Sunny tossed her pack into the back of her brother Tiikâan’s Piper PA-18 and climbed in. Her brother adjusted her gear with a huff and strapped it down with a bungee cord. He’d been on her all morning to call the trip off, so if he was upset about her not stowing her gear correctly, she’d revel in her passive-aggressive action.
“You know I’m right.” He shut the door and walked around the front of the plane, eyeing her the entire way. When he opened the pilot’s door, he started right back in. “The weather’s been horrible the last week. Instead of trekking through the normal muskeg and tundra, which is bad enough, you’ll deal with swollen creeks and muddy terrain.”
“So.” Sunny fiddled with her camera, making sure it was ready to shoot.
“So? So, you get stuck in there, and I won’t be able to come get you.” He clicked on the engine, muttering under his breath about pain-in-the-butt little sisters.
She ignored her big, dumb brother’s remarks. Kind of.
“Come on, Teeee-khaaan, when’d you turn into an old man?” She drew out his name and poked him in the arm.
He swatted her hand away. “I’m not an old man. I’m just smart. You don’t know the Interior like I do.”
“Really? If I remember right, I’ve climbed Denali more times than I have fingers to count. That doesn’t include the other mountains I’ve summited around the world, you know … like that big one they call Everest. I’ve spent almost a month trekking across sea ice toward the North Pole, kayaked the Aleutian Islands on my own for a month, and spent my childhood hunting and camping in this area. And you’re worried about me getting muddy?” She huffed a laugh and shook her head. “It’s an adventure. It’s supposed to be difficult.”
“It’s just—”
When he didn’t continue, she turned in her seat. “It’s just what?”
“I don’t know. I have a bad feeling, is all.” He pushed his hand through his hair. “Maybe it’s just that I’m leaving for the North Slope tomorrow, and I won’t be around if you need help.”
Okay. Her big, dumb brother wasn’t all that dumb, just a protective teddy bear. She leaned over and kissed his cheek. Too bad he had just gotten hired by a company up in Barrow to fly the company’s executive around for the next few months. She might’ve been able to talk him into coming with her otherwise.
“Maybe you’re more nervous about your own new adventure than you’re letting on? I mean, it’s kind of a deviation from your normal clientele.” She poked him in the arm.
“Yeah. Catering to business execs is a heck of a lot different from hunters, but it will set me up for getting my guiding business to the next level.”
“I’m excited for you, and when I get back from this trek, I might just fly up to Barrow to visit.”
“Great. I’ll put you to work as a copilot.”
She tipped back her head and laughed. They both knew she’d never had much luck flying planes. Flipping her camera on, she pointed it at her brother.
“So, Captain Tiikâan, are we ready to fly?”
“Ready as we’ll ever be. Buckle up, Sunshine.” He winked at the camera and slid on his aviator glasses.
She could already see the comments rolling in from her female subscribers. They’d lost their minds over Gunnar’s segments during the expedition to the North Pole. Seeing another good-looking Rebel man on the screen would be good for the ratings. She turned the camera to her, deciding to add fuel to the flames.
“He’s single, ladies. Good with money, engines, and animals. He has a tender heart, a sturdy plane, and a smile to melt over.”
“Sunniva May Rebel, you better not put that on your channel,” he said as he fired up the propeller.
“What? I couldn’t hear you over the noise.”
“Oh, you heard me all right.” He shook his head and lifted his hand at their parents standing off to the side of the short landing strip on their property.
Sunny turned the camera out the windshield and waved at her parents. She loved her family, but she couldn’t leave soon enough. They all had questioned her going. She’d like to think she was strong enough that the requests hadn’t tempted her to stay, but they had. Being alone had never been something she was good at. She blamed growing up in a big family. She’d rarely known what loneliness was.
Now … it consumed her.
But she needed it, right? Needed to grow up and do life on her own for a bit. She didn’t want to be that person, always desperate for others. No, she wanted to be just as happy in her own company as when she had people around.
She filmed the Alaskan bush as they flew over tundra, rivers, and forests. When she got enough footage, she set the camera on her lap and gazed out the side window. She had a map and a compass, but seeing what she’d be trekking through left her slightly daunted.
Thirty minutes later, a gust of wind jerked the small plane just as the skies opened up and released a torrent. Tiikâan lifted an eyebrow at her in a told-you-so move. She just shrugged. A little rain never hurt anyone.
“We’re two minutes from the sandbar,” he said into her headphones.
Dragonflies zipped in her belly, making her more nauseous than the bucking plane. She gave a thumbs up and turned the camera back on.
“Okay, folks. The handsome pilot tells me we’re getting close. Why don’t you help me look for the sandbar we’ll be landing on?” She pointed the lens out the windshield. “Up here, there aren’t any landing strips, but thankfully, I’ve got the best bush pilot in Alaska. As long as there aren’t any big obstacles on the sandbar, he’ll be able to slide right down like Alaskan’s own Nathan Blaine into home plate.”
Tiikâan groaned. “He’s a hockey player, Sunny, not baseball.”
“Eh, whatever. He slides around, doesn’t he?”
Her brother shook his head, not realizing she’d aimed the camera at him to see his reaction to her intentional mistake. “Yeah, but you can’t be using the wrong sports terminology if you’re going to throw it out there like that.”
“He’s Alaskan, a sports icon, and hot. Besides, you know I don’t watch TV.”
“Then how do you even know about him?” Tiikâan’s exasperation built, and Sunny almost broke the joke by laughing.
“Well, he’s Sawyer’s dad and since Sawyer is about to be part of our family when Bjørn marries Sadie, I had to see what the buzz was about.”
The Wilde family that Sunny’s brother Bjørn was marrying into had lots of layers she was still learning. So far, she’d liked them all, but the fact that the famous hockey player was somehow connected had gotten her investigation skills going.
“That is so confusing, you know that, right?” Tiikâan glanced over at her.
Not able to hold her laughter in anymore, she bent over in a belly laugh that felt way too good. What a perfect way to start this trip.
“Real mature.” Her brother rolled his eyes.
“Real gullible,” she countered, and refocused on scanning for the sandbar.
They flew up the creek winding among the terrain like a river otter’s trail through snow. Instead of the trail being clear, the water was the color of chocolate milk. The clouds had dropped a ton of rain for it to look that way, especially how it foamed along the banks.
“It’s fine. I wasn’t crossing many creeks anyway,” she whispered under her breath when trepidation threatened to make her turn home with her tail tucked between her legs.
“Ah … Houston, we have a problem.” Tiikâan’s voice in her headset startled her with a jerk.
“What?”
“The sandbar’s flooded.” He pointed out the window to the gentle curve in the creek.
Chocolate river rushed where the perfect landing spot used to be. She puffed her cheeks full with frustrated air. It was fine. They’d just go to Plan B.
“Let’s head to that lake we marked on the GPS.” She flipped the camera and smiled. “This is why it’s good to have an alternate route in place, people! And it helps when your fantabulous pilot has floats.”
“You sure?” Tiikâan peeked over at her.
“That you are fantabulous? Yeppers.”
“No, that you still want to go?” Worry laced his response.
“Absolutely.”
She couldn’t afford to hesitate. If she did, she might never come back—might just take the carrot of a guiding job the climbing charter in Denali had offered her. She didn’t want to walk the easy road anymore, taking opportunities that were comfortable. She wanted to blaze trails, which meant she couldn’t let fear and solitude break her.