Chapter 12

On Wednesday afternoon Matti spoke briefly with Dawn, and invited her to go out with him for dinner. It had been the longest period of time they had spent apart since they met, and Matti was anxious to have this streak of days end. While they had spoken frequently by phone, Matti needed to be with her, and if her words were to be accepted at face value, Dawn felt very much the same way. As it was, Matti met her in the parking lot when she returned home from the station. It seemed they were both anxious for this first chance to get together, as they ended up in each other’s arms at their first opportunity. It was a good thing they were both hungry, and the reservation was waiting for them, or they might not have left Dawn’s apartment at all.

When Dawn emerged from her bedroom and entered the living room showered, dressed, and made up for a night out, she had some news for Matti.

“Guess what, Matti! Yvonne has moved out. She got the transfer to Vancouver that she’s been so anxious to get approved for. It’s been her dream for a few years to work out of the Vancouver hub for the airline. She fully expects it means she’ll get to do some international travel. They have a lot of flights around the Pacific, and she expects she’ll be able to work on some of those routes. It all came together almost overnight, and she was all packed up and ready to go on Monday. She was so excited.”

Matti laughed and said, “If we knew each other a little better, I’d put in my application for Yvonne’s old position as your roommate.” He thought about what he had said for a few seconds and added, “I guess I shouldn’t really have said that, Dawn. I certainly didn’t want to make you think I was getting ahead of things. Please ignore it. I was out of line.”

If Dawn had been offended by his comments, she didn’t show it. Instead she said, “I think for now I’m going to enjoy having the extra space, and the peace and quiet of being on my own. We can have this conversation another day.” In just a minute they were going out the door for dinner at The Prospector.

Although it was common knowledge that nobody made money by going to a casino regularly, nobody at the bank thought to question the fact that Matti seemed to be coming in routinely with ‘winnings’ to deposit. He also began to build a similar paper trail using a casino in northern Minnesota that was only a short drive from Thunder Bay. He soon found he was able to make a weekly trip to that casino where he would exchange some Canadian $100 bills for US currency, make a withdrawal from the ATM, and exchange more currency at a local business, before returning to Thunder Bay. The US Currency ended up being deposited into a US dollar savings account at a different branch of his normal bank. He would end up carrying out these weekly gambling forays to the two casinos throughout the entire summer. His regular withdrawals from the cereal container at his camp became irregular deposits into his bank accounts after a variety of careful transactions on his part. It was all his secret, and he was fortunate to be instantly accessible by his satellite phone no matter where he was in Canada or the US. Only by analyzing his bank records would someone find out that he was apparently hooked on casinos.

In early July Matti’s sister Anna and her family arrived for a week’s vacation at the camp on Lake Watchanabi. With them staying at the camp there wasn’t enough room for Matti and Dawn to stay inside as well, so they decided they would stay in a tent instead. At least, Matti suggested the tent, and Dawn finally agreed with much apprehension. She had never stayed outside in a tent, but she finally agreed to try it. Her last fears were swept aside when Matti reminded her that she had liked everything she had tried at the camp, even the naked swim after emerging from the sauna.

Matti and Dawn actually arrived before the King family. They had finished setting their tent up among the tall pine trees beside the camp just as the SUV stopped beside the camp.

“Welcome home, Anna and Bob. How are my two favourite nephews?” Matti’s quick hug for his sister, and a similarly quick shake of his brother-in-law’s hand barely left him time to prepare for the onslaught of his two nephews. As Matti knelt in front of them, the two young boys charged into his arms, almost knocking him down.

“Slow down, guys. If you knock me out I won’t be able to tell you where all those good fishing spots are.” Matti managed to give each of them a welcoming hug before he stood once again.

“Dawn, I’d like you to meet my sister Anna, my brother-in-law Bob, and the two roughnecks. The one on the left is Kevin, and the one on the right is his brother Keith. Anna, Bob, I’d like you to meet my ... girlfriend Dawn Winters.”

Dawn laughed and said, “I’m very pleased to meet all of you. I guess you noticed that Matti stumbled before he introduced me as his girlfriend. Actually, we’ve never discussed our relationship that way, but I guess that if I’m his girlfriend, then he must be my boyfriend, and I’m good with that.” She gave Matti a brief embrace when she finished speaking.

With the introductions made, and the relationships explained, the adults began moving in the suitcases and boxes of food and other supplies that Anna and Bob had brought. The two boys immediately ran for the dock, and then began exploring the lakeshore. After serious admonishments from their mother that they should stay out of the water, the adults continued unloading the SUV.

When everything was in its place the two men walked outside with a beer apiece while the two women began to prepare a simple supper. Since there were no fillets in the refrigerator, burgers, hotdogs and salad became the default meal.

As Matti and Bob stood on the dock watching the two boys as they explored the boathouse, Bob said, “I have to say that’s quite a good-looking girlfriend you have there, Matti. Where did you meet her?”