Nothing gold can stay by Dana Stabenow Read Free Book Online

for dismissal of all charges. But, like I was saying.
    “Rebecca. I thought you told me Mark was really excited about this placer mine youd bought.
    “He bought it, Rebecca said, an edge to her voice.
    “Ah. Nina examined the coffee in her cup with close attention.
    “Without even asking me if I wanted to spend the whole summer out there, he goes and buys a gold mine. God, Nina, I dont even know where it is.
    “Did he say?
    “West of Anchorage, north of Bristol Bay.
    “That takes in a lot of territory. Is there a town nearby?
    Rebecca gave her head a gloomy shake, her fine blond hair escaping its ponytail to fall into wisps around a face that had been described variously as an angels (her mother), Hayley Mills (her father), Grace Kellys (Nina, enviously), and “fucking drop-dead gorgeous (Mark). Her figure had been described as “a little too plump, dear (her mother), “healthy (her father), “stacked (Nina, enviously), “built like a brick shit-house (Dale, her roommate before she married Mark) and “its like Christmas every time I unwrap you (Mark, although he hadnt said that in months).
    “I like going to two movies on a rainy Sunday afternoon, Rebecca said. “I like biking the Coastal Trail, and hiking Near Point. I especially like it that there is a hot shower and a soft bed at the end of a day of biking and hiking. She raised her cup ceilingward. “I like lights that turn on with the flip of a switch.
    “Theres no electricity? How do you get the gold out?
    “How should I know? By gold pan, I guess.
    “I thought they only painted on gold pans these days.
    “Me, too, but Mark brought home half a dozen yesterday. Plastic ones. Theyre green or black, so they show the gold more, and the bottom of the pans are riffled, you know, little ridges? So the gold falls down between them and is trapped when you rinse the dirt out. Because its lighter.
    “Lighter than what?
    “The gold.
    “Oh. Sounds like you know something about it.
    “I dont have a choice. Its all he talks about anymore.
    There was a short silence. “You want a refill?
    “Sure. Heavy on the half-and-half. Which I also have to give up. No cows in the Bush, I bet.
    Nina returned with full cups the color of café au lait, and Rebecca accepted hers with the air of one who was determined to savor every drop as if it were her last.
    “Rebecca, you dont have to go, Nina said. “Just say no.
    Rebecca sighed. “Hes been working double shifts all winter to save up for time off this summer. Hes got nine weeks coming, plus his regular two weeks off, plus the week he won at the Christmas party. Twelve weeks in all. Hell be out there the whole summer, Nina.
    “Let him be.
    It wasnt as if she hadnt thought of it herself. “I cant.
    “What about your job?
    “He wants me to quit.
    “Rebecca. You love being a legal secretary, and you love your boss.
    “Yes, Rebecca said mournfully, thinking of the bright, bustling office on the seventh floor of 710 K Street. “I do.
    “He cant ask you to do that.
    “Hes my husband, Rebecca said. She tried to smile. “Forsaking all others, and all that. You know.
    Nina, who had never been married, didnt know, but she was that good and rare friend who listened without judging and so she sipped her coffee and smiled. “You know whats wrong with Mark?
    “What?
    “Hes too good in the sack, Nina said, and grinned.
    Rebecca rose to Ninas obvious expectations and made an elaborate show of bristling. “And you would know thishow?
    Nina toasted her. “Only by reputation, girlfriend. Only by reputation.
    They laughed and changed the subject.
    And now here Rebecca was, five months later, waking up in a one-room shack deep in a canyon somewhere in the Wood River Mountains, part of the southwestern curve of the Alaska Range. The mine sat on a creek in a deep, narrow crevice formed between three mountains four, five and six thousand feet in height. The sun could have been up till midnight but Rebecca couldnt swear to it;