The Alpine Pursuit Read Online Free PDF Page A

somewhat vague. “So you’re saying she’s for it?”
    Nat accepted the faux leather folder from the waitress and slipped his credit card inside. “I’m saying she wouldn’t mind. But she insists that I have to do what’s best for both of us.”
    “I see,” I remarked, though I felt as if I were sitting in fog. “How soon do you have to make up your mind?”
    “March twelfth,” Nat replied. “That is, I have to let the people in upstate New York know by then. I have until April first to respond to the California offer.”
    I nodded. “In other words, your suitor schools want things settled by spring break.”
    “Yes.” Nat looked up as the waitress made another stop at our table, this time with the credit card and the receipt. My host added on the tip and scribbled his name before thanking the young woman who was a Burleson or an Olsen or the possessor of some other Scandinavian surname. “I know,” Nat continued after the waitress had again departed, “you’ll keep this to yourself for the time being. But I felt obligated to inform you that there may be some news coming out of the college fairly soon.”
    Nat was right. But the big news that was coming from the campus turned out to be very different.
    ∗ ∗ ∗
    A few flakes were fluttering down when I left the office just after five. The rehearsal was slated for six-thirty. I’d just have time to eat, change, and call my son, Adam, in Alaska, where he was serving as pastor to an Inuit community near Nome.
    I was proud of Adam for following in his uncle’s footsteps. The two of them had been close during the years that my son had grown into manhood. With his father
in absentia
, it had been only natural for Adam to look up to Ben as his role model. Tom had his own two children to raise. When I’d discovered that his wife and I had both gotten pregnant about the same time, I’d cut Tom out of my life. My son and his father didn’t meet until Adam was in college. They’d gotten along quite well, all things considered, and Adam had been so pleased that his parents were finally going to get married that he’d asked us to wait until after his ordination so that he and Ben could concelebrate the ceremony. It had seemed like a fairy tale—until it turned into a nightmare.
    Erk. Squawk. Ping. Zlezlezle. Buzzz.
The radio-relayed connection between Alpine and Mary’s Igloo was worse than usual. Just as I thought I was going to suffer a hearing loss, I heard Adam’s very faint “Hello?”
    “Mom here!” I shouted.
    Then came the usual delay. “. . . can’t . . . you,” he said.
    “I can’t hear you, either,” I replied, guessing at what he meant. “Later?”
    Ten, fifteen seconds passed, with more odd noises interjected. “Tomorrow night?” said Adam.
    “Yes. You okay?”
    I waited. Adam spoke, but all I could catch was sporadic monosyllables.
    Since he was alive and able to answer the phone, I assumed he hadn’t been attacked by a walrus or swallowed by a whale.
    “Love you!” I yelled, and hung up.
    While waiting for my chicken breast and rice to cook, I sorted through the mail, which yielded nothing but ads and a couple of bills. I considered fortifying myself with a bourbon and water but decided it was unwise to show up for the rehearsal with liquor on my breath. Feeling virtuous, I decided my reward would be not staying for more than one act. It was a public relations appearance, after all, since the real news would be the performance and its reception by the audience. I didn’t dare play drama critic if I wanted to remain alive and well in Alpine.
    Exchanging one pair of slacks and a heavy sweater for another, I ventured out into the night. There were still a few flakes fluttering down, but no sign of a serious snowfall as yet. That was another good reason to leave early. I didn’t want to get snowed in.
    A private parking area had been roped off by what was known as the Thyra Rasmussen Theater. There were several cars already