Free Unbroken by Jennifer McNare Page A

to ask Jake if he was who he thought he was.  At Jake’s acknowledgement, Mike’s face lit up like a kid’s on Christmas morning. 
    “Wow, it’s so cool to meet you , Mr. McCoy.  I’m not a hockey player myself, I play baseball for my high school team, but I did watch the NHL playoff series last year.  You were awesome,” he enthused.
    “Thanks,” Jake replied, with a humble expr ession.  “Hopefully this year the Blades can bring home the cup.”
    “Well I’ll be rooting for you,” Mike said with real enthusiasm.  “You guys want me to show you how to pan?”
    “That’s okay.  I’ve done this before.  I can show Britney how to do it.”
    “Okay, well here are a couple of jars to collect anything you find.”  He handed each of them a small glass jar with a cork stopper.  “Good luck.”
     
    Jake actually seemed to be enjoying himself, Britney thought, as he showed her how to pan for gold.  It was harder than it looked, but after a few tries, she got the hang of it and managed to effectively swirl the water and sand around the lip of the pan so that any gold flakes present in the sand would settle into the bottom.
    A fter about fifteen minutes, she had placed eight tiny flakes into her small glass jar.  She glanced toward where Jake was kneeling by the water a few feet away and held it up, smiling triumphantly as she gave the jar a little shake and set the gold fragments swirling about. 
    “Way to go, Britney.  You’re doing great,” he said with a wide, encouraging grin. 
    Holy smokes!  The effect of Jake’s captivating smile made Britney’s heart flutter.  Again, she was somewhat stunned by her reaction.  For a moment, she felt almost like her old self, like a normal woman with normal emotions, momentarily dazzled by the smile of a good-looking guy.  The tiny glimmer of hope she’d felt earlier flickered once again.  However, the notion that even a small degree of normalcy could be possible was both heartening and frightening at the same time, for she had been emotionally closed off for so long now.  But in that moment she wanted desperately to break free, to escape from the heart-wrenching loneliness that had become the center of her pitiful existence.  Was it possible? Dropping her gaze to the flecks of gold that had once again settled to the bottom of the jar, she felt something that she hadn’t felt in a very long time, a renewed sense of optimism.
     
    Twenty minutes later, they returned their shovels and pans to Mike and accepted his cheerful congratulations on their successful panning efforts.  Britney was thrilled that she had managed to collect nearly a dozen and a half of the small gold flakes, even though Jake had deposited at least twice as many in his own little glass jar.
    “That was fun,” she told him a s they left the dredge and made their way along the dirt path that led to the one-time bustling mining town.
    “Yeah, it sure was,” Jake agreed.  “Though I doubt either of us could make a living at it,” he added with a laugh.
    Britney held up her bottle, cocking her head to the side as she examined the meager contents within.  “I think you’re probably right about that.”
    As they followed the worn footpath, Britney was delighted by the easy conversation that sprung up between them.  To her surprise, Jake was much easier to talk to than she would have ever imagined.  And, as it turned out, he was a bit of a history buff like she was.  At her encouragement, he told her a bit of the history behind Custer as they walked.  She was surprised to learn that Jake’s great-grandfather had been amongst the first group of miners to settle in Custer.  In fact, it had been his early success that had funded the purchase of the large parcel of land that remained in Jake’s family to this day.  In addition, he’d been the one to construct the original structure that was now Ben’s farmhouse. 
    “Ther e’s even a picture of him in one of the old