North to Alaska

"You really are shameless, aren't you?" Lindsay said trying not to laugh.

"I just see what I want and..."

"Uh-huh. I know," she said closing her door and getting ready to start class.

The day flew by as Lindsay spent most of it going over classroom procedures several times as kids that age needed to say and do something over and over to make sure it stuck. Before she knew it, the final bell rang and she was heading outside to the bus area with her kids.

Leif had made it through the day without crying, but he hadn't said two words the entire time. School let out at 2:30 and parents were to be either in parent pick-up or the office by 2:45. It was 3 o'clock and Leif's dad was nowhere to be found.

"Come on. We'll go back inside the classroom and wait for your dad, okay?" She took his little hand and led him back to her room.

"Do you want to sit at your desk?" she asked.

And that's when it happened. Tears began falling and they wouldn't stop. Instinctively, Lindsay went to him. "Hey, it's okay, Leif. Come here," she said.

She pulled him up on her lap and held him. "Your dad will be here soon, okay?"

"I miss my mommy," he sobbed.

She put her hand on his hand and said, "Shhhh. It'll be okay. I'm here. You're safe."

Just then she saw a blue blur enter the room. "I am so, so sorry!" he said. "I had Gabe call Maya. Did she tell you I'd be late?"

"Ah! That explains it," Lindsay said carrying Leif over to his father. "He had a little meltdown. It just started, though. He did really good all day, didn't you, buddy?" she said as she handed him off.

"Sorry I'm late, big guy." He looked at Lindsay and said, "We had a near miss in an air-to-air exercise this morning and I thought we were going to have to conduct an investigation so I..."

"Oh, hey there!" they all heard Maya say. "Oh, yeah. Grant's gonna be a little late today. Sorry?" she said making some kind of gesture to make her having failed to mention it earlier go away.

"Maya, you have to tell me things like that!" Lindsay said the exasperation in her voice showing through.

"Okay. Okay. It's my first day teaching. Ever," she said defensively.

"Thank you for watching my best buddy, Ms. Rollings. I truly appreciate it."

"Oh, it's no problem," she told him honestly. She put her hand on Leif's back and said, "Everything's gonna be okay. I promise." He didn't turn around so Lindsay just say, "I'll see you tomorrow then okay, Leif?"

"Can you say 'okay' to Ms. Rollings?" Grant asked.

"Okay," he said very quietly as his dad picked him up.

"Well, thanks again. I'd say I'm never late to anything but..."

"It's fine. Really," Lindsay told him.

Hendricks hesitated then said, "Is there any chance I could possibly get your number? You know, so this doesn't happen again?"

Maya was smiling her evil smile while Lindsay said directly, "Of course. That's probably something you should have anyway." She jotted it down on a yellow sticky and handed to Grant.

He thanked her then said goodbye. Before Grant was out the door, Maya couldn't help herself. "You think he's hot, don't you? I can see it in your eyes! You do!"

Lindsay was mortified when Grant looked over his shoulder just as he walked out and smiled at her.

"What in God's name is wrong with you?" she said scolding her sister.

"With me? I'm not the one who needs to get laid so bad it shows. Me? Hah!" she said as she walked back to her own classroom. She turned at the door and said, "Guess who has a date for Friday night, by the way? Hint: not you." She flipped her hair and walked off.

Lindsay wanted to shout, "Bitch!" and had they been anywhere but school...

Wednesday and Thursday also proved uneventful as far as Leif was concerned, but Friday he had another meltdown. This one happened during lunch. When he wouldn't stop crying when they got back to class, she sent him to the nurse's office to see if a change of venue might help calm him down.

Twenty minutes later, the nurse walked him back and let Lindsay know he seemed to be doing better. But just before school ended, he had yet another episode and the crying jag got very serious. She hated calling parents for this kind of thing, but in this case, she thought his dad would want to know.

"Um...okay. I'll be right there," he told her. "I was gonna have the nanny pick him up, but I think it would be better if I showed up myself."

Maya was sitting with them when Grant arrived again. She'd been trying to play peek-a-boo with Leif to get him to laugh or at least stop crying, but the only thing that worked was when Lindsay held him.

"Another hard day, champ?" he asked when he took his son from Lindsay's lap.

"I want Mommy," he said before the sobbing began again.

"She's the only one who can calm him down," Maya said pointing to Lindsay.

"Let me walk out with you," Lindsay offered as she also held out her arms to Leif who accepted her offer.

"It's okay, buddy," Hendricks said as he passed his son to his teacher. "Daddy's here, okay?"

