Tyler groans again.
“You’re gonna have to do interviews—”
“I’m not doing any interviews—”
“Pose for pictures …” I hand his phone back to him, earning myself another finger stroke that skitters all the way to my spine.
He watches me swallow a sip of my Coke. “Anyway, it looks like you don’t have to worry about being paid.”
“Yeah, not going to lie. That is a relief.” I have to pay Cory for seven hours of tonight’s overtime. I can skip paying myself, and I don’t mind, if I’m spending my time sitting out here with Tyler. “How did you end up as a park ranger, anyway?”
“I’ve always been heading toward this. I spent years volunteering in the parks, and I knew how competitive it would be to get hired on, so I decided to go to college for a criminal justice degree. From there, I worked with Montana Highway Patrol for a few years, gaining experience, before getting hired on with the state parks.”
“And then you went to Finland?”
“Then I met Mila. She was in Montana for a month in the summer, visiting her father.” He smiles to himself. “She assumed it was just going to be a vacation fling, but I convinced her to give me a chance to prove it could work. We did the long-distance thing for about four months, and it was hard. I asked her to marry me. She said no at first, because she wouldn’t leave her dogs. So I left everything in Montana and moved to her.”
It feels awkward, hearing him talk about falling in love with her. But the conversation is important.
It’s like going through your medical history with a new doctor before they take you on. Uncomfortable, but essential to share vital details that might make a big difference in the future. In this case, it helps me understand the kind of man Tyler is, what he’s willing to give up for the right woman.
Everything.
“Their family business was too important for her to leave, and I was willing to do anything to be with her.” He toys with the tab on his can. “That’s the thing with me—when I’m in, I’m all in. It was tough, though. Most people there speak English, but I didn’t speak the language, so getting hired in my field wasn’t going to be easy. I started taking language lessons while helping out on the farm. That’s what they call their kennel. That, or a homestead. It’s nothing like this. It’s a whole tourist attraction, with guided sled tours and snowshoeing, snowmobiling. I learned about mushing and fell in love with it. Ended up becoming a guide, taking people and dogs out for hours, sometimes days, all over the Arctic Circle. It’s a pretty wild life.”
He pauses. “After Mila passed, I stayed to help Tero and Anja. The dogs had been training hard with Mila for years, and Tero wanted to race them in the Finnmarksl?pet in her honor but didn’t think he had it in him. I needed something to keep me going. So, I decided I would do it. He helped get me to the start line.” He pulls the metal tab off his can. “Mila got me to the finish.”
“And your talent and commitment to these dogs got you there first.”
His smile is sad.
“Then you decided to move to Alaska?”
“It was too hard to stay in Finland without her, so I started looking at moving back home, to Whitefish. I went for a visit. It was good to see family but moving back didn’t appeal to me. Then I ran into Marshall Deeks in town, also visiting. I’ve known him since I was a kid, volunteering. He told me if I wanted a job up here, he’d make it happen. Even something seasonal, if I wanted to keep racing. Tero and Anja told me the dogs were mine to take wherever I wanted, as long as I cared for them the same way she had. Then Reed called me up, begging me to let him come help, my real estate agent found the farm, which was exactly what I was looking for, and it all kind of fell into place. It seemed like this is how I was meant to move on with my life.”
And yet, Tyler hasn’t moved on. He may have physically relocated, but his head and heart are still living four thousand miles away and two years ago.
I curl my arms around my chest to ward off the first hint of a chill. “Is this your plan for the long term, then? Ranger in the summers, musher in the winters?”
“Honestly, I’m still taking it one day at a time. Between my savings, Mila’s life insurance, and a decent inheritance from my parents when they sold their property to developers, I have enough money to keep me going for a bit. I’ll race this team until they can’t race anymore. After that …” He shakes his head. “Reed wants to compete, so maybe I’ll help him get set up with a team and then I’ll see about something more permanent for myself, up in Denali, working with the dogs there.”