Sticking to the Plan

Chapter 8

It was later in the morning. The air was still cool, but there was no rush about the town. The fishermen and their boats had already left port. Shop owners had already opened for the day. The calm and the quiet only served to heighten Kaley's anxiety. She wrung her hands even as she kept a hurried pace. Her shoes were too loud on the pavement. Her vision was almost blurred at the edges. She felt anxiety threatening to take over, but she maintained her course.

When the Brown's lodge came into view she felt nauseated immediately. The closer she got the more intense her stomach cramped. She was dreading this possibly more than she'd ever dreaded anything. But making amends wasn't ever easy, she coached herself. She ran that rhetoric through her mind on repeat until she found herself breathing heavily in front of his door, staring at it as if it were made of knives. She was appalled as her knuckles seemed to ball up on their own and rap at the door's exterior. Her heart beat so loud in her ears that she couldn't tell if she heard his footsteps or if her pulse was really that intense. After a few moments of silence, she knocked again.

She was faced with the same door after a couple of minutes. She only turned around when she heard a neighboring door click open and shut. Mila was attempting to sneak down the hall, she looked surprised when she saw Kaley.

"Oh...hey." Mila looked almost sheepish, "Got late on me...we ended up passing out pretty late." Her normal cocky persona was muted, perhaps the walk of shame was her breaking point.

Kaley shrugged, Mila didn't owe her an explanation.

"I um, have you seen Bam by chance?" Kaley asked, clearly Mila wasn't feeling nearly as open as she normally was. Mila shook her head.

"No, but Matt left a couple hours ago...said something about some hauling job today. Pretty sure they all left." Mila was already walking down the hallway. After a longing glance back at the door, Kaley followed her, jogging to catch up.

"Did he say when he'd be back?" Kaley felt a little relieved, out in the remote bush towns around the island, the cell service was even worse than Hoonah's. Their trip should buy her some time to think of the perfect thing to say to him.

"A day or two. They had to go to Juneau today. Said he'd text me when they were back in town." Mila was still clearly embarrassed, she appeared to not be in the mood for company either as she continued her brisk pace out of the lodge though Kaley had slowed considerably.

Juneau?! She thought. There's no way they wouldn't have service there...what if he found out then? She wanted to explain this in person. She imagined what kind of irate phone call or text she could receive. She was feeling panicked now. She wasn't sure how they would find out exactly, but something told her news like this would travel faster than she could imagine.

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Bam had to admit, he was jealous of Matt today. Matt was whistling, clearly care-free and looked like a man that enjoyed a satisfactory night. Bam very much enjoyed his evening, but had experienced the very worst ignored erection of his life after their date. He could have taken care of it himself as he had when he went to pick her up, but he wanted to discipline himself. He wanted the next time he had such a emission to be with her.

His lower region still slightly ached from being denied, but he ignored it as he helmed the large boat toward Juneau's busy waterway. Matt's annoying happy whistle filled the cabin as he walked through.

"You mind? I'm trying to concentrate here." Bam tried not to snap, but wasn't entirely successful. It did little to dampen Matt's spirits though, he seemed to almost be walking on air.