Read Online The Singing of the Dead by Dana Stabenow - Free Book Online Page B

laughed, which transformed his face. Johnny relaxed a little.
    Still laughing, Ethan told Johnny, “You're my kinda guy, kid. Sure, you can bunk in here if you want to.” The laughter faded, leaving him looking glum. “It's not like I don't have the room.”
    Voice carefully devoid of anything that might be mistaken for genuine interest, Kate said, “So, when is Margaret coming back?”
    Ethan got up and collected their cups. “She isn't, according to her,” he said over his shoulder. “She's filed for divorce.”
    All Kate could think of to say was, “Why?” and then she added hastily, “I'm sorry, Ethan. None of my business.”
    He snorted. “Like it wasn't all over the Park by sundown the day she left. Where have you been?”
    “Out of town,” she said. “So what happened?”
    He turned around and folded his arms, leaning back against the sink. “She wants to move back to Seattle. That's where her parents are, and her sister. Says she doesn't want the kids growing up all alone in the middle of a wilderness. Says they're going to have a civilized upbringing. I think myself she wants cable back.” He sighed. “Breakup was too much for her, I guess. Or maybe it was breakup and the Park in combination. She wasn't raised to it like we were. I probably should have seen it coming. She never did like Cordova much, either, and she sure wasn't happy when we moved back to the homestead. Didn't like the idea of cooking and cleaning up after strangers, so the fly-in B-and-B idea went west. After that it was one big downhill slide. She and the kids left in May, right after school let out.”
    He looked at Johnny. “You gotta have cable, kid?” Johnny shook his head. “Good. Cause they ain't any such animal here. Or phones. Got lights, though, and hot and cold running water.” He hooked a thumb at Kate. “Better'n her dinky little cabin.”
    A brief silence. “I'm sorry, Ethan, ” Kate said, sounding as inadequate as she felt.
    Johnny gave Ethan a curious look. “Don't worry,” he said suddenly,“he's not.”
    “Johnny.”
    Ethan stared into the blue eyes so unlike his own. “It's okay, Kate,” he said finally. “He's right. I miss the kids.” He smiled again, and again transformed himself from someone who ground men's bones to make his bread into yet another rueful Alaskan backwoodsman who had picked the wrong woman. “But that's about all I miss.”
    While Johnny was checking out Ethan's old room, still filled with Ethan's old model planes, Ethan walked Kate back to her truck. “I've already got him enrolled in school in Niniltna. He knows how to run a four-wheeler, and he knows how long it'll take him to get there. He's got the schedule, and his books.”
    “Yeah, but will he go?”
    “He says yes.”
    “That's not necessarily the whole-hearted endorsement I was looking for, Kate.”
    “He says yes,” she repeated. “He's young, but he keeps his word when he gives it. He'll go.” At least for the next two years, she thought, and shrugged it off. Time enough to think about that when it happened.
    Ethan touched her arm and in an instant it was like she was back on the top of Widow's Peak on a hot, sunny afternoon, with the sky clear all the way to Middleton Island. She moved to one side, out of reach. “What?”
    “Why are you leaving him? He hasn't been here that long. Why are you just taking off on him?” He paused. “He's Jack's boy, isn't he?”
    “Yes.” She looked over his shoulder and concentrated on a stellar blue jay showing off his shiny blue feathers against the dark green branch of a white spruce. She nodded at the house. “He's with his mom now, or he's supposed to be. He ran away.”
    “Ah, shit.”
    “Not for the first time. His mother told him if he ran off again, he could stay lost. He hitchhiked here from Arizona, Ethan.”
    “He's what, fourteen?” When she nodded, he said, “Ballsy little bastard, isn't he?”
    Kate ignored the admiration in Ethan's comment. It was