Maya invited herself to walk with them and when they got out to Grant's car he took Leif and managed to get him in his car seat without more tears.

"You're really good with him," he said after he closed Leif's door. "Too bad you're not available as his nanny. I love Ophelia, but she can't help him."

There was an awkward pause before Maya said, "Then ask my sister out. She likes guys your..."

"Maya! Don't you dare!" Lindsay said ready to die of embarrassment.

"What? I was going to say...mature...men. That's all. What's wrong with that?"

If looks could kill, Maya would be dead.

"Um...I should probably get out of here and leave you two to work this out," Grant said sheepishly.

"She really would say 'yes' if you asked her," Maya said refusing to let it go.

Grant couldn't help but laugh as he got ready to get into the car.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Hendricks, but if I'm not here on Monday it'll be because I'm in jail. Oh, and my sister will be in the morgue." Lindsay just glared at Maya as she spoke.

"I'm giving Gabe her number tonight so you can call her, Grant," Maya said as Lindsay withering stare had no effect.

Hendricks got in his car and waved while Maya hollered, "She really will say 'yes' so..." She did the thumb in her ear/pinky in her mouth 'call me' thing as Lindsay literally drug her off.

Lindsay refused to even talk to her on the ride home, slamming first her car door and then her apartment door as Maya continued trying to get back into her good graces. She stood outside her sister's apartment and kept going.

"Fine! Run away. But guess who's gonna get laid again tonight while you sit home alone watching some sad movie on the Hallmark Channel? Oh, right. Never mind. They don't even GET the Hallmark Channel up here!"

Maya stormed off to her room while Lindsay opened a bottle of wine and poured herself a glass. Thirty minutes later, she poured a second and fought off tears herself.

She was halfway through it when her phone rang. "Hello?" she said not paying attention to the caller ID.

"Ms. Rollings? Hi. This is Grant. Hendricks."

"Oh, my God!" Lindsay blurted out.

"Um...gee. I know I'm not young and dashingly handsome anymore, but I don't usually get that kind of reaction from beautiful women."

"Oh, no! I'm so sorry. I didn't mean it like that. I love my sister, but sometimes I really could just...strangle her!"

Hendricks laughed before Lindsay said, "Maya really did give Gabe my number, didn't she?"

"And he really did give it to me. I'd apologize for calling, but I'm actually not sorry I did," he told her.

"You're not?" she said, the wine finally hitting her on her empty stomach.

"No, not at all," he told her truthfully. There was a moment of silence before he said, "I was hoping maybe your sister was right."

"About?" Lindsay said not too tipsy to understand exactly what he meant but not wanting to admit it.

"Well, first all, she is right about you being able to calm Gabe down. But I'd never use my son as an excuse to ask someone out."

"Are you asking me out?" Lindsay said, her head spinning slightly as her heart began to beat more rapidly.

"I haven't gone on a date in well, a whole lot of years, but I would really like to go out with you sometime, Ms. Rollings."

"Well, Mr. Hendricks, it's been a while since I've been on a date myself so..."

"Great! So is tomorrow evening too soon?"

"Um, wow. Tomorrow? Um, well, no. I guess not. Um, sure. That sounds fine," Lindsay said finding herself smiling for the first time in quite a while.

"There's just one little problem. I don't have a babysitter lined up."

"Oh. Um, I thought you had a nanny?"

"I did. She quit today when Gabe wouldn't stop crying."

"I'm sorry. That's gotta be just awful."

"It is, but it's my problem. The thing for us...I mean for you and me and this...date...is I can't really take you out anywhere. So I was wondering if maybe I could make dinner for you at my place if that's..."

"That sounds nice," Lindsay said. "I'd like that, Mr. Hendricks."

"You'll have to agree to call me Grant, though," he told her. She could tell he was smiling and that made her smile, too.

"Okay...Grant. And I'm Lindsay," she told him.

"Okay...Lindsay. Can I maybe pick you up around 7?"

"Or I could come to your place so you don't have to get Leif in and out of the car twice. I don't mind at all."

"You know, Maya told me you're awesome."

"Maya told you that?" she asked not understanding.

"Well, yes. Actually, she called me herself a few minutes ago and talked me into calling you. She's a force to be reckoned with," he said with a chuckle. "Oh, I'm supposed to tell you she's really, really, really sorry for embarrassing you today."

Lindsay couldn't help but smile and almost felt herself tearing up. "That's my sister. She meddles endlessly yet she truly means well."

