Unbroken (13 page)

“
It sure is.  Those mountains alone are unbelievable.”

“
You know, Jake mentioned that there’s a fish hatchery nearby that spawns and rears salmon.  We could drive over if you want and check out the scenery on the way.”

Tyler quirked his brow. 
“A fish hatchery, huh?  Sounds like fun.”

Britney gave him a look, rolling her eyes.  “Don’t be a smart ass, mister.  We’re in Stanley, Idaho, not New York City.”

“Alright,” he laughed.  “The fish hatchery it is.  Let’s go.”

“Okay, let me just send a quick email
and then we can head out.”

Seated at a
n outdoor table overlooking Trail Creek’s sprawling alpine golf course, Jake waited patiently as the uniformed waiter took Bruce’s order and then made his own selection from the lunch menu.

“I’m starving,” Bruce said, as the young man left to submit their order to the kitchen.
  Reaching toward the basket of breadsticks on the table, he pulled one out and took a bite off the end.

Jake was about to do the same, when his
phone made a soft pinging sound, notifying him that he’d received a new email.  Having set it atop the table when they were seated, he cast a sidelong glance at the screen and saw that it was from Britney.  A split second later, Bruce’s phone emitted a similar sound.

They both picked up their phones and
simultaneously read the brief message.  “Who’s Tyler?” Bruce asked a few seconds later.

“I have no idea,” Jake said, rereading the brief message. 
Hi guys.  I just wanted to let you both know that I’ll be away from the house this afternoon.  My friend Tyler is in town and we’re going to do a little sightseeing.  Call my cell if you need anything.  Britney

“
Huh.”  Bruce looked up, eyeing Jake with interest.  “Do you think he’s her boyfriend?”

He’d been wondering the exact same thing.
  Just because she’d never mentioned a boyfriend, didn’t mean she didn’t have one, Jake realized.  “How the hell should I know?” he replied, a little more gruffly than he’d intended.  Dropping the phone back onto the table, he sat back in his chair, his expression deliberately blasé. 

Bruce regarded
him from across the table, his sharp gaze assessing.  “Damn, Jake.  If I didn’t know better I might think you were jealous.”

Jake snorted and reached for his water glass.  Shaking his head, he took a drink and then set the glass back down on the table with a resounding thump.  “I’m not jealous.”  Having been partnered with
another duo for their round of golf, their conversation had been limited to generic topics during their eighteen holes.  Unfortunately, now that they were alone that was no longer the case.

“Hell, I certainly wouldn’t blame you if you were,” Bruce continued with a grin.  “I swear, the image of Britney in the little red bikini is going to be permanently etched into my memory.”

Great!  That makes two of us.
  “And here I thought it was April who’d sparked your interest,” Jake replied drolly, hoping to change the direction of the conversation.  He didn’t want to talk about Britney or whatever feelings he may or may not have in her regard.

Bruce’s grin merely widened.  “Come on Jake.  Tell me what happened after you hustled us out of the house last night.” 

“I didn’t hustle you out.”

Now it was Bruce who snorted.  “Yeah right.  Candace was pretty
pissed by the way.  I don’t think she’s accustomed to being shot down.”

Jake shrugged.  “She’s not my type.”

“And who is?  Britney?”

“I didn’
t say that,” Jake replied.  “And for your information, there’s nothing to tell.”

“Nothing?”
 

Jake
just rolled his eyes.

“Well damn.”  Bruce’s face reflected his disappointment.

“So what about you and April?” Jake asked, hoping he might succeed in redirecting the conversation this time.  “The two of you seemed to be hitting it off pretty well last night.” 

Fortunately it worked.  As
they waited for the food to be brought out, Bruce began extolling April’s virtues.  Though Jake did his best to appear interested, in the back of his mind two questions kept repeating themselves, over and over.
Just who in the hell was Tyler?
And why did he care so much?

Scanning the area, Britney was relieved to see that t
here were only two other cars parked in front of the fish hatchery’s main entrance as they drove into the small visitor parking lot.  Like Jake, Tyler was a well-known celebrity and people tended to recognize him wherever he went.  It was the main reason they rarely left her apartment when he visited her in Minneapolis.  When she was with him, there was a far greater chance that she would be recognized as well. 

“Busy pla
ce,” Tyler commented, as he parked the rental car in one of the empty spaces.

“I guess the fish hatchery is
n’t a big draw for the tourists.”

“Guess not,” Tyler agreed.  Grabbing his sunglasses off the dash he slip
ped them on, and then reached for the red Angel’s baseball cap he’d tossed onto the back seat, pulling it down low over his forehead.

Britney grinned.  “I don’t think we’re going to have to worry about you being mobbed by a pack of
overzealous football fans, Ty.”

He eyed the nearly empty parking lot and grinned back at her.
  “Sorry, force of habit,” he said, nudging the cap back up higher on his head.

Pushing h
er oversized sunglasses onto her nose, Britney reached for the door handle.  “Come on, superstar.  Let’s go see if any of the fish recognize you.”

Entering the small visitor’s center, Britney and Tyler took a quick look around. There was only one other person present, a teenage girl sitting behind a small metal desk. 

“Hi folks,” she greeted.  “
My name’s Casey.  Welcome to the Sawtooth Fish Hatchery.”

“Hello,” Britney and Tyler replied in unison. 

“Feel free to look around and be sure to let me know if you have any questions,” she offered with a polite smile.

“Alright, th
anks,” Tyler replied, pulling off his sunglasses.

