Jake's Biggest Risk (Those Hollister Boys) (11 page)

* * *

I
T
SEEMED
AS
if everyone in Mahalaton Lake, resident and visitor alike, had turned out for the Sunday ice cream social, and Barbi spent a hectic two hours selling tickets before someone came to give her a break. Ticket in hand, she hurried to the ice cream serving table.

“Huckleberry, please.”

“Sorry,” Gwen said regretfully. “Every drop is gone. It went first thing. We have other flavors though—vanilla, chocolate, strawberry and pineapple sorbet.”

Before Barbi could think about her second choice, Hannah appeared.

“I saved some huckleberry for Barbi. I’ll get it.”

Barbi followed, appreciating Hannah’s thoughtfulness. The relative peace of the Memorial Hall kitchen was a pleasant contrast to the activity in the main room and on the veranda.

“Phew, it’s been busy.” Hannah opened the commercial freezer and pulled out a bowl with a generous serving, handing it over with a plastic spoon. “There you go.”

Barbi’s mouth watered as she scooped up some ice cream. The rich, fruity flavor melted over her tongue and she closed her eyes in pleasure. “You make the best huckleberry ice cream. Every year it’s the first to sell out.”

“It’s not hard to be best when you’re the only one who makes it,” Hannah said matter-of-factly. “The tourists want some because it’s different and sounds like something you’d get on vacation, and the people in town want it because they love huckleberries and aren’t willing to pick any themselves.”

“One of the first tickets I sold was to Brendan. Did he have some?”

“He chose vanilla.”

Barbi wasn’t surprised. “Figures. That man has no imagination.”

“He just has his own way of doing things.”

“You aren’t serious about him, are you?” For some reason the answer seemed awfully important.

“Right now we’re just friends. I have to be careful because of Danny.”

“Does he ever loosen up?”

“Well...
no,
” Hannah admitted with a laugh. “But he’s bucking two hundred and fifty years of New England propriety, and that can’t be easy.”

“You mean he’s a prig because of his uptight family. There’s no law saying we
have
to turn out like our relatives, is there?”

“Of course not.”

Barbi swallowed another bite of ice cream and tried to keep from looking at her friend. After so many years of being the daughter of the town drunk, she should be used to the notoriety. But all that would change when she moved away from Mahalaton Lake. Nobody would know about Vic and his temper or about her dropping out of high school.

Even so, the idea of going anywhere else scared the heck out of her, almost as much as Vic scared her when he was drunk.

She’d grown up in town and had friends like Hannah and Luigi here, even if a few people raised their eyebrows at the way she dressed. And it was a real pretty town, being at the edge of a lake with Mount Mahala in the background. Her mom used to say it was the closest to heaven you could get without actually meeting your maker.

“Uh, I better go back to the ticket table,” Barbi said with a gulp. When she was nine and her mother died, she’d believed Rachael had gone to live with angels at the top of the mountain. But that was a long time ago, and it was awful hard to keep believing in angels, no matter how much she wanted to.

* * *

H
ANNAH
HURRIED
BACK
into the main room in time to see Jake come through the doors. Her jaw dropped. He looked distinctly ill at ease and immediately raised the camera hanging around his neck to look through the viewfinder.

She walked over. “Hi. You made it.”

“Er...yeah,” he said, lowering his hands a few inches. “Will people mind the camera?”

“I don’t think so, but why don’t you just have a bowl of ice cream and enjoy yourself?” Hannah searched in her pocket and pulled out the advance sales ticket she’d bought for Danny before he had gotten sick. “Be my guest.”

Jake peered through the viewfinder again. “Thank you, but I’m more comfortable taking pictures.”

“You mean, as if you’re chronicling a tribal ceremony?” she asked curiously.

“No. Josie used to take assignments to do pictorial cultural studies, but my work is strictly about nature. I only went to the Middle East to help out a colleague.”

“Then why are you taking photos now?”

“Because it’s what I do.”

Jake’s mouth was tense, and Hannah suspected the camera was mostly a shield between him and everyone else. From everything she’d seen, his reputation for being a loner was well deserved, so it was odd that he’d shown up at the fund-raiser.

