“Let’s not lose contact this time when you return to your life, okay?” Cassie said, extending her wine bottle in toast.

Erika clinked hers against it with a nod, unable to verbalize the promise. Despite all her best intentions, she knew herself, and the vow had a good chance of getting broken.

* * *

REED LOCKED UP the bar after midnight. Main Street was nearly empty as he walked to his truck. Except for a few tourists taking pictures near the ten-foot Christmas tree at town hall, all was silent. It was one of his favorite times of day. Late at night, Main Street was a ghost town, the snow falling in the illumination of the streetlights the only movement. Usually it was alive with holiday shoppers, festive music playing on the storefronts’ outdoor speakers, so the stillness normally calmed him. But tonight, he was restless.

And he knew the cause. Erika.

He’d hoped she would come into the bar that evening so they could have a normal, nonsexually charged exchange—just one that might help to ease the dull throbbing in his pants that she stirred with her offensive obliviousness. If they could move into a friendlier, platonic territory, then maybe the sparks flying between them would sizzle out. His goal was to be polite, nonargumentative and as distant as possible the next time he saw her. No more interfering with whatever she and Tyler could possibly have going...and just mind his own business.

But she hadn’t come in.

Driving past his sister’s place, he saw the lights in her condo still on. They were still awake. He could stop by...

For what?

He kept driving and arrived at his own apartment a few minutes later. Going inside, he tossed his keys onto the entrance table and his coat over the back of his old, worn recliner in the living room—it had once belonged to his father and despite the man disappearing years before, Reed had been unable to blame the chair. It was comfortable. He’d needed furniture when he’d first moved out on his own, so he’d kept it.

Sitting at his desk, he opened his laptop and navigated to the Alaska Search and Rescue Board website, scrolling through the list of outback S & R organizations. That week’s rescues and mission reports were slightly longer than usual—typical of this time of year when tourists and less experienced skiers and hikers flocked to the mountains. He quickly scanned the ones near Wild River, Willow Lake and surrounding areas, but as usual didn’t find what he was looking for.

Shutting down the website, he sat back in the chair and sighed. It was fifteen years ago. He had to let it go. Let him go.

If only he could understand what had happened to his father. So many times he’d replayed that day in his mind, but he couldn’t find that clue, that missing piece, that indication that something was off.

His father had been leaving for work before dawn, heading to Whitestone Logging Camp where he’d spend two weeks on duty before heading home again for a week. He’d come into Reed’s bedroom to say goodbye. He’d seemed to be in a good mood. Nothing was out of the ordinary. Reed had been half-awake and had mumbled a few words before going back to sleep.