“Not only darling packaging, but the products have lovely descriptions, too,” Ginger Baldwin pronounced as she looked over the offerings in Alex’s new display the next day. “These are useful as well as sweet but not overwhelmingly scented.”
Encased in tight, black leather pants with a short matching jacket and boots, Ginger proceeded to sniff at the samplers. Alex wished she had not brought Chip’s dog out here with Spenser, because Buffy kept trying to dig at her infected area. Alex had sprayed it with water and vinegar again, and the dog couldn’t get to the ear because she’d made her a protective cone from a trimmed-up kitchen funnel.
“Not Alaskan products per se,” Ginger went on, “but they’ll still make great gifts. I like to give unique things to my female friends. Metro as they are, would you believe they all love to watch Quinn?”
“Yes, I can believe that,” Alex told her with a little smile. “He is rather unique.”
“And unassumingly macho. Despite the fact the show targets men, I hear a lot of women watch it, probably thinking of tracking Q-Man himself.”
As they shared a quiet laugh, Alex felt a little guilty. She suspected Quinn was interested in her as a woman and not just a friend of his friends. But the last thing she needed, until she could heal and get some perspective and trust another man, was falling for Q-Man Mantell. She kept telling herself every chance she got, but it didn’t seem to be often enough.
“I’ve only seen a little bit of one tracking episode,” she admitted to Ginger. “But I’ll watch more, especially since they are filmed around here, and I need to get to know the area.”
“I have a feeling you’ll be seeing more of the real, ‘off-TV’ Quinn,” Ginger added with a roll of her eyes at the men who were looking at the wooden duck carvings across the shop.
“I hear he gets rather busy the week a class is in town. A few of the ones staying here until they report in tomorrow have been in the shop, mostly buying gifts for wives or girlfriends back home, a few shopping for things for their kids or even themselves.”
Still whispering, Ginger said, “I’d just as soon Geoff left me home, but the weather was fine this time and so is the shopping, partly thanks to you. Listen, I’d like to take quite a few of these lilac and rose lip balms and, oh, the daisy vanilla one, too. And some of this sunflower salve and the lavender oatmeal soap. So where are you planning to concoct these here?”
“Probably in the storage room at the rear of the lodge, unless I can get a room added out the back here.”
“So you’re here for a while. Well, don’t freeze to death. Now, I know a lot of movers and shakers in the fashion world of Manhattan, and they will love these. There may be an opportunity for you to sell them there, and I’d love to oversee that—no commission necessary, just something new and interesting to do. You see, ever since I had the horror and honor of watching Captain Sully Sullenberger save that planeload of people that went into the Hudson River ten years ago, I was inspired to help, too, though I’d never come up to that kind of a feat.”
“I’m grateful. Actually, I’ve been harassed on my website and had to shut it down for a while. But I’ll see it’s resurrected soon when I find some computer-savvy person here.”
“Here? Around Falls Lake?” Ginger asked so loudly Alex jumped. “Now there’s a challenge. Until Quinn helped to bring in those cell towers, this place was back in the last century, buried like that little village under the lake. As much as I can’t stand the airhead hanger-on who has attached herself to our videographer, Ryker, I have to agree with her that this place is pretty backwoods.”
“I noticed her when I first arrived. She does tend to stand out.”
“And she’d love to drag Ryker out of here, turn him into some sort of great Hollywood filmmaker. I told her, ‘Dream on and move on,’ but she’s stubborn. Now back to your website situation, not to play fairy godmother, but give me your email address, and I’ll have a tech contact you. He’s in Manhattan but that doesn’t matter. You do not need someone screwing up your life online or in real life, and I trust this man.”
“Better take her advice, whatever it is,” Geoff told Alex as he came over to the checkout counter with a carved and painted Merganser duck decoy in his hands. “I do, then Q-Man here takes my advice, right?” he asked Quinn.
“Absolutely, at least concerning business deals and scripts.”
Alex felt he watched her as she punched in the multiple purchases his friends had made. They all said goodbye, and she watched the three of them trek back toward Quinn’s car so he could drive them to the airport. Suddenly, she felt lonely and wished she could go with them. Ginger had been a bit overpowering but very kind. And she wasn’t sure when she’d see Quinn again since his new class of students reported in tomorrow.
Two more of the very men who would be moving from the lodge to the camp tomorrow meandered into the shop.
“So, that was Q-Man himself, right?” the austere-looking man with the crew cut asked. He had a pronounced German accent. “We got a bet on that, and we’d like to buy what he bought.”