“Well, keep the ticket in case you change your mind,” she said, dropping it into his open camera case. She was about to excuse herself when she saw Brendan approaching with an annoyed expression on his face.

“Hey, Brendan. I thought you left,” she said.

“I decided to come back. I hoped it wouldn’t be as busy now, so we could talk.”

He gave Jake a hard stare, and the two men measured each other like bulls at Pamplona. She sighed. What was it about the male psyche that they felt compelled to wrangle over a bone, even when the bone didn’t belong to either one of them? For that matter, Jake didn’t even
want
the bone. He’d made it quite clear that he wasn’t interested in a relationship with
any
woman.

“How about tomorrow afternoon?” Hannah suggested. “I’m showing Jake a place where dogwood might still be blooming, but we won’t get back late.”

“You’re
what?
Please excuse us, Hollister.” Brendan dragged her a few feet away before she broke free.

“What is wrong with you?” she demanded.

“Sorry, it’s just that...” Brendan gestured toward Jake. “I didn’t realize you were cozy enough with your tenant to go anywhere with him.”

“We aren’t
cozy
. He wants me to guide him to my favorite places in the Cascades, that’s all.”

“There are professional guides, Hannah. He doesn’t need an amateur showing him a few points of interest. Doesn’t he have GPS? Or a map? Just circle the places he should go and send him on his way.”

Her eyes narrowed. Having Brendan act this way was irritating, especially since he hadn’t shown much interest in seeing the Cascades himself. Perhaps she needed to rethink their relationship. It was important to have shared values, but it was just as important to have shared interests.

“And what will people think if you’re spending that much time together?” he whispered urgently. “Mahalaton Lake is a small town. You’re the one who told me that everybody knows your business here. I won’t have it.”

Her eyebrows shot upward. “You have no say in what I do, Brendan. We aren’t engaged. We aren’t even dating exclusively. And even if we
had
gotten to that point, you
still
wouldn’t have any right to object.”

Brendan looked taken aback. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize... Can I still see you tomorrow?”

She let out a breath. “All right. But you can’t stay long. Barbi is coming over at seven.”

Turning on her heel, she hurried to the ice cream table, thoroughly frustrated. Her doubts about Brendan had been growing. Despite the surface things they had in common, they didn’t talk about anything important. And though they’d been dating for a while, she felt nothing more than friendship for him...certainly nothing like the intense response she had to Jake.

But she couldn’t think about it right now. Maybe later, when things were quiet...or when she wasn’t so annoyed that he’d tried to forbid her to guide Jake around the Cascades.

* * *

H
ANNAH
WAS
SURPRISED
when Jake handed her the keys to his SUV early Monday morning, inviting her to drive.

“It only makes sense,” he said when she commented on it. “You know the area and I don’t.”

“All right.”

Hannah got into the Jeep. The motor turned over quickly and she headed north around the lake. The place she had in mind was where she and her parents often camped. It was located partway up Mount Mahala and was often the last place to find dogwood blooming.

“Your mother says you’re involved in several fund-raising committees,” Jake mentioned after they’d driven awhile.

“A few. We have fund-raisers here for everything from classroom computers to stained-glass windows. I primarily focus on raising money for the rescue squad—that’s what the ice cream social was for—though I support other emergency services like the new fire truck.”

“I’ve mostly lived in places without modern amenities. It’s good that Mahalaton Lake is upgrading.”

“Not upgrading,
expanding
. We haven’t used a horse-drawn, hand-pumped fire wagon for at least twenty years,” she said wryly.

“That isn’t what I meant.” Yet from the look on Jake’s face, it probably wasn’t far off. Or maybe she was being too sensitive. His general ability to stick his foot in his mouth could also have something to do with it.

“We want to put in a second fire station and need the equipment,” she explained. “Fire trucks are expensive, and the town budget can’t afford one without community support. We’re also hoping to add a second paramedic unit.”

“Why is your primary focus the rescue squad?”

“Someone I cared about died in a mountain climbing accident a long time ago. I couldn’t save him, but maybe I can have a small part in saving someone else.” Hannah turned off the main road onto a forest service road. Few people traveled this road, since it led up and away from the lake and not toward one of the popular ski slopes.

