Page 59 of Fire Peak

“How’s Charlie?” she asked, after greeting him and Hailey. “We’re about to head up there, just saw you through the window and wanted to make sure she’s cleared for company.”

Well, considering she was well enough for an earth-shaking orgasm last night… “I’m sure she’d love it. She can’t work for a few days, so she’s probably bored out of her mind.”

Lila smiled at him brightly. She always reminded him of a fairy-tale character, maybe an elf or a nymph. “That’s our Charlie. It’ll do her good to be grounded for a bit.”

“This is Ani.” Molly introduced the third woman, who had lush dark hair and wore gold bangles on both arms. “She’s a doctor. She came as soon as she heard what happened.”

Whatever else you could say about Charlie, she had great friends.

“Thanks for making the trip, Ani.”

Now that he looked more closely, he could see that her eyes showed signs of recent tears. Despite whatever emotional turmoil she was in, she smiled politely.

“Thank you for rescuing our friend. I’ll have you know that you’re the first man to ever be able to say that you rescued Charlie. She’s very good at doing that herself.”

Molly frowned and tilted her head to one side. “Does that make up for the fact that he also hunted her like prey?”

“I wouldn’t say ‘prey.’” Nick tried to interject, but the three woman ignored him as they discussed the question amongst themselves.

“Of course it does. Everyone deserves a second chance,” insisted Lila. “He located Annie’s chickens and negotiated a settlement between her and Pinky, didn’t you, Nick?”

“Well, yes.” It had taken barely half a day and a hidden camera to figure out that Pinky was trying to lure the hens to his own coop. As for the settlement…no one wanted their own neighbor to starve. He’d worked out an egg-trading arrangement that had satisfied all.

“And Ruth Chilkoot said you figured out who kept stealing her truck and leaving groceries in it?”

“Yup.”

Turned out that Gunnar, the mechanic, had a little crush on Ruth Chilkoot. Weird way to show it, but they’d had a long talk about it and pretty soon Gunnar had simply asked her on a date.

“There you go,” Lila said triumphantly. “Nick’s one of us now.”

“Wouldn’t that be up to Charlie?” Ani asked. “Who are we to decide? It’s her life.”

“You always say that, as if friends don’t have an interest in their best friends’ health and wellbeing. But you make a good point. Fine.” Molly turned back to Nick, who had decided there was no point in making his own case. “Based on your recent good behavior, your previous actions will be forgiven on a probationary basis.”

He managed to restrain himself to a smile instead of the belly laugh that wanted to burst out. “I’ll take it. Best behavior from now on. This is my daughter Hailey, by the way. Hailey, this is Molly, Lila and Ani, Charlie’s friends.”

He leaned to the side to reveal his daughter. Hailey gave the three women a little wave, and then things got strange.

Lila swayed on her feet, wavering from side to side as if she was about to faint.

Her friends grabbed her from each side. “Blood sugar drop,” said Ani quickly.

“It happens now and then,” Molly added. “Nice to meet you, Hailey. Bye now.”

And they were gone, Lila sandwiched between her two friends, stepping carefully down the steps positioned at the emergency exit.

Nick and Hailey looked at each other. “Was that weird?” he murmured. “Seemed weird.”

“I feel like it was me. Maybe I reminded her of someone.”

“Yeah, that must be it.” But it still made him uneasy.

Hailey seemed unbothered and moved on to another topic as she finished her pancakes. “Dad, is it okay if I go swimming in Snow River later? All the younger generation likes to go.”

The younger generation. Ouch.

“Why would anyone want to swim in something called Snow River? You know that water comes right from the glacier.”

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