Page 38 of Under the Northern Lights

Ben’s new love interest was the reason he’d contacted her in Alaska.

He’d wanted to get together so he could introduce her to Charlene.

Aurora had to admit she really liked her.

And Ben had a special light in his eyes when he looked at Charlene that he hadn’t had whenever he’d looked at Aurora.

Even when he’d proposed. That dinner with her ex-fiancé had eased any of the remaining guilt Aurora harbored over calling off their wedding.

Her decision to set them both free to find the people they were meant to be with had been the right one.

Aurora could say, without a doubt, that she was genuinely happy for her still-very-dear friend.

Flipping on her turn signal, Aurora eased over into the exit lane and onto the off-ramp that led to her hometown.

Soon, she was passing all the old, familiar landmarks she’d grown up around.

Her excitement to be home again grew. She really hoped they would play games like they used to before she graduated from college and moved away to Seattle to start her photography career.

Those game nights she’d shared with Gage and his family at the lodge had reminded her of how much she missed out on living so far away from her family.

She also missed spending time with Gage.

And, if she were being totally honest with herself, she had to admit that night they’d stood watching the Northern Lights on the dock, she’d felt a spark of hope that things might be able to work out between them somehow.

Then, the next morning, while they waited for the other guests to arrive at the floatplane, Gage fed into that hope as he admitted to having feelings for her.

Inner exuberance and joy had filled Aurora.

And then he’d followed that unexpected statement by saying he wished his situation was different, but they both knew that he wasn’t at a place in his life where he was free to pursue a relationship with anyone.

Aurora understood his whys, truly she did, but that didn’t stop his words from feeling like the tip of a very sharp needle, bursting her balloon of hopes and dreams. The only response she’d been able to give Gage at that moment had been an offer to show him around Seattle if he was ever in the area.

He’d told her he might just take her up on that someday.

And that was it, because the other guests arrived and their chance for any further personal conversation came to an end.

She had tried to accept that she and Gage could be nothing more than friends, but his unexpected call that same evening and every week since threatened to reignite that spark of hope she’d felt that night on the dock.

Aurora had to constantly remind herself that theirs was only friendship, and if she pushed for more than that, she would find herself in Ben’s shoes—on the receiving end of a breakup.

Gage stood on the boat dock, watching Reed and Hank lead their newly arriving guests away to the main lodge.

Despite it being late in the season for their usual bookings, guests were still coming in.

If not to fish, then to just get away from it all and unwind, which was a new reason they were being given when some of their guests booked a stay.

He wasn’t about to question intentions. A reservation was a reservation.

Besides, Julia had said she’d been working on getting their retreat information out on more online social platforms. Apparently, whatever his sister was doing was working.

Turning, Gage walked out to the end of the dock, the wintry wind gusting between the two docked fishing boats tossing his wavy hair about.

After raising the collar of his winter jacket, he tucked his hands into its pockets to warm them.

How was it even possible that it had been almost two months since he’d stood on that same dock with Aurora, watching the brilliance of the Northern Lights dance across the fall night sky?

Forty-three days to be exact. Sharing nature’s light show with Aurora that night had been an unexpectedly profound moment in his life.

So much so that the memory surfaced every time he stepped back out onto that dock.

And in his dreams. And when he took walks.

Thankfully, his plane had been put in storage for the winter.

He couldn’t afford to be distracted when flying guests back and forth from Juneau.

This time of year, they used one of their boats for runs into Juneau and back.

Gage’s phone vibrated in the back pocket of his jeans, its ringtone cutting into the surrounding silence and his distracted thoughts. Slipping it free, he glanced down at the lit screen. Then he quickly brought the phone to his ear.

“Hello,” he answered with a widening smile.

“Hi,” Aurora replied on the other end. “Am I catching you at a bad time?”

Gage frowned as the call dropped in and out. “I’m out on the boat dock, and the connection here isn’t the best.”

“I can let you go.”

“No,” he practically shouted in protest. “I mean, there’s no need to hang up. Give me a moment to walk up closer to the cabins. The signal should get a little clearer there.”

“Okay. I can ...” The rest of her words were too muffled to make out.

“If you can hear me,” he told her, “I’m heading up to the main lodge.”

The call disconnected.

Gage growled in frustration. The weather wasn’t helping the phone service that afternoon. He quickly punched in Aurora’s number, which he had memorized, despite having it already saved in his phone’s contact list.

“Hello again,” she answered.

“Any better yet?”

“A little,” she replied. “It sounds windy there.”

“We’re expecting a little bit of a squall here shortly,” he told her. “The winds are starting to kick up, but I’m almost to the path. The trees should help block some of the wind.” He wasn’t as confident in the cell service.

“Well, we can give this one more try,” she said.

“I’m on my way up to Oregon and am almost to my parents’ place.

We’re having what Mom is calling Early-Thanksgiving dinner because my sister’s husband is going to be working at the hospital over the actual holiday, and I’m going to be leaving for Madagascar on assignment that same week. ”

“Madagascar?” he repeated, not sure he had heard her correctly.

“Yes!” she replied. “Isn’t it exciting? The magazine is doing an article on lemurs. I’ll be—” Static washed out the rest of her words.

She sounded so happy.

“Gage? You still there?”

“I’m here.”

“I was saying that I’m really looking forward to seeing my family again,” she repeated. “Especially Jade.”

“How is your sister doing?” he asked, his stride lengthening as he moved along the path that led up to the lodge.

“Wonderful, except she’s craving the most unappealing food combinations.”

Gage laughed. “And how are things going with you? Besides getting to travel all over the world.”

