Alaskan Dawn

by Edie Claire

  Ben dug into his salmon.

  “You are bad,” Haley agreed, willing the flame in her cheeks to subside.

  He swallowed a forkful of fish and grinned.

  “Blame my sisters,” he replied.

  Chapter 9

  Haley awoke the next morning to an insistent rapping on the door of her cabin. “Haley!” Ben called cheerfully. “Wake up!”

  Ordinarily, the sound of a chipper voice first thing in the morning would make her blindly grope for something to throw. But not today. Thanks to a hot shower, the quiet cabin, and a blissful lack of cellular service, she had gone to bed early and slept more soundly than she had in months. When her eyes opened to an already bright morning sky, she found herself instantly alert.

  She hopped out of bed and glanced down at her entirely decent sleep pants but not so decent cami. “Just a second!” she called. She threw on a tee shirt, ran a brush through her hair, and stepped over to answer the door. If her eyes were still puffy, too bad. This wasn’t the office. It was vacation.

  “Sorry to wake you up,” he said, not sounding the least bit apologetic. If her rumpled appearance disappointed him, he didn’t show it. The result of his quick head-to-toe appraisal — which he made a polite but ineffective effort to disguise — was a smirk of approval. “But you said you wanted to do a tour, and I found out last night that we’ve had two cancellations for today’s full-day. You up for some adventure?”

  Haley smiled. She could hardly respond otherwise when his face glowed with such enthusiasm. His dimples were showing, his cheeks were rosy, and although she had thought his twinkling eyes were brown, she realized now that they were actually a shade of hazel. In the morning light, the wavy shocks of ginger hair that framed his face set off the green. Damn, he’s cute.

  She wondered briefly what history he might have with the inquisitive Alexa, but she shook off the thought. What did it matter?

  “I’m always up for adventure,” she answered, somewhat insincerely. “What does a ‘full-day’ entail, exactly?”

  His smile broadened. “About nine hours on the water. Be prepared to get wet — and cold. The wind can get pretty wicked out there, and the forecast is calling for rain. That’s why we had the cancellations. But personally, I’m betting it’ll hold off. Even if it doesn’t, we’ll still have a good time. Believe it or not, the whales don’t mind getting wet.”

  “Sounds great!” she replied, surprising herself. Nine hours on a boat in the rain? What the hell was so appealing about that?

  “Awesome!” He jogged back down the steps and off her porch, then turned around again. “Can you be ready in twenty minutes?”

  Haley could. And she was. Fifteen minutes later she walked out of her cabin and looked for his truck, only to see a dilapidated black Jetta with duct tape on a cracked rear window parked in its place. She leaned against the hood and waited. “Nice wheels,” she teased as he emerged.

  “Beggars can’t be choosers,” he replied. “It’s not mine. It’s a loaner. The boss keeps a few junkers around for the seasonal staff. He knows we can’t afford to rent anything for four months.”

  Haley stood up. “You don’t live in the cabin year round?” She knew that the whale tours must only run in the summer, when the weather was decent enough. But she never thought about what an Alaskan boat captain might do over the winter.

  He shook his head. “Just May to September. Your uncle would have rented to somebody else for the whole year if he could, but it’s hard to find people who want to stay the winter.” His voice turned distracted. He studied her with a frown.

  “No good?” she guessed, looking down at the outfit she had cobbled together from her uninformed packing attempt. The ski parka was overkill, she knew, but her only other coat was the worthless jacket she’d gotten soaked in the day she arrived.

  He shook his head. He looked like he was trying not to laugh.

  She sighed and shrugged out of the parka. “Well, you said it would be cold! What am I supposed to wear?”

  “Layers,” he said finally, giving in to a smile. “First layer, something that wicks moisture. No cotton — if it gets wet, it stays wet. Then you layer some tees, long-sleeve shirts, and at least one heavy fleece or sweatshirt. Once you’re warm enough, you top it all off with a lightweight jacket, something waterproof and windproof.” He considered a moment. “I’ve got one of those I can loan you. You bring any pants besides jeans?”

