"Starving!"
He could have taken her to McDonald's-Ahtna had one of those, too-but Johnny was determined to be cooler than that. "Can we afford this?" she said, wide-eyed, as they pulled into the parking lot of the Ahtna Lodge.
He grinned at her. "I didn't spend all my money on Old Blue, here," he said, patting the dashboard. He opened the door and said over his shoulder, "Most of it, but not all of it." His grin widened when he heard her laugh behind him. She'd had the same laugh since he'd first met her, a loud, brash blare of no-holds-barred amusement that sounded like it came right out of one of the songs of those old blues singers Kate listened to sometimes, raunchy, rough-edged, knowing, sad. He'd seen adults startled and sometimes alarmed by that laugh, as if they hadn't expected it to come out of the mouth of someone so quiet, or so young.
He didn't see the man in the parking lot turn his head at the sound of that laugh, gaze at Van for a moment, and then look at Johnny. He didn't see the man's eyes widen. Johnny held out his hand and Van came around the front of the pickup and took it as if it was the most natural thing in the world, as if they'd been holding hands for years.
They walked up the steps and through the restaurant doors. A slender, dark-haired man with a gold hoop earring in one ear and a white apron wrapped twice around his slim waist spotted Johnny at once. "Hey, kid," he said, shifting the tray of dirty dishes he was holding from one shoulder to the other so he could shake Johnny's hand. "How you been? How's Kate?"
Mercifully, he did not comment on its being a school day, which Johnny was belatedly realizing could be a question raised by everyone who knew who he was and who he lived with. "Good," Johnny said, "we're both good. Tony, this is my friend Vanessa."
Vanessa looked startled. It was the first time Johnny had called her anything but Van. Johnny pretended not to notice, too busy pretending to be a grown-up.
"Hey, Vanessa," Tony said, giving her an appraising look as he shook her hand. He winked at Johnny. "You hungry?"
"Stan cooking?" Stan being Tony's partner in life and in the Ahtna Lodge and the genius behind the steak sandwiches that were a magnet for everyone within a hundred miles.
"That he is."
"Then we're starving. Can we get a table by the window?" Tony looked over his shoulder. "Give me five minutes, and it's yours."
"Thanks, Tony."
They were seated and they both ordered the specialty of the house. In the interval, two virgin daiquiris arrived, ice and syrup and strawberries whipped to a froth and swirled into glasses the size of hubcaps.
A delighted smile spread across Van's face.
"Uh," Johnny said, loath to see the smile go away. "We didn't order these, Tony."
Tony nodded at the bar. "Courtesy of your friend."
Uh-oh. Johnny turned his head, hoping against hope it wasn't anybody like Ahtna police chief Kenny Hazen, who would be sure to mention that he'd seen Johnny in Ahtna on a school day the next time he saw Jim.
It wasn't Chief Hazen. It was instead someone almost as tall, but with a rangier build and a broad face that smiled at Johnny from beneath the bill of a Colorado Rockies ball cap.
"Who is that?" Vanessa said.
"I don't-" Johnny stopped. "Doyle?" He half rose from his chair, his voice uncertain. "Doyle Greenbaugh?"
Greenbaugh's laugh was hearty. He walked to their table and smacked Johnny's hand in an enthusiastic grip. "For a minute I thought you didn't recognize me. How you doing, Johnny?"
"For a minute I didn't," Johnny said, returning Greenbaugh's handshake. "What are you doing in Alaska, Doyle?"
Greenbaugh shrugged, still grinning. "It's your fault. You made it sound pretty good. I figured I'd come up and see how much you were bullshitting me." He nodded over Johnny's shoulder. "Who's your friend?"
Johnny, on his first date with his first-he was pretty sure-his first real girlfriend, could not resist the urge to show off a little. "Doyle," he said proudly, "this is Vanessa Cox." He'd even remembered to introduce the girl first. "Van, this is Doyle Greenbaugh." He hesitated, and then said, "I know him from Outside."
