by J. H. Croix
With Waffle at my side, I headed out into the trees through the melting, patchy snow. I knew I wouldn’t have to look too long because she’d lead me straight to whatever, or whoever, had her worked up. A few minutes later, I reached the back corner of my property. I watched Waffle sniff along a set of footprints following a trail that ran from my property to the adjoining property.
Puzzled, I followed her, eyeing the meandering path of footprints. They weren’t what I expected. I’d have expected hiking boot treads and most likely larger. These footprints were small and barely much larger than the size of my own hand. They were small enough, I even wondered if it was a kid just wandering around. Within a few minutes, the sound of Waffle bounding through the trees slowed.
Magpies chattered in the forest around me and nearby squirrels made all kinds of racket, clearly offended by our presence here. Glancing up, my mouth dropped open. An elderly woman garbed in a flowing skirt and blouse was looking down at Waffle and stroking a hand down her back. She stood on a small rise, looking out over a valley in the distance.
This part of Alaska was a mix of mostly spruce forest mingled with birch and cottonwood. Willow Brook was in the foothills of the Alaska Range, offering small valleys and openings amongst the trees. This section of land belonged to Claire Parker, who had moved out of state years back and rented the home on her property. I didn’t know who was renting it at the moment.
I approached the woman, completely puzzled as to what she was doing out here. She most certainly wasn’t dressed for the weather. It was early spring, technically, which didn’t mean much. There was still snow on the ground and winter held the air in its teeth, the sharp bite of cold still strong. A skirt and blouse would be no match against hypothermia if she were out here for long. She was engrossed in petting Waffle, talking to her softly.
“Hello?” I called as I approached.
She turned, a gentle smile breaking across her face. “Hello,” she replied as if it was perfectly normal to be standing in the woods this time of year wearing sneakers, but otherwise dressed as if she were going out for dinner. Her face was lined and weathered. She was quite lovely with long black hair shot through with silver, held back with a barrette on the top of her head. Her eyes were wide and gray with a hint of violet to them. She reminded me of someone, but I couldn’t put my finger on who.
“I’m looking for Danny,” she said as if I should know who that was.
I wasn’t familiar with anyone named Danny. She looked befuddled and was clearly oblivious to the fact that if she were out here for too long, she would easily get hypothermia. I decided to just be as friendly and walk her back to my place to take her down to the hospital. Calling the station at this point wouldn’t get her there any quicker. We had a good half-mile walk to my house.
“Well, I’m not sure where Danny is, but my name is Jesse. Why don’t you come with me and then maybe I can help you find him?”
She seemed to like that idea, smiling brightly. “Okay,” she said with another stroke along Waffle’s back. She walked at my side as we headed back through the woods. Waffle seemed as concerned about her as I was, sticking close to her side as we trudged slowly through the melting snow. Shrugging out of my jacket, I draped it over her shoulders when I saw the fine shiver running through her.
“I don’t think I’ve met you before,” I said conversationally.
“Oh no?” she replied, as if puzzled by this. “I’m from here. Just down the road. Charlie, Emily, Danny and me.”
“I didn’t catch your name,” I replied, hoping she’d offer it up.
She stumbled slightly when her foot caught on a root, and I steadied her with a hand.
“Oh, I’m Olive. Do you know Charlie?”
“You know, I’m not sure I do,” I offered, running through the various Charlies I knew locally.
Despite the rest of Olive’s outfit not making a lick of sense for this weather, she had on good walking shoes. They wouldn’t keep the moisture out and certainly wouldn’t have kept her warm if she’d stayed out much longer, but they were perfectly fine for walking. In short order, we reached my place. Once we were in my truck, I called our station dispatcher, Maisie, to let her know I was bringing Olive to the hospital. I was concerned about her and fairly certain she was completely lost.
As soon as I explained, Maisie sighed. “Oh thank God. I didn’t even know you were on duty.”
“I’m not, but Waffle was barking and pacing, so I took her out. We found her at the back corner of my property. What’s up?”