"I'm kind of glad she meddles," Grant said in a happy kind of way.

"She has her moments," Lindsay said just as there was a loud knock on her door. "Speaking of the devil."

Lindsay cracked the door with one hand and held the phone with the other. "Is that your hot guy on the phone?" she said loudly enough for Grant to hear through the door. She saw Gabe standing next to her who smiled but didn't speak. "It is, isn't it? Hi, Grant!" she said loudly. "Gabe and I are going out to dinner. I hope you got my uptight sister to say 'yes'!"

Lindsay just glared but Maya knew. "You did say 'yes', didn't you?" She looked at Lindsay and then she was sure. "You did! I knew it!" Even louder she called out, "Have fun, you two!"

Lindsay heard Grant chuckling again as Maya walked away hand in hand with Gabe.

"Sorry about that," Lindsay finally said.

"Don't be. I really like Maya. Not as much as her sister, but she's pretty awesome, too."

Lindsay sighed and said, "Yes, she is. In that annoying-as-hell kind of way."

Grant laughed then said, "I'll text you my address, okay?"

"Okay," Lindsay said softly. "I'm glad you called, Grant."

"Yeah. Me, too. Remind me to thank Maya next time I see her, would you?"

Both of them laughed before wishing each other a good night.

No longer needing the wine, Lindsay poured the rest down the drain and curled up with a book she'd been wanting to read for some time, but found herself having trouble concentrating. She blamed the wine but knew the real reason. She put the book down and finally went and got something to eat before giving up and going to bed early.

As she lay there trying to fall asleep she couldn't help but wonder if moving to Alaska possibly had some kind of greater purpose. She was in no real hurry to find someone new, but what if she'd been brought there because 'he' was there and as crazy as that seemed, what if the very first man she found attractive, appealing, and interesting was 'him'? She wasn't overtly religious. In fact, she never attended church services, but there was this nagging voice in her head that kept asking, "What if?"

"What if?" she said out loud just before finally falling into a deep sleep.

Lindsay thought she was dreaming when she heard a loud noise that woke her up. When se heard it again, she knew it wasn't something but someone.

"Lindsay? Are you awake? Lindsay?"

"I swear I'm going to kill her," she said as she grabbed her robe and went to the door. "Unless a neighbor kills her first."

"Lindsay? Open up. It's me, Ma..."

"Maya! What is wrong with you? Get in here and stop banging on the door!" The blast of cold morning air hit her and Lindsay said, "Burr. It's freezing out there!" It was a balmy 39 degrees outside. The overnight low had dropped almost ten degrees from the previous morning. Winter was well on its way.

Without waiting, Maya walked in and launched into another dissertation.

"Okay, so last night, Gabe took me to the officer's club on base. It was really nice, by the way. And I'm putting on the charm all night, right? I'm making it very clear I'm very interested and...very available."

Lindsay cut her off saying, "You don't sound like you need any coffee, but I do. I'm gonna make a pot so I can try and wake up while I listen to your rant."

"Rant? I'm not ranting. Well, maybe a little. But okay, so we finally get back here and he still hasn't even kissed me, you know? So I lean over and kiss him while we're still in the car."

"Uh-huh. And?"

"And nothing! He asks if he can walk me to the door, so of course I tell him he can. Then we get there and he tells me 'goodnight.' So I kiss him again and he smiles and this is what's just unbelievable. He tells me, 'Slow down. There's no hurry. I really like you, Maya, so there's no need to rush.' Can you believe that? A guy like him turns down a freebie with a girl like me. Seriously?"

The coffee wasn't even close to being ready, but Lindsay was desperate so she pulled the pot out which stopped the flow and poured herself a cup. "You want one?"

"No. I don't want coffee. I want sex. I want Gabe! Seriously, can you believe that?"

Lindsay sat down, took a sip, then said, "He sounds like a gentleman to me."

"A gentleman? I don't want a gentle man. I don't like it...gentle. I like it..."

"Okay, okay. I get it. You didn't...get it. So now what? Are you going to move on because you didn't?"

"Oh, no! No way. I'm gonna win this battle. Oh, I'm gonna get it all right. We're going out again on Wednesday and momma is gettin' herself some of that. You can take that to the bank!"

"Is that it?" Lindsay asked already worn out.

"I guess," Maya said feeling like her balloon had just been popped. "I was hoping for a little support."

"That's what I gave you, Maya. A little support." Maya stuck her tongue out and Lindsay said, "What's wrong with taking it slow if you really like him? Sounds like he's got a valid point to me."

