Under Northern Lights (The Six Series Book 6) Read online

  Her eyes rounded. “Oh?”

  I couldn’t have been more awkward had I tried. Internally cringing, I desperately tried to think of something to say. I had no idea what was going on in her mind because her eyes skipped away and she shifted, catching her bottom lip between her teeth.

  “Wow… I sound like a stalker. Look,” I said, getting to my feet. I held my hand out and helped her up before continuing, “I’m sorry. I really wasn’t expecting to run into you today.”

  She tugged her hands from mine. “As opposed to running into me on any other day? Did you plan this?”

  I shook my head. “Nova, I…”

  “Nova!”

  We turned at the sound of a man’s voice. I kept my face blank, but Nova gave the interloper a welcoming smile.

  “I heard you were back, but thought maybe the gossip mill had it wrong since I haven’t seen you at Breakers.”

  He was young, probably our age. The smile he wore was genuine. There was obviously a friendship there. One I wasn’t sure I cared for all that much.

  “I haven’t really left Noni’s much,” she answered, pausing long enough that the three of us had time to dart looks at one another.

  “Who’s your friend?”

  “Oh, this is um, Eli,” she said, fluttering a hand in my direction before putting her hand on his shoulder. “Eli, this is Sven.”

  I wanted very badly to punch Sven in his face, but stuck my hand out instead. “Nice to meet you.”

  “You too. You’re not from around here. Nice accent, though,” he said, gripping my hand like some sort of warning.

  “Just moved here,” I said, squeezing back until I felt the bones in his hand rub.

  He winced. “Killer handshake. So, where are you from?”

  “Alabama.”

  “Sven. Doesn’t seem like a local name. Are you from Nome?” I asked, knowing full well he wasn’t. Not with the slight accent he had.

  “I came here from Sweden with my family when I was a young boy. Nova was my first friend. We’ve been close ever since.”

  I believed him about as far as I could throw him. If they’d really been that close, Nova would have told him she was home.

  “How do you two know each other?” he asked.

  “Eli and I worked together in Haiti,” Nova said, interrupting our silent pissing contest.

  “Haiti. Never been there. How’s the beaches?” Sven asked.

  Nova looked at me, and we laughed.

  “Did I say something funny?” He sounded a bit put out. Poor Sven.

  “No. Not funny, really. It’s just that we never had much time to go to the beach,” Nova answered, shrugging her shoulder slightly under the thick jacket she wore.

  “You didn’t get days off?” he asked.

  “We did, but most of the time, we’d cover in areas that were short-handed,” Nova answered, settling her purse on her shoulder. “I hate to cut this short, but I have to finish my errands and get back to Noni.”

  Sven hugged her. “I’m glad I ran into you. Maybe we can catch up later. Breakers next Friday?”

  Nova’s fingers went to her head, poking gently where a bruise would more than likely show up, and shook her head. “Sorry, I can’t. I appreciate the invite, though. Take care, Sven.”

  I wanted to shout HA! watching him process her rejection, but I refrained myself. Barely.

  “Bye, Sven,” I said, turning to open the door to the post office for Nova.

  She hurried inside. I followed behind her, but stopped a few feet away as she pulled her keys out to collect her mail.

  “I don’t believe you,” she said, flipping through the stack of mail as she came alongside me.

  I fell into step with her, but I didn’t say anything until we were back outside.

  The sky had turned a dark shade of gray as we squared off. I tipped my head and closed my eyes briefly before answering her. “I know it sounds weird, but I really did come here for you. Well, partly for you.”

  She walked away from me as drops of freezing rain spit down on us.

  “Shit,” she said, unzipping her jacket enough to stuff her purse inside before zipping it back up. “I have to go before this storm breaks.” She trotted off before I could say anything.

  I watched her pick up speed and duck her head when the rain picked up. Her grandmother’s house wasn’t that far away, but she’d be soaked clear though before she made it there.

  It was a good thing I’d driven instead of walked.

