Page 30 of Five Alarm Love
“Huh.What?”Bruce pulled his head back.
Tuli could almost spy the virtual gerbil in Bruce’s brain wheel running at top speed.
“Love is love.Right?”Lou said with the first relaxed smile Tuli had seen in some time.
Tuli slung his arm around Hunter’s neck and hung on as the dude pulled back.Took all of Tuli’s strength to hold him in place.The guy must be made of iron.“We’refriends, Bruce.Very good friends.Got it?”
Bruce froze.Stared at the group.Scratched his head.Then he turned on his heel and entered the building.
Hunter wrenched himself away.“Why’d you do that, man?We are—”
“Late for the meeting,” Lou interjected.
Good job, Lou.Tuli gave her a thumbs-up.
“Um, so—” She pointed toward the door.
Hunter recovered quickly, making a big show of holding the door open for her.
Tuli trailed behind her.“Why, thank you.”
Hunter let go, and Tuli walked right into the door with anoof.
Hunter stared at him from behind the glass and threw finger guns at him.
Oh yeah, buddy.Game.On.
Chapter Eleven
The meeting withthe village elders and town leadership wrapped, and Lou pushed off from the back wall she was holding up.The room had been full as the group discussed mining rights, easement risks, and potential income from the vein of gold and rare earth elements in the nearby Ray Mountains.
As important as the evening’s topic was, it had been challenging for Lou to concentrate.Bruce had way too much free time, seeing love blooming where it didn’t exist.Seeing conflict where…
Yeah, there was conflict.Layers of it.In all directions.The tension between Tuli and Hunter made her skin itch.But the idea of confronting any conflict head-on, whether internal or external conflict, gave her hives.
Avoidance was the best medicine.
Case in point.She hadn’t talked with her parents about the genetic report yet, a fact that weighed as heavily on her shoulders as the contents of the report itself.She wasn’t keeping a secret.She just wasn’t ready to discuss it.
Dad gave her a quick side hug.“How’s your week going, Lou?”
She smiled and returned the hug with a lump in her throat.She might be twenty-six, but Dad was still a dad.A twinge hit her heart before she could brace against the feeling.“Good.Work wasn’t too busy.I missed a part of the meeting when I had to step out to take a call.What did I miss?”Truth be told, even when she stood in the room, her tumbling thoughts had made it hard to concentrate.
Dad took his job as a village elder very seriously.He patted a notebook that, for sure, held pages of his carefully detailed handwritten notes.He had notebooks like that about Gordy’s health changes, medication regimen, appointments.The notes went back years.The guy might be old-school and a little over the top, but at least he was organized.“The USGS survey data was reconfirmed.Exactly what we had thought.There is basically an unbroken wall of private landowners and tribal property that abuts the Ray Mountains.Everything else is government-protected land.There’s no access unless one of those parcels allows it.The initial bids for our community mining project look good.The companies we’re vetting seem ethical and are good stewards of the environment.They think like we do.”
Wemeaning the Athabascan population rather than the town of Yukon Valley.Dad worked well with town government, but at the end of the day, he prioritized the needs of the village and tribal culture.
With a grave nod, he said, “We have more digging to do.No pun intended.”Then he laughed, clearly proud of himself for a quintessential dad joke.
“I’m glad you’re making sure anything that’s done is good for everyone,” she said, looking up as Hunter approached.
Suddenly, she needed to go check the ambulance.
“Hi again, Louise,” Hunter said, giving her a wave.He quickly pivoted and stuck his hand out.“Nice to see you again, Uncle Steve.It was good to hear the plans for mining.The sooner we get that ore out of the ground, the better it will be for everybody financially.”
Dad shook his hand.“No one’s in a hurry.We want to do this the right way and in a manner that cares for the land we’re here to protect.”
His gaze darted away.“Of course.Of course.But think about all you could do with that money.”
