In six months, Gwen Johnston turns thirty, and when she does, she vows she'll have her life together. She'll no longer be jumping from one job to another, from one relationship to the next. A new, more mature, Gwen will have emerged. She's giving he...
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The morning after Herb returns from head office, he comes to see me to tell me Blake isn't in the DRC, but he can't tell me, due to confidentiality, where he is, only that he's safe. The weight that comes off me is enormous, and while I want to pepper him with five hundred other questions, I'm just grateful to know he's okay.
Later that afternoon, Herb mentions that his friend owns a dog sledding company, and he wonders whether I might be interested in giving it a try on the weekend.
"With you?" I ask, skeptical. He's not married, and even though he helped me get my book to Blake, I don't want him to get the wrong impression. The last thing I need is some awkward workplace dynamics.
"Not with me," he says with a smile. "But I can get you there. My friend had a cancellation. Thought you might like the Canadian experience."
When I don't immediately say yes, he seems to search for more to tell me.
"It's an overnight thing. Run the dogs to some outbuildings. Stay the night. Run them back. There's dinner and breakfast included."
"Your friend isn't a murderer or anything?" When I had Blake, I rarely worried about anything, but this is a base level question. No ax wielding dog sledding murderers. Might pack my bear spray just in case.
"Upstanding, regular citizen." Herb's lips twitch. "No murdering."
"It's not just me."
"It's not just you."
"All right," I say. "I'm in. Saturday?"
"Saturday. I'll pick you up here around noon and drive you to the location."
I take a deep breath before I turn back to my work on the computer. Maybe this will be just what I need, something to break me out of this heartbreak funk. Dog sledding was something Blake and I talked about on our trip, but we were traveling during the wrong season.
Other than coming here, I haven't been on any adventures since we went our separate ways. Adventure used to be my default setting.
If Blake didn't go to the DRC, then it's pretty clear he was just saying "no" to me and not the circumstances around us. And that means I really do need to find a way to let him go, to stop carrying the flicker of hope so deep in my heart.
~ * ~
Since I'm fairly new to the area, I don't realize we're going to the airstrip until we're already turning down the road to take us there, signs proclaiming air traffic ahead.
"The sled dogs are at the airport?"
"You're catching a commuter plane to Nunavut. Did I forget to mention that?"
"Uh, yeah, you did. You're sure this isn't a murder situation?"
"Positive," he says with a chuckle. "No one is going to murder you."
