Warming Trend (18 page)

Eve was a little taken aback—Monica sounded almost angry. “What about Tan? She is eager to travel and I think she could pick up and leave with no notice since it’s summer.”

“My other line is flashing—gotta run. Maybe next time, eh?” Monica hung up, leaving Eve staring at the phone in confusion.

Oh well, she had plans to make for tomorrow if she was going to be doing things by herself. She could probably get Bennie to help do prep work in the mornings before he went to his real job.

With a deep breath, she tossed the rhubarb into the sink and started washing. If she worked fast she’d have a plentiful cobbler to send with the happy couple that would do for a potlatch. She’d take time for a full lattice crust. It would reflect favorably on Neeka’s fortunes as a chef. John’s family better like her, Eve thought, because she’s a peach.

Her rapid work didn’t hide the fact that she was vaguely depressed. She wanted to say she was pining for the lost cruise, but when she watched John kiss Neeka goodbye “for now” as if a few hours might be an eternity, it wasn’t a vacation she was pining for.

* * *

Driving into Fairbanks—even with obvious changes in the retail establishments on the edge of town—was laden with nostalgia for Ani. The gray highway wound alongside the Chena River, which was running high this year. Familiar side streets appeared around each curve. She knew where the highway was potholed, where there was a break in the trees for the breathtaking view of the wilderness to the south, and where the best burgers could be had for what a student could afford to pay.

“Hell, this is a long drive.” Lisa stretched in the seat. “Like driving from Key West to Orlando.”

“The terrain has maybe a bit more variation?” She loved driving through the canyons of granite cliffs. Her spirits lifted every time the mountains fell away to a meadow crusted with pines. Peonies clustered along the side of the highway and sprouted from the year-round snowbanks.

“True—that’s interesting, that the highway follows the path of an ancient glacier. When we leave can we stop on the drive more? The waterfalls were incredible.”

“Okay.” Ani didn’t want to think about the trip home just yet.

“The hailstorm was amazing. I’ve been through a couple of hurricanes, and that was equally impressive.”

“It’ll go back to eighty degrees in an hour—or the temperature will keep dropping and we’ll be at forty before sunset. You have to be prepared for either.”

Lisa peered down at her feet. “Thanks for the boots and stuff. They’re a little clunkier than the ones On the Rocks had.”

“Those were glorified tennis shoes, with Yak Trax for traction. These will actually take you up an ice facing.” Ani had to admit, her boots felt heavy on her feet, too.

“True. At least these are pretty.”

Ani hid her smile. Lisa was such a girl. Fortunately, the pretty boots were also good for all-purpose weather. Who was she to deny Lisa pink bootlaces?

“It’s a lot flatter here than in Anchorage. These mountains look puny next to the Chugach.”

“Well, we’re three hundred and fifty miles closer to the arctic, and have come up some in elevation. This basin was at one point a huge arctic lake and it’s fairly level. But the tallest mountain in North America is thataway.” Ani pointed north. “Denali—Mt. McKinley as it’s officially known.”

“I like Denali better.”

“Mt. Everest is native-named Chomolungma to the Tibetans and Sagarmatha to the Nepalese. I’ll take either of those names.”

“What do they mean?”

“Big beautiful mother goddess sacred place only fools try to climb.” Ani grinned at Lisa. “At least that’s my bet. Denali I know means ‘the great one.’”

“Okay—so why did you decide to study here instead of Anchorage? There are a bunch of glaciers around Anchorage, you said, and there you have lots of mountains right out your back door.”

“The Naomi is the glacier my father worked on the most. I spent a lot of time on it during my summers. Plus some of the professors in Fairbanks were more concerned than those in Anchorage with what my father knew than where he was born and his possible politics, so here is where we settled.”

“Is that a riverboat? With a paddlewheel?” Lisa plastered her nose to the window, suddenly wide awake.

“Yes. They have a romantic sunset cruise and everything.”

“Don’t tell me—you had a perfect date with Eve on it.”

“No, actually. She ate something that disagreed with her and I ended up making her a nest with blankets in the bathroom. Poor thing. But it was still a fun date. I mean…” Ani knew better than to push it with Lisa. Ani didn’t regret any minute of the time she and Eve had been together, in sickness and in health. Except the last day.

“Puking is fun, sure. I’m hoping this is where we’re getting dinner.”