  I stopped ahead of Nova, rolled my window down, and waved her over. No sooner had the passenger door closed than the rain dumped down on the truck in buckets.

  She was shivering as she hugged her arms tight and said, “Thanks.”

  “Do you need to go anywhere else?” I asked.

  “Yeah, but I can do it later.” She pulled her hood back, and then held her hands up to the vents with a shudder. “It’s funny how easily you forget how cold it is here.”

  I snorted. “I can’t see anyone forgetting how cold it is here.”

  She made an agreeable noise as she continued to hold her hands to the warm air rushing into the cab. “I didn’t miss any of this. Yet, I missed it all. Does that make sense?”

  “More than even I can explain,” I said, thinking about home and how much I longed to be there, yet didn’t want to be anywhere but sitting beside Nova, driving a beat-up tuck in the pouring rain.

  “I don’t mind taking you wherever you need to go. I have nothing better to do today, unless you count sitting at home by myself and staring at the walls,” I said, slowing when I came up to a stop sign.

  “In that case…”

  We were soaked all the way through our jackets by the time we finished Nova’s errands.

  “Three stops. Three of them, and I could probably wring this jacket out and get a gallon of water from it,” Nova said, teeth chattering as she pressed her hand against her sleeve and watched a stream of water fall to the floorboard of the truck. “Noni said this jacket wouldn’t hold up to the weather. She’ll crow about it for days.” A pained look flickered across her face as she added, “If she remembers she said it.”

  “It’s not easy is it,” I said, not really asking, but agreeing with her.

  Her head jerked in my direction, eyes narrowing on me. “How do you know about my grandmother?”

  I kept my eyes on the road. “You said ‘if she remembers,’ so I assumed her memory is failing. I shouldn’t have assumed, sorry.”

  She melted into the seat and softly sighed. “She has her good days, but it’s getting worse here lately. I’m so afraid that one day, she’ll forget who I am.”

  “My mother’s mother was like that. It broke my mom’s heart to see it happening,” I answered.

  “You’re mother’s mother… wouldn’t that be your grandmother?” she asked, picking up on what I didn’t say.

  “She didn’t want to be my grandmother,” I answered as honestly as I could.

  “Sucks for her. She missed out on knowing you,” Nova said. She huffed before asking, “How can people be so selfishly insensitive? Why didn’t she want to be your grandmother?”

  “Well, for starters, she wasn’t technically my grandmother at all. I was adopted after being fostered by my parents. Mimi, that’s what she preferred for me to call her, never really got over the fact that I was someone else’s unwanted child, or that I wasn’t of her ethnicity.”

  Nova gasped. “Ethnicity? Please tell me you’re joking.”

  I’d never really talked about it with anyone. Not because it was some secret, but because it was easier to forget about it. Mimi hadn’t cared one way or the other for me. Then again, she was like that with her own daughter, too. Some people were never meant to be parents. Mimi was one of those. At least, it was what Momma always said. Whether it was an excuse for Mimi’s behavior, or Momma’s way of letting it go so it wouldn’t upset her, it didn’t matter. We hadn’t seen her all that much, anyway.

  “Some
people never get past the things they’re taught. What she thought of me and my mixed heritage doesn’t matter anymore, because she took her opinions to the grave with her. But before she died, when she couldn’t remember who I was, or even who she was, those were the days I saw who she could have been.”

  Nova nodded. “Noni says that hate and bigotry are taught. There is no superior race, save the human one, and if folks just learned how to shut down those who continue to keep the fire going, there wouldn’t be a fire at all.”

  “Unfortunately, those are the people who make the news. Maybe it’s really them to blame for spreading it even further. Copycat syndrome, that’s what my momma always called it,” I said, turning left at Nova’s direction.

  “Second house on the right,” she said. “Sounds like Noni and your mom are two peas in a pod.”

  “I think if we got the two of them together, they might just be able to save the world from burning,” I said, pulling up in her driveway. “Hang on, I’ll help you carry your stuff in.”

