Page 3 of Five Alarm Love
Career or family.
She glanced toward the deli.
A past promise turned into a future partnership.Or nothing.
She swallowed against a dry, hard lump in her throat and tried to slow her racing pulse.
Like riding a boat up the braided and twisting Yukon River, this email represented a fork in her path.So many possibilities, only she had no control over the result.
Maybe she didn’t have the genetic factor her brother Gordy had.
Maybe she had plenty of choices available to her for when it came time to start a family.
What if her plan B was still an option?
After a deep breath, she opened the email, which contained a few unsatisfying boilerplate lines of text informing her that the test results were not in the email but in the attached document.
Muttering, Lou clicked on the PDF and waited for the download.Yukon Valley had internet coverage supplied through a few cell towers, and Three Bears had Wi-Fi, but internet speeds weren’t quick by any stretch of the imagination.The status bar slowly filled in.Come on.Come on.
The report popped up, and she enlarged it and scrolled up and down, squinting at the small type.So many words.There.She found the section labeledResults.
Chapter Two
“What was thatall about?”Tuli asked in a low voice.
He craned his neck to watch Lou walk away.
“No idea.”
“She been acting okay?Is it something at home?Are things all right?”He and Lou had been friends for years, yet he didn’t know the answers to these questions.
Despite having known her since they were babies, Tuli had never seen her look that… stunned?Scared?Terrified?It was hard to describe the stark, ashen expression on her face, but it drove the wind right out of him.Tuli would fight whatever demon made her feel that way.
Friends helping friends, right?
“As far as I know, she’s fine and family is fine.”Mav took a sip of coffee.“You know Lou.She keeps her thoughts and opinions to herself.”
“Yeah, but you two are partners.”Tuli paused and typed her name into the search bar on his phone.
Nothing.No news.No mention of her on any social media sites, which kind of made sense.As far as he knew, she didn’t do any social media.
“For most of the shifts, we work together.But we do rotate our schedules.”
Tuli huffed.“You are like her work husband.”
Mav scowled.“Man, that’s weird.She’s more like my little sister.”
“Okay, your worksibling.”
“That’s better.”
Tuli tapped the counter.“So?”
“Nothing.She’s been her usual quiet self.”
“Don’t you ask how she’s doing?”
Mav ran a hand through his unruly hair.“Dude.Yes.At the beginning of every shift, I say, ‘How’s it going?’and she says, ‘Just fine, thanks,’ and I say, ‘That’s great.’Then we get to work.That’s it.I don’t ask probing questions.It’s not my job.I might be in charge of Yukon Valley EMS, but I’m not everyone’s counselor and confidante unless they expressly ask for that service.”
