Dear Reader,
Welcome to Good Riddance, Alaska, a quirky little town in the Alaskan bush where everyoneâs story isnât quite what it seems. Founded twenty-five years ago by a Southern Belle transplant, Merrilee Danvers Weatherspoon, Good Riddance welcomes an assortment of folks from all walks of life.
Clint Sisnuket is proud of his Alaskan native heritage. The land and his people share a special bond and Clint feels it more deeply than most, which is what makes him the best guide in the area. Strong and proud, his totem is the eagle, Clint protects the land, his customs, and those under his care. Clint deserves a special mate, but what happens when that woman doesnât fit into his world?
I hope you enjoy your stay in Good Riddance. Donât forget to come back next month for a Northern Escape.
I always enjoy hearing from readers. Please drop by and visit me at www.jenniferlabrecque.com
As always ⦠happy reading,
Jen
CLINT SISNUKET LEANED against the window frame in the airstrip office in Good Riddance, Alaska, and watched the snow sifting out of the dark sky.
âDalton will radio for clearance when heâs coming in for landing,â said Merrilee Danville Weatherspoon, Good Riddance founder and airfield operator.
Clint turned to her with a slow smile. He liked Merrilee. Heâd been pleased when his clan had grant ed her honorary membership, but there were times she simply didnât understand the native way. But at least Merrilee respected the native way, unlike Clintâs French-Canadian mother. âIâm not looking for Dalton.â The local bush pilot was flying Clintâs latest client in from Anchorage. Theyâd arrive when they arrived. âIâm enjoying the sky.â
âNothing wrong with that,â she said. Clint had discovered that people who shared Merrileeâs southern origins, liked to talk. A lot. It wasnât unpleasant, simply different. And Merrilee might have spent the past twenty-five years in Alaska, but she still retained her southern roots. Roots were important. They shaped a person, grounded them. âI guess you and Kobuk will see a lot of the sky in the next week.â
The malamute raised his head briefly at hearing his name and then dropped his head back on his paws, soaking up the heat of the wood-burning stove across the room. For once Jeb Taylor and Dwight Simmons werenât parked in the rocking chairs that flanked the chess board next to the pot-bellied stove. The two old-timers were pretty much permanent fixtures who argued with each other more than they actually made chess moves.
Clint grinned. âT. S. Bellingham wants to video tape the northern lights, so Kobuk and I will help him.â His client was interested in capturing lots of Alaska on videotape, but nothing more so than the beauty of the northern lights, which should be spectacular once the impending storm moved through.
The northern lights, also known as the aurora borealis, fascinated many, Clint among them. His people believed the lights were spirits of ancestors dancing in the sky. He didnât particularly buy that bill of goods but there was a beauty and mystical qual ity about them impossible to ignore. Even after thirty years, he never tired of them. He knew he never would because the lights were never, ever the same.
âBut we wonât be seeing the lights tomorrow. Not with this storm blowing in.â
Merrilee looked surprised but not skeptical. âIâd better get a weather update,â she said, reaching for the radio mic.
It crackled to life before she could pick it up, a dis embodied voice announcing through the static an impending storm. They were good for a couple of hours but it was coming. âYou sure can call them,â Merrilee said to Clint.
Bull Swenson tromped down the stairs. Bullâs given name was rumored to be Edward, but Bull suit ed him much better. Thick and muscular, he had a mane of white hair and a full beard to match. Even in his sixties he could keep up with men half his age. Bull nodded in his direction. âClint.â
âBull.â
The older man looked at Merrilee in obvious affection. âHe sure can call what?â
Bull and Merrilee had been an item ever since theyâd met. It was well-known throughout town that Bull occasionally asked her to marry him and she routinely turned him down. Apparently a bad first marriage could do that to a person.
Merrilee poured a mug of coffee and handed it to Bull. âThereâs a storm coming in.â
âI couldâve told you that. My knee and shoulder are killing me.â
âYou want a couple of ibuprofen?â Merrilee was already reaching for the bottle on the shelf above her desk before she finished speaking. Clint wondered what it would be like to have someone in his life who anticipated his needs, his responses, that way. If his grandmother had anything to say about it, Ellie Lightfoot was that someone. Clint, however, didnât feel a connection with Ellie, although that made no sense. A schoolteacher from a neighboring village, Ellie was native, beautiful, accomplished and even-temperedâall the hallmarks of a good mate. Heâd tried, but he simply couldnât seem to work up any real enthusiasm around seeing her.