  She almost said no, then remembered her visions of a four-star hotel with a fitness center. “I’ve got some yoga pants.”

  He nodded approvingly. “Anything synthetic is better. If they do get wet, they’ll dry out faster.”

  Haley looked over his nicely fitting cargo pants and slick white jacket emblazoned with the Kenai Marine logo. She had never thought of “boat captain” as being a particularly sexy occupation. She reassessed.

  “I don’t intend to go in the water, you know,” she teased, heading back to her cabin to change.

  “Hey!” he protested. “I haven’t capsized in over three weeks now. And then it was the passengers’ own fault. I told them they couldn’t all lean off the same side at once.”

  Haley stopped, then shook her head and pressed on. He was only kidding.

  At least she hoped he was.

  “You pack any gloves?” he called after her. “Or a warm hat?”

  “Sorry.”

  He looked at his watch. “If you hurry, you’ll have time to buy some while I’m checking in the other passengers.”

  Haley hurried. When she emerged the second time, he seemed more satisfied. The dark purple jacket he loaned her was so large she felt like she’d been swallowed by a giant grape, but she wasn’t inclined to complain. It smelled like a brisk ocean breeze, a familiar scent she had always found invigorating.

  As the ancient Jetta sputtered toward Seward, she became steadily more excited. She couldn’t remember the last time she had been out on a boat. Her childhood and youth had been full of such trips, of course, both on commercial craft and on friends’ yachts. But since law school, her record of actually getting out on the ocean she paid so much to see was abysmal. She never seemed to have the time.

  Haley’s mind skipped back to her family. So far, she had done a pretty good job of not thinking about the guilt trip her mother had laid on her yesterday. But sometimes she couldn’t help it.

  I know you have a right to take a vacation, Michelle had whined. But sometimes rights have to be sacrificed, don’t you think?

  Micah’s own email from yesterday had been terse and to the point — evidence that she was sulking. I hope you’re having a good time. I know it’s important to you. Don’t worry about me. Whatever happens with Tim is going to happen anyway. It’s not your fault.

  Ironically, despite the reverse psychology so obviously at play, Haley knew that in her heart, Micah really did mean exactly what she said, even as she hoped Haley wouldn’t believe her. It was complicated. But they understood each other.

  Their mother was another story. Michelle genuinely believed that taking care of Micah was Haley’s job. I just don’t know what your father would think. You know how much he counted on you, don’t you?

  Haley’s jaws clenched.

  “You’re not nervous, are you?” Ben asked suddenly. “I was kidding about the capsizing. The boat wasn’t tipped over that far. They probably jumped off on purpose.”

  Haley looked at him blankly for a moment, then grinned. She had to quit doing that — letting her mind be hijacked, her spirits dragged down. It didn’t help anything.

  “I’m not nervous… not at all,” she teased back, trying to sound nervous. “You do have a competent co-pilot, right?”

  He narrowed his eyes at her with mock annoyance. “Co-pilot? Please. Remind me to get you a pocket guide to nautical terms. If it makes you feel any better, my first mate has had her captain’s license longer than you or I have been alive. Carol is the boss’s wife. She likes going out, but she prefers leav
ing the driving to me. More time for her to bird watch.”

  “I see,” Haley responded, feeling her spirits lift again. She didn’t know whether Ben was watching her facial expressions or if it was pure coincidence, but his ability to reverse her occasional backslides into misery was uncanny. “In that case, I’ll—”

  She broke off as her phone rang. She had turned it on when they left the cabin, assuming it would pick up a signal as they neared Seward and that she could send her mandatory emails from the road before turning it off again. She should have left it off until she was ready.

  Ben made a sharp intake of breath as if he were about to say something. But he didn’t. When she cast a glance toward him, his gaze was fixed on the road.

  “Sorry,” she explained, looking at the screen. “It’s the partner I work with.” Her body tensed as she touched the screen to answer. She had been ignoring all her business-related email. She should have known she couldn’t get away with it forever. “Hi, Bob,” she said brusquely.