"Oh, sure. Take his side. Stab your sister, your own flesh and blood, in the back and side with the guy. Nice, Lindsay. Real nice. I follow you up here to the ends of the earth and you abandon me in my time of greatest need."

"Jesus, Maya. Drama queen much?" she said taking another sip. "Sex is great, but don't you want love? And maybe a family?"

"I'm 22 freaking years old! Why would I want a family when all I need—or want—is sex? Really, really good, hot freaking sex. Did you see how cute he is? Oh, my God! I would have rocked his world. I'd have..."

"Spare me the details, okay? I know how sex works, remember?"

"Oh, right. I forgot you've had it once or twice in your life. Just not with...Richard, right? What an uptight...douche bag. I was gonna say something else, but I decided to be nice for once."

"Gee, thanks," Lindsay said.

"Speaking of your non-existent love life, what are you and hot Old Guy doing on your date?"

"He's making dinner for us at his house tonight, thank you very much."

Maya made another face and said, "Bor-ring! I mean, could you do anything any more predictable and unoriginal?"

"It sounds perfectly normal and rather wonderful to me," Lindsay told her. "Oh, I'm also pretty sure he's every bit as much a gentleman as Gabe. In fact, I'm kind of liking these military men."

"Yeah. The few, the proud, the wimps," Maya quipped.

"I'm pretty sure that's the Marines' slogan and I'm pretty sure they're not wimps."

"Yeah, well Gabe is. Or maybe he's just...limp. Do guys his age have trouble, you know, getting it up? Maybe he needs a Viagra or something."

Lindsay almost spewed her coffee thinking about a guy his age needing drugs for that purpose. "I'm pretty sure he's um...fully functional. Maybe he's looking more for a wife rather than a quick roll in the hay. Did you even think of that?"

"Ugh! He's too young to get married. He's like...26 years old which is just about too old for me. Besides, who gets married before they're 30 these days? No one, that's who!"

"Your such a pain sometimes," Lindsay said. "But you're my pain, so I guess I'm stuck with you. Did you notice how cold it got overnight?"

"Oh, that. Yeah, I guess. I kind of had other things on my mind, but it was pretty chilly out there. I guess we can put the bikinis away for a while."

"By the end of September the average high will only be 45 degrees." She looked at her sister then said, "Okay, whose bright idea was this anyway?" Both of them laughed then Maya said she thought she might like a cup of coffee.

The skies were a leaden gray when Lindsay drove to the address Grant had given her. His house was five miles toward Eielson Air Base to the southeast. As far as Fairbanks went, it was a reasonably nice-looking house, but homes up here had a very different look to them. "Probably to deal with the hundred feet of snow," Lindsay mused before laughing at sounding like her sister.

She pulled into his driveway, took a quick look in the mirror, then picked up the bottle of red wine she'd brought with her. She was wearing a pink sweater over a white blouse with jeans and even then she was too cold to go inside without her coat, and it was still only mid-September.

She knocked and within two seconds, a smiling Grant Hendricks opened the door. "Hi, Lindsay. Please come in," he told her. "Can I get your coat?"

"Oh, thanks," she told him. "But first let me give this to you."

"You didn't have to do that," he told her. "But thank you." He helped her with her coat and said, "You look very nice."

"Thank you. You, too. I've never seen you in anything but your uniform." He was wearing a very nice button-down, long sleeved shirt and a pair of jeans and Lindsay couldn't help but notice he still had a very nicely-tapered body. She also couldn't help but notice that amazing smile and his short-but-thick dark hair which still had no traces of gray in it even around the temples.

"Nice place," she told him as she admired the decor.

"My wife...my ex-wife...did all the decorating," he told her.

"I didn't realize you were already divorced," she told him.

"It was very accelerated. When she failed to show up for the custody hearing in June, the judge granted me full temporary custody. My attorney submitted a motion to have the divorce decree expedited, and when I returned two months later and she didn't show for that hearing, I got permanent full custody and the divorce was granted."

"So where's Leif?" she asked.

"He fell asleep. He had another...episode. But I do need to wake him up for dinner. You want to come with me?"

"Sure," she said following him down the hall.

Hendricks kneeled down and gently touched Leif. "Hey, buddy. Time to wake up for dinner."

"I don't want dinner," he said without opening his eyes.

"We have a visitor," he told his son.

"We do?" he said opening one eye. He saw Lindsay standing there and both eyes opened wide. "Ms. Rollings is here?" He slid out of bed and ran to her and threw his arms around her legs.