Ice (24 page)

That evening during dinner, Justin discussed helping Marcus find
a place to stay while he’s in Alaska, and asked him how long he’s planning on staying exactly. Marcus said he wasn’t sure, but at least until school was over.

Just then the phone rang. I immediately stood up from the table and said, “I’ll get it.”

Justin gave me a quick “Thanks,” and resumed his conversation with Marcus. I stepped into the living room and answered the wireless phone. “Hello?”

“Christine!” said an excited, familiar voice. I was shocked to hear that it was my Aunt Suzanne. I had completely forgotten about calling her with everything that was going on. I barely managed a hello before she started gushing about how happy she was to hear my voice and asking me a thousand questions about how I was doing, did Marcus get there, and if I liked the “birthday present”.

“Uh, yeah. I’m always happy to see a friend,” I said in a carefully pleasant voice. “Thank you very much for the present.”

“Anything for you, H
oney. I just want you to be happy. I know you’ve been miserable up there,” she said, like she really did know. But she didn’t. I hadn’t been miserable for some time.

“Oh, it’s really not that bad up here. I just had to get used to it,” I explained.

“Right, Dear,” she said in a condescending voice. I felt insulted. She was acting like I was just saying that because I had to, as if I were trying to convince myself.

“Really! I think you would like it up here. It’s beautiful!”

Well, maybe she wouldn’t like it; she was pretty jaded by California’s constant sunshine, but maybe she could survive a day to enjoy the scenery, knowing she was returning to dear old Cali soon.

“I’m sure it is, but it must be hard being away from family,” she said in a sympathetic voice.

I didn’t know how to respond to that. I was with family. I was with Justin. “I’ve got Justin,” I said, trying to not let my shock, hurt, or anger show through in my voice. I couldn’t believe she would act like he wasn’t family. She was treating him like an outsider. I couldn’t believe Aunt Suzanne could act so…so…
ugly
. It was like I was seeing the truth about her I had never wanted to see before, but I had always suspected was there. It was all becoming clear; she was trying to manipulate me, but why? Justin said she wanted me to live with her, but all of her four children were still living at home. How could she suddenly have room for me?

“And now you have Marcus, too,” she said in a suggestive voice. “He tells me you two
like
each other. You two should move back to California! I can do your wedding! Of course, it would be after you two graduate.”

I
was blown away by her words. My face instantly grew hot.
Wedding?!
Why did she feel the need to play matchmaker? It must have been one of her ways to get to me. I felt grossly invaded by the comment and wondered how my personal life was any of her business to tamper with. I laughed nervously and said, “That’s kind of jumping the gun, don’t you think?”

She laughed, too, in her loud, shrill way. “You’ve always been so responsible, just like your mother.”

My laugh was forced this time, my stomach sinking at the memory of my mother. I couldn’t help but stare at the framed picture sitting near the phone. It was of Justin with my parents on their wedding day. My mom didn’t have her straight, shoulder length hair I remembered, but big, curly 80’s hair. Her wedding dress was big and puffy, too, but she still looked beautiful. Her smile was reserved and careful, just like her personality.

After a moment I finally managed to utter, “…Thank you.”

“Speaking of which, I have some bad news about your Grandpa Ellis.”

“Justin said he had gotten worse.”

“Yes, dear. I had to put him in a nursing home. I just can’t give him the attention that he needs. I have to give so much attention to my own family, you know.”

I nodded. “I know.” Four boys had to be a handful, but it seemed like that was her excuse for a lot of things.

“I think it would be best if you came to see him soon. We’re not sure how much longer he has.”

“I will. Thank you for telling me,” I said in the same even tone.

“Maybe when you do, I could try to work out a way for you to stay here.”

I
felt my brow furrow. “How?”

“I’ll figure something out. I’ll do anything to make you happy, honey. You’re like the daughter I never had.” It sounded like her voice might have cracked slightly at the end of her words, but I wasn’t sure. I felt myself frown even more. I couldn’t figure her out.

“Thank you, Aunt Suzie, but really, I’m fine…”

“Just think about it, okay?”

It seemed like everybody was telling me that.

She was sniffing loudly now. She was definitely getting teary on the other end for some reason. “I think your mother would want you to live in
California where she grew up and she raised you.”

I couldn’t come up with a response to that. My mouth moved, bu
t I couldn’t think of anything to say, I was so thrown by her statement. Finally I said, “Okay, I’ll think about it,” just to get her to stop sniffing.

“Good. Well, I’ve got to let you
go, Dear. The boys need me,” she said quickly before rushing off the phone.

“B
ye, Aunt Suzie,” I barely managed to slip in before she hung up.

After
I hung up the phone, I examined my mother’s face that was staring back at me from behind the glass. I felt like she was trying to tell me something, even though I knew it was really just me remembering her voice. Or rather, she had tried to tell me something in the past that I was too young to fully understand at the time.

“You’re aunt has always been very sly
. She was often plotting schemes when we were children, like how to sneak a cookie before dinner and such. Despite trying to talk her out of them, I usually ended up going along with them, anyway. She’s always been good at convincing people to see things her way.”

Sly. Scheming. But why did she suddenly want me back in
California? Was it really for my grandfather, or something more?

I stepped back into the kitchen, trying to give her the benefit of the doubt that maybe she really was doing all of this for my grandfather and me. Maybe he had told her he wanted me back in
California? I had no idea, and there was no way for me to be sure from all the way in Alaska, so I put it to rest and sat back down at the dinner table. Marcus kept giving me funny glances, probably wondering if I was going to eat the slab of moose meat on my plate.

