Chapter Fifteen: Summer Reunions
Neither Emily nor Katie saw much of Jerry after that. He set about trying to get back to Victoria, while the two pilots were kept occupied by orders from Captain Mitchell that had to be obeyed in order to set up the evacuation system. In light of the oncoming storms, it was small wonder that their arguments went unresolved.
Once she'd arrived home, however, Emily took it upon herself to write Jerry and let him know that she understood and would try to help if she could. Then she went about her normal life. She went back to school to finish her degree in animal psychology, wondering ruefully if she'd ever get her master's since she was always taking semester courses sporadically whenever she was at home. Katie dropped by for a few visits occasionally and, on her last visit, updated her on how Jerry was doing.
Apparently, he'd traveled the country for the first couple of months of summer, trying to find someone who'd be willing to finance a return trip, he even attempted to convince the media that it would make an interesting story, but all to no avail. "He's back at his place in Oregon, teaching nine-year-olds how to kayak," Katie said, grinning as she finished her update.
Emily leaned back into the sofa on which she sat and smiled in response. "That's hardly something I could picture Jerry doing," she remarked. Her eyes strayed to the exquisite Irish setter dashing about in the backyard with Brockton. "So you took Brandi to see him? What did he think?"
"He didn't say too much," Katie acknowledged. "I think he was thinking more about his dogs than mine. I understand though," she continued hastily, afraid that Emily might make some snide remark about him caring too much about his dogs.
Giving her friend a gentle, sympathetic smile, Emily said quietly, "I wasn't going to say anything, Kate." Her eyes brightened mischievously as she suddenly changed the subject. "Did you tell him about your new boyfriend? How'd he take it?"
"What do you mean?" Katie asked suspiciously. "He didn't seem too upset by it and he made a few snide remarks about Brad being a train driver instead of a computer engineer. How else did you expect him to react?"
"Oh, I don't know," Emily said airily, stretching luxuriously. "Jealous, maybe?"
"Oh stop it, Em!" Katie scolded, her eyes flashing good-naturedly, "You're not helping me get over him by tossing out all these 'he still cares' hints! What clue do you have that he even cares anymore? You haven't seen him!"
"All right, all right, I digress," Emily laughed. She sobered suddenly. "Does Brad know what's going on? I don't think he'd like it if he knew you were only dating him to get your mind off a certain survival expert from Antarctica."
"No, I haven't told him, and I don't intend to," Katie cut in defiantly. "I like Brad, and I don't want to hurt him."
"Speaking of Brad," Emily said swiftly and placatingly, sensing that Katie was likely to launch into a long-winded, mostly meaningless explanation about how much she really did like Brad, "When am I going to meet him?"
"What?" Katie seemed momentarily disconcerted by the sudden change in the direction of the conversation. "Oh, I forgot to tell you…"
"You're engaged to him?" Emily inserted teasingly.
Katie gave her friend and dirty look. "Very funny, Em. No, I was going to say that I've been invited to a special banquet for Dr. McLaren. Apparently he's receiving some kind of award for the discovery he made down in Antarctica. He doesn't know you very well, of course, but he's grateful for the assistance you gave him in McMurdough after his accident –"
"But I didn't really do anything," Emily interjected.
Sending her a scathing look, Katie continued, "Don't interrupt. He viewed it that way and you might as well be grateful for it. Anyway, he also remembered how warmly you greeted him and I told him how close you were to everyone at Victoria, so he asked me to extend his invitation to you as well. You're invited to come with me and Brad to the banquet."
Duly impressed, Emily leaned back. "So that means I have to dress up nice and everything, huh?" Katie nodded. "Well, I'm in. I could use a break from my schooling – even if I can't afford it – and it'll be nice to get away from Mom and Brockton's constant needling about Jerry."
The dinner was a grandiose affair, filled to capacity with ladies in elegant dinner gowns and men in tuxedos, carrying glasses of champagne and socializing with their colleagues. Emily felt distinctly out of place, despite her ivory ball gown, stilettos, and elegant twisted-up hair. Katie looked stunning in a sleek black mermaid gown with her long brown hair piled in luxuriant curls atop her head. Slipping between a couple of distinguished older men, Emily approached and clasped her friend's hands. "You look amazing!" Katie told her, leaning back to take in her friend's appearance. "Oh, Emily Hawkins, this is Brad Ingalls, Brad, this is my best friend from Antarctica." Emily quickly appraised the man standing beside Katie and admitted grudgingly to herself that he was indeed very attractive. He had slightly wavy dark hair, and his stormy grey eyes gazed intelligently out over his prominent, high cheekbones. He bowed graciously and lightly brushed her hand with his lips.