“You cut out,” she said. “Can you repeat that?”

He frowned, wishing he were already back at the lodge. He’d have a much better connection there. “Anything new in your life?” he asked.

“I was finally able to meet up with Ben,” she told him.

Gage’s gut twisted. “And how did that go?”

She began to speak, but her words were garbled. Then the reception cleared up long enough for him to hear, “It just felt right, and I couldn’t be happier.”

Before Gage could respond, not that he even knew how he was supposed to reply to that, the call disconnected. He stood staring at the phone. Aurora and Ben had worked things out? The knot in his gut grew.

Gage looked down at his phone, wanting to call Aurora back and ask her if she was sure about her decision to reconcile, but he wasn’t in the right head space at that moment to hear about her and Ben’s reunion.

He would touch base with her after she returned from her visit with her family, after he’d had time to process the news and could react less emotionally.

He continued up to the main lodge, where he stepped up onto the porch.

But instead of going inside, he moved to stand at the railing, looking out over the land that he had spent most of his life traversing.

His gaze came to the spot in the path where he and Aurora had taken their spill in the mud.

She hadn’t panicked when she’d gotten mud all over herself.

She never complained about the cold when she was here.

Or the rain. Unlike his ex, Aurora thrived on the remoteness of Conley Island.

Endured the elements with nothing but appreciation.

Like the phenomenon she was named after, Aurora was a rare beauty.

He’d let her get away without telling her how he felt.

Well, he’d opened up a little bit, but then he’d put that proverbial chain back on his heart’s door and given her all the reasons why things wouldn’t work between them.

He’d been trying to woo her back through phone calls.

Too slowly, it seemed. Because now it was too late.

She and Ben had reconciled. The pain in his heart at losing her again, this time for good, nearly threatened to suck all the air from his lungs.

How had he ever thought himself in love with Jess?

He hadn’t felt anything close to what he felt after Aurora left Juneau.

What he felt now. Aurora was the only one his heart had ever truly wanted.

The lodge’s main door opened, and Gage heard footsteps on the porch behind him. He stood silent, hoping whoever it was would just continue on their way to their cabin without trying to strike up friendly conversation. He wasn’t feeling sociable at that moment. Just empty.

“Last time I saw you standing in that very spot, you were caught in a lip lock with a pretty and somewhat muddied photographer.”

His brother. “Not now, Reed,” he said through gritted teeth as he fought to keep his emotions at bay.

“Gage?” his brother said as he moved to stand beside him. “What’s wrong?”

Gage shook his head.

“Are you ill?” Reed pressed.

Sick to his stomach? Yes. “Aurora and Ben are back together,” he said, knowing Reed was stubborn and would press until he found out what was wrong. “Aurora called me on her way to her parents’.”

“You must have misunderstood her,” Reed replied. “She was very clear that their relationship was over.”

“Apparently, Aurora had a change of heart.” The words came out tight and chock-full of the emotion he felt at that moment.

“Or is she taking what she can get because she doesn’t think she can have what she wants?”

Gage turned to look at his brother. “I’ve been calling her, and that didn’t make a difference.”

“Calling her and laying your heart out on the line are two different things. Have you told her that you’re in love with her during any of your phone calls?”

“I open up to her about what’s going on in my life,” he said in his own defense. “I always ask about hers. I’ve told her how grateful I am to have her in my life.”

“I’m no expert,” Reed admitted, “but I’m not sure that screams ‘you have my heart.’ Think about it, Gage. Flannel shirts are in your life. Your floatplane is in your life. That doesn’t mean you would marry either of them.”

Gage frowned. His brother was right. “I should have been more open with my feelings.” He met Reed’s worried gaze. “I can’t let Aurora walk away from what we could have had to settle for a life with Ben that’s not what she’s always dreamed of having.”

“Then don’t.”

“I can’t call her right now,” Gage said. “She’s at her parents’ place having their family’s early Thanksgiving dinner. But I intend to call her when she gets back to Seattle. Before she leaves for her next assignment.” Before things progressed too far with her ex.

“Speaking of Aurora’s job,” Reed said, “I almost forgot the reason I came out to find you.”

Gage looked up questioningly.

Reed pulled out his phone, tapped the screen, and then turned it so Gage could see.

He looked down, seeing a photograph of the main lodge from probably fifty or so feet away. “Why are you showing me a picture you took of the lodge?”

“I didn’t take it,” his brother replied. He zoomed out, showing more of the page. “Read the caption.”

“ Fishing and Frolicking in This Alaskan Island Paradise ,” Gage read, then looked to Reed in confusion.

“Mom was checking in our new guests, and one of them mentioned reading about our place in World Adventures Magazine .”

Gage’s eyes widened. “What?”

“Apparently, they also have a digital magazine as well as their print subscription, and our guests found us through that write-up about our place. Scroll down. Read the article.”

Gage scrolled slowly down through the brief write-up.

It referred to the island fishing retreat being so much more than reeling in that perfect catch.

How this hidden gem in the Alaskan wilderness offered both the comforts of home and the excitement of experiencing all the wondrous things that nature has to offer.

Then the writer talked about how she’d not only fallen in love with Conley Island and the cozy little retreat but had also left her heart there with a fun, dependable, mountain goat of a man when she’d returned to her life in Seattle.

Gage’s heart drummed hard in his chest in response to the words she’d written. Lowering the phone, he looked at his brother.

“I suppose I don’t have to scroll up to the top to show you who wrote this article,” Reed said as he retrieved his phone from Gage’s grasp.

“Aurora,” Gage breathed, his mind still reeling over her ending words. She’d left her heart here—with him.