Page 78 of Under the Northern Lights
“I can let you go.”
“No,” he practically shouted in protest. “I mean, there’s no need to hang up. Give me a moment to walk up closer to the cabins. The signal should get a little clearer there.”
“Okay. I can ...” The rest of her words were too muffled to make out.
“If you can hear me,” he told her, “I’m heading up to the main lodge.”
The call disconnected.
Gage growled in frustration. The weather wasn’t helping the phone service that afternoon. He quickly punched in Aurora’s number, which he had memorized, despite having it already saved in his phone’s contact list.
“Hello again,” she answered.
“Any better yet?”
“A little,” she replied. “It sounds windy there.”
“We’re expecting a little bit of a squall here shortly,” he told her. “The winds are starting to kick up, but I’m almost to the path. The trees should help block some of the wind.” He wasn’t as confident in the cell service.
“Well, we can give this one more try,” she said. “I’m on my way up to Oregon and am almost to my parents’ place. We’re having what Mom is calling Early-Thanksgiving dinner because my sister’s husband is going to be working at the hospital over the actual holiday, and I’m going to be leaving for Madagascar on assignment that same week.”
“Madagascar?” he repeated, not sure he had heard her correctly.
“Yes!” she replied. “Isn’t it exciting? The magazine is doing an article on lemurs. I’ll be—” Static washed out the rest of her words.
She sounded so happy.
“Gage? You still there?”
“I’m here.”
“I was saying that I’m really looking forward to seeing my family again,” she repeated. “Especially Jade.”
“How is your sister doing?” he asked, his stride lengthening as he moved along the path that led up to the lodge.
“Wonderful, except she’s craving the most unappealing food combinations.”
Gage laughed. “And how are things going with you? Besides getting to travel all over the world.”
“You cut out,” she said. “Can you repeat that?”
He frowned, wishing he were already back at the lodge. He’d have a much better connection there. “Anything new in your life?” he asked.
“I was finally able to meet up with Ben,” she told him.
Gage’s gut twisted. “And how did that go?”
She began to speak, but her words were garbled. Then the reception cleared up long enough for him to hear, “It just felt right, and I couldn’t be happier.”
Before Gage could respond, not that he even knew how he was supposed to reply to that, the call disconnected. He stood staring at the phone. Aurora and Ben had worked things out? The knot in his gut grew.
Gage looked down at his phone, wanting to call Aurora back and ask her if she was sure about her decision to reconcile, but he wasn’t in the right head space at that moment to hear about her and Ben’s reunion. He would touch base with her after she returned from her visit with her family, after he’d had time to process the news and could react less emotionally.
He continued up to the main lodge, where he stepped up onto the porch. But instead of going inside, he moved to stand at the railing, looking out over the land that he had spent most of his life traversing. His gaze came to the spot in the path where he and Aurora had taken their spill in the mud. She hadn’t panicked when she’d gotten mud all over herself. She never complained about the cold when she was here. Or the rain. Unlike his ex, Aurora thrived on the remoteness of Conley Island. Endured the elements with nothing but appreciation. Like the phenomenon she was named after, Aurora was a rare beauty.
He’d let her get away without telling her how he felt. Well, he’d opened up a little bit, but then he’d put that proverbial chain back on his heart’s door and given her all the reasons why things wouldn’t work between them. He’d been trying to woo her back through phone calls. Too slowly, it seemed. Because now it was too late. She and Ben had reconciled. The pain in his heart at losing her again, this time for good, nearly threatened to suck all the air from his lungs. How had he ever thought himself in love with Jess? He hadn’t felt anything close to what he felt after Aurora left Juneau. What he felt now. Aurora was the only one his heart had ever truly wanted.
The lodge’s main door opened, and Gage heard footsteps on the porch behind him. He stood silent, hoping whoever it was would just continue on their way to their cabin without trying to strike up friendly conversation. He wasn’t feeling sociable at that moment. Just empty.
