Broken Trails

She soaked in her surroundings, drawing the solitude and beauty into her soul. At first she had come here to understand Scotch, to discover the root of that confidence, to unearth the reason for her inexplicable draw to the woman. She had remained because of friendship and family - both human and canine - and a growing love for her surroundings and activities. She had come to the Iditarod as a rookie, a reporter doing a story, nothing more. But her time at the kennel, in the presence of Scotch and the dogs, had taught her more than how to mush.

Lainey was here for herself and no one else. The magazine would never get as much out of the articles as she would for simply experiencing and defeating the challenges before her. She not only knew what caused Scotch’s confident bearing, she wanted that self-assurance for herself. Loving Scotch was easy for her, and she did not know if her feelings were returned. Should their relationship escalate beyond a bit of slap and tickle Lainey wanted to be on equal footing, not because she expected Scotch to look down on her, but because Lainey would look down upon herself.

The trail slid off the straight and narrow onto the Kuskokwim River. Markers were a bit more difficult to locate, but Lainey pleased herself with keeping on track. In a few short miles, she pulled into the village of Nikolai.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

SCOTCH HAD ARRIVED in Nikolai a full hour and a half ahead of Lainey. The vet checking her dogs agreed with her about Tecumseh. As much as Lainey wanted to let him stay with his teammates, she decided to drop him for his health. The bruising of his shoulders bothered him more than his wrist, and the constant pulling would eventually do some serious damage. It was with a heavy heart that she removed her wounded dog from the tug line and escorted him to the dog drop area. He would wait there until a volunteer bush pilot came through to pick him up, delivering him to Anchorage.

By the time Lainey had returned to her dogs and finished the remaining chores, Scotch was already catching a nap. Lainey did not want to disturb her, so she bedded down with her dogs outside the school that served as a checkpoint. A quick search for Drew Owens turned up nothing.

Oddly enough, sleep would not come though she was mentally exhausted. Her mind kept turning over the day’s events, the crash, and how she could have avoided it. She wondered if Owens had blown through. Or was he somewhere near and Lainey just had not seen him? If he checked in and out again, was he asleep a couple of miles away, psyching out his competition? Whatever it was seemed to have worked, because she had seen Waters come through while she was completing her tasks. He stopped long enough to get his food drops, see who was here, and promptly left.

Was Scotch being overly confident by remaining in Nikolai?

Mixed in with all those concerns were the sensual daydreams that had almost lost her the sled earlier. Warmth, good food, a scotch on the rocks, and Scotch on a bear rug. She did not bother banishing the alcohol from her mind. It always seemed like a glass of water just out of reach, and she was dying of thirst. She had been clean and sober for years, but some days that did not lessen the yearning. The other Scotch, however - that she was looking forward to. Of course there was no bearskin rug in the cabin. They would have to make do with the braided rug in front of the fireplace. Or on the comfortably over stuffed couch. Or maybe the rickety kitchen table.

Lainey’s consciousness faded away as she toyed with Scotch in her thoughts.

Scotch was gone when she woke. Unhappy that she had missed telling her goodbye, Lainey went about waking and feeding the dogs. She signed autographs for a group of village children and talked to them about her dogs and how long she had been mushing. At least three of them had far more experience than she, and they laughed at the disparity. Then a pair of reporters approached her for an interview. She groaned when they asked about her wreck but answered honestly. Word obviously traveled fast along the trail.

When she checked out it was twelve twenty-seven in the afternoon. The sun had risen but cloud cover kept the worst of the heat at bay. She chuckled to herself as her team headed across the Kuskokwim River. A year ago she was in Nome freezing her ass off in twenty degree weather. Now she was worried about overheating at the same temperature. What had the world come to? Now that she was alone, she dug out her iPod. No reason why Georgio Spencer should have all the fun. As the dogs took her along the easy trail and wide open spaces, she sang with Peter Gabriel as he was shaking the tree. This part of the trail had heavy snow machine traffic between the two checkpoints, both of which were populated villages. McGrath was the bigger of the two and boasted laundromats and grocery stores, not to mention a continual supply of hot water. Lainey looked forward to not having to boil water for the dogs and receiving an opportunity to get properly clean. She planned on taking her twenty-four hour layover here to catch up on some much needed sleep. Scotch would be doing the same, so they would have a little time to see each other before they separated again. Even with the diversion of music, the trail seemed to go on and on. It was boring as hell. Lainey kept switching between playlists, looking for music to keep her mood up and her eyes open. There was no danger of sweepers to knock her off the runners, or sudden twists to overturn the sled. Instead she worried about falling asleep at the handlebars and waking in the snow with her team disappearing into the distance. Lainey pulled out her camera for the occasional photo, but one section of trail looked like another. One shot of her running dogs, with the bare spot where Tecumseh should have been, was enough to befoul her mood. She put the camera away. Finally the landscape changed. It looked like the ground fell away in the distance. That meant they were going to drop back onto the Kuskokwim River. It was also an indication she was at the halfway point. Lainey felt an irrational urge to cry though she was pleased at her progress. She still had twenty plus miles to go to McGrath. Twenty more miles to stay awake. Before they arrived at the river, Lainey halted her dogs for a snack break. They joyfully rolled in the snow, cooling off after their run. A few had lost booties and, as always, Heldig’s were gone. Lainey used her fingers to break up ice balls and clean off paws, then rubbed salve into their pads. More booties followed. She did not even bother begging Heldig to keep them on this time, though she considered picking up a roll of duct tape in McGrath. Maybe that would keep her paws covered.

Chibee, Himitsu and Montana began barking, looking behind them. Lainey stood to see an approaching sled. She recognized Roman Spencer’s team and smiled at him as neared.

“Looks like it’s just us,” he said when he was within hearing distance.

“Your dad already ahead?”

“Yeah. He left a couple of hours ago.” His team pulled past. “See you in McGrath.”

Lainey waved and watched his team flow into the descent ahead of her.

So, Georgio, Waters and Owens were all ahead now, hoping to pass Scotch. Lainey sent encouraging thoughts to her friend. Roman disappeared from view, and her trash talkers became silent. She realized her dogs were staring at her, tails wagging.

“You want to catch him?” she asked.

Chibee yipped in excitement, and Jonah jerked the sled as he tried to dislodge the snow hook on his own.

Lainey laughed and gathered her things. Minutes later, she called, “Let’s go!” and her team rushed forward to show Roman’s team who was better.

She arrived in McGrath two minutes before Roman, a smug grin on her face. They leapfrogged the last twenty miles, breaking the boredom, though Lainey had kept her dogs from going full tilt. Even though she was headed for a twenty-four hour break, she did not want to give her team the idea that they were here to race other dogs. They would exhaust themselves long before they ever reached Nome. Instead, she ran them hard enough to overtake Roman, and then kept at a steady pace until he returned the favor.