Page 37 of Under the Northern Lights
As soon as Emmy spotted Aurora standing just inside the doorway of her art gallery, she hurried over to greet her. “I wasn’t certain you’d be able to swing by before driving back to Oregon this morning, but I’m so glad you did.” Leaning in, she gave Aurora a quick hug and then a kiss on the cheek.
“How could I not support my best friend when she’s unveiling her newest pottery creations?” One Emmy had kept secreted away, even from her, until its grand reveal.
Her friend beamed with pride as her attention shifted to the acrylic display table, which held a half dozen handmade glazed pottery plates, each one depicting her friend’s artistic envisioning of a stick moose in various settings.
Along the water. In a flower-dotted meadow. On a mountainside. And so on.
Aurora was taken back to those special moments she’d had on Conley Island. To the memories she’d created there with Gage. How could it have already been almost two months since she’d returned to her life in Seattle?
Her gaze lowered to the art label in front of the display, a white card with black lettering. She laughed out loud. “Never Hug a Moose Clay Imaginings?”
Emmy shrugged with a grin. “My trip to Alaska for the conference, along with the pictures you took of the moose there, helped inspire me.”
Shaking her head, Aurora said, “I think your moose needs to eat more. Those are far scrawnier than the ones I saw.”
Emmy laughed. “Art is subjective. For this collection, the backgrounds are the focal point. Thus, the minimalized abstract moose.”
“It’s bound to be the hit of your art show,” Aurora told her, and then frowned.
“I hate to pop in and run, but I have to get on my way to Mom and Dad’s.
” It was a good thing they were having early Thanksgiving, since World Adventures Magazine was sending Aurora to Madagascar a few days before Thanksgiving for an article they planned to run in an upcoming publication.
“Tell everyone I said Happy Thanksgiving.”
“I will do that.”
“And be sure to give your sister a huge hug for me.”
“If I can get my arms around her,” Aurora said with a grin. “Dad said Jade is really showing already. I told her I’m hoping for twins, after which Jade threatened to sew my lips shut.”
Emmy snorted. “Let’s hope that doesn’t happen. You won’t be able to have your bi-weekly phone conversation with Gage.”
“True,” Aurora said happily. “I definitely need to remember to stay on my sister’s good side.”
“And don’t forget,” Emmy said, “you’re going to be showing your fabulous photo display Into the Alaskan Wilds here next Saturday.”
Aurora laughed. “How could I forget? You remind me every time we talk.”
“Only because I’m so excited to have my best friend display her incredible photos at my art gallery before she heads off to exotic wildlife shoots all over the world. Getting back to those prints you’re going to be showing at my art show,” Emmy said, “you have to know they’re your best work yet.”
“I love my Sunsets of the World photograph collection,” Aurora said, and then nodded. “But I have to agree, the ones I took in Alaska are truly special.”
“And we both know why those pictures turned out as incredible as they did. Do we not?” Emmy asked with a challenging grin.
“I’m just that good?” Aurora replied, trying to avoid a conversation that included her feelings for Gage.
Emmy had certainly changed her tune where he was concerned.
To her, he was no longer a crazed kidnapper of stranded travelers.
He was the man who had rescued her friend’s struggling heart.
A heart she’d left behind in Alaska with Gage. Even if he didn’t know it.
“You are, but I think it’s more due to the fact that you were the happiest I’ve ever known you to be when you were on that island.
I heard it in your voice every time we talked.
When you filled me in on where Gage had taken you that day to get pictures.
When you talked about flying over those glaciers.
About picnicking in the rain. Seeing a pod of whales in person for the first time ever.
Even playing games at the lodge. And what do all those activities have in common? ”
“I had fun?”
“Yes, with Gage,” Emmy pointed out. “So I credit him with the extra bit of sparkle I see in the pictures you took while you were there. Clearly, World Adventures Magazine saw it, too, because they hired you after only seeing a handful of them. Now get going before I get in trouble for delaying your arrival for Early-Thanksgiving dinner.”
