Hitched (14 page)

“Carter thinks I should tell you that I’m not interested in Gavin,” Nancy said.

Allie wondered if it was the fresh air up here that made people so frickin’ honest all the time. “That’s handy, since he’s taken,” she said.

“Is he?” Nancy asked smoothly.

“Why else would he have not slept with anyone for the year that he’s been here?” Allie asked, finding that the blunt thing was kind of fun. “I’m sure there have been lots of willing women.”

Nancy met her gaze. “You always believe everything men tell you?”

Allie shook her head. Lord knew that she rarely believed the things her brothers told her. Her father told her he was “fine” when he definitely was not. She had believed most of what Josh said to her, but not everything. Not that he actually wanted to marry her. She knew he
would have
married her. But that was different.

“No, just Gavin.” She had always trusted Gavin. Besides, she’d not only slept with someone else, she’d accepted that man’s proposal. Gavin didn’t have to lie about his love life—she had no room to judge.

Nancy watched her for a moment, then asked, “You know him really well, huh?”

Allie nodded. “Better than I know anyone.”

“What’s his favorite breakfast food?”

It stood to reason that they worked early morning shifts together and Nancy might know Gavin’s favorite. Especially since he ate it five days a week. “Oatmeal,” Allie said. “And not the flavored instant kind. The real stuff.”

Nancy gave her a nod of acknowledgement. “Favorite music act of all time?”

Ah, a trick question. But Allie definitely knew this one. She’d been dragged to three concerts. Each. “It’s a tie between Tim McGraw and Brad Paisley.”

Nancy seemed mildly impressed. “What does he find funny that absolutely is not?”

Allie grinned. “Talking animals in movies.”

Nancy actually smiled at that. “Favorite sexual position?”

Allie raised an eyebrow. “Do
you
know the answer to that question?”

Nancy shrugged. “That was a bonus. For the rest of us. It’s been a frequent topic of conversation at The Hub.”

Allie didn’t doubt it. Gavin was definitely the type of guy to draw attention—especially of the female type. But she was thrilled no one knew the answer. “The Hub?”

“The bar downtown.”

Of course. “Well, I’m feeling generous. His favorite is the cowgirl.”

Nancy grinned. “Okay, you passed the test.”

“The test of how well I know Gavin?”

“That. And the test of how cool you are. I’ll tell Lydia to lighten up.”

“You were teaming up to test me?”

“No. I was testing you. Lydia just doesn’t like you.”

Allie sighed. “Got it.”

Chapter Five

“It’s actually nothing personal,” Nancy continued. “Gavin’s made Lydia feel important and she doesn’t want to lose her spot.”

“Well, tell her there’s no fear there. I’m a good cook, but I don’t like to do it and I have no trouble letting someone else scrub toilets.”

Nancy wrinkled her nose. “That’s not exactly the attitude that will work. Lyd does a lot more than that. Those things are on the side because she realized Gavin needed someone to make sure he eats vegetables once in awhile. She does all the clinic scheduling and billing, she troubleshoots any and all computer issues and she organizes Gavin’s life.”

“Oh.” Allie realized how her comment sounded. “Sorry.” And what was with Gavin harping on her about not being healthy and eating right? He needed his assistant to make him eat veggies?

“Just don’t…
do
anything and you’ll be okay with Lydia,” Nancy said.

Allie stared at her. Don’t
do
anything? Allison Ralston not do anything? Nancy had to be crazy. Or Allie was going to be. Either way, this didn’t bode well.

“So how did Gavin end up…here?” Allie asked Nancy as the other woman headed for the front desk.

Nancy gave her with a funny look. “A friend of a friend of a friend from vet school.”

Allie looked around. “He’s the only vet in…town?” Dammit, what was the name of this place? She looked at the brochure on the front desk about canine flea treatments. Denali Veterinary Clinic was stamped on the front. Was Denali the name of the town?

“He is the only vet in…town,” Nancy confirmed, mimicking Allie’s hesitation.

Allie decided to ignore that. “Did he build the clinic?”

“No, Dr. Happerly was the vet for years before Gavin. He built the clinic and the house.”

“He retired?” Allie asked.

“Passed away,” Nancy said.

“Oh.” Great conversation.

“When he found out he was sick, Doc met with Gavin. Gavin impressed him right away. Happerly didn’t have a wife or any children, so he left everything—the house, the practice, the equipment—to Gavin so that Gav could afford to move up here and take over right away.”

That made sense as to how Gavin could afford all that he had only two years out of school.

“So, he’s been successful…here?” Allie asked.
Wherever here is.

Nancy chuckled lightly. “Yes. Of course it helps that he’s a veterinarian and everyone here is very dependent on their animals. They would need Gavin even if they didn’t like him.”

Allie wandered to the bulletin board. Maybe there’d be a hint there about the name of the town. Or at least a reason to change the subject. There was an ad for flight tours to Mount McKinley.

Okay. So that was a great clue. She was in a town near Mount McKinley. A mountain. A really big mountain. And if she were any good at geography, that might matter.

“This sounds great,” she said, even though she didn’t know where she was. “Have you ever done one of these tours?”

Nancy glanced over. “Oh, sure. Those are fantastic. Rob Ingalls flies one of those tours.”

“Is he good?”

Nancy gave her a wink. “He’s
very
good. And he’s a great pilot.”

Allie grinned. “Got it.”

Another flyer caught her eye. The photo showed a man in cold weather gear in the midst of a pack of Alaskan huskies. He had his arms around two of the dogs and was grinning widely. “Dogsled tours,” Allie read out loud. “These dogs are gorgeous.”

“They’re gorgeous,” Nancy agreed. “And our bread and butter.”

“The clinic takes care of these dogs?”