“Your hope is answered.” Ani steered off the highway into the crowded lot of Cheeseburger, Fries and a Coke. There was no need for a menu—the diner’s name gave all the choices.

“So did you make up your mind about the hot girlfriend thing? Do I need to hang on you and smooch your ear?”

“No—no smooching. Just be you. That’ll be memorable enough.”

When she opened the car door the damp, fresh aroma of cedar washed over her. People in spas paid for that scent as aromatherapy, and certainly it washed away Ani’s tension. It was going to freeze later, she knew that instantly. The temperature had fallen at the end of day, not risen, and a distinct chill was in the air. It might even hail again.

They made their way across the gravel parking lot and through the double airlock doors. Ani felt conspicuous in her brand new tech fleece pullover and boots stiff from years at the bottom of a Key West closet.

Nothing had changed at the CF-and-C—seats were still worn and patched with duct tape, tables were still chipped and leveled with matchbooks underneath the scuffed metal feet. The oniony meaty smell coming off the grill was also the same, and it too washed away more of Ani’s tension. It all meant home. She’d known she missed it all, but hadn’t let herself feel it—except when Tan’s boxes had arrived.

After a quick survey, Ani was relieved to see only one face she knew. She grabbed Lisa’s hand as they navigated the tight space.

“You’re a sight for sore eyes.” Tan scrambled to her feet and gave Ani a bear hug. “I’m glad you came back. High time.”

Ani had expected a sympathetic welcome, but not the bone-crushing hug. Tan had always seemed somewhat motherly toward her, the way she was with all the students. But Tan was younger than Ani remembered. That, or the past three years had changed Ani more than they had Tan.

After a few thumps on the back, she stepped back to introduce Lisa. “She volunteered her moral support without realizing it was an eighteen-hour flight and a six-hour drive to get here.”

“You could have flown into Fairbanks, you know.” Tan sat down again, as Ani and Lisa slid into the booth opposite her.

“I needed to see the Chugach,” Ani admitted.

“As anyone would.” Tan’s nod of acknowledgment brought back all the memories of why Tan was so easy to talk to.

“They were just about the most awe-inspiring thing I’ve ever seen.” Lisa pulled her half-zip fuzzy over her head. “It’s warm in here, especially after working at the OTR.”

“On the Rocks,” Ani said to Tan. “People in Florida pay big bucks to hang out in a bar made mostly of ice.”

Tan laughed. “How appropriate for you.”

Lisa shook her hair back into place and casually tied the fuzzy around her shoulders. Ani thought she looked odd wearing a tank top given the weather but there were at least three guys in Ani’s line of sight who didn’t think it odd at all. “They had a teensy-weensy problem with the freezer units and we got an unexpected vacation. Ani told me about her unfinished business and it seemed like fate.”

“What she said.” Ani hoped her smile didn’t reveal how nervous she felt. “It just seemed like time to come back and face the music—at least as far as Eve is concerned. We didn’t part well and I’ve always felt bad about that. Now that she’s moved on, it just seemed like time.”

“Opening the Dragonfly I gather was a big deal for Eve, yeah. I’ve only seen her a few times. Last time was just a couple of days ago, though. She’s doing well.”

“She still could have listened,” Lisa said.

“That’s what I thought—”

Ani cut Tan off with, “I could have talked more.”

The waitress stopped at their table, arms laden with plates. “Three?”

“Yes,” Tan said.

“Be right back, then.” She sped away.

Lisa looked after her. “What did we just order?”

Tan pointed at the sign on the wall. “Cheeseburger, fries and a Coke.”

“What if I want a diet Coke?”

Tan said, with a perfect imitation of the waitress, “The only diet drink we got is water.”

“That’s not exactly giving the customer much of a choice.”

Ani relaxed into her seat. No one had started throwing rocks—heck, no one had taken any notice of her at all. Sitting next to Lisa’s nicely filled out tank top kept eyes off her, that was for sure. “Think of it as zen simplicity.”

“I’ve always thought it more of an oracle. You get what they have on the plate. You make of it what you will.”

“It’s an Alaskan prayer,” Ani countered. “May there always be someone to eat your tomatoes.”

Lisa rolled her eyes meaningfully in Tan’s direction. “Now I know where she got her gift of bullshit.”

“It’s in the water.” Tan’s expression was serious, but her gleaming eyes gave her away.

