting somewhere.” Alice sounded triumphant.

  “He doesn’t belong here. And this is where I want to be.

  This is where I grew up. This is my home.”

  “You could work something out.”

  “There’s nothing to work out. So let’s just forget it.”

  Leanna’s voice rang with finality, which, she hoped, would clue Alice that the subject was closed.

  * * * *

  Leanna puttered back and forth from the wood shed to the back porch, hauling in wood for the fireplace. She’d stack the logs near the door within easy reach, where she could lay her hands on them when the weather became chilly.

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  The big maple out back threw an ever-changing shade on the cement floor of the porch where Chester had piled wood in a neat heap.

  Leanna tried not to think of her aching feet. Customers had streamed in steadily at The Tug, both in the store section and at the snack bar. She smiled as she thought of Alice throwing her a wide-eyed look with her hands held open.

  Leanna knew what she might have said if she were standing closer to her: “You wanted this!”

  If the volume kept up, she’d have to hire a teenager to man the store section and have Alice help her in the snack bar.

  Leanna had finally convinced Alice to accept wages for working at The Tug. So it was all fair and square, giving Leanna a feeling of satisfaction.

  She held the back door open with her foot as she carried the logs inside, balancing them precariously in her arms.

  “Get out of the way, Cody.”

  Cody had been following her in and out the door like a forlorn puppy. “You’re bored because Kai’s gone over to Cecily’s, aren’t you? And you’re never going to forgive her for leaving you home.”

  Cody cocked his head to one side as he sat watching her.

  Then he got off his haunches and edged closer.

  “No, Cody! Watch out!”

  Two of the logs, thick heavy ones, tumbled out of her arms and fell on Cody, who let out a yelp of pain. He crouched and dropped to the floor, his cries becoming louder and more pitiful.

  “Oh, baby,” she cried, dumping the logs on the floor and crawling over to where he lay whim
pering. “Your poor tail.

  Don’t move, sweetie. I’ll find a bandage.” Blood dripped onto the carpet.

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  She pushed herself up. If only she could keep calm. Cody was just another baby—her second child, and her heart ached whenever he got hurt.

  The First Aid box was in the bathroom cabinet and she hurried there. She pulled open the lower cabinet door under the sink and snatched the green box that held anything she might need for emergencies. Leanna sucked in her breath, hoping she’d find a bandage thick enough to contain the bleeding. She rummaged furiously through the box and found a roll of bandage. Not enough by a long shot, but it would have to do until she thought of what to do next.

  She glanced at her watch. Six thirty. Would the vet’s clinic be open? They usually had an emergency number to call. Maybe somebody would answer if she called.

  She ran back to Cody, knelt down and started bandaging his tail. “Yes, I know, sweetie. We’ll make you all well.”

  A dull fear settled in her chest and she stared at the blood spurting out. What if the bleeding didn’t stop?

  Leanna placed as many gauze patches as she’d managed to grab and bandaged his tail. She had almost finished when the roar of a vehicle reached her ears. Sure that she had secured the bandage, she got up and moved to the window.

  A lean tall man swung out of a jeep. She drew a breath and watched him stride to the door. Bryce! What would he be doing here on the mainland at this time?

  She flung open the door and pulled him in. “Oh, Bryce!

  Cody’s hurt!”

  His gaze strayed to the far end of the L-shaped living room and Cody lying near the wall.

  “Cody, what’s the matter, boy?”

  Embarrassment mixed with misery swept over her as she watched him walk toward Cody, her face tear streaked and 151

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  her hair askew. Her clumsy hold on the logs had inflicted this awful condition on poor Cody.

  “I was carrying logs and t-two of them fell on Cody’s tail.”

  Bryce walked in the door and closed it behind him.