"How do, ma'am," Greenbaugh said. He actually removed his cap and even gave a nod that was halfway to a bow.
Vanessa, as yet unaccustomed to male deference to the fairer sex, tried for a regal inclination of the head in reply. Her pinkened cheeks gave her away, though.
"We drove in for lunch," Johnny said, adding manfully, "Would you like to join us?"
Greenbaugh waved a hand. "No, no, I don't want to intrude." He turned his head so Vanessa couldn't see and winked. I won't horn in on your action.
Johnny felt his ears get hot, and mumbled something in reply.
"We should get together and catch up, though," Greenbaugh said. "You live in Ahtna? I thought it was another town, can't remember the name of it. Ninilchik?" He mispronounced it "NIN-il-chik." You could always tell when someone was new to the state by how badly they mangled the place names.
"Actually, it was Anchorage," Johnny said, "but it's Niniltna now."
"How's that?"
"Nuh-NILT-nuh."
"Niniltna," Greenbaugh said. "That close to here?"
"East, up a gravel road a hundred miles or so."
"It the size of this place?"
Johnny laughed. "Not hardly. Only a couple hundred people." Greenbaugh made a face. "That small, probably no jobs."
"You looking for work?" Greenbaugh shrugged. "Gotta eat."
"There's an outfit starting up a gold mine in the Park," Johnny said impulsively. Van, sitting with her eyes downcast, looked at Johnny briefly and then down again. "They say there are going to be a lot of jobs in it."
Greenbaugh brightened. "A gold mine?"
"I could maybe talk to somebody for you."
"Man, I'd appreciate that."
"Well, it's not like I don't owe you," Johnny said. Van looked up again, dark eyes on his face. "You staying here in Ahtna?"
"Yeah, I got a room here."
"Got transportation?"
"Got a little Nissan pickup, packed with all my worldly belongings. Which ain't much."
"What happened to your rig?"
Greenbaugh grimaced. "One deadhead too many. Bank repossessed her."
"Damn. I'm sorry, Doyle."
"Luck of the draw. Why I came north, start over."
" Lot of people do that," Johnny said. " Lot of people drop their past life at the Beaver Creek border crossing."
Greenbaugh grinned. "You seen a lot of that in your long life, have you?"
Johnny felt his ears get red again. "It's just something Kate says."
"Who's Kate? Vanessa's competition?" He grinned at Vanessa, who didn't grin back.
For a moment Johnny was stumped for a reply. "Kate's who I live with. She's my legal guardian. You probably forgot, but my dad's dead, and my mom's… well, my mom's out of the picture."
Greenbaugh gave a thoughtful nod. "I remember now. Your mom's the one stuck you with your grandparents in Arizona. You didn't like it, so you left. This Kate was who you were headed for when we met?"
"Yeah."
"What's she do?"
Johnny shrugged. "Whatever she can do to make a buck." Greenbaugh raised an eyebrow.
Johnny flushed beet red. "Not that!" he said. "Jeez! What I mean is she's like any other Park rat, she hunts, fishes, traps sometimes." Johnny felt Vanessa look at him again, and avoided looking back. He didn't know why he didn't tell Greenbaugh what Kate did for a living. It wasn't like Greenbaugh wouldn't know five minutes after he stepped into the Park. Or even if he stuck around Ahtna long enough.
"Park rat?" Greenbaugh said.
Johnny laughed a little too loudly, relieved at the change of subject. "It's what we call ourselves."
"'Ourselves'?"
"I'm a Park rat now, too," Johnny said, betraying his youth with his pride.
Greenbaugh shrugged. "Okay. Any place decent for a man to stay in Niniltna?"
"Nuh-NILT-nuh," Johnny said again. Again, he hesitated, and then said, "Sure, just ask the way to Auntie Vi's, she runs a B and B in town. I'll tell her you're coming."