Aurora smiled and then leaned in to give her friend a quick hug. “Good luck today. I’ll see you when I get back.”
“Safe trip,” Emmy said with a wave as she turned and melted into the crowd of art-goers, living her best life.
Aurora took one last glance around the art gallery her friend had opened earlier that year.
It was something Emmy had been dreaming about most of her adult life.
She had renovated an old shoe store she was leasing, added feature walls and had painted everything calm, soothing colors that allowed whatever artwork was on display to take center stage.
She’d also put in new flooring, which helped eliminate the creaking you heard when walking on the old wood plank floor.
Aurora had helped pick out the modern light fixtures, and Emmy added dimmable spotlights to allow the best lighting possible for each artist’s display during art shows.
She and Emmy were so fortunate to have seen their career dreams come true.
Now, if only they could do the same with their personal lives.
Aurora made her way out of the gathering crowd inside the gallery and walked to her car, which was loaded with baby gifts she hadn’t been able to resist buying.
Jade might just threaten to sew Aurora’s wallet shut, instead of her lips, once she saw everything.
Her sister tended to be more of a minimalist. Aurora was not.
If anything, Gage was to blame for her out-of-control gift buying.
She had discovered that shopping, especially for her soon-to-be niece or nephew, helped take her mind off her unsettled feelings for a certain Alaskan pilot.
It was hard to believe that it had been nearly two months since she’d stood under that breathtaking Northern Lights sky with him.
Or had it been Gage making her breathless that night?
She’d been both surprised and elated to receive a call from him the very evening she’d flown back from Juneau.
He’d said he was making sure she’d gotten home alright.
The calls continued, coming once or twice a week, allowing them to catch up on each other’s lives.
Their continuing friendship wasn’t something she had expected, but she was so grateful Gage made the effort to keep it going.
Even if it was a challenge for Aurora to keep her heart from wanting more.
Gage had mentioned, during one of their more recent phone calls, that things were looking up for his family’s retreat.
Oddly enough, guest reservations had started picking up over the past couple of weeks, despite it being the off-season.
People were coming to see the island and its varied wildlife, to stargaze, and to simply spend evenings playing games by the warming fire in the hearth at the lodge.
Aurora hadn’t been able to suppress her glee at the news.
She had done her best to put the word out about his family’s warm and welcoming fishing retreat.
Gage and his family had done so much for her during her stay there.
If Gage hadn’t invested so much of his personal time into helping her get those perfect shots, Aurora wasn’t sure her editor would have offered her the position with their magazine over other equally qualified photographers.
When she was about half an hour away from the exit she would get off at to go to her parents’ place, Aurora called her sister.
“Sis!” Jade answered.
“Almost home,” Aurora said happily.
“I can’t wait to see you!”
Aurora smiled. “Same. How are you feeling?”
“I couldn’t be better,” her sister replied. “Morning sickness is gone. Thank goodness for that. And I’m able to eat all the pistachio ice cream with peanut butter on top that I want and not have anyone question why.”
“Ew,” Aurora said, cringing at the thought of eating that mixture. Pistachio ice cream was bad enough.
“You say that now,” Jade retorted. “Someday you will find yourself also craving things like steak with strawberry jelly, garlic pickles with chocolate milk.”
“Again, ew,” Aurora told her. “Please stop before I completely lose my appetite.” And she wasn’t so sure that day her sister spoke about was ever going to come for her.
She was twenty-eight years old and doubting she would ever find herself saying I do .
Mostly because the man she saw herself marrying in her dreams had chosen to keep their relationship on a friendship level.
Her sister’s giddy laughter filtered through the phone. “Okay. Just don’t look my way at the dinner table when we’re eating this evening.”
“Noted,” Aurora said with a smile. “See you soon.”
The call disconnected, and Aurora felt that rush of excitement she got whenever she went home to visit.
It was where she needed to be right now.
By now, there would be some other town gossip or excitement going on, and her broken engagement would be old news.
Truth was, if Ben’s mother had anything to do with it, everyone would be fully aware that her son was dating again and head over heels with his new sweetheart.