"Oh, no, girl! No handshake for us, we know each other too well for that!" And Kara found herself enveloped in a huge bear hug. It was as if one of her fathers was hugging her, only he was eight inches shorter.
"So, how is Carmen?" Kara asked after his eight-year-old granddaughter, whom he was helping his daughter to raise.
"She's doing great. She has decided that she wants to be a bull rider!" He laughed.
"I thought it was an astronaut," Kara said.
"I think she's going through the alphabet. Next week, I'm expecting cowgirl, then the week after that, it'll be a diver."
"She's ambitious! I never made it past the A's." Nate raised his eyebrow. "Artist," Kara explained.
"Well, Miss Artist, let's get you to my studio so you can explain to me how you have been doing some of your molds. I'm really interested to learn how you've been able to get your glass so thin."
"I want to see how you mix your chemicals. I must be doing something wrong, because even when I mix it like you tell me to, I don't get your colors," she griped.
"It's the sand. It's always the sand," Nate said.
"Probably," Kara agreed. Nate ushered her to his light-blue pickup that had obviously seen better days. She approved. She loved old vehicles, they had character. "How long does it take to get to your studio?" she asked.
"Not long," he assured her as he put a cassette into the tape deck. Willie Nelson came crooning through the speakers and then they were off.
She loved his studio. It looked like a huge steel pipe cut in half and plopped down on the ground. "What are these called again?" she asked.
"These are Quonset huts. The Army used them during the war. They're really easy to build." He ushered her inside. Both ends were open, so he had plenty of light.
"What about during the winter, doesn't it get cold?" Kara asked.
"It only gets to about thirty-two degrees during the winter, here in the Sitka area. So, I can close the doors at each end. But most days, as long as it's not windy, I keep ‘em open. The kiln and the furnace keep it warm enough. Heck, isn't that the same temperature you have down there in Fate Harbor?" Kara realized he was right and nodded.
They ended up working until sunset, which was eight thirty. They stopped only for dinner, some chili that he had warming in a crockpot. His glass was stunning. Kara found that his measurements on the chemicals were a little different than what he had e-mailed her. He improvised with additional little pinches here and there, based on how he was feeling. Her obsessive-compulsive nature always had her following a formula exactly, which she now realized limited her when it came to the colors she wanted to create.
"Girl, experimentation is part of the fun," he enthused.
"But how can you recreate what you did, if you don't use the exact same formula every time?" Kara lamented.
"Who wants to recreate the same old thing?" Nate asked. "I want everything to be new each time, don't you? I like to be surprised!" It was a totally foreign concept to Kara, and she was going to have to consider it. Nate drove her back to the lodge after sunset.
"Why isn't it dark?" she asked.
"Twilight lasts nearly all night this time of year. It takes people a long time to get used to it. They have blackout curtains in your room, but your body still knows that it's light outside and won't want to rest. You'll find that you won't sleep as much. Probably between the fourth or sixth day you'll sleep twelve or thirteen hours to make up for all the sleep you've lost."
"Good to know." Kara smiled. When Nate dropped her off, she found that he was right. Although it was ten o'clock and she had put in a hard day of labor, and had gotten up at four thirty to go fishing with her brothers, she wasn't tired.
"I'll pick you up tomorrow at ten. Try to sleep in."
"Thanks, Nate, I had fun." Kara waved and headed into the lodge, making a beeline for the fridge. She got a big glass of milk and found a plate of chocolate chip cookies.
The next morning she made it to the lobby in time for the early breakfast. Her brothers asked if she wanted to go fishing again, but she said she wanted to get some sketching done instead. She headed down to the beach and found a tide pool, where she sat down on a large piece of driftwood and got lost in sketching.
"Whatcha doing?" She looked up to see the prettiest brown eyes gazing at her. The young girl had the look of a Native American, so Kara guessed she was one of the local Tlingit people, since they were the predominate tribe in Sitka. The girl looked to be about four years old, and she was a much better subject then the starfish and sand dollars Kara had been sketching. Kara felt her fingers aching to sketch her. That was when the child's question registered.
"I'm drawing pictures. Do you want to see?" she asked.
"Yes, please." The little girl sidled up next to her and sat down on the log, peering at the sketchbook. Kara started flipping through the pages, pausing to answer the child's questions.
"Why did you draw five different perspectives of that one?" a deep voice behind her asked, causing Kara to jerk around in surprise. The man was down on one knee, silent as a sentinel, looking over her shoulder. How could she not have felt his presence, now that she saw him? It was as if he filled up her entire field of vision, and everything else dropped away. He had the same eyes as the child, only deeper. He had seen more, lived more, knew more, saw more … saw her.
He cleared his throat and then asked again, "Why the five perspectives?"
"I'm going to sculpt this one, so I can make a model," Kara explained.
"What's sculp?" the little girl asked.
Kara pulled her gaze away from the man and smiled down at the girl.
"Have you ever made a sand castle?" At the little girl's enthusiastic nod, Kara said, "Well, then, you've sculpted. Your sand castle is a sculpture. Instead of just drawing a picture of something you make it more real, by sculpting it," Kara explained.
"I sculped Unca Ben's face in the sand, too. Didn't I, Unca Ben?" The girl looked to the big man for affirmation.
"You sure did, button. You did a great job!" Kara watched as the child glowed under the praise of her uncle. Kara was relieved to hear that he was her uncle and not her father. She glanced at his hands and saw no ring on his finger. When she looked up again, she found him grinning. She'd been caught, and then her damn Nordic skin gave her away as she turned beet red.
"Hey, don't feel so bad, that was one of the first things I looked for, too," he admitted, tipping his hand at her bare ring finger. "You are single, right?" Oh God, he is blunt! Kara thought she liked it. She slowly nodded her head.
"What's single?" the little girl asked.
"That means I'm going to ask this woman her name and see if she wants to go to dinner with me," the man explained, still kneeling in the moist, gravelly sand of the Alaskan beaches.
"My name is Alice Shotbrook," the little girl piped up. Kara turned to her and held out her hand.
"Hello, Alice Shotbrook. My name is Kara Johansen. It is very nice to meet you." The girl pumped her hand twice and then gave a big grin.
"He's Unca Ben, like the rice." Kara turned to the handsome man with the twinkling chocolate eyes, broad forehead, high cheekbones, razor-sharp nose, and black flowing hair. Now there is the perfect model for me to sketch!
"Hello, Uncle Ben. It's nice to meet you, too," she said, holding out her hand. He was gorgeous and he wanted to take her out!
"Why don't you just call me Ben, and I'll call you Kara?" That deep bass voice echoed along her nerve endings, only allowing her the ability to nod. He smiled at her. "So how about it, can I take you to dinner tonight?" Kara's face fell.
"I have plans. In fact I have plans all week." She watched the disappointment flit across Ben's face. "But, I'm available all day Saturday and Sunday," Kara declared. She was gratified to see his face light up. It seemed he was as smitten as she was.
"What hotel are you staying at?" he asked.
"I'm staying at the lodge," Kara explained.
"How's Lacy treating you?
"She's been wonderful! She doesn't mind the odd hours I keep, nor the fact that I keep missing meal times. She even lets me raid the refrigerator." Kara smiled.
"How about I take you to breakfast on Saturday? What time can I pick you up?" Ben asked.
"I've been getting up early, is that good for you?"
"How about six thirty, then?" he proposed.
"Perfect."
"Unca Ben, I hafta go to the bafroom," Alice said.
"And I have to get back to the lodge. Nate's going to be picking me up soon," Kara said.
"Nate Lussun? So you make glass sculpture like he does?" Ben asked.