33
Gunnar scanned the white expanse as Julie counted down their approach to the North Pole. He wasn’t sure why he expected something other than what they’d experienced the last thirty-one days. Probably Julie’s enthusiasm and constant wondering if the Pole would be a jumbled mess, blizzard, or ping-pong ball.
Thankfully, they’d arrived on option four: sunny and calm, with flat snow and ice stretched for miles. For all the obstacles they’d had getting there, he never imagined the last two days would be so easy.
Julie tipped her head back and looked up at him from the sled. She’d taken the face shield off, and a beautiful smile stretched from ear to ear. Because of her, they’d get this experience.
Because of her, his heart had taken residence in his chest again. Somewhere along the last fifteen years, it had packed up, leaving him with a poor mechanical substitute. He’d learned to adjust, to go through the motions of life. But it hadn’t been living.
Now, with Julie, life pulsed through him so hard his chest ached.
“We’re almost there!” She chugged her hands in the air in a celebratory dancing motion.
This wouldn’t do. She couldn’t make it to her dream wrapped like a burrito in the sled.
“Whoa,” he called to Tolstoy.
Her dog had not been okay with being in the middle of the pack. It was fitting he lead the extra-long team of dogs. Julie had been the one leading them on too.
“Why are we stopping?” Julie twisted on her perch, scanning the area. “We aren’t there yet.”
He stomped the ice hook into the snow and walked around the sled.
“We’re stopping because while it’s fitting the queen is perched upon her throne, she deserves to cross the finish line of her own accord.” He bowed before unzipping her from the bag.
She shimmied out of her cocoon and stood on the sled. When he reached to help her out, she jumped into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist, and kissing him hard. Her cold lips felt like frozen jello against his. He’d have to get the tent set up soon to warm her up.
He smiled against her mouth. Just one kiss from her, and he overheated.
“Put me down, you big oaf.” She bit his bottom lip, unwrapped her legs, and pushed playfully against his shoulder. “If we don’t hurry, the ocean will float us away, and we’ll have to walk a mile instead of feet.”
“If I remember right, you were the one who jumped me.” He tightened his arm and refused to let go, nuzzling up her jaw to below her ear.
When she tilted her head with a sigh, he opened his arms, dropping her with a smirk. Her shriek and laughter bounced across the snow, through his booted feet, and shot straight to his heart. He rubbed his hand across the fullness there.
“Geesh, stop wasting time. We’ve got a Pole to conquer.” He headed past the dogs, commanding them to stay.
Julie stepped up beside him, the GPS in her hand counting down the longitude degrees to the zero and the latitude to ninety. With the ocean constantly moving the sea ice, there wasn’t a way to mark the Pole like the South Pole had. Relying on the GPS unit was the only way they’d know when they made it.
She watched the screen, not paying attention to where she stepped. Not that there was anything to pay attention to. Gunnar dug into his pocket for the special camera Mason had each of them carry to document the expedition. Gunnar had almost forgotten he’d stuck it there so it would have a full charge to record the last steps to the end.
He pressed record and pointed it at Julie. “You ready to stand on the North Pole?”
“Absolutely.”
She tore her eyes away from the screen to beam up at him. He leaned down to press his smile to hers. She giggled and bumped his shoulder.
“Stop. You’re distracting me.” She gave him one last peck, then continued walking.
He zoomed the camera on to the GPS screen, not wanting a doubt that they made it. When the screen showed ninety degrees latitude and zero longitude, they stopped and slowly spun. There wasn’t anything to see but the dogs waiting patiently and white earth with blue sky.
Didn’t matter.
Being on the top of the world had Gunnar feeling feet taller. He breathed in the sharp, cold air and stopped turning when he faced Julie.
He’d been wrong.
The most beautiful sight in the world stood right before him. Ice clung to the hair that had escaped from her hat. Her cheeks had pinked in the cold air. Fur from her parka’s hood, also jeweled with ice crystals, surrounded her face.