Page 5 of Valkyrie Restored

“Holy crap. Where did that come from?” I asked the air. I’d experienced realistic dreams before, but never with two men. The guy from this morning hadn’t been a surprise but adding in his friend—his husband—that was a first.

* * *

Unable to settle after the shower and some food, I headed to my workshop to prep the new supplies I’d gathered. But not even in the room that gave me the most pleasure and with the sun beaming in through the large glass windows I’d retrofitted into the wall that gave me a view of a wildflower field with the lake, peeking through the distant trees in the background, calmed me down.

“That’s it,” I said as I pushed my work stool back from the large table. “I need a break, a change of scenery and some company.”

I locked up my shop, jumped into my SUV, and headed to the small general store. A few years prior to my move into the area, Daisy had added a small coffee bar to the store, making it a community gathering place as well as the place we purchased various items. It would be the perfect place to keep me from withdrawing into my head.

The parking lot contained a couple of cars that I didn’t recognize. Not that it meant anything since I barely knew which car belonged to Daisy and I visited her almost once a week. Nor did it deter me. In this mood, the more the merrier was my motto. Thinking too much would hasten my daily headaches and I had lots to think about.

Inside, a few people—including a couple of obviously tourist families—shopped in the gift and local products area. I grinned when I saw three women examining my products. The grin widened when all three placed numerous bottles and containers in their baskets.

Daisy waved and smiled as she rung up the customer at the counter while I motioned over to the coffee bar. She nodded but continued to make small talk with the customers.

I took a seat at the long, live edged, wooden counter. It added a sense of rustic ambiance to the country store. One of the first things I begged off Daisy when I moved in was the name of the company who’d made it. They were my first call when I started renovations and decorating.

“Hey Elin. Nice to see you on this beautiful day.”

“Thanks George. You, too.” I smiled at the elderly man who took a seat at a nearby table along with three other elderly gentlemen. “Hey guys.” I waved to the others. They returned my wave before pulling out a deck of cards to play their game of Bridge. By the time Daisy finished ringing up the customers and delivered them their standing order for coffees and donuts, they were deep into their game and local gossip.

“This is a surprise,” Daisy said as she slid a large hot chocolate complete with a mountain of whipped cream in front of me. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Just needed to get out of the house and my workshop.” I took a long drink of the creamy goodness as Daisy raised her eyebrows.

“Really? You? It’s spring. The sun’s shining. This is the weather that excites you. All the new growth, new things to experiment with for your products, which I might say are a massive hit with both tourists and the locals. In fact, I was going to stop over today to increase my next order and to let you know what seems to be the biggest sellers. You’ve saved me a trip.”

I laughed when she pouted. With four children, a husband, and in-laws who lived in an attached apartment at Daisy’s house, she welcomed any chance she got to visit others. It was one of the reasons why she purchased this store from the previous owners when they wanted to retire. She told me that she needed the time away to be an adult, with adult conversation even if it was with whiny customers.

“Actually, I already went for a walk this morning and gathered some new items.” I rushed on, not letting her question me further about why I wasn’t already experimenting with the new stuff. “And it got me thinking about local wildlife. What types of things do people tend to see when they’re out walking? Wolves? Deer? Moose? Bears?”

Laughter came from the table of elderly gentlemen. “Has old man Harris been spinning tall tales again about bear encounters? Girl, you don’t have to worry. Bears haven’t been seen in this area for decades if not centuries. The same with wolves.”

“But you can see lots of deer,” his seat buddy added.

“True. And if you’re lucky, you might see some elks or moose, but usually you have to go further north into the provincial parks to see them.”

I glanced at Daisy to see if they spoke truth and found her nodding. “Old man Harris sure likes to tell ghost and bear stories to the kids, but that’s all they are, something to tell around the campfire.”

I nodded as if I understood and agreed, but their words didn’t make sense. How could there not be any bears around here if I encountered one just that morning?

Something fishy was going on and I wasn’t sure what. But the one thing I did know… I didn’t like it.

4

Arran

The soundof loud growls coming from the land near our private dock drew my gaze from the fishing gear I was checking over on the back deck of our boat. “Guess the swim didn’t help.”

Hurrit lifted his gaze and glared. I hid the unruly chuckle that wanted to escape my mouth with my hand even as I sighed in exasperation. For days, if not months, he’d been more irritable than a bear coming out of hibernation. Monosyllable answers to questions, throwing clothes onto the floor and not picking them up—this from a neat freak—and slamming doors were just a few examples of his moodiness that I put up with. So early this morning, I’d had enough and kicked him out of our house to go take a swim in the lake. Another thing he’d avoided which always signalled something was bothering him. It was my hope that by spending some time in his water horse form he’d work through whatever issues that sent him into such a mood.

But I was wrong. Oh so wrong.

The fishing gear could wait a few minutes longer because I needed to cajole Hurrit into a better mood. One that wouldn’t scare off the people in our early season charter.

Instead of leaving the boat to meet him, I leaned up against the cabin wall near the double sliding glass doors where I could watch his progression. The force of his footsteps on the floating dock pushed it deeper into the lake water until the water threatened to engulf it, sinking it down into the depths of Lake Winnipeg. I rolled my eyes but gasped when the tie ropes tightened and for a moment, I thought I felt the boat list towards the dock. Shit. This was bad and I needed to discover the cause quickly. “What’s got you all riled up?”

“Our. Neighbour.” He spit out the terse words as he chucked the last two large bags of supplies, I’d left on the dock onto the boat’s deck before clamouring on board.

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