She thought about making up a big list of items, but she told them, “Actually, I suggest buying some of his DVDs to take home with you. He brought those over himself yesterday.”
“Do you spray something in here with vinegar to make colors shine?” he asked, looking around.
Alex heard Spenser sneeze. She turned to see him wrinkle his nose as Buffy made another attempt to rake her ear with a back paw. It was then that she, so used to the scents in this small shop, realized how kind Ginger, Geoff and Quinn had been not to mention that the place must reek of vinegar and dogs. And for Ginger to say she’d take on representing the products with her friends. Whether they were from Manhattan, Germany or Falls Lake, this place made people kind, and Alex so appreciated that. Lyle had never seemed so far away.
On his way back from the airport, Quinn parked his truck at the lodge and trekked back to the gift shop again. Damn, but he was interested in the “More” the sign promised. He didn’t want Alex to bolt, but next week was going to be really busy, and surely it wouldn’t be too forward to ask her to go into town for dinner when he’d only known her a couple of days. And there were a few hours of daylight left.
If that didn’t fly, he’d try to stay at the lodge for dinner, but then he’d probably have cousins and dogs galore hanging on as well as Chip. He liked Chip, wanted a son of his own someday, but he’d need a wife first and what woman except the amazing Mary Spruce would want to live in a log cabin in a tracking and survival camp out in the wilds? He and Sam had kept themselves busy boiling bathwater for Ginger during her short stay. He was surprised Ginger had agreed to stay at the camp instead of insisting on the lodge or a place in town, but she’d given in to Geoff’s desire to “rough it.” No doubt that would be another story she could tell her friends besides seeing the “Miracle on the Hudson.”
Well, if he ever did take the plunge to get married, he’d get a house in town, real high living in a place with a population of about 420, but it did have two good places to eat. And he wanted to take Alexandra Collister to his favorite.
He saw she was just closing up. She had her little watchdog, Spenser, in one arm, but the lodge dog Buffy—the conehead—was nowhere in sight. She may be nervous and shy, but she seemed so right for this place.
It was nuts, but for the first time in years, even when he buried himself in work, he wanted a wife and family. He’d seen how devastated his mother had been by their family tragedy, how it had taken her years and a new love to climb out of the pit. He wondered if something tragic like that had happened to Alex.
“Quinn!” she called when she saw him. “Did they make their flight? Is everything all right?”
“They have their own plane, so it waits for them. But I was just wondering if it’s too late to ask you to go into town to dinner. There’s a good roadhouse-type place there.” He reached out, wanting to touch her but petting Spenser instead. At least the dog loved him.
“Oh. You mean tonight. I—I told Meg and Suze I’d eat with them and give them a demo of my products. You know, girls’ night.”
He almost wondered if that was an excuse, like “I have to wash my hair.”
“It’s my last night of real freedom for a week,” he said. “Days are busy, too.”
“I—I know. I met several of your current students, two men from Berlin. They talked about the schedule you set for them with lectures, demos, mini field trips and all.”
He put one hand on the door she had just locked, partly blocking her in against it.
“Queen Alexandra, I’m a very direct person, so I’ll just say this. I think we could be good friends, maybe more than that. But you seem skittish or elusive or maybe you just don’t want to spend time with me. How should I read this?”
She heaved a huge sigh and looked away, then back. “Quinn, I came here to escape someone I made a huge, stupid mistake with.”
“I’m not him.”
“I know. You certainly are not. It’s just—I messed up, really endangered myself. I need time to get myself together. I’m not good at handling emotions right now.”
“I understand. And if you don’t want to talk about it, we won’t. I can imagine it’s a lot to come to a very different, faraway place with baggage—you know what I mean. I’ve been running from blaming myself for something terrible for years, but life goes on. My mother eventually remarried, and she’s very happy.”
She looked up at him right in his eyes instead of shifting her gaze away. That hadn’t come out just right, so he hoped she got what he meant. Suzanne had mentioned that Alex hadn’t been married so she couldn’t be running from that. If she wasn’t going to tell him, he’d ask Suzanne or Meg.
“Quinn, thank you so much for asking me, and for being a friend to me and to Suze and Meg. Chip, too—he looks up to you. If—if I could just take a rain check...”
“When you’re ready—if you’re ready—let me know. See you sometime.”
He headed for his car, not going through the lodge but around the side to the parking lot. He didn’t look back. He was hoping she’d come after him or at least call his name to make him turn around.
But she didn’t. So, damn it, he didn’t.