  She was greeted with a loud, exasperated exhale. “Well, it’s about damn time, Haley.”

  “Cellular service is really spotty out here,” she explained, even as she knew the effort was futile. “I’m staying at my uncle’s place, tying up his affairs, and it’s pretty remote.”

  “Well, I’ve got you now. So let’s talk. How much are you going to be able to get done this week?”

  Haley felt a physical pain in her middle. They had already had this discussion. “I am not going to do anything this week,” she said firmly. “Everything is under control until Monday. It’ll be fine.”

  Robert Hardin was not convinced. Haley held the phone off her ear while he barked at her for several minutes, freaking out about actions to be filed and rulings to be issued, repeating the same ground they had covered multiple times before she left Newport Beach.

  “Bob,” she interrupted finally, using her best negotiation voice. “We have 28 days to respond to discovery. I’m on top of it. The ruling isn’t likely to come down this week, no matter what Harrison is telling you. And if it does, I can be on a plane in a matter of hours.”

  “Harrison told me this morning that—”

  Heat flared in Haley’s cheeks. Harrison was a second-year associate who got off on impressing the partners at his fellow associates’ expense. No doubt he’d been fanning the flames of impending disaster ever since she’d left the office. Hell, he’d probably been dousing them with gasoline.

  “Harrison needs to do his own damn work and stop obsessing about mine,” Haley shot back. “Listen to me, Bob. You know me. You know what I can do. You know that if I thought the case would go to hell in seven days, I wouldn’t be here. And I’m telling you, it’s under control.”

  Haley could feel Ben squirming in his seat again. She was sorry about that; she would prefer not to expose him to the vitriol of her everyday life. But she really had no choice.

  As expected, Bob eventually backed off. She wouldn’t have dared to push back so hard when she first came on board, but now, in her fourth year as an associate, her success spoke strongly enough that she could afford to be bold. Audacity in general was respected; God help the meek. After a few more civil, if not entirely friendly, exchanges, Bob begrudgingly acknowledged that Haley should in fact know what the hell she was doing and whether she could afford to take a few days off. The conversation then ended abruptly.

  Haley put her phone down. Snow glistened off the peaks that towered before her, but she saw them as if they were on a TV screen. Her mind was back at Merriweather, Falstaff, and Tynes. Her senses were on full alert and her heart beat swiftly. Encased in her layers of clothing, she broke out into an uncomfortable sweat. Sad to say, Harrison could very well be right. She didn’t know for sure that the ruling they were waiting on wouldn’t be issued this week, nor was she fully on top of it. Half of the assurances she’d given Bob were total BS. Maybe he had believed her, and maybe he hadn’t. It was a game they played with each other — the same game they played with everyone else. Absolute truth had little to do with it.

  She sat without speaking, running over in her mind everything she would have to do if the ruling proved unfavorable, realizing that if it did get issued while she was in Alaska, she would indeed have to fly back and respond immediately. The rest of the team could pitch in, but there were tasks Bob would insist she handle personally, and Harrison wasn’t the only associate she didn’t trust not to take advantage. There was a reason she hadn’t taken off more than 72 consecutive hours in the last four years. Jump off a treadmill at top speed, and you’re asking to break something.

  “Do you like your job, Haley?” Ben asked quietly.

  She startled in her seat. She looked back across the car at him and felt suddenly disoriented. So sharp was the contrast between the focused ravings of her mind and the sight of him — his tall frame wedged awkwardly in the driver seat of the too-small car, his ginger hair hanging loose about the collar of his jacket and bouncing in the breeze that blew through his cracked-open window — she almost felt dizzy. “What?” she said vaguely.

  “I asked if you like your job,” he repeated.

  “Sure,” she said automatically.

  He did not appear convinced. “What do you like about it?”

  Haley felt a flicker of annoyance. It seemed like everyone was questioning her, lately. “I’m good at it,” she said defensively. “I make a lot of money.”