“Did you have a nice conversation with your aunt?” Justin asked pleasantly, but I could tell that his mood was not quite as chipper as it had been before the phone call.

I nodded. “Yeah. I told her I liked it here. I don’t think she really understands that, but maybe she will in time.” I smiled and went back to cutting my meat into tiny bits so that every time Marcus and Justin were engrossed in conversation, I could drop a square for Big John. By the time dinner was finished I had only three squares left. Big John saved me again.

I stood from the table and thanked him for the “delicious” dinner
, gathering the plates. He gave me the “Aww shucks,” smile again and said he would take care of the dishes. I knew Marcus wanted us to spend more time together, so I let Justin win that battle.

Marcus and I bundled
up again in our coats and scarves and headed outside. Marcus said he wanted to walk around for a bit to get a better look of the place. I went to the spot where I practiced shooting, showing him the piece of plywood with the target painted on it.

“No way,” he laughed, his olive nose already turning pink from the cold. “I still can’t believe you can do that.”

I had been grinning proudly, but now I was confused. “Why not? It’s kind of a necessity for living here.”

“Because you can like, kick ass now. You can shoot. You’re like a chick out of an action movie.”

I burst out laughing. “Well, I’ve never shot anything besides this board.” I decided to leave out the part where I had
almost
shot someone several times. The ordeal at the Factory still haunted me, but it was easier to forget since Marcus arrived.

“Damn, I was hoping you would say you had taken down that big moose we ate for dinner. I still can’t believe you ate that. I thought you hated meat?”

I laughed again and motioned for him to come closer with my finger. He took a few steps and leaned his head toward me. I whispered,
“I didn’t.”

His eyes grew big.
“You didn’t?!”
he hissed.
“How?!”

“Big John did. That’s why he always sits next to me.”

Marcus snickered at my master plan. “It’s so simple, its genius. How did I not figure that out? Better yet, how has your uncle not figured it out after all this time?”

I smiled and said simply, “I never told him I was a vegetarian.”

Marcus broke out laughing. “I can’t believe it. I swear, Christine, you’re a freaking genius.”

I playfully blew on my nails and said, “Well, I try.”

He shook his head as he let out one last loud laugh. “Hey, show me where you saw that wolf take on that bear!”

M
y eyes widened at that and all the giddiness left me. “But…but that’s not safe. That’s dangerous.”

“Aren’t the bears hibernating right now?”

“But there could still be wolves. I hear them howling all the time at night. Didn’t you hear them last night?”

“Yeah, but you can protect me with your rifle, right? Just take ‘em down like you do the target.”

He was grinning, but I wasn’t. “We should really stay out of the woods. Besides, I can’t just go get Justin’s rifle anytime I want. I can only get it when it’s an emergency.”

“Then we’ll go without the rifle. C’mon. We don’t have to walk that far if it makes you feel better. I wanna explore this place. It’s so new and weird to me.”

I reluctantly caved in, leading the way into the woods. The snow wasn’t nearly as thick once we broke the line of trees, but we no longer had the glow of the lamppost to light our way. It was dark out already. I pulled my little flashlight from my pocket and clicked the button on the end. A small cylinder of light sprayed out through the trees, lighting our path. My heart raced, feeling like we were walking into dangerous territory. I was afraid we would come across
real
wolves, not the nice kind that turned into cute boys like Kavick.

I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were being watched. I kept glancing around us, afraid of what I might see. Marcus seemed completely fearless, like he wasn’t worried at all that we could be attacked in the woods and die from our wounds
and the bitter cold. I tried to silently tell myself not to picture a horrible death in the forest by a wild animal, but I couldn’t get rid of the paranoia even if I had managed to shake the visualizations from my over-active imagination.

“Oh my God, Christine!”

I jumped, letting out a shriek.

“Look!” Marcus gave me a bewildered glance, but he also looked amused. I could tell he wanted to laugh, but he was too excited by something. “Sorry,” he said hurriedly before pointing into the trees to our right. “Look! A real wolf!”

I grabbed his arm in fear, ready to run back to Justin’s, but I couldn’t find the wolf. I franticly moved the beam of light around. “Where?! Where?!”

He pointed again, still not showing any signs of fear for some reason. He was acting like a kid at a zoo, pointing to the animal safely behind bars, who might say,
“Look, Mom! A wolf!”

“Right over there behind that funky tree that’s shaped like
this
.” He then did a strange wiggle with his body that was supposed to resemble some kind of deformed tree. He looked ridiculous, but I was too afraid of the fact that a wolf was near us to point out his horrible impression of the tree. I moved the light again and it landed on the animal. My breath caught in my chest as I realized it wasn’t a wolf. Or at least, it was only
half
wolf. It was the familiar black and white Husky I knew as Kavick. He was standing behind the oddly shaped tree clearly trying not to be noticed. The dog’s piercing blue eyes met mine between the branches and it took a step back. It let out a little whimper that was so low I barely heard it.

I immediately relaxed, and before I could tell Marcus it was a dog, he said, “Wait, is that a dog?” His brow wrinkled in confusion and Kavick let out a low grumble from his throat. I couldn’t tell if the noise was due to amusement, or irritation.

“It’s a dog,” I confirmed.

“Damn! That’s on
e big dog! He’s as big as your uncle’s dog! Wait, didn’t you say your uncle’s dog was actually a wolf?”

“Yeah.”

“Why the hell does he have a wild animal as a pet?!” he exclaimed, suddenly bewildered by the fact.

I raised an eyebrow at him and placed my hands on my hips. “Now you worry about that,
after
you tried to make him do tricks in the kitchen?”