Pathways (9780307822208) by Lisa T. Bergren Read Free Book Online Page B

at my life again, reconsider my options. I can make it till then, honey. I’ve made it this far, haven’t I?”
    “Yeah. But I just never … Dad, I never knew you were miserable,” she said softly.
    He laughed shallowly. “Did I say I was miserable? Don’t worryabout me.” He took a sip of tea and cast an embarrassed look toward Ben. “Please, honey, forget I said anything.”
    “There’s something about Summit Lake that just makes a body think, isn’t there?” Ben cut in, breaking the tension.
    “I’ll say.” The cub had gulped down her bottle, and Bryn rose to put her down in the playpen.
    “And what have you been thinking about, Bryn Bear?”
    She glanced at her father, rolling her eyes at his use of her nickname in front of Ben. He knew she hated that. She supposed by his look of contrition, it had just slipped. “I don’t know. Maybe taking another look at my life. It’s good to just breathe the clean air up here,” she said. “Have the chance to think at all.”
    A plane roared overhead, and Bryn jumped up to stare out the window and catch the Beaver’s wings tipping in greeting. “Eli!” she said with glee. She glanced back and saw the men share a knowing look. But she didn’t care. All she wanted was to be in that canoe, paddling down to Eli, finding out about his trip. She bit her lip, reminding herself that she had only another two weeks in Alaska. They would soon head home, to Newport, back to school. What would happen to their relationship then? How would she endure missing him then, when life resumed its frantic pace?
    Bryn swallowed against a sudden lump in her throat. All at once, she understood her father’s desire to run away to Alaska, to peace, to quiet.
    She was becoming drawn to this place too—and more and more to Eli. She was falling in serious “like” with the man, she admitted. Eli’s plane bounced atop the waves and then glided to a stop, turning halfway down, toward the Pierces’ cabin. Bryn frowned. She was falling for Eli Pierce. Just what was she supposed to do with that?

    Eli turned the plane toward his cabin, wanting to go directly to Bryn’s. But it was time to call a halt to things, slow it down, make sure they both knew that what was happening between them was impossible. She would head home in two weeks and rip his heart out of his chest when she went. He had to put a stop to their relationship, keep it mellow, or he wouldn’t survive. Even if she was to stay, Eli knew she wasn’t right for him. She wasn’t a Christian—he shouldn’t have let it get so out of hand. And besides, she wanted to be a big-city doctor. He was a rough-and-tumble bush pilot. It could never work out.
    But being back here, on the lake, with her just down the way was already pure torture. Everything in him wanted to rush to her, to pull her into his arms and run his fingers through that black-gold hair and kiss the lips that had been inviting him for days.
    I shouldn’t have come back. I should have stayed away. Lord, I can’t do this. Why? Why give me a desire for a woman who doesn’t know you?
He thought he could feel God’s distinct moving in his heart, in his desire for Bryn, his hopes for her faith, his efforts to model his own. But his baser needs were threatening. How could he keep a lid on the situation when everything about Bryn Bailey made him feel madly out of control?
    Still inside the cockpit, he leaned his chest against the yoke and his head against the console, praying for strength and wisdom. His eyes were closed, so when his father knocked against the window, he jumped in surprise. Jedidiah opened the door. “Eli? Son, you okay?”
    “Yeah, Dad. Just praying.”
    Jedidiah studied him for a moment. “Want to talk about it?”
    “Yeah. That would be good.”
    “Come on out then. Sit a spell with me.”
    Eli climbed out of the cramped fuselage to the lopsided wooden dock. With the deep freeze every winter and the subsequent breakup each spring, keeping a