Alaska Skies. Debbie Macomber

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СКАЧАТЬ routinely ate breakfast at Ben’s, and the cook was as familiar with the air charter’s troubles as the brothers were themselves.

      Christian, the youngest O’Halloran, held his mug with both hands. “All right, if you won’t say it, I will,” he began, looking pointedly at Sawyer. “Ben’s right. Bringing a few women to Hard Luck would keep the crew happy.”

      Sawyer didn’t really disagree with him. “We’ve got a new schoolteacher coming. A woman.” As a member of the school board, Sawyer had read over Bethany Ross’s application and been impressed with her qualifications, but he wasn’t sure the state should have hired her. She’d been born and raised in California. He still hadn’t figured out why she’d applied for a teaching position north of the Arctic Circle.

      “I just hope this teacher isn’t like the last one,” John Henderson grumbled. “I flew her in, remember? I was as polite as could be, circled the area a bit, showed her the sights from the air, talked up the town. The woman wouldn’t even get off the plane.”

      “I’d still like to know what you said to her,” Christian muttered.

      “I didn’t say anything,” John insisted. “I mean, besides what I told you.” He squinted at Sawyer. “The new teacher’s not coming until August, is she?”

      “August,” Ben repeated. “One woman.” He readjusted the stained white apron around his thick waist. “I can see it now.”

      “See what?” Fool that he was, Sawyer had to ask. It went without saying that Ben would be more than happy to tell him.

      “One woman will cause more problems than she’ll solve,” Ben said in a portentous voice. “Think about it, Sawyer.”

      Sawyer didn’t want to think about it. All this talk of bringing in women made him uncomfortable.

      “One thing’s for sure, we’re not going to let John fly her in this time,” Ralph said scornfully. “I got first dibs.”

      He was answered by a loud chorus of “Like hell!” and “No way!”

      “Don’t squabble!” Sawyer shouted.

      Ben chuckled and slid a plate of sourdough hotcakes onto the counter toward Ralph.

      “See what I mean?” the cook said under his breath. “Your men are already fighting over the new teacher, and she isn’t even arriving for months.”

      Ralph lit into the hotcakes as if he hadn’t eaten in a week. Mouth full, he mumbled something about lonely bachelors.

      “All right, all right,” Sawyer conceded. “Bringing a few women to Hard Luck might be a good idea, but how do you suggest we persuade them to move up here?”

      “I guess we could advertise,” Christian said thoughtfully, then brightened. “Sure, we’ll advertise. It’s a good idea. I don’t know why we didn’t think of it sooner.”

      “Advertise?” Sawyer glared at his brother. “What do you mean, advertise?”

      “Well, we could put an ad in one of those glossy magazines women like to buy. You know, the kind with lifestyle articles.” He said the word almost reverently. “What I heard, it’s gotten to be the thing to place an ad about lonely men in Alaska seeking companionship.”

      “A friend of a friend sent his picture to one of ’em,” Ralph said excitedly, “and before he knew it, he had a sackful of letters. All from women eager to meet him.”

      “I want you to know right now I’m not taking off my shirt and posing for any damn picture,” Duke Porter said in an emphatic voice.

      “Getting your photograph in one of those magazines isn’t as easy as it sounds,” Ralph warned after swallowing a huge bite. He shrugged. “Not that I’ve tried or anything.”

      “Things are rarely as good as they sound,” Sawyer pointed out reasonably, pleased that at least one of his employees was thinking clearly.

      “Those women aren’t looking for pen pals, you know,” John said. “They’re after husbands, and they aren’t the type who can be picky, either, if you catch my drift.”

      “So? You guys aren’t exactly centerfold material yourselves,” Ben was quick to remind them. He pushed up the sleeves of his shirt and planted both hands on the counter.

      “As far as I can see,” Sawyer said, “we don’t have anything to offer women. It’s not like our good looks would induce them to move here, now is it?”

      John’s face fell with disappointment. “You’re probably right.”

      “What would work, then?” Christian asked. “We need to think positive, or we’re going to end up spending our lives alone.”

      “I don’t have any complaints about my life,” Sawyer told his brother. Christian’s enthusiasm for this crazy idea surprised him. Sawyer was willing to go along with it, but he didn’t have much faith in its success. For one thing, he wasn’t convinced there’d be any takers. And if there were, the presence of these women might create a whole new set of problems.

      “You’ve got to remember women aren’t that different from men,” Christian was saying, sounding like a TV talk-show expert.

      The others stared at him, and Christian laughed. “You know what I mean. You guys came up to Hard Luck, didn’t you? Even though we’re fifty miles north of the Arctic Circle.”

      “Sure,” Duke answered. “But the wages are the best around, and the living conditions aren’t bad.”

      “Wages,” Christian said, removing a pen from the pocket of his plaid shirt. He made a note on his paper napkin.

      “You aren’t thinking about paying women to move to Hard Luck, are you?” Sawyer would fight that idea tooth and nail. He’d be darned if he’d see his hard-earned cash wasted on such foolishness.

      “We could offer women jobs, couldn’t we?” Christian asked. He glanced around to gather support from the other pilots.

      “Doing what?” Sawyer demanded.

      “Well...” Frowning, his brother gnawed on the end of his pen. “You’ve been saying for a long time that we need to get the office organized. How about hiring a secretary? You and I have enough to do dealing with everything else. It’s a mess, and we can’t seem to get ahead.”

      Sawyer resisted the urge to suggest a correspondence course in time management. “All right,” he said grudgingly.

      The other pilots looked up from their breakfasts. They were beginning to take notice.

      “What about all those books your mother left behind after she married Frank?” Ben asked. “She donated them so Hard Luck could have a library.”

      Sawyer gritted his teeth. “A volunteer library.”

      “But someone’s got to organize it,” Christian said. “I’ve tried now and then, but whenever I start to get things straightened out, I’m overwhelmed. There must be a thousand books there.”

      Sawyer СКАЧАТЬ