Northern Escape

“I’ve set you up with Jenna for a manicure/pedicure this morning,” Merrilee said, patting her on the shoulder. “With everything going on, I thought you needed a pick-me-up. And there just aren’t that many opportunities to spoil a woman here.”

It was on the tip of Gus’s tongue to say she didn’t have time and mani/pedis weren’t her thing but then she reconsidered. Merrilee was so excited to be able to do something. She was a woman of action who needed to fix things. There was nothing she could do to get rid of Nick being here. Presenting Gus with this gift was about the only option available to Merrilee and whether Gus had the time to spare or not and regardless if it wasn’t her thing, Gus wasn’t going to rob Merrilee of the one way she felt able to make a difference.

Plus, sometimes you had to go with the flow. Just yesterday Jenna was going on about Gus’s nails and now this. So she pasted on a smile and said, “Thanks, Merrilee. That’s very thoughtful. When is my appointment?”

“Well, that’s the thing. It’s now. So Lucky and Mavis can run the show while you’re gone.” To steal one of Merrilee’s expressions, she looked pleased as punch. “Luellen canceled so Jenna can work you in if you can be there in ten minutes.”

Gus smiled at how happy Merrilee looked, especially considering how miserable she’d been yesterday. “Then I’d better head her way since things are covered here.”

She snagged her gloves, hat and coat.

“I hear you’ve got yourself a helper this evening.” Merrilee snorted in disgust. “He overheard me talking to Dalton and he was over here in a flash and not a ding-dang thing I could do about it. He’s a sneaky snake, that one. I’m sorry, Gus.”

Shrugging into her coat, Gus said, “Don’t worry about it. There was no way to get out of it.” An idea presented itself and Gus offered an evil smile. “But he’ll be sorry.”

“Really?”

She made an executive chef decision. “Oh, yes. He’s got a ton of onions to chop this afternoon.”

Merrilee laughed and then sobered. “Just be careful with him, Gus. He’s dangerous.”

“Yes, I know.” Merrilee would totally fall apart if she only knew just how dangerous, considering Gus had a heck of a time keeping her wits about her when he was around. Of all the men in the last four years, why him? Why now? Why the man who could, with one mention of her or her restaurant, tip Troy off to her whereabouts?

All she knew was he affected her in the most disconcerting way. Yep, Merrilee should be concerned. She tugged on her gloves and hat and they stepped out into the kitchen. “I’m running out for a bit,” she said to Lucky who could care less whether she went or stayed. Understandably, he liked to run his own kitchen during breakfast and lunch. He’d even talked to her about opening his own place in town but he wasn’t sure Good Riddance could support two restaurants and he didn’t want to cut into her business.

Merrilee patted her shoulder again. “Relax and enjoy. God knows you work hard enough.”

“I will and thanks again.” Impulsively she reached over and hugged the older woman.

“You’re welcome, honey.”

Merrilee headed back to the airstrip. With a wave toward Lucky, Gus left through the front door. She stepped out into the morning cold, hoping the walk from her place to Curl’s would help clear her head.

Despite being up late last night cleaning—not nearly as late as it might’ve been without Merrilee’s help—she’d awakened early this morning. She simply couldn’t seem to help herself. Sitting in bed, she’d logged on to her laptop and looked up Nick’s columns for the first time in four years.

He was still an excellent writer. His pieces displayed a wry sense of humor and painted a picture without being too lengthy, and he certainly had an eye for the unusual. Reading his column again made her long for a change of pace, something different. And she felt guilty as hell for even thinking that.

Good Riddance had proved a haven when she’d desperately needed one. Troy had been relentless in pursuing her. And—she could actually think about it now without going into full panic mode—he’d damn near raped her that last time he’d found her. She’d known then it was either take desperate measures to get away from him or one of them was going to die.

She loved the people here, although she’d never allow anyone to get too close. She was happy, but reading Nick’s column made her long for New York’s hustle and bustle. She missed more balanced seasons. She missed the outside world. And God help her, but she’d lain in her bed last night and realized just how much she missed sex.

