Northern Lights

trouble."
    It was, Nate decided as she strode off to find a seat, a warm enough welcome, considering.
    Hopp worked him toward the stage where chairs were set up for her and Nate, and for Woolcott who served as deputy mayor.
    "Deb's going to start things off with some town business, announcements and such," Hopp explained. "Then Ed'll have his say, introduce me. I'll have mine, introduce you. After you say your piece, we'll close it down. Might be some questions here and there."
    Nate felt his stomach sink. "Okay."
    She motioned him to a chair, took her own, then nodded at Deb Miner.
    Deb, a stocky woman with a pretty face framed by wispy blond hair, stepped onto the stage, took her place behind the lectern.
    The mike buzzed and squeaked while she adjusted it, and her throat clearing could be heard echoing through the hall. "Afternoon, everybody. Before we get to our main business, I have some announcements. The New Year's Eve celebration at The Lodge is going to get rolling about nine o'clock. Live music's provided by The Caribous. We'll be passing the hat for the entertainment, so don't be stingy. The school's holding a spaghetti supper a week from Friday, proceeds going to the uniform fund for the hockey team. We got a good chance at making regional champs, so let's put the team in uniforms we can be proud of. They start serving at five. Dinner includes the entree, a salad, a roll and a soft drink. Adults six dollars, children six to twelve, four dollars. Under six eat free."
    She went from there to details about an upcoming movie night being held at Town Hall. Nate listened with half an ear, tried not to obsess about his turn at the mike.
    Then he saw her walk in.
    The red parka, and something about the way she moved told him he was looking at the same woman he'd seen out his window the night before. Her hood was back, and she wore a black watch cap over her hair.
    A lot of black, straight hair.
    Her face seemed very pale against the two strong colors, her cheekbones very high in that black frame. Even across the hall he could see her eyes were blue. A bright, glacial blue.
    She carried a canvas satchel over her shoulder and wore baggy, mannish trousers with scarred black boots.
    Those icy blue eyes zeroed straight to his, held as she strode down the center aisle formed by the folding chairs, then scooted into one beside a whippily built man who looked to be Native.
    They didn't speak, but something told Nate they were—not intimate, not physically—but in tune. She shrugged out of the parka while Deb moved from movie night to announcements about the upcoming hockey game.
    Under the parka was an olive green sweater. Under the sweater, if Nate was any judge, was a tough, athletic little body.
    He was trying to decide if she was pretty. She shouldn't have been— her eyebrows were too straight, her nose a little crooked, her mouth was top-heavy.
    But even as he mentally listed the flaws, something stirred in his belly. Interesting, was all he could think. He'd stayed away from women the last several months, which, given his state of mind, hadn't been a real hardship. But this chilly-looking woman had his juices flowing again.
    She opened the knapsack, took out a brown bag. And to Nate's baffled amusement dipped a hand in and came out with a fistful of popcorn. She munched away, offering some to her seat companion while Deb finished up the announcements.
    While Ed took the lectern, made his comments about the town council and the progress they'd made, the newcomer pulled a silver thermos out of her sack, and poured what looked to be black coffee into its cup.
    Who the hell was she? The daughter of the Native guy? The ages were about right, but there was no family resemblance he could see.
    She didn't flush or flutter when he stared at her, but nibbled her snack, sipped her coffee and stared right back.
    There was applause as Hopp was introduced. With an effort, Nate forced himself to put his head back in the game.
    "I'm not going to waste time politicking up here. We decided to incorporate our town because we want to take care of our own in the tradition of our great state. We voted to build the police station, to form a police department. Now we went through a lot of debating, a lot of hot words on all sides and a lot of good, hard sense, too, on all sides. The upshot was, we voted to bring in a man from Outside, a man with experience and no connection to Lunacy. So he'd be fair, so he'd be smart, so he'd enforce