Page 23 of A Rebel's Shot

“Thanks for listening,” she whispered.

“Anytime.”

“Sorry I kind of ruined the conversation with my freak-out.”

“Merritt, trust me. You didn’t ruin anything.” The deep timbre of his voice and his steady stare made her believe him.

Tiikâan paid with an insistence that it was his turn. “You’ll get the next one.”

Merritt’s smile hurt her cheeks as they weaved their way out of the small restaurant. She liked the idea of there being a next time. Maybe they could circle through every restaurant in town. There couldn’t be that many.

“Want to know what I learned tonight?” Tiikâan asked as he held the door open for her.

“Other than my flight response to even the mention of bears?”

His low chuckle spooled in her gut like warm caramel.

“I can tell you really miss what you’ve been doing overseas. Have you considered how much goodHarland’s philanthropy could do in Alaska?” Tiikâan’s soft question as he followed her to her car had her turning around and leaning on the driver’s door.

“How’s that?”

He shoved his hands in his Chris Pratt-esque cargo vest that was even sexier in real life. “I’m not sure how much you know about Alaska, but it’s not the easiest place to live.”

He took a deep breath like he needed to bolster himself to continue. “Drugs and alcohol in rural communities like here and Tok, where I’m from, are a massive problem. Alaska is the most dangerous state for women with fifty-nine percent of adult women experiencing domestic violence. Our sexual abuse rate is four times the national rate. Trafficking is on the rise. Suicides among teens are on the epidemic level. It’s just––”

He cut off his words and stared across the street to the ocean. Tears pricked her eyes. She had known Alaska had a high suicide rate, but she had no clue about all of this. He clenched his jaw and rocked back on his heels before looking back at her.

“I’m not saying what you do overseas isn’t needed. Lord knows it is, but maybe you being here has a bigger purpose than getting the mine up and running.” He shrugged and shook his head.

“I honestly have no clue what can be done to help, and I know that one organization would never be able to fix everything that leads to these problems. I mean, even things like modern water and sewer are a problem for a lot of rural communities. But I feel like with all your work you’ve done in other places, you might have aunique perspective that could lend some insight and change.”

“I don’t know if I––” Her throat closed as all her family’s jabs at her being useless rushed her mind, and she reached up to finger her necklace.

“And I’m not saying you have to. But after watching you work today and listening to you tonight, I think you might hold the answer to a lot of people’s prayers.” Tiikâan’s unflinching gaze quieted the doubt.

Not completely, but enough that she could see the truth of his words.

She swallowed. “Okay. I’ll look into it.”

His smile hit hard and almost buckled her knees.

“All right, boss.” He walked backward toward the street. “See you in the morning.”

On the short drive home, her gaze bounced from the weathered houses to the kids playing in the streets and the elderly visiting on lawn chairs in front yards. A seed of purpose embedded itself in her heart.

She did have resources others didn’t, and helping children and women fueled something deep inside her. But with her responsibilities at the mine and trying to figure out why her dad left her that warning, being overwhelmed was an understatement. There was no way she could take on any more.

TEN

Merritt skimmed her dad’s operations journal for the fifth time, hoping that she’d find some clue among the meticulous daily notes of business to why he’d left that message. Reading the summaries of what he did each day battered her already bruised heart.

It shouldn’t have. It wasn’t like the entries contained any personal information. But with each bullet point, she saw her dad.

Efficient with no muss.

There were times growing up that she’d wanted muss. Just a little bit of coddling to soften the blows of childhood. She understood now that his suck-it-up attitude didn’t mean that he hadn’t cared.

He just couldn’t see the need to nurture hurts.

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