Northern Fires Read Online Free PDF Page A

and that he didn’t think she had any kind of agenda. Because she didn’t. Nope. None.
    “I’d say let’s drop by Gus’s but it’s karaoke night. It’d be pretty difficult to talk there.”
    She smiled. “Impossible is more like it.”
    “I left a roast going in the Crock-Pot. Definitely nothing fancy, but it usually turns out good enough. Want to come over and have a bite to eat and we can knock around some ideas?”
    Juliette made it a practice to keep to herself. It just seemed easier that way. So, normally she would’ve thanked him politely and declined. However, normal seemed to have checked out on vacation, because instead of declining she found herself saying, “I could do that.”
    “You know, I’m out at Shadow Lake.”
    Juliette smiled. “Right.”
    Shadow Lake was beyond lovely. The large tract of property wasn’t too far out of town. At the heart sat a lake that got its name from the mountains surrounding it—at almost any time of day different parts of the lake were shadowed by one mountain or another.
    It had belonged to two sisters who had retired to Good Riddance to raise sled dogs and enjoy the Alaskan lifestyle. Irene and Erlene Marbut had become part of Good Riddance’s lore. While the sisters didn’t want to live together, neither had they wanted to live too far apart, so they’d built cabins within spitting distance on the edge of Shadow Lake.
    The two women, now deceased, had willed their property to Dalton Saunders, Juliette’s fellow bush pilot. Last year Dalton had married Skye Shanahan, who had taken over as the local doctor following her stint as a relief doc. The couple had contracted Sven to build them a new home that was a bit more private and offered room for them to start a family.
    Juliette had heard Sven was staying in one of the original cabins while he renovated the other, and then he’d switch until they were both done. The two side-by-side cabins would be for visiting family members. Skye’s snooty family had actually fallen in love with both Alaska and their outspoken, slightly outrageous son-in-law.
    “Well, of course you know, since you fly with Dalton. Plus, there doesn’t seem to be much that people in Good Riddance don’t know about each other.”
    “True enough.” Although there was plenty about Juliette that wasn’t known—and she planned to keep it that way. Some things were better left unsaid and in the past.

3
    S VEN GLANCED IN HIS REARVIEW mirror to confirm Juliette was behind him as he hung a right onto the unpaved road to the cabins. The road, spread with a fresh load of crusher-run gravel, cut through the stately spruce trees. He looked back to the driveway just in time to brake and stop.
    Juliette halted behind him. He stuck his head out the window and yelled back to her, “Beaver crossing the road.”
    She flashed a smile and nodded, giving him the thumbs-up. Her smile sent heat through him.
    Bucky, as Sven had dubbed the beaver, stopped midcrossing and looked at him. Sven waited. Unperturbed he’d interrupted traffic, Bucky once again continued his journey. Sven had sighted a couple of beavers on the southeast end of the lake, but Bucky was the only one who ventured this far. Sven had spotted the bristly fellow crossing the road several times.
    Bucky finally reached the other side and Sven moved on, Juliette following once again.
    He hadn’t planned to invite her to dinner. It had just sort of worked out that way. It was logical they’d sit down and discuss the set. He had dinner waiting in a pot. No big deal. The only reason he wouldn’t have invited her was if he allowed himself to be freaked out by Alberta and Jenna. He’d be damned if he’d have Jenna, or anyone else, thinking he was afraid of Juliette.
    The tall evergreens gave way to a clearing, the lake to the right, cabins to the left. He parked in the graveled space, big enough to accommodate two vehicles, next to the two side-by-side cabins. Juliette pulled into the empty