North of Normal

Chapter Twenty Nine

Polly had to admit that for a day that had started off badly, and then had briefly gotten worse, it had certainly gotten better. After a gigantically long hot shower and more coffee, Polly had begun to feel like a human being again, so when Chase suggested they spend the day 'out and about', she didn't protest too heartily. They hiked through the woods back to Chase's cabin so Polly could see it, and she was enchanted.

Much bigger than she expected, it was beautifully handcrafted, and full of comfortable, cozy North Woods furniture and décor, though the kitchen was surprisingly decked out with stainless steel appliances, and the single bedroom – the master suite – with an enormous California King sized bed."Wishful thinking?" Polly had teased and Chase had laughed.

"Well, yes, the Playboy Bunnies do need a lot of room to spread out, but mostly it's because I thrash in my sleep and Jack takes up more than his fair share," he'd replied, and she'd laughed at both images.

They'd hopped in Chase's beat up Jeep and headed up the peninsula, stopping at Eagle River to allow Jack a genuine run on the beach, then had grabbed a couple of pasties to enjoy while sitting on an enormous piece of beached driftwood while Jack happily snapped up their scraps.

The wind was cool, but the sunshine kept it from feeling like a bleak day on the beach, and Polly had to admit the waves were much more impressive when the wind whipped up. They had stopped on the roadside to admire a waterfall, had climbed an old lighthouse in Eagle Harbor, and had even shopped for jam from a roadside stand run entirely by monks.

There was definitely a certain charm and continued wildness to the Keweenaw that Polly had to admit was enchanting to both visitors and natives.

Chase had expertly driven them to the top of Brockway Mountain along the winding drive up the side, and here they sat now, Jack unhappily leashed to prevent him from tumbling down an embankment, and Polly sitting on a nearby bench, staring out at a distant tanker on the horizon, the expanse of Lake Superior filling her entire view.

"It's nice to be a tourist, sometimes," she mused to Chase, who sat beside her. "Normally I would say 'been there, done that' or 'I don't want to be a tourist', but I'm glad we've done these things today. It's been years since I've been up here, and I haven't had thimbleberry jam from the monastery since I was a kid. And this view..." she looked around and smiled. "I'd forgotten this view."

"Windy, but worth it," Chase agreed, breathing in deeply. He was just getting ready to sling an arm around Polly's neck to pull her close and keep her warm when his cell phone rang. He had to admit, reception on Brockway was about as good as the peninsula got, so he excused himself to take the call.Polly could hear him talking to someone as he walked away, then watched as he pulled a notepad and golf pencil from his pocket, jotting down notes and nodding frequently. At one point his eyes widened comedically, and Polly wondered what was being said on the other end of the line.

Eventually he hung up and slid the small cell phone back into his jeans pocket and rejoined her on the bench. "Everything okay?" she asked after a long pause.

"Yeah, yeah... great, actually," Chase said. "One of my longtime clients – he lives and works in New York – gave my name to his CEO, who is interested in hiring me as a guide and all around provider for a week up here. He's arriving on his private jet in two days, and will have the Lincoln Town Car drop him off here, and the amount of money he's going to pay me to have him roll around in deer pee and fall out of a kayak is astronomical. I could probably buy a fleet of new Jeeps – I'm still kind of in shock, actually."

"That's great!" Polly enthused. "Someone recognized your talents and the experiences you can provide, recommended you, and boom, big fees. It's a good thing. It's success, Chase."

"It's for a week, though," Chase said. "I normally only do a few days. And what is this is guy some flat footed suburbanite? And I have to take care of him for a week?"

"You're a natural, remember? If you can keep me from drowning or shooting myself in the gut, you can keep anyone safe. This is a great compliment to you, Chase."

"I know," he replied. "It's pretty flattering, really. The tough part will be not seeing you for a week."

"Really?" Polly asked, surprised.

"Really," Chase said. "You've become a part of my every day routine, kitten, and it's going to be weird not to see you, but I can't pass this one up. Actually, it's going to be bad for me to be away from you, but it's going to devastate the hound over there," he added, gesturing with his head to Jack, who was wandering back from exploring the absolute lengths of his leash in an effort to sniff every blade of grass.

Both of them watched as Jack plonked his enormous head on Polly's lap, obviously searching for an ear scratch and training his warm brown eyes on her lovingly. Polly laughed and obliged, even pressing a kiss into the soft fur of Jack's muzzle. "Yes, my honey, I'm going to miss you too." She glanced up at Chase. "A week, huh?"

"At least."

"I better stock up on lots of firewood and Pringles, then, if I don't have a gillie to check on me every three hours," Polly teased, though she knew she would miss Chase more than she cared to admit.

"And a weapon to keep back marauding coyotes," he teased, and both of them laughed even as they stood to amble back to the Jeep and back to reality. "Wouldn't want one of them to figure out the deadbolt and eat your face off in the middle of the night."

"Oh great," Polly groaned. "Thanks for the visual, Colton. Thanks a lot."