Maisie started to reply, but then got another call. “Gotta go. I’ll call when I can.”
We arrived at the hospital, and Holly Blake was the nurse who met us at the ER. For that, I was relieved. I’d known Holly for a few years, and she was steady as a rock. Her blond hair was tied up in a slapdash ponytail and her brown eyes crinkled at the corners with her smile when she saw me. She seemed to recognize Olive. Before I had a chance to ask questions, she led us to an examination room and situated Olive in a chair.
“I’ll call Charlie in just a minute,” she said to Olive. Catching my eyes, she nudged her head to the side, indicating we should step out.
Once we were in the hallway, she started to speak, but we were cut off by Dr. Lane, her eyes wide and her cheeks flushed. She came hurrying down the hall, skidding to a stop in front of us. “Please tell me she’s okay.”
Holly nodded quickly. “She’s fine, Charlie. Go on in,” she said, gesturing to the door.
The pieces started to fall into place. This was the Charlie that Olive was talking about. What the hell was going on?
Dr. Lane, as I knew her, didn’t even bother to say hello, her eyes flicking to me and then away as she hurried into the room.
“Who is that?” I asked Holly as soon as Dr. Lane closed the door behind her.
“That’s Charlie’s mother. She has dementia, and she gets lost sometimes.”
As I stared at Holly, absorbing the implications, a sad look crossed her face. “I can’t believe what that must be like. Lately, it’s been happening more. Where did you find her?”
“Waffle was restless, whining, and barking, so I thought there were some hikers on my property. I headed out to the back corner to check, and we found her instead. She was asking where Danny was.”
Holly nodded as if all of this made perfect sense. “Yeah, they live right next door to you in Claire’s old place. Danny is Olive’s late husband, but she forgets he passed away a few years ago. Anyway, we’re so glad you found her.”
Holly’s pager went off. “Gotta go. If Charlie comes out, tell her another nurse will be here in a sec.” She hurried off, giving me a little wave. Another nurse approached and stepped into the room.
This would normally be the cue for me to go. I had no reason to hang around at this point. Yet, I didn’t quite feel right about leaving just yet. The nurse came out another moment later with Olive in a wheelchair. Olive smiled brightly at me, waving as she passed by. The nurse flashed a distracted smile as she spoke to Olive. “We’re just gonna check on a few things.”
I stood there in the hallway, wondering if Dr. Lane was okay. I’d just about talked myself into leaving when I heard the sound of sobbing. I knocked lightly on the door and stepped in without even pausing to think. Dr. Lane was leaning against the examination table in the center of the room, her hands over her face as she took a shuddering breath.
She didn’t appear to have heard me knocking, or stepping into the room. “Are you okay?”
Her breath stuttered, and she lifted her head. Her gray eyes were wide, her cheeks flushed and damp from her tears. She swiped at them with her thumb, collecting herself quickly. “Thank you for finding her. She’s been gone for over an hour, and I’ve been so worried.”
“It was kind of by accident. I’m not even on duty, so I didn’t know you’d put a call in. She wandered close to the back of my property earlier. My dog was pacing and whining. Honestly, I thought she was a hiker
on my property without permission, so I walked out there to check. That’s how I found her. I’d like to take credit, but you should thank Waffle, not me.”
“Waffle?” she asked, a smile barely teasing the corners of her lips.
I really wanted her to smile. I didn’t like seeing her like this. The Dr. Lane I knew, all two times I’d met her, was put together and sharp. My heart twisted to see her look so concerned.
“My dog,” I explained.
I stood there, my hands stuffed in my pockets as I fought the urge to pull her into my arms. Because she looked sad and worried, nothing like the buttoned up, proper doctor I was used to seeing. Right now, she didn’t have on her lab coat. She had on a pair of leggings and a fitted T-shirt. Her hair, usually pulled back tightly, had fallen loose as if she’d run her hands through it a few too many times. It fell in a tousle around her shoulders, that streak of purple I’d noticed before standing out amidst the glossy brown locks.