Though Tyler s
eemed oblivious, Britney noticed as Casey’s eyes widened, her gaze blatantly admiring as she focused on Tyler’s handsome face.  She was hardly surprised.  With his striking good looks, wavy blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, Tyler had been turning female heads since adolescence.  Settling her own sunglasses atop her head, she cast a sweeping glance around the small area.  Aside from a few exhibits diagraming the life cycles of salmon and trout, there wasn’t much to see. 

Following a few steps behind Tyler, Britney made her way over to the fi
rst exhibit.  “Interesting,” she murmured, eyeing the assorted types of fish eggs.

“
Yeah, this is some seriously fascinating stuff,” Tyler murmured jokingly, earning himself an elbow to the ribs.

“B
ehave yourself,” Britney chided under her breath, motioning him forward.  “Come on.  Let’s move on to the next one.”

“Shall we head outside,” Tyler suggested a few minutes later, once they’d dutifully examined each one of the displays.

“
You guys missed the tour,” Casey informed them from her position behind the desk.  “But there’s a trail just outside and to the right that leads down to the raceways and another that leads to the adult spawning center,” she continued.  “But you’re free to walk around on your own.  Just be sure and keep to the designated walkways.”

“Thanks, Casey
.  We will,” Tyler said, as they headed for the exit.

“Wow,” Britney exclaimed as they neared the raceways.  “Look at all of those fish.” The sheer number contained in the concrete enclosures was astonishing. 

Eve
n Tyler seemed impressed as they walked along, watching as literally thousands upon thousands of fish of varying sizes swam and jumped within the long, narrow raceways.

“Hey, check it out,” he
said as they continued on, pointing to a small body of water located a short distance from the end of the concrete walkway.  “It’s a fishing pond.”

As they neared, they could see a man an
d woman sitting on the grassy bank and two young boys standing at the edge of the water with fishing poles in hand.  Within seconds the older boy gave a shout and quickly began reeling his line.

“Look, he’s got one,” Tyler said, as the boy pull
ed a small trout from the pond.

Britney couldn’t h
elp but smile as she watched him grab hold of the wriggling fish, grinning excitedly as he turned to show it off to the adults. 

The man, presumably the boys’ father, rose from his seat and quickly set about removing the fish from the line and placing it on a metal stringer as the
woman captured all of the action on a video camera.

Not more than a minute later, the younger of the two boys let out an excited shout o
f his own as his line went taut.  Pulling the fish from the pond a few seconds later, he glanced up, spotting Tyler and Britney.

“Way to go,” Tyler hollered, giving the kid a big thumbs up.

The boy grinned back as he proudly hoisted the little fish into the air.

“Okay, that was fun,” Tyler admitted when they r
eturned to the car a short time later.

“It was, wasn’t it,” Britney replied, smiling as she
fastened her seatbelt.  They’d sat down on the bank opposite the young family for a while, talking and laughing as they’d watched the two little boys reel in one fish after another from what they’d quickly deduced was a well-stocked, kids-only pond.

Tyler slid into the driver’s seat and started the car.  “Those boys must have caught at least a dozen fish.” 

“They were adorable weren’t they?”

Tyler grinned.  “Reminded me of when we were kids and your dad used to take us out on the boat.”

“Yeah, and you always got mad when I caught more fish than you,” Britney teased.

“
Of course I did.  Girls weren’t supposed to be better at fishing than boys.”

Britney shook her head
in feigned annoyance.  “Honestly, how did I manage to put up with you back then?”

“Really?  This coming from the girl who
insisted on hanging pink curtains in my tree house.”

“
Your
tree house?” Britney eyed him askance. 

“I’m just saying,” Tyler grouched.  “Who hangs curtains in a tree house?  And pink
ones with little yellow flowers, no less?”

“But they were so pretty.”

“Exactly!”

Britney’s expression was unrepentant as she looked upon the best friend a girl could ever have.  “
Come on, Tyler, admit it.  Those curtains
made
the room.”

Tyler merely shook his head in
exasperation.

“I love you, Ty,” she said, smiling
affectionately.

He grinned back
.  “I love you too, Brit.”

After stopping by nearby Redfish Lake to check out the scenery, Britney and Tyler had
finally headed back to Jake’s cabin for dinner. 

“Come on,” Britney said, leading Tyler into the kitchen.  “There are some leftover
s in the fridge.   And trust me, you simply cannot leave without trying some of Rosemary’s cooking.  It’s the best.”

“Let’s have at it,” Tyler said with an eager expression.  “I’m starved.”

Pulling last night’s leftover chicken casserole out of the refrigerator, Britney quickly placed it into the oven to heat.  “What would you like to drink?”

“Water’s fine.”

Filling two glasses with ice water, she carried them over to the island and sat down across from Tyler.

“So when do you head back to Minneapolis?”
he asked.

“In about five weeks.  Jake has to be back
by the first of August for training camp.”

“Do you know if he’s going to re
-sign with the Blades?”

“No, not yet.  But I know that Ian and Jake’s agent are trying to hammer out a deal.”
  Despite handling the majority of Jake’s correspondence, she wasn’t privy to his and Bruce’s communication regarding Jake’s contract negotiations with the Blades or any other NHL organization.

“He’s a hell of a player.  McNealy’s sure to be pissed if he loses him
to another team.”

Britney nodded in agreement.  “You’ve got that right.  Ian’s dete
rmined to win the cup this year.”