Breaking the Ice by Kim Baldwin

Author:Kim Baldwin [Balwin, Kim]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Tags: Fiction, Lesbian, Contemporary, Romance, General
ISBN: 9781602820876
Google: vxX_S48q8IIC
Amazon: 1602820872
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Published: 2009-08-18T00:00:00+00:00

chapter thirteen

Bryson was extraordinarily patient under most circumstances,

as imperturbable as one of the hundred thousand glaciers that

dotted the landscape of the state she loved. The ability to tolerate any

lengthy delay with good humor was necessary if you wanted to thrive

in Alaska. Every year, she had to endure weeks of breakup and months

of minimal sunlight. And she had to wait for endless intervals for the

weather to clear so she could take to the air.

But all her patience abandoned her today, and she was pacing

back and forth in front of her cabin window. Why was she so anxious

for Karla Edwards to arrive? Her initial impression of Karla had been

as bad as possible. She’d assessed her as a self-involved, petulant

annoyance. But she’d been so damn tired she’d been less than charming

herself. And who wouldn’t be edgy and preoccupied with herself after

flying halfway across the world to meet a long-lost sister, unannounced,

still grieving for her mother? She’d actually been quite pleasant during

her visit at the cabin. And she was related to Maggie, which somehow

made her all right.

It had been a long while since Bryson had looked forward to

something so much, felt such a heightened excitement at the thought of

spending a few hours in the company of another woman.

But she was being ridiculous. This wasn’t a date. Karla hadn’t

indicated she was even gay, let alone that Bryson was on her radar.

And their first meeting had certainly been less than auspicious.

Regardless, she hadn’t been able to get Karla out of her mind. Why

had she remembered things about Karla in vivid detail so often lately?

What she looked like, sounded like, even smelled like, for God’s sake.

• 127 •

kim Baldwin

Bryson didn’t wear perfume, so she’d immediately picked up Karla’s

clean citrus-floral scent in the enclosed cabin of the Super Cub.

Had something happened with Maggie? It had been nearly three

hours since Lars telephoned, and she’d expected the skiff long before

now. On her next pass by the satellite phone, she paused and stared

at it, willing it to ring. When it didn’t obey, she reached for it and

started to punch in Lars’s number, then thought better. Things were

probably pretty intense over there , and the last thing they needed was

an interruption. Karla and Lars would either show up or call. It wasn’t

like she had a lot else to do . She set the phone back in its cradle.

Too restless to confine her pacing indoors any longer, she grabbed

her coat and headed down to the river.

The sun was shining bright against the mountains, but even at

its height it rose only fifteen degrees above the horizon these days,

so it cast deep shadows over the white-tipped peaks, outlining every

jagged outcropping. In addition to the track of the sun, she measured

the coming of winter in the amount of snow on her part of the Brooks

Range. Each significant snowfall lengthened and stretched the blanket

of white, until finally it covered everything above and below: first the

mountains, then the forest and tundra, and finally, the rivers and lakes.

Interior Alaska was in that capricious phase of transition, the

nights routinely below freezing, the days warm enough to melt any

snow that had fallen.

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