  He smiled at that, but he wasn’t sincere. His real smile made his eyes twinkle; it lit up his whole face. His expression now was subdued. “What do you like to spend your money on?” he asked, his voice still friendly, despite the edge to her own.

  Haley started to give an answer, but realized she didn’t have one. Her family had always been well off, even before her father’s unexpected death had left his wife and daughters with a hefty insurance settlement. Michelle was set for life and Haley and Micah’s educations had been covered, leaving trust-fund money to spare. Since starting at the firm Haley had paid off her car and had few major expenses beyond her rent. Theoretically she was looking to buy a condo, but in truth she preferred renting because she liked to move around. She already had her eye on an apartment in the next building with an even better view.

  What else did she spend her money on? She supposed the truth was “not much.” Shopping for clothes and jewelry bored her. She had no time to travel anywhere. She had no boyfriend or pets to spoil. She rarely even went out in the evenings, preferring to curl up in the quiet of her apartment with a movie or a good book. She needed her introvert time, and solitude wasn’t expensive.

  “I have a great apartment with a view of the ocean. Other than that, I invest.” The answer sounded stupid to her, even though it was the truth. It presumed she had a plan for spending her money later, which she did not. “I like the security,” she added, improvising.

  “Ah, I see,” Ben replied.

  Haley frowned. He wasn’t lying, but he didn’t mean it the way he said it, did he? What exactly was he getting at?

  “What kind of whales have you seen before?”

  She blinked. He was doing it again. Switching topics just in time. He was reading her, and he was good at it. Most men were not, but in her profession, the talent was common in both genders. She’d met many an attorney who could read faces like a card shark, spotting a bluff a mile away. It was a big part of what made them so effective. But what Ben was doing was different. He wasn’t using the information against her. He was merely trying to keep the peace.

  Haley looked away from him a moment, out into the trees. She had been so happy a few minutes ago. Worrying about her family problems was one thing, but the phone call from work had transported her so thoroughly that she had literally forgotten where she was. How could she let that happen? God knew she didn’t want to be in the Irvine offices of Merriweather, Falstaff, and Tynes, flying on an adrenaline high. She wanted to be right here in Seward, Alaska, feeling the wind on her face.

  She
rolled down her window, leaned out, and drew in a soothing lungful of the crisp, cool air. Then she drew another. When she turned back to Ben, her smile was genuine. “I’m not sure what kind of whales,” she answered. “Humpbacks, I guess? We see spouts from the shore all the time, and I’ve seen flukes from a distance, but I’ve never seen a whale up close from a boat. At least not that I can remember.”

  He grinned back at her, and as she watched the sparkle return to his eyes, she felt a surge of giddy pleasure. “You will today,” he announced. “In fact, one will wave at you.”

  Haley laughed. “You can order that up, huh?”

  He shrugged. “It’s a gift.”

  Haley’s eyes met his, and as she took in his kindness, his utter lack of guile, she felt a sudden, queer sensation in her chest that caused her pulse to race again.

  Ben Parker was everything that she herself was not. Genuine. Uncomplicated. Serene. Down-to-earth. Joyful.

  Content.

  Hot pressure surged up behind her eyes. Her breathing turned ragged.

  Oh, for God’s sake, not again!

  She swung her face quickly away from him and back out the window. What was wrong with her? Why did she feel like crying now? It made no sense!

  Hormones, she told herself firmly. Pregnant women did crap like this. It wasn’t her; there was nothing wrong. If she could just get hold of herself, the feeling would pass…

  She stared out the window with determination. She forcefully stuffed Haley Olson, Attorney at Law, into the basement of her brain. Likewise with the daughter of Michelle and the twin of Micah. Today, she would just be plain old Haley.

  Playmate of Ben the boat captain.

  She laughed out loud.

  “What’s so funny?” Ben asked, seeming startled. They had reached the marina. He was parking.

  He must think I’m nuts, she thought with chagrin. Crying one minute and laughing the next. Was there a better definition of hysteria?