“Those dogs and all the dogs of all the other mushers around here,” Nancy confirmed, sliding the file drawer shut.

“You can support a whole clinic just on sled dogs?” Allie asked.

“We do other animals too,” Nancy said. “But around here? Yeah, we can support the whole clinic just on the mushing dogs.”

“There’s a lot of them?” Definitely not something seen in Massachusetts.

“It’s the official sport of Alaska,” Nancy said.

“It’s a year-round thing?” Allie asked. The flyer advertised summer hours.

“Definitely. Besides competing, there are tours year round and there are several people around here who prefer dogsled for local transportation. It’s cheaper than cars and trucks, cleaner than gas and keeps their dogs in shape.”

“Gavin’s been dogsledding, I bet,” Allie said. Gavin had always liked the outdoors, and there was very little not to like about Alaska from what Allie had seen so far.

“All the time. And he loves it. Obviously.”

Allie turned. “Obviously?”

Nancy pointed to the picture on the flyer. “Doesn’t he look happy?”

Allie swung back to look at the bulletin board. Now that she looked closer, she realized the smiling man on the front of the flyer was Gavin. “Yeah, he does look happy.”

Which made her heart feel heavier. Stupid. It wasn’t like she thought he was going to pack his stuff and hop on the next plane to Massachusetts with her. But it did emphasize that he’d successfully established a life here in Alaska and hadn’t spent too many nights pining for her. When would he have had the time?

“Tell me about the town,” Allie said, pulling her eyes from the huge grin on Gavin’s face.

“Which town?” Nancy crossed to the coffeepot and poured a cup.

“This town.”

Nancy leaned back against the counter. “Denali or Bend?”

It had to be Denali, right? That’s what the brochure said. But then why did Nancy ask it that way? “The one we’re in right now,” Allie said stubbornly.

“Technically we’re not in a town right now. We’re about four miles north of Bend, on Gavin’s twenty acres.”

Allie huffed out a breath. “Okay, you got me. I don’t know which town we’re in or near or whatever. What’s Gavin’s official address?”

Nancy chuckled. “Bend. Denali is the national park.”

Allie rolled her eyes. “Okay, tell me about Bend.” She’d Google Denali later.

“What’s to tell? It’s named because the very creative people who settled it noticed we sit at the bend of the river. It’s a tiny town in Alaska that caters primarily to climbers and outdoorsy tourists. We have lots of hiking, fishing and, of course, the mushing. We’re laid back, can guzzle beer with the best of ’em, and we all really like Gavin.”

“So we have one thing in common.”

Nancy grinned. “You can guzzle beer?”

“Nope.” Tequila was a different story, of course. She most definitely wasn’t laid back either. “But I’m crazy about Gavin.”

“Huh.” Nancy rifled through the folder in front of her.

“Huh?” Allie repeated. “What’s that mean?”

Nancy looked up at her and just paused for a moment. She evidently decided to go ahead with what she was thinking. “You haven’t been around. I’ve never heard of you. You didn’t even know the name of the town Gavin lives in.”

Yeah, okay, that didn’t seem like someone who was crazy about him. At least Nancy hadn’t mentioned the almost-marrying-someone-else thing.

“And you showed up in a wedding dress that I assume wasn’t for Gavin.”

Damn.

“Things with Gavin and I are complicated,” Allie said, hoping that would be enough. She didn’t owe Nancy an explanation, of course, but her comment sent Allie’s mind spinning back to the last time she and Gavin had been together.

They’d agreed that a complete break—no phone calls, emails or texts—was the easiest, safest way to go. If they weren’t going to make a life together, they needed to work on making two lives apart. As painful as it was to say good-bye, repeatedly saying good-bye after occasional phone calls or visits was worse.

“Well,” Nancy said, moving to the file cabinet. “Gavin’s life here is pretty simple.”

And the implication was clear: he liked it that way.

Allie could understand the temptation for simple, that was for sure. “Complicated” had been the main word to describe her life for a long time now.

“He’s only been here for a year,” Nancy went on. “So he’s still an outsider, but if he sticks he’ll be okay.”

“If he sticks?” Allie asked. “What do you mean?”

“If he stays.”

Allie’s heart tripped. Maybe he wasn’t as settled as he let on. “Why wouldn’t he stay?”

Nancy chuckled. “This is Alaska. It’s not an easy place to live. Not many people make it through their first winter.”

“But he did.” Gavin had already been in Alaska for a full year.

“Yep. Once.”

Not sure what to say about any of that—she was probably the type to whine through a long, hard winter—Allie turned back to the bulletin board, pretending to study the flyers and announcements. But she quickly found herself actually reading them and getting excited.

This could be a lot of fun.

There were flight-seeing tours—planes and helicopter rides up to see the mountains, complete with glacier landings.
Glacier
landings.

There were dogsledding tours of the area—even in summer. There were mountain climbing and wildlife sightings and fishing and hiking.

There was plenty to keep her busy and to keep her mind off of home. That and some hot, sweaty sex with Gavin and she’d be good to go. The winter was a long way off.

The door to the exam room opened just as she took a brochure off the board. Gavin looked up as she spun to face him. He came up short at the wide smile on her face. He smiled in return, handing the folder he held to Nancy. “What’s up?” he asked, striding forward.

“Mountain climbing.”

Allie knew she put more enthusiasm into her voice than was really warranted, but it was such a good idea. Just what she needed.

“What do you mean?” He looked at the flyer she was clutching to her heart.

“Mountain climbing
school
,” Nancy corrected, also glancing at the flyer.

“I don’t know, Al,” he said.

She felt her eyes widen. Was he serious? “Why not?”

“It’s pretty challenging around here. Climbing here is for pros.”

“I assumed that was why there’s a need for a
school
,” she said.

“But you’ve never climbed.”