When a sufficient amount of time had passed, she reached for the thermometer, turning on the diamond willow lamp to read the number. Her brows rose. “Don’t have a temperature, huh?” She held the thermometer out for him to read.
“That hardly counts.” It was barely a hundred.
She harrumphed and shook down the thermometer and then set it on the nightstand. “Let’s see how you react to the pills you just took.” She turned off the light and walked around the bed to the corner rocking chair, curling into it and wrapping the crocheted afghan tight around her shoulders.
“You don’t have to stay,” Aidan said.
She scowled at him. “I promised Eva, and I don’t mess with that chick.”
“How long have she and Lynx been married?”
“Three years.” She fidgeted in the hard chair, trying to get comfortable.
“You don’t have to sleep in the chair.” He felt the heat of her glare burning him from across the room.
“I’m not sharing your bed. It’s hard enough being in the same room.”
“Don’t be an idiot. I’m in no condition to try anything, besides you’d kill me.” She snorted in agreement. “The bed’s plenty big if you stay on your side.”
“Like I’d cozy up to you.”
“Fine. Be uncomfortable if it makes you feel superior.”
She swore and stood, trailing the afghan behind her. Looked as though Raven still fell for the idiot ploy. She dropped to the bed, obviously not caring if she jostled him, but being extremely careful not to touch him.
A brick wall might as well have been between them as they lay next to each other. Aidan was in no condition physically or emotionally to try scaling it. But he also couldn’t sleep. And he could smell her. Definitely needed a distraction.
“How did Lynx and Eva meet?”
She turned her head on the pillow and looked at him. “We aren’t going to share, are we?”
“Listen, I can’t sleep. I was curious.”
“Fine.” She sighed and turned back to facing the ceiling. “You know how Lynx has always rescued animals.” She didn’t wait for Aidan to nod. “Well, a moose he befriended took a liking to Eva right after she arrived, and chased her into the woods and up a tree. To make a long story short, Lynx was hooked.”
“What does she do?”
“She runs the medical clinic in town.”
“The town’s really grown.”
“Yeah.” She snorted. “We even have a volunteer fire station.”
“What about a school?”
“A group of us got together and converted old Wilkerson’s place when he died. We take turns with lessons for the handful of kids around. It’s a step-up from homeschooling. We got the borough to agree to send a bus halfway up the Steese to pick up the few high schoolers.” She yawned. “Every year, it seems, we become more civilized. Still no Starbucks though.” He heard the frown in her voice.
“What have you been up to?” he couldn’t help asking.
She didn’t move, but he felt her stiffen. “Same old stuff.”
He laughed. “Right. Still planning on playing guitar for Bon Jovi? Wait a minute, you had a full scholarship to Berkeley to become an architect. What became of that?”
“None of your business,” she snapped. “Now go to sleep.”
He’d obviously touched a nerve, pushed far enough. Silence settled over the room. Unfortunately Aidan wasn’t tired, and without conversation he started to feel the throbbing in his leg, the aching in his head, and the hunger in his stomach. He hadn’t eaten since he’d picked up the rental car and stopped at the Food Factory in Fairbanks for a steak sandwich before heading to Chatanika. Man, that sandwich had been good. One thing Seattle didn’t have was the Food Factory. Guess there were some things he’d actually missed about living here.
His stomach growled.
“Can’t you be quiet over there and just go to sleep?” Raven asked, her voice muffled as she’d turned her face into the pillow.
“I’m hungry.”
She raised her head and looked at him. “You’ve got to be kidding.”
“I haven’t eaten since lunch. And that was around one. What time is it now?”
“Time to sleep.” She tossed the pillow over her head. “Ignore it. It’ll go away.”
His stomach growled again.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake.” Raven slapped the pillow aside and got out of bed. She stomped to the door. “You were supposed to stay in a drunken stupor.” With that she left the room.
He hoped she was coming back. But he assumed the worst. After all the worst was what he usually got.