Alaska Twilight by Colleen Coble Page A

artifacts. She stood and watched him a few minutes. About forty, he had black hair that gleamed in the sun as much as the tanned and perspiring skin of his bare back.
    He turned and saw her. His eyes widened, and he raised a hand in greeting. “Howdy. It’s not often I get such lovely company out here.” He grabbed a denim shirt that lay across the wheelbarrow and pulled it on. Still buttoning it up, he approached her. He wiped his hand on his jeans, then thrust it out. “Ned Bundle,” he said.
    She shook it. “Haley Walsh.”
    His brown eyes studied her. “Walsh. You must be Grady and Maggie’s daughter. You look too much like Maggie not to be related.”
    “That’s right.” Haley felt tongue-tied at the appreciation in his glance. She suppressed a nervous giggle.
    “So sorry about your parents. It was a tragedy. They were brilliant. Thanks to their vision and insight, we know so much more about the first entries of humans into the Americas.” He waved his hand over the site. “They are associated with one of the greatest migratory events of human history—the peopling of the New World. The first Alaskans who created these sites went on to spread across North and South America. As far as Native Americans are concerned, all roads seem to lead back to Alaska. It was the original homeland in the New World.”
    Haley blinked, and he laughed. “Sorry, I’m getting carried away,” he said. “You can tell it’s my passion. What are you doing here? Come to take your parents’ place on the dig?” He gave a crooked smile full of hope.
    “Hardly. I’m a city girl myself. I’m here for the summer to photograph a bear activist. I just wandered over to see where I lived when I was a child.” He didn’t need to know more than that. She was quickly discovering her parents hadn’t talked about her much. It wasn’t likely she’d encounter anyone who knew much about her past.
    “Too bad. It gets quite lonely out here. Can I show you around?”
    She glanced at her watch. “Maybe later. The team is likely looking for me. I’d better get back. Nice to meet you.” She could almost hear her father’s voice behind Ned’s passion for his work. She barely touched her fingers to his, then beat a hasty retreat.
    She wandered down to the lake and walked out onto the rickety pier. She sat down to watch a family of loons paddle nearby. She and Chloe used to feed the loons here. She snapped some pictures. The memory sharpened as the smell of spruce mixed with the fresh scent of the lake. Oscar crouched nearby like a cat ready to pounce if the loons got close enough.
    She curled her legs under her so they wouldn’t touch the water. She wasn’t sure how to feel about the discovery that she had a half sister. Mostly, she felt numb. At least she’d found out something about her family. Maybe this Joy would be able to tell her more. The next time she saw Tank, she would ask him how to find the girl. She heard a child’s voice and turned her head. Oscar left the loons and ran to meet the woman and small girl who approached along the path that skirted the lake. Haley stood as well and dusted off her jeans.
    The young woman was near Haley’s age and had a friendly, open face. Her dark-brown eyes widened when she saw Haley. “Hello,” she said. “I hope I’m not disturbing you. Are you fishing?”
    The little girl bent over and tried to pick up Oscar. “What a cute little dog,” she said. Oscar’s tail was wagging hard enough to fall off. He licked the child’s face, and she giggled.
    “Careful if you pick him up,” Haley warned. “A dachshund has a weak back. You don’t want to drop him.”
    “I know,” the girl said. “I like wiener dogs.”
    She talked older than the five- or six-year-old she appeared to be. “Yes, he is,” Haley said. “His name is Oscar.”
    “Just pet him,” the woman told the child. She turned a friendly smile on Haley. “I’m Libby Lassiter.”
    Lassiter. She must be Tank’s