Ian looked over at her several times, but whatever he was searching for on her face, she hadn’t a clue. At last, he murmured, “Good,” and took a sharp left onto an old dirt road right before they got to the Galena welcome sign.
“The river is that way,” she said, jamming her thumb behind them.
“I told you, woman. We’re going to bear country.”
Elyse’s mouth dropped open as she stared at the trio of small bush planes in front of them. “Did you hire a pilot? Ian, that’s expensive.”
Ian chuckled mysteriously and pulled the truck to a stop in a clearing near the landing strip. With a wicked grin, he opened his door and said, “Come on.”
She helped him carry the nets and the basket of food he’d packed, as well as her hiking pack, but the closer they walked toward the planes, the more confused she became. If they were flying, there was no pilot here. Perhaps he was running late.
But Ian pulled a set of keys from his pocket and unlocked one of the planes—a red and white four-seater, and everything started to make sense. “You fly?”
“I do.”
“And is this your plane?” Her voice jacked up another octave.
“It is.”
“You’re a bush pilot?” Any higher, and her voice was going to crack.
If his beaming grin was anything to go by, Ian was utterly amused. “I’m going to take you to my favorite fishing spot. The salmon have already run this year, but we can still get some fish in the freezer. And when hunting season starts in a few days, I’ll go out and get you some red meat. Caribou and deer. Maybe even a moose. Along with the beef we butcher and the vegetables from the garden, you should be good all winter. And if things get tight at the end, you can take a few chickens. You won’t go hungry if I get lucky on my hunts.”
“And what about you?”
Ian’s face went serious, and he busied himself with loading the back of the plane with their equipment. “I meant we will be good all winter.”
Elyse narrowed her eyes at the back of his head. Mmm hmm. He’d been slipping up like that a lot. She opened her mouth to call him out on it, but he turned abruptly and kissed her into silence. As he eased away, he whispered, “I’m sorry. It told you I don’t always say the right things.”
Fidgeting with the gold ring on her finger, she nodded her forgiveness, but her hackles were still up. She hated the thought of spending the winter without him. Really, she hated the thought of spending any amount of time without him. Now that was an unsettling feeling, being so attached to someone this quickly.
“Have you ever ridden in one of these things?” he asked as he helped buckle her in.
“Yes.” Most Alaskans had since bush planes were the main mode of transportation between towns and cities.
“Good, so no fear of heights?”
“I didn’t say that.” Her nerves had her heart pounding double-time.
“Don’t worry. I haven’t had a crash landing yet.”
“How long have you been a pilot?”
“Nine years. I bought my first plane when I was twenty-one and took over the business my dad had left behind when he retired to Anchorage. Well, me and my brother, Tobias, took it over. He flies deliveries, too.”
Ian closed her door and busied himself checking the plane. And when it seemed up to snuff, he got in and started flipping switches like his fingers knew exactly what to do. Seeing him so capable put her at ease a little.
The take-off was borderline terrifying, but smooth, and once they were up in the air, Ian seemed to lose whatever had kept him closed off about his life outside of Galena. “My other brother, Jenner, is a hunting guide. He’s one of the best and gets clients from all over the world.”
“What does he specialize in?” Elyse was trying her best to keep her eyes off the ground that was shrinking under them.
“Big game. Moose and caribou. Occasionally bears.” The way he’d said bears sounded as though the word was bitter on his tongue, but when she glanced over at him, his face was wiped clean of any emotion.
“Does your mom live in Anchorage, too?”
“I don’t know where she lives. My brothers and I were raised by my dad.”
“Oh.” Elyse reached over the space between their seats and rested her hand on his leg. “I’m sorry. That must’ve been hard.”
“Nah, it was fine. She wasn’t fit, and we were better off in Dad’s care. Kind of.”
“My dad wasn’t in the picture when I was growing up, so I get it. My mom was kind of overwhelmed with raising me and Josiah on her own, so she sent us to the homestead whenever she could.”
“In bush planes?”
She nodded and dared a glance at the green landscape below. “It’s been a while since I’ve been up in one of these.
“Well, you’re doing good, and we’ll be there soon. You’re a tough woman.”
A smile commandeered her face at his unexpected compliment. “Really?”
“Really. Why did you kick Cole out of your cabin?”
“Lots of reasons.”
“Tell me the last reason. The big one. The one that ended it.”