“Oh, I thought you were Maggie.”
“I’m both!” The little girl giggled.
Cole handed the book to her mom. “Okay then, Maggie and Dora the Explorer. Can you show me where you hurt?”
The little girl lifted up her skirt to her knee, revealing a cut that clearly needed stitches.
“Okay. Let me get my pack full of stuff to fix your ouchie.”
“Will it hurt?”
“Only a tiny bit, I promise.”
As Cole sewed up Maggie’s leg, his mind began to dwell on Sashi. Was she okay? What was she doing? He couldn’t wait to kiss her again.
Chapter Three
Sashi went into the two-story A-frame cabin to join Kendra. She decided their summer’s rigorous work schedule still hadn’t been as hard as working for a real dance company. And the fourteen- to sixteen-hour workdays did mean more money, although Kendra had just about died trying to keep up and had lost ten pounds this summer.
As soon as the reality of their situation had taken hold, Kendra probably would have left if she hadn’t known Sashi needed the money so desperately. It had been fortunate for Sashi that Kendra had decided to follow Freddy up here. Last spring she’d broached the idea with Sashi of coming up to Alaska for fun, friendship, adventure and money.
Stepping over their gear, Sashi made a mental note to put the gear away after she’d had a talk with Kendra. But she couldn’t find her.
“Kendra?” No answer. Her friend must have gone to the outhouse. “Ahh, rustic joys of Alaskan life,” Sashi muttered.
As she started out the door to look for her, Kendra suddenly pushed past her with eyes full of tears. She ran to the window seat. “I don’t think he’s coming.”
Sashi sat beside her friend. Tears gushed down Kendra’s cheeks. Sashi grabbed the bandanna she’d been carrying in her pocket and began to dab at her friend’s face.
“What’s going on, Kendra? Tell me.”
Kendra looked at her before she closed her eyes and breathed deeply. “I just know Freddy isn’t going to come. It’s already three o’clock. If he were going to be here, I think he’d have shown up by now.”
Sashi looked into her friend’s big brown eyes. How could there be so much sadness? “I bet he’s just running late. I’ve never seen a guy who lived as much on the edge as Freddy.”
At that moment they heard the sound of a plane coming in.
Kendra jumped up and ran out of the cabin, Sashi following. “It’s Freddy!” Kendra cried. “He came.” And sure enough, within seconds Freddy’s plane made its descent onto the unspoiled lake.
As the group who had come for the night disembarked from the plane, Sashi saw her friend stop in her tracks.
“What’s going on?” Sashi asked her. “Why did you stop?”
Kendra gestured in the direction of the plane. Sashi looked and instantly knew. Freddy was unloading the plane, yet he hugged Blake every chance he got.
“Is this a joke?” Sashi was taken aback. She stared at her friend.
Kendra’s eyes filled with tears. “Obviously it’s not,” she said. Kendra turned and walked back into the cabin.
There was something different about Kendra today, Sashi thought, something more than her friend just being hurt by Freddy’s actions once again. Sashi couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but it was there.
Over the next hour the group unloaded the plane and had the cabin ready for their big going-away party tonight. It was to be a keg party. Keggers were extremely childish affairs to Sashi, even though she’d been to many as a young college student. She wouldn’t have thought it was the right kind of party to have out in the middle of the Alaskan bush!
Sure it was fun to see Natalie, Bridgette and the boys. But when she saw Freddy with his hands all over Blake, Sashi was appalled. How could someone be so cruel? Why didn’t he just let Kendra go?
The large cabin easily held the group of eight. When most of the crowd started their partying, Sashi went to look for Kendra. She found her crying on a bench overlooking the lake.
“Kendra, all I have to say is Freddy is an SOB! At least you found out now and not later when you got closer to him.”
“Sashi, you don’t understand all that’s going on here.” Kendra looked at Sashi helplessly.
“Then explain it to me,” Sashi said.
“I can’t. I have to talk to Freddy first. But right now I’m too tired.”
“All right. Why don’t we go take a nap and you can talk to Freddy later. I know you were up at five this morning. And then let’s go explore those limestone caves near the cabin Joe told us about. Apparently some of them have petroglyphs few people have ever seen.”
The two of them headed into the cabin loft and within minutes Kendra was snuggled into her sleeping bag and fast asleep. Sashi crawled into her own sleeping bag, thinking that looking at caves sounded just like the kind of thing her friend needed to do in order to get her mind off Freddy. And a nap might help clear her thoughts and get her back in tune with herself. Soon Sashi drifted off.
When she woke up, the light was dimming. What time was it? She checked her watch. Seven o’clock.
She stretched and looked over at her friend’s bunk. It was empty. Kendra must have got up and gone downstairs. Sashi climbed out of her sleeping bag and quickly threw on a thermal vest. The temperature in the cabin was beginning to drop. Her cross trainers were next to her. She put them on and headed downstairs.
The main room was warm but full of people acting like fools. Sashi walked up to Bridgette. “Do you know where Kendra is?”
With blurry eyes and a silly smile, Bridgette pointed to the back bedroom. “In there.” Bridgette began to sway back and forth to the music of the guitar one of the guys had brought.
Sashi headed back to the bedroom, where she could hear loud voices. She tried to open the door but it was locked. “Kendra? Are you okay?”
In a flash, eyes wide, Kendra flew out of the bedroom, through the main room, then right out the door. She took off at a brisk pace and Sashi struggled to keep up with her.
“Kendra, what’s going on? What were you and Freddy fighting about? Where are you going?”
“I just need to get out of the house! Apparently Freddy proposed to Blake! I can’t take it anymore!”
Now that it was almost September, the days were getting shorter. It would be dark soon, and it was imperative Sashi get them back to the cabin. The later it got, the greater their chances of encountering bears. It was after seven o’clock.
The emerald rain forest had taken on darker hues. Sashi could hear ravens, eagles, larks and other types of wildlife in the bush. The canopy of tall cedars and aspen was dense and she couldn’t see the sky.
Kendra had charged on ahead. To reach her, Sashi had to bat her way through a grouping of hemlocks, then climb a grassy slope to a copse of trees, where there was a jutting of rock concealing limestone caves. Finally she caught up to Kendra again. Sashi tapped her on the shoulder to let her know she was there.
Kendra turned to her, but her face suddenly froze in terror.
“What’s wrong?”
“B-b-b-ear!” She screamed.
Sashi stood still. She realized they’d broken every rule in the guidebooks and she didn’t even have any bear mace on her.
“Kendra, we need to be calm and speak softly,” she