"Pleased to meet you, Miss Hawkins," he said in a resonating tenor voice. His attention shifted to the man standing at the podium and indicating for the guests to take their seats. He turned back to Katie and offered his arm, at the same time, indicating that Emily go before him. He seated them both before sitting down beside Katie and accepting the proffered dish from their waiter. For the rest of the evening, he engaged Katie in conversation, once in a while directing a question at Emily, but leaving her in peace for the most part. After finishing her dessert, Emily allowed her attention to wander as she glanced over the other guests. She picked out Cooper, sitting next to an elegant blonde and vainly trying to get her attention; Andy Harris sitting beside Rosie, who chatted amicably with a woman on his other side whom Emily assumed to be his wife; and finally, she noticed Dr. McLaren standing beside the bar on the far side of the hall, talking to a towheaded, blue-eyed young man – Jerry. So he is here, Emily grinned inwardly, wondering if Katie had noticed. Swiftly excusing herself, she wove her way through the tables to the bar, where Dr. McLaren had left Jerry alone to fiddle with his glass, looking a little lonely. She cleared her throat, getting his attention.
He spun around. "Emily! I didn't know you were here!" He hastily put down his glass and hugged her quickly before holding her back at arm's length and looking her up and down. "Wow, you look fabulous!"
"You look pretty snazzy yourself," she replied, tugging playfully on the lapels of his tan dress jacket. "You're missing the tie, though," she teased.
"Yeah, well, I just dropped by to congratulate Davis. You know I'm not one for social gatherings." He shifted slightly from one foot to the other, clearly uncomfortable. He stared absently across the room while Emily moved to seat herself on the barstool beside him, wordlessly declining any drink from the bartender. Jerry suddenly seemed to remember she was there and he turned to face her with a warm smile. "Well, I need to get going. It's been good to see you again." In a gentlemanly gesture that surprised her, he bent and brought her hand to his mouth. As he began to walk away, Emily suddenly jumped up and caught his arm.
"Aren't you going to let Katie know you're here?" she demanded. "She'd appreciate it, Jer, you know she would."
Shaking his head briskly, he replied, "She looks a little preoccupied with her boyfriend right now, and I'd rather avoid awkward introductions."
Still not releasing him, Emily stared at him. "Don't you care about her anymore?"
For a fraction of a second, she saw Jerry's guard go down and his eyes flashed a pained emotion, but before she could read into it, his face was smooth and expressionless again. "Of course I care about her. The same way I care about you. What was between us no longer exists and it's apparent that she's moved on."
"But –" Emily began.
"No, Emily," Jerry said firmly, gently removing her hand from his arm. "It's over. And it's not your place to try to fix it." Once again, as she stared hard at him, his mask slipped and a deep aching pain filled his eyes before he flicked his gaze away from her face.
Liar, she seethed inwardly, You still love her. She wanted to scream. She wanted to grab him by the collar and holler in his face that Katie was only dating Brad to take her mind off him, that her best friend still sighed dreamily when his name was mentioned, that she could see in his eyes that he wasn't over her either. But she held back and contented herself with glaring reproachfully at his retreating back, knowing it would be useless to try to break down the wall Jerry had thrown around himself.
Author's Note: So? What's that I hear? You want to review? Oh please, please do! You know where the little button is!
Oh, and I thought I might add a disclaimer, since this story is liberally sprinkled with custom-made characters... DISCLAIMER: All characters are property of Disney and the producers of Eight Below. Captain Mitchell, Bryan Rice, Brad, Emily, Jesse (the dog) Connor, and... um... anyone else mentioned at other bases... and the names "Yamesch" "Elisabeth" and "Gretchen" are products solely of my imagination, so flame me if you will for them, just don't sue me! JK, JK, I love you all and please review:)
Elena