North of Heartbreak Read Online Free Page B

silence, Liam cleared his throat. “So, is our patient going to be okay?”
    Willa gave him a sharp glance. Now he wanted to talk business? A sigh eased its way out of her throat. Better late than never. Despite her misgivings she did have to work with the guy. “Joe was still in surgery when we left, but the news was he’d keep his leg.”
    “That’s good. There was a lot of blood to clean up back there,” Liam said, angling his head toward the backseat. “Had me worried.”
    “Me too. I wish I could have done more to stem the bleeding, but…” She sucked in a deep breath, determined to be fair. “I appreciate the way you followed my orders when it really counted.”
    He glanced at her. “You say that as if it hurts.”
    Willa pressed her lips together. She couldn’t even give him a genuine compliment without commentary.
    A moment of silence then he said in a quiet voice, “You’re welcome. You acted like a pro. I’ve never flown a medical flight, though I trained for it. It was easier and harder than I thought.”
    “It usually is. If we had taken much longer to get Joe to Fairbanks he could’ve died.”
    Liam speared her with an incredulous look. “Seriously?”
    “Yes. The length of time it takes to get the injured to treatment can literally be the difference between life and death. That’s why the air MedEvac system in Alaska is so important.”
    “But, the Otter isn’t the fastest plane in the air, not even close.”
    “It’s the only one that can land anytime, anywhere. There are lots of places without an airstrip. You might have to land on a river or lake in the summer and ice in the winter.”
    “Not many planes outside the Otter can do that,” he said. “But what about you? Wouldn’t it be better to have help? How come there aren’t more medical people working out of your clinic?”
    “I’d love some help, but life in the north isn’t for everyone. It’s not so bad in the summer, when the sun is up all day and night, but in the winter when it’s isolated, bitterly cold and dark all the time…” Willa shook her head. “A lot of people can’t hack it.”
    “When you put it that way, I’m surprised anyone lives up here.”
    “Oh, but there are reasons to stay.”
    “Like?”
    “Have you ever seen the northern lights?”
    He shook his head.
    “Once you’ve seen them you’ll never forget.” She closed her eyes. “Picture a dark night, so cold your breath hangs like a lost ghost in the air around your face. You look up and across the heavens dance undulating curtains of blue, green and white light moving to a melody you can almost hear.” She smiled. “We get a lot of tourists in winter to see it.”
    He grunted.
    “Summer time has its own beauty. Because the growing season is so short, it isn’t unusual to see snow melting on the tundra one week, and that same patch of ground covered in blooming flowers the next.”
    She caught the disbelieving look on his face. “You don’t believe me?”
    “It’s hard to imagine.”
    “I don’t think I could live anywhere else. The people here are…honest and genuine. And there’s a sense of community that goes beyond the norm. People really care about each other.” She studied him. “Why did you come here?”
    “Lots of reasons.” He lifted one broad shoulder. “I had some family issues. I piloted for Eagle International Airlines for years. The schedule, the stress…” His voice trailed off.
    “You don’t think what we did today was stressful?”
    “No, but it was a different kind of stress. For once my passengers really needed my skills, needed me. ”
    “That I can understand,” Willa said with a nod. “It gives you a whole new perspective on life when what you’re doing makes a genuine difference.”
    “Yeah, that’s it exactly.”
    They exchanged grins.
    “You should smile more often,” he said, his expression turning appreciative. “You’re beautiful.”
    You’re beautiful. The phrase reverberated