  “That’s okay. I can do it,” Nova said, making to loop all the bags surrounding her feet onto one arm.

  “And what kind of gentleman would I be then?” I asked. “Or do you not want me to come in?”

  “Suit yourself, but I warn you… on a good day, Noni will talk your ear off. Before you leave, she’ll know your entire life and four generations back,” she answered, wincing.

  “It’s a good thing I know all about the Bennet side then,” I said, winking at her before I set the parking brake and got out of the truck.

  Chapter 4

  Nova

  “You’re soaked to the bone!” Noni said as I stood in front of the door, dripping like a melting snowman in the sun. “And who is this handsome young fellow?”

  “Noni, Eli. Eli, this is my grandmother Noni,” I said, setting the bags down and then fighting my way free of the jacket clinging to my arms.

  Eli shifted the bags to one hand and took my grandmother’s in his as he said, “It’s nice to meet you.”

  “Manners, too. I like him, Nova. Invite him in,” Noni said before toddling off to the living room.

  “Well, you’re in for it now,” I warned. “Let me see if I can find you something dry to wear. I’m sure you don’t want to sit in sopping wet clothes while you get interrogated.”

  “Where do you want these?” he asked.

  “Just set them down. I’ll take your jacket and toss it in the dryer with mine,” I said, fighting off a wave of shivers that rolled over my body.

  Once he’d freed himself and handed over his jacket, I told him to give me a second and then darted off in search of something he could change into. It wasn’t uncommon to have a handful of castoff clothes tucked away since people never knew if someone showing up at the door would need to be thawed out from one thing or another.

  Noni was always in the habit of keeping a spot in the closet for such things. It probably stemmed back to when she was younger and the population wasn’t what it had become. A change of clothes and a warm blanket could quite literally save someone’s life in Nome.

  Tucked away in the back corner was a stack of clothes. I pulled them out, picking the warmest things I could find, and then headed back to Eli and handed them over. “Bathroom’s that way. When you’ve changed, wring your clothes out in the bathtub and toss them in the dryer. I’ll start it once I’ve changed.”

  Once my bedroom door was firmly shut behind me, I leaned against it and steadied myself. Eli was in Nome. My heart raced as I clenched my fists tight and fought to keep my thoughts from running away on me. I never thought I’d see him again after he’d left Haiti so abruptly. He was there one day and gone the next, and I’d had no way of finding him. How the hell had he found me? You told him you were from Nome, Nova. That’s how he knew where to find you. But why? Why had he come all the way to Alaska?

  How many restless nights had I lain awake on my cot, wondering where in the world he was at that moment? Too many if I were being honest with myself.

  There had to be more to it. Had to be. Who would do what Eli had done and move from Alabama to Alaska to find someone? A trickle of unease broke through the euphoria I’d kept on lock down. There was only one way to find out, and that was to let Noni at him. She’d unearth everything in no time.

  I blew out a long breath. After pushing away from the door, I peeled my clothes off one layer at a time, breaking out in goose bumps when the warm air touched my chilled skin.

  Eli was in the kitchen putting away the groceries. Noni directed him where everything went while carrying on a lighthearted conversation. I’d made it just in time.

  “There you are. I was just telling Eli he should try the little cafe we go to. They really do have the best halibut in town,” Noni said, pointing to the cabinet across the kitchen.

  Eli followed the direction and stowed the canned vegetables as he said, “I haven’t had halibut before. Is it fishy?”

  Noni laughed. “Of course it is… it’s fish. Now, if you mean is it one of those stronger fish like salmon, then no. Halibut is light and flaky… Nova, we should take him there for dinner, but maybe call Stanley in advance so he knows we’d like the halibut again.”

  “Noni, Eli might already have plans,” I said, collecting the plastic bags and swiping them with a dish towel to dry them before I stored them.

  “Nonsense. If a man travels half the world just to see my granddaughter, then why would he turn down the chance to go to dinner with her?” Noni scoffed.