That whole year she had been a grad student, Ani wasn’t sure she’d ever seen Tan so animated. “Life’s been good to you the last few years?”

“Yes, more or less. The job is the same, faculty still need to be reminded of the rules and students still need to have someone hold their hand when they can’t find their paperwork. The cycle of the school doesn’t change. Some of the tools do. Digital imaging is everything. Computers are better. E-mail isn’t as archaic as it used to be—heck, most of the students now have Blackberries and wireless laptops, and half their textbooks are e-books. Radios are back-up out on the ice because it’s all texting and phones since they deployed some kind of satellite two years ago. I’ve got one comedian who likes to print out directions for me from his GPS that he’s somehow hooked to my printer. How to get from my desk to the auditorium, for example, with step-by-step instructions. Literally.”

The waitress did a drive-by delivery of three tall frosty glasses of Coke. On her next pass she left three identical plates. Ani immediately offered her tomatoes to Tan, who traded her pickle to Lisa, who gave Ani her lettuce.

After several bites, Ani heaved a huge sigh. “I’d forgotten how good these were. I mean, I remembered them being really good, but I’d told myself there was no way the memory was valid. But it is.” The fries were crisp and just past golden, and tossed with salt and pepper.

Lisa licked ketchup off her upper lip. “Maybe tomorrow we can go for a hike or something? I need to reverse two days of doing nothing but sit, and eating like this. I can tell you right now I’m going to eat all these fries. They’re perfect.”

“Okay, we can work something out.” Ani gave her a mellow smile. For this short time, all that mattered was she was home. Everything else could wait. “Why don’t we hike in the morning? Then, um, go see some people.”

“Sounds good.” Lisa turned her big blue eyes on Tan. “Are you free for a hike?”

“Sorry, Thursdays are work days for me.” Tan looked genuinely regretful. “Maybe this weekend?”

“Oh, yes, that would work, wouldn’t it, Ani?”

“Sure. Do you know if Eve still lives in the same house?”

Tan nodded. “I’m pretty sure she does. Most days you’ll find her at her restaurant, I would imagine.”

“Oh yeah—just off the square in North Pole, isn’t it?”

Tan nodded. “I told Monica you were going to be here, by the way. I hope that was okay.”

Ani’s stomach tightened. Monica would undoubtedly tell Eve. That was probably for the best. It would ease the shock. “Sure. I’m glad you did. How did she seem about it?”

“You know Monica. She’s impossible to read sometimes, but she seemed happy to hear it. You might want to see her sooner rather than later because she’s got a symposium this weekend and getting time might be hard.”

Ani nodded and tried not to let the prospect of confronting her past ruin her appetite, but she was too tired and jet lagged to control the unpleasant rush of adrenaline. She made herself finish her burger while Lisa and Tan chatted about the difference between Florida and Alaska. It was a long list, and Ani was spared adding anything more than an occasional, “Uh-huh.”

They were back in their rental, headed for the motel Ani hoped was still where she remembered it to be, when Lisa said, “You made her sound like your mother or something.”

“Who?”

“Tan. I pictured her quite matronly.”

“Sorry. I guess that’s how I saw her.” She gave Lisa a sidelong look. “It gets to be sixty below here. And there’s no surfing.”

“I know. But I thought she was very cute.”

Ani filed that away. Given the golden lioness surfer looks of TBE, Lisa was certainly making a different choice. She supposed Tan was cute, but to a student she’d been a member of the staff. Not someone to flirt with and consider possible dating material, at least not to Ani. “How do you even know she’s gay?”

Lisa gave her an amused look. “How did you know she wasn’t?”

Ani was distracted from answering by an oncoming commercial van the same size and color as Eve’s had been. A decal for a plumbing company didn’t tamp down her abruptly pounding heart. The reality of being in the same room with Eve again was still too much to contemplate. Monica would be easier.

She turned into the Dew Drop Inn. A row of tiny wooden A-frame cabins with a recent coat of redwood stain were hunkered down along a narrow creek. Lisa waited for her to register them and Ani immediately noticed the temperature had fallen another ten degrees since they’d rolled into town. Summer in Fairbanks—only a fool would be dancing on a glacier tonight. If the weather stayed this variable she and Lisa might have to drive up to the Chena Hot Springs to see the aurora display at its best.