“This person who died, was he family?”

“I...I once hoped he’d be.” Though Hannah was sometimes sad for what she might have shared with Collin, she wondered now whether they would have had a future. Some people were like bonfires made of too-dry wood, burning themselves out in a wild blaze before they’d ever really lived. “We should talk about what you’ve seen of the Cascades, so I’ll know what to show you,” she said, deliberately changing the subject.

“I’ve seen Mount Rainier from Seattle, and from the interstate highway. And I drove up to Mahalaton Lake.”

“You
do
realize the Cascade Mountain Range extends from Northern California into Canada, right?”

“I’m concentrating on the area north of the border between Oregon and Washington, not the whole range.”

She wouldn’t be able to show him everything north of Oregon, either. Even if she spent the entire summer guiding Jake around, it wouldn’t be enough time to explore the entire region. At least he was okay with Danny going with them on some of the outings, which was one of the reasons she’d agreed. What better way to spend time with her son than showing him the mountains they lived in?

Jake glanced into the backseat at Badger. “Your dog is quite calm.”

“He mostly chases after Danny, not wildlife,” Hannah said. “I’m glad you were okay with him coming along. He enjoys outings.”

She shifted uncomfortably, still wondering if Jake was up to a hike. From what she could tell, he was doing much better than when he’d first arrived at Huckleberry Lodge—not limping as much, and his color was better. But she was still a little tense about going on a wilderness hike with someone recovering from such serious injuries.

After they’d driven for another hour, she turned up a gravel road. The trees were even closer here, and sunlight filtered through the branches that met overhead. She still remembered seeing it when she was so small her legs didn’t reach the floor of her dad’s truck. And all at once she wasn’t sure she should have brought Jake here, especially as the
first
place. If he mocked it, she’d probably want to strangle him.

“We’ve been camping here ever since I can remember,” she said edgily. “I was a baby the first time we came. My dad packed everything in, including me, because my mother had a broken arm. It’s about a mile, and mostly level. Is that too much for you to walk?”

“I told you, I’ll be fine,” he replied shortly.

“I’m only checking—you don’t have to bite my head off.”

Men and their egos
. Would it kill him to let her know exactly how hard and far he should go? It wasn’t as if she thought he was helpless.

After parking, she opened the rear door for Badger to jump out. He waited to see if she was going to attach the leash, and when she didn’t, his entire body quivered with pleasure.

She dug out her cell phone and looked to see if it had a signal, though she wasn’t hopeful. Outside of Mahalaton Lake reception was spotty, at best.

“Don’t worry about that. I always carry a satellite phone,” Jake said, giving a quick check to the contents of his own pack. He took out the phone. “I should have thought of it earlier. Call your mother and give her my number in case she needs to reach us.”

Hannah hesitated. “Aren’t satellite calls expensive?”

“I have no idea—my business manager pays the bills. Don’t worry about it,” he repeated.

She dialed Silver Cottage and made sure her mother got the number from the call display. “But only for emergencies,” she explained hastily.

“I understand. By the way, Brendan phoned. He has the flu and won’t be able to come out tonight. Poor guy, he sounded miserable,” Carrie told her.

“Okay, thanks. I’ll call him this evening and see how he’s doing. See you in a few hours.” Hannah disconnected quickly, feeling both relieved and guilty that Brendan was sick. Relieved, because this way she wouldn’t have to make any decision about their relationship right away. And guilty, because he was a friend and she didn’t enjoy knowing he was ill.

“What was that about?” Jake asked.

“Brendan has the stomach flu. I’m sure he didn’t get it from Danny—it’s too soon—but I feel bad about it. He doesn’t have any family in the area.”

“Why don’t you see if Barbi is available to take soda and stuff over to him?”

She considered the suggestion for a second, then shook her head. “Barbi works part-time jobs all over town. I can’t ask her to do a favor for someone she doesn’t like.”

“You’re unavailable to help Townsend because of me, and that makes it my responsibility,” Jake said seriously. “If Barbi has a free hour, I’ll pay her to fill in for you.”