  I became momentarily baffled. She must have dove right in with the questions. How long had I been in my room? It couldn’t have been more than a few minutes.

  “Did you have speed-round questioning while I was changing?” I asked, looking between the two of them.

  “Noni pulls no punches, Nova. She wanted to know who I was, what brought me to Nome, and to get to the point before she forgot what she asked me. Her words, not mine,” Eli answered as he lifted the new bottle of cleaner and looked to Noni.

  “Under the sink. And he answered them. Now, about dinner,” Noni said as she gave me a cat that ate the canary, the cream, and desert to boot look.

  I wagged a finger at her. “Don’t think that look will get your way, Noni. Did you take your medicine?

  Noni huffed.

  “I’ll take that as a no. And furthermore, we can’t go anywhere until his clothes are dry. Do you expect him to go into town dressed like that?” I asked, dumping her medicine into my palm.

  “Be a good lad and get me a glass of water, would you? Nova has her hands full,” Noni directed to Eli.

  He was already one step ahead of her. Glass in hand, he carried it over to her.

  “I have my hands full all right, Noni,” I said, dumping the pills over into her palm as she smirked.

  “Cheeky,” she said, popping one pill at a time, following it up with sips of water.

  “Learned it from the best,” I said, quirking my eyebrow at her.

  “Well, if we can’t leave because the two of you are in your PJs, then what’s for dinner?” Noni asked.

  “I wonder sometimes if your brain has only been hardwired to meal times,” I said, giving her a hard time.

  “I’m thinking we should make something special,” Noni answered, ignoring my sarcasm.

  “We? Don’t you mean me?” I asked, taking the glass when she held it out.

  “We. You cook. I’ll supervise,” Noni said, shooing me.

  After we ate, Eli changed into his dry clothes and then helped me with the dishes.

  Noni had quieted some. It was obvious by her eyes that she was tired, but wasn’t going to say anything since she’d enjoyed Eli’s visit so much.

  Eli must have noticed it, too, because he’d politely refused desert and then kissed Noni on the cheek, promising to come back to visit soon.

  I walked him to the door, peeking over my shoulder to see Noni, nodding off in her chair.

  “Thanks for dinner,” he said af
ter we stepped outside. “She’s something else, your Noni.”

  I followed him down the stairs and walked with him to his truck, arms crossed to ward off the cold seeping past the thickness of my sweatshirt.

  “You’re welcome. It was… fun. I haven’t seen Noni so animated like that in forever,” I said, catching the door of his truck to keep the wind from slamming it back into him.

  “It was fun for me, too.” He reached inside the cab and started the truck so it could warm up.

  “So you really live here now,” I said, wondering why I felt the need to hear him say it again.

  “I really live here now. Maybe one of these days, you and Noni will come over so I can cook for you,” he said, taking hold of the door and closing it with a soft bump.

  “We’d like that.” I braced against a blast of wind, tucking my chin against my chest as Eli moved to block it.

  “Get inside before you turn into a Nova-cicle,” he said as my teeth began to chatter.

  I hugged him. Pulling back and stomping my feet to get the blood flowing, I asked, “When will I see you again?”

  He smiled. “Whenever you want to see me.”

  “Breakfast tomorrow? Noni has a nurse coming by. She’ll be here for a few hours, so she won’t be alone,” I said, backing away to the steps.

  “What time?” he asked.

  “Nine?”

  “I’ll be here. Good night, Nova,” he said, giving me a smile that made my knees weak.

  “Good night, Eli.” I gave him a quick wave and then darted back into the house.

  When the door was shut and locked behind me, Noni called out from her chair. “I like that young man. What was his name again?”

  I went from giddy excitement to concern in the space of two heartbeats. “His name is Eli, remember? I met him while I was in Haiti.”

  Noni’s face twisted up as she asked, “When were you in Haiti?”

  My heart fell. “Oh, Noni.” The words were a whisper so faint it almost couldn’t be heard.

  Chapter 5