Page 30 of Wind Valley

“No!” Surprised, she turned away from the pot of spaghetti water, to which she’d just added salt. “That’s huge news.”

“Yes. And get this, it’s going to be free.”

“Free cell service? Is it some kind of grant or maybe a consolation prize for living off the grid?”

He snorted. “It doesn’t say that.” He read aloud from the newsletter. “‘All of you internet junkies might finally get a break. (Sorry, Kathy, you might have to look for a new source of revenue.) A friendly but anonymous offer has come to the town’s attention. Free cellular service to all residents! This is a no-strings-attached offer.’ I’m not sure I believe that part,” Lachlan added. “There are always strings, but sometimes they’re invisible.”

“Agreed,” said Maura. The water was boiling so she ripped open the package of spaghetti and dumped it in, like a handful of pickup sticks. “But they might just be offering it for free to start with. They’ll get everyone hooked, then charge a fortune after that.”

“No, it says it’s a lifetime offer.”

“Wow. Do you think you’ll take them up on it? I know Pinky won’t. He doesn’t even have a phone.”

“It could be helpful for me,” Lachlan said thoughtfully. “It’s inconvenient having to run to Kathy’s just to research things on the Internet. My other option is to jog to the top of a hill near my house. Sometimes I get a signal there.”

“It’s exercise,” she pointed out. She found she didn’t really like the idea of change coming to Firelight Ridge. If real cell service was available, more people might try to live here. They’d be different people, younger, more online, more part of the outside world. Would they appreciate the older eccentric folks like Pinky?

Lachlan was watching her with his head cocked. “What’s going through your mind?”

“Nothing. Why do you think something is?”

“Your eyebrows.”

She felt them lift. “Excuse me?”

“Hasn’t anyone ever told you that your eyebrows are very expressive? They move around while you think.”

“No, they don’t.” She put a hand to her forehead and smoothed out her eyebrows. Did they really move around? Why had no one ever pointed this out to her before? “Do they?”

“They do. But don’t worry, they don’t spell out what you’re thinking,” he assured her. “You looked concerned about something, that’s all. Your eyebrows don’t seem to like the idea of free cell service.”

She opened the oven to check the meatballs. Propping the door on one knee, she pulled out the pan, then wedged the broken chopstick back in the door and turned it off. She added the meatballs to the marinara sauce—a Costco purchase—then turned to see Lachlan watching her with amusement.

“Impressive,” he said. “No one would ever peg you for a city girl.”

“It’s funny, because I was about to say I don’t like the idea of change coming to Firelight Ridge, but I wouldn’t mind changing out that stove.” She made a face at it.

“Let me guess, Pinky’s attached to it?”

“Yes, because he found it in an old RV that someone abandoned near Goldpan Creek. He says it’s good luck because that very same day he scored a gold nugget the size of a fist. I think he still might be living off that.”

“Is that what he does for money? I’ve wondered.”

She drained the spaghetti in the ancient chipped enameled colander. “I don’t think that’s his only source of income. I’ve tried to figure that out too, but he doesn’t like to talk about it. Mostly he barters, like a lot of people out here. Too bad you can’t barter with Costco.”

He chuckled.

With their plates filled with steaming spaghetti and meatball sauce, they made their way to the folding table set up close to the woodstove.

“To surviving that moose,” she said, lifting her mug of wine to clink against his.

They clicked their mugs together and toasted.

After tasting the meatballs and raving about them in a very satisfactory way, Lachlan said, “Maybe we should add ‘free cell service for life’ to our investigation. Seems pretty sketchy to me.”

“We have an investigation?”

“What would you call it?” He devoured another meatball. Thank you, Granny Jeanine.

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