"Yeah, and maybe I need to shoot myself in the head," Kate said, "but it might kill me, so I guess I won't."

He grinned, although it seemed perfunctory.

"Whom did you talk to? Who asked you to quit?"

"Dean Wellington. The head guy in Anchorage. I'm not the only one. They're making a clean sweep, Kate, right through the ranks."

"Whom are they going to replace you with? 'Pro-development' and 'park ranger' don't exactly go together in the same sentence."

He shrugged. "If it was me, I'd replace me with a kid fresh out of college, inexperienced, malleable, easy to lead."

"Someone who will do what they're told without asking any of those annoying little questions like 'What are the adverse effects of a massive oil spill on a biome?' Without doing things like counting the bear population to see if there should or shouldn't be a hunt that fall?"

The grin had faded, and Dan looked tired and, for the first time since she'd known him, every one of his forty-nine years. "When's the last time you had a vacation?" she asked.

He rubbed his face again. "I was Outside in October." He dropped his hands and looked at her. "Family reunion."

She snorted. "That's not a vacation; that's indentured service. I mean a real vacation, white sand, blue sea, drinks with little paper umbrellas in them, served by somebody in a sarong."

"Gee, I don't know, that'd be about the same time you were there."

"I don't vacation," Kate said, "I hibernate. When?" He didn't answer. "Do me a favor, Dan. Don't say yes or no to your boss. Take some time off, and let me work an angle or two."

"Why?"

"Oh, for crissake." Kate stood up. Mutt gulped the last of her jerky and bounced to her feet, tail waving slightly. "I'm not going to sit around here and pander to your ego. Get out of town."

A genuine smile broke out this time. "That's good, since pandering to my ego isn't your best thing. I'm not going to get out of town, though, even though I am now officially terrified to say so."

"And why not?"

"I've got a girl."

"So what else is new?"

"No, Kate, I mean really. I've got a girl."

She estimated the wattage of the glow on his face. "Why, Daniel Patrick O'Brian, as I live and breathe. Are you, by any chance, in love?"

He laughed. He might even have blushed. "Argghh, the L word—don't scare me like that."

"Are you?"

"I don't know. I don't want to leave her, though."

"Who is she?"

"She's waiting tables at the Roadhouse. She's great, Kate. I've never met anyone like her. She loves the outdoors, she loves the wildlife, she hikes and mountain-bikes, and she's a good cross-country skier. She wants to learn how to climb and maybe take on Big Bump with me next summer. She's gorgeous, too." He paused. "I've got at least twenty years on her. I've been afraid to ask her how old she is. I don't know what she sees in me."