Sex and travel and New York. The sex she could manage, not that she had yet, but it was doable. However, New York and travel were lost to her. It was too risky because the next time Troy found her, someone was likely to get seriously hurt and most likely she’d be the one who didn’t fare well.

She drew a deep breath. She should be content with the life she had here. It was a good life and a good town. She smiled at the whimsical moose heads mounted on the electric poles. You didn’t find those everywhere.

Good grief, she seriously needed to get out more. She hadn’t seen Tessa’s new sign in front of the video rental/screening room she was pulling together in the center of town. Gus rapped on the glass window and Tessa looked up from where she was cataloging DVD’s on a narrow shelf. Gus pointed to the sign above the door and gave a thumbs-up, mouthing, “Nice.”

Tessa laughed and mouthed back, “Thanks.”

Gus liked Tessa. She was genuine and it was nice to have another woman close to her age in town.

She crossed the street and entered Curl’s Taxidermy & Barber Shop & Beauty Salon & Mortuary. No doubt about it, Curl’s was … unique. Up front were two barber chairs. Over to the left of the chairs, Jenna had set up a small table and on the floor was a foot spa tub. About a dozen bottles of different colored nail polish sat on one corner of the table. The front room was cramped quarters because most of Curl’s business was done in the back. Gus sniffed. Curl’s place always smelled faintly of formaldehyde. Come to think of it, so did Curl.

Donna and Jenna looked up, both greeting her with hellos and smiles.

“I’m almost done with Donna. Can you give me a minute?” Jenna asked.

“Sure thing,” Gus said, shrugging out of her coat. She tossed her coat, gloves and hat in one of the two barber chairs up front and settled in the other.

A side door on the outside led to a large open room. That’s where the dead bodies were delivered, be they human or animal form. Gus would never forget Elmer Watkins keeling over dead at the table within a month of her opening the restaurant. Bull, Dalton, Clint and Nelson had carried Elmer down to Curl’s and put him out on a table in the back next to a table holding a bull moose that had been brought in for taxidermy. Curl had laid Elmer out in the back room in his best overalls and flannel shirt … and had put the bull moose standing at attention next to him, since they’d come in together and the moose hadn’t yet been picked up. Everyone had commented on how natural both of them looked.

No doubt about it, Curl could multitask. Luckily for him, he wasn’t usually required to perform in all his capacities at once.

“Jenna’s a miracle worker,” Donna said. “That last engine job was hell on my hands, even with gloves on. And Perry likes my nails looking nice.”

Once upon a time, pre-Good Riddance, Donna had been Don, star quarterback for his Midwestern college football team. Now Donna ran an engine repair shop across from the doctor’s office. Gus thought it was touching Donna had found love with a prospector named Perry who didn’t seem to mind a bit that Donna’s parts were of the add-on variety.

“Your nails do look better, that’s for sure,” Jenna said to Donna, admiring her handiwork.

“Where’s Curl?” Gus said.

Jenna wrinkled her nose. “He said he was skipping the hen party but actually he has a stuffing that has to be done for Henrietta Winters before Christmas.”

Gus smiled at Jenna’s “stuffing” terminology for Curl’s taxidermy job.

“Okey dokey, that’s got ya, Donna,” Jenna said. “Why don’t you switch places with Gus and give that a few minutes to dry and set before you head out?”

Donna stood. “I can’t. I’ve got to get back ’cause Rusty’s stopping by to talk about a carburetor problem we’ve got to get fixed before the snowmobile races, but I promise I’ll be extra careful.”

The door closed behind Donna and Jenna said, “You can go ahead and take off your boots and socks. Give me just a sec to reset my station.”

“Just tell me when,” Gus said.

She pulled off her shoes and socks, the air in Curl’s cool against her bare feet. Maybe this time with Nick wouldn’t be a bad thing. Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. He wasn’t exactly an enemy but … And as to the intense sexual attraction she’d felt for him, well, part of that had to be fueled by four years of abstinence coupled with the fact that once upon a time she’d been fairly infatuated with his writing. The odds were once she spent some time with him, she wouldn’t like the reality of him nearly as much as she’d liked the man she’d created in her head through his work.