Even though it was completely nonsensical given the setting, my body had some thoughts about how she looked. Her T-shirt was pulled tight across her breasts. Garbed in her lab coat at her office, I wouldn’t have guessed she had curves like this. But damn, she had curves for days.
With a hard mental shake, I knocked that train of thought off its tracks.
“Dr. Lane…” I started to say.
She shook her head. “No need to call me that, just call me Charlie. That’s what everyone else calls me anyway.”
“Ah, so it took me finding your lost mom to get that privilege?” I asked with a careful smile.
She rolled her eyes. “No, it wasn’t that. You were just too cranky with me, so I never got around to it. Neil always says he never goes by Dr. Johnson because the town’s too small.”
“True, some of us call him Doc, but the rest of us call him Neil. I’m sorry about your mom. Next time she goes missing, just give me a call first because I’m close by. Well, more like a quarter-mile down the road, but still. Waffle can help find her pretty quick. I’m not saying don’t call 9-1-1, I’m just saying it’s easy for me to help look for her.”
Charlie nodded, dragging her sleeve across her face. “I need to find someone to watch her during the day, but she gets upset every time I bring it up.”
“She mentioned that she lived here for years, but that doesn’t seem right. I mean, you just moved here a bit ago, right?”
Charlie lips curled in a tired smile. “My parents lived here a long time ago. Actually, I was born close to here. My dad was stationed at Elmendorf Air Force Base, just outside of Anchorage. He later got stationed elsewhere, but they always missed Alaska and meant to move back here. You know how it goes though. They meant to do it, but it never happened. After my dad died, I thought maybe she’d like it because she talked about it so much.”
“That makes sense,” I replied.
Charlie’s shoulders rose and fell with a shuddering breath. Her gaze broke from mine, and she turned to snag a tissue off the counter nearby, blowing her nose quickly and then grabbing another one to dab at her eyes.
“You must think I’m an idiot,” she muttered. “Crying, moving here just because my mom missed it.”
“Not at all,” I said, meaning it completely. “Why would you think that?”
“Well, when we got here, my mom wasn’t as bad as she is now. But she’s gone downhill fast. I didn’t really think about what it meant to get a house in the woods where she could wander off. It would be better if we were somewhere where there were more people around.”
I stared at her for a moment, unsure what to say, but then I figured I might as well be honest. “I don’t know. If you were in a busy area, she could wander off and just get lost in the city. At least here, once everybody gets to know her, people will keep an eye out for her. Plus, now that I know you’re my neighbor, I can check on her when I’m around. It’s not a big deal. I’ll bring Waffle over to visit her too.”
Charlie stared at me, and then burst out laughing. Tears were rolling down her cheeks again by the time she stopped. Again, I found myself resisting the urge to pull her into my arms. “What’s so funny?”
She gulped in air and then shrugged. “Having your dog visit her. I dunno. It seemed funny.”
“I suppose, but if it weren’t for Waffle, I might not have found her today. If she gets to know your mom, she’ll find her easy every time. She’s a hound mix, and let me tell you, she follows her nose.”
Charlie’s gray eyes scanned my face, a small smile teasing her lips. “I guess that makes sense then.”
We stared at each other, the room getting quiet. I didn’t know what else to say. Her mother was fine, and I should leave. There was no reason for me to linger. Yet, I found myself wanting to stay. Actually, what I wanted to do was kiss her. But that was totally out of place and half-crazy, and I damn well knew it.
I started to turn just as Charlie moved. The room was small. Her phone rang. She slipped her phone out of her pocket, glancing at the screen. “I have to take this if you don’t mind.”
“Sure, of course. I’ll just…”
“No, don’t go,” she said.
Without even thinking about it, I simply nodded and waited.
“Hey, Emily, what is it?”
Charlie listened and then nodded. “I’m with grandma at the hospital right now. We’ll be home in a little bit. I can pick up pizza on the way home.”
