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especially since very soon I'll be so far ahead of you, I won't be able to repay your assistance. I'm winning this race." He was not talking about the Iditarod.
Lily gulped the last inch of scalding-hot coffee. It must've burned like lava all the way down her esophagus. "I've never fainted in my life. And for the record, I'm going to win."
He let that pass.
They were both going to win.
She rarely thought about food for herself, but coffee was essential. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm not one of the thoroughbreds you usually date. We mutts have way more staying power than the show dogs of the world."
She poured the last couple of servings of dog food into bowls and walked down the line to place them in the snow in front of Derek's wheel dogs.
"Nothing wrong with a good, faithful mutt," he said, laughing. "That said, you have an erroneous and completely false idea of my love life, Doc. Though you know you're always welcome to ask. I don't mind telling."
"Really? Wow." She gave him a mock admiring glance. "Thanks, but I think I'll pass on that. This mutt isn't interested in that particular treat."
"Not even if I promise to pet you?"
She stilled, shot him what she hoped was a quelling look despite the rush of something hot and luscious deep inside. "Want to pet something? Try one of your short-lived girlfriends. Here's an idea." Lily struggled to keep the sarcasm to a minimum. "Have her meet you at the next stop. Assuming she can find Alaska on a map."
Then she straightened, unsettled by the catty turn of her own thoughts. "Are you done resting? Because I am. I want to make Skwentna before dark." Only if she were jet propelled. But let him sweat thinking Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
about it.
"It wouldn't kill you to take a full hour."
"I am taking a full hour," Lily said, peeling back the layers of clothing at her wrist to glance at her watch.
"See? Thirty-eight minutes. Almost exactly an hour."
He shook his head and bit back a smile at her impatience. "We need to get you a watch without Mickey on it, Doc."
Lily was so tired she couldn't see straight. Almost in a trance, brain turned off, she arrived at the Skwentna checkpoint on autopilot, well after dark.
She'd come one hundred miles.
Skwentna was a small village located on the river by the same name. This would be the busiest and biggest checkpoint because all the teams hit here at some point during the first twenty-four-or-so hours of the race. After tonight the teams would be straggled all over the countryside.
The Delias—Joe, the local postmaster, and his wife, Norma—generously fed close to four hundred people every Iditarod, helped by an army of local volunteers called the Skwentna Sweeties. The smell of their famous stew scented the crisp air and made Lily's mouth water.
The area around the two-story cabin was already a beehive of noise and activity. Lily blinked at the lights, which were far too bright after traveling so long by moonlight. The noise, too, seemed extra loud to someone accustomed to nothing more than the sounds of her own breathing and the soft swish of rails on snow.
Exhausted teams were scattered on beds of straw on the ice. Nearby planes landed and took off, a diesel engine roared constantly and newly arrived dogs barked, ready to go again.
Lily checked in, snagged the straw bale they gave her, tossed it into the sled and went on to pick up her food bags. Matt was there to check her team, and she stood by silently, too tired to move.
"You made good time," he told her, checking Deny's feet.
Lily grunted. There were already at least twenty teams resting, which had made it in better time than she had.
"How was the trail?" Matt asked, handing her a candy bar.
Lily tore into it, barely getting the wrapper off before her teeth sank in. "You're a prince. Oh, God, this is good. Thank you," she said around a mouthful of glorious, thick, dark rich chocolate. Second only to coffee.
Lily gulped the last inch of scalding-hot coffee. It must've burned like lava all the way down her esophagus. "I've never fainted in my life. And for the record, I'm going to win."
He let that pass.
They were both going to win.
She rarely thought about food for herself, but coffee was essential. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm not one of the thoroughbreds you usually date. We mutts have way more staying power than the show dogs of the world."
She poured the last couple of servings of dog food into bowls and walked down the line to place them in the snow in front of Derek's wheel dogs.
"Nothing wrong with a good, faithful mutt," he said, laughing. "That said, you have an erroneous and completely false idea of my love life, Doc. Though you know you're always welcome to ask. I don't mind telling."
"Really? Wow." She gave him a mock admiring glance. "Thanks, but I think I'll pass on that. This mutt isn't interested in that particular treat."
"Not even if I promise to pet you?"
She stilled, shot him what she hoped was a quelling look despite the rush of something hot and luscious deep inside. "Want to pet something? Try one of your short-lived girlfriends. Here's an idea." Lily struggled to keep the sarcasm to a minimum. "Have her meet you at the next stop. Assuming she can find Alaska on a map."
Then she straightened, unsettled by the catty turn of her own thoughts. "Are you done resting? Because I am. I want to make Skwentna before dark." Only if she were jet propelled. But let him sweat thinking Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
about it.
"It wouldn't kill you to take a full hour."
"I am taking a full hour," Lily said, peeling back the layers of clothing at her wrist to glance at her watch.
"See? Thirty-eight minutes. Almost exactly an hour."
He shook his head and bit back a smile at her impatience. "We need to get you a watch without Mickey on it, Doc."
Lily was so tired she couldn't see straight. Almost in a trance, brain turned off, she arrived at the Skwentna checkpoint on autopilot, well after dark.
She'd come one hundred miles.
Skwentna was a small village located on the river by the same name. This would be the busiest and biggest checkpoint because all the teams hit here at some point during the first twenty-four-or-so hours of the race. After tonight the teams would be straggled all over the countryside.
The Delias—Joe, the local postmaster, and his wife, Norma—generously fed close to four hundred people every Iditarod, helped by an army of local volunteers called the Skwentna Sweeties. The smell of their famous stew scented the crisp air and made Lily's mouth water.
The area around the two-story cabin was already a beehive of noise and activity. Lily blinked at the lights, which were far too bright after traveling so long by moonlight. The noise, too, seemed extra loud to someone accustomed to nothing more than the sounds of her own breathing and the soft swish of rails on snow.
Exhausted teams were scattered on beds of straw on the ice. Nearby planes landed and took off, a diesel engine roared constantly and newly arrived dogs barked, ready to go again.
Lily checked in, snagged the straw bale they gave her, tossed it into the sled and went on to pick up her food bags. Matt was there to check her team, and she stood by silently, too tired to move.
"You made good time," he told her, checking Deny's feet.
Lily grunted. There were already at least twenty teams resting, which had made it in better time than she had.
"How was the trail?" Matt asked, handing her a candy bar.
Lily tore into it, barely getting the wrapper off before her teeth sank in. "You're a prince. Oh, God, this is good. Thank you," she said around a mouthful of glorious, thick, dark rich chocolate. Second only to coffee.
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