Whatever Emily’s reply was, it didn’t seem too friendly with Charlie’s brow furrowing and her hand gripping the phone tightly as she spoke. My curiosity about her was piling up. Nothing about her was fitting in with what I had expected. But then, I didn’t know what I’d expected.
After Charlie hung up the phone, her eyes caught mine. “My niece. She lives with us too. She’s fifteen years old, and she kind of hates me some days,” she offered with a sigh.
Warning bells should have been going off in my mind. Hell, she had a mother who seemed to be on the way to senile and apparently a teenage niece who hated her. I didn’t know what the hell I was thinking. Except I couldn’t stop looking at her. Her gorgeous gray eyes, that whimsical purple streak in her hair. To see her out of her usual lab coat and buttoned up look, well fuck me. She still had her glasses on, but her tousled hair softened her features.
As she looked at me, the air started to heat, and my body tightened. I didn’t know what it was about her. I heard nothing and thought nothing. My entire focus narrowed to her—to the fine arch of her brows, the angle of her cheekbones, and her full lips, which seemed out of place in her otherwise sharp-featured face.
Her wide gray eyes stared back at me, darkening like the summer sky on a stormy day. The air hummed. Before I thought about it—but let’s face it, I wasn’t really thinking, not with my brain—I stepped in her direction. At the same time, she took a step, bringing us flush together. Lifting a hand, I slid my fingers through her hair, the locks silky soft. I could see her pulse fluttering in her neck. Her cheeks flushed pink, her lips parted, and the next thing I knew, I was threading my hand into her hair.
Cupping the nape of her neck, I dipped my head and dusted a kiss over her lips. A small sound came from her throat, something between a hum and a moan. Coming from her, it was like spurs to my need. I swiped my tongue along the seam of her lips. Her mouth opened on a gasp. She tasted divine—sweet with a hint of mint, her mouth warm and welcoming. The uptight Dr. Lane, excuse me Charlie, moaned into my mouth.
Fuck me. She kissed like a dream, her tongue tangling sensually with mine, her hand sliding up to grip my hair. I lost sight of everything but the feel of her against me, her mouth moving under mine and those luscious curves that I hadn’t known existed pressed against me.
A sharp knock at the door punctured the haze in my mind. I broke free, looking down into her gray eyes, dark and flashing silver.
“Oh,” she said, her eyes widening. Yet, she didn’t move and I didn’t want her to move.
Chapter Four
Charlie
Staring up into Jesse’s eyes, I tried to catch my breath. I tried to think. But thought was hard to come by. All I could focus on was the feel of him against me.
The man might as well have been sculpted from stone, all coiled muscle and power. Just now, every inch of him was pressed against me. Somewhere in the middle of the madness of our kiss, his hand had slid down my spine to cup my bottom. I felt as if I were falling with butterflies spinning wildly in my core.
Desire throbbed inside, sending heat and liquid need sliding through my veins. Another sharp knock at the door nudged me, mentally kicking through the haze and madness in my mind.
“Oh!”
I forced myself to jump back. Because, let me tell you, my body did not want to move. I could’ve stood there for days with the feel of Jesse pressed against me. It wasn’t simply desire, it was feeling encompassed by his strength. Oh, and I might mention the man kissed like a dream—soft and masterful. I nearly melted the moment his lips met mine and his hand threaded in my hair.
It was an act of will to step further away from him. My body was drawn so powerfully to his, like magnet to metal. Jesse’s eyes stayed on mine, making me feel as if he could see right through me. Yet, when I met his gaze, I didn’t feel the judgment I expected to see.
Oh no. It was something else altogether. The heat in his gaze seared me, and something else flickered underneath. My belly fluttered and my heart clenched.
I gave myself a mental shake, turning to answer the door. It was Holly Blake, a nurse who I’d come to really like. I imagined I could be friends with her, but my life didn’t leave much room for friends, not lately.
“How is she?” I asked.
Holly leaned against the doorframe, glancing between us with a smile. “She’s fine. She’s up front talking to Penny. You know she loves her.”
Relief washed over me. “I know she does. Thank you, Holly. I guess I’ll get going.”
