Sweet Home Alaska Read online

  Sweet Home Alaska

  An Alaskan Hero Novella

  Rebecca Thomas

  www.authorrebeccathomas.com

  For anyone who has tried and failed—and isn't afraid to try again

  Published by Rebecca Thomas

  Copyright © 2015 Rebecca Thomas

  Edited by Libby Murphy, Book Alchemy, LLC www.bookalchemyinc.com

  Copyedits and formatting by Ellen Stacey Publishing Services

  Cover design: Clarissa Yeo

  eBook ISBN: 978-0-9966521-1-7

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  A Note From Rebecca

  Other Books By Rebecca Thomas

  Chapter One

  Trey Briggs glanced at Lauren’s application and scanned her résumé. The letterhead had her listed as owner and CEO of Moose’s Tooth Catering, LLC.

  He removed his glasses and bit down on the end piece so hard he almost bent it.

  He’d hire someone else, anyone else, but not Lauren Kinkade.

  He didn’t want to be around her. She conjured up memories of him as a lanky, awkward teen covered in acne. Back then, he could barely speak to people under normal circumstances, let alone a girl like her. A girl who commanded attention the minute she walked into a room, a girl who was as nice as she was beautiful, a girl who everyone wanted as a friend.

  He had earned his high school nickname because of her, and although no one had called him “Crash” in a long time, seeing her résumé reminded him. Sometimes if he walked into a crowded restaurant and a beautiful woman stood up at just the right moment. . . he remembered.

  He set his glasses on his desk and stood up. Pacing across his office, he stared through his floor-to-ceiling window at the mossy green color of the Kenai River.

  A knock sounded on his door. “Come on in,” he said.

  His administrative assistant, Kayla, marched toward his desk. “Just wanted to remind you that you have your first interview in twenty minutes,” she said.

  Kayla stood on the opposite side of his desk and started to place some papers in front of him, but instead raised a wary eyebrow. “Oh, you already have her information. I don’t remember printing that out for you.”

  “I printed it,” he replied flatly.

  “Oh, okay, well, as you can see, she’s local. My understanding is she moved back to town only recently. Her grandmother owned Moose’s Tooth bakery.” She straightened the papers in her hands.

  “Yes, we went to high school together. Graduated the same year.”

  “Oh. I didn’t realize you knew her,” Kayla said, narrowing her eyes at him.

  Kayla reminded him of his mother on occasion.

  Yes, he knew Lauren. A mixture of emotions welled within him. He saw the questions in Kayla’s eyes, but he didn’t owe her any explanation. “And she knew she’d be meeting with me about the job?”

  “Yes. In fact, I was very specific about that. I told her Trey Briggs was performing the interviews.”

  He had the urge to ask if Lauren had corrected her and said “Crash Briggs,” but he knew Lauren would never say that. He paced across the room, looking for an escape.

  “I guess when her grandmother died she left the business to Miss Kinkade. So she moved back. Or maybe you already knew that, too?” Kayla asked.

  “Yes, I knew, but I didn’t put two and two together that she was expanding the bakery to catering as well.” There wasn’t anyone in town who didn’t know about Elsie Kinkade’s Moose’s Tooth bakery. It was famous throughout the entire Kenai Peninsula. People would drive all the way from Homer on Sunday mornings for her cinnamon rolls, but he hadn’t given any real thought to Lauren being back in town until he looked at the candidates he’d be interviewing this week. He’d been so involved in overseeing the remodeling of the Salmon Catcher Hotel, he’d done little else for the past six months.

  Kayla interrupted his thoughts. “I think she moved back from somewhere in California.”

  “Burbank,” he said absently.

  “Oh well, oo-kay, I just wanted to remind you about the interview.” Kayla had the look of an investigative reporter, fishing for answers. She set the papers on his desk, took a moment to straighten them, and turned to leave.

  “Wait a minute.” Trey paced to his desk, picked up the papers, and sat down. He put on his glasses and pretended to read. He shifted his weight deeper into his leather office chair and tapped his finger on the arm before he glanced up at Kayla. “Call Miss Kinkade back and cancel the appointment.”

  Kayla hadn’t been with him long, but he guessed by the silence she was uncertain how to react to his request. This was a good test to find out just what kind of woman he’d hired as his executive assistant.

  “Consider it done.” Her voice sounded calm, but certainly there was a hint of annoyance there. Maybe she had more pluck than he gave her credit for. He questioned his own decision about canceling the interview, but he appreciated Kayla doing what he’d asked.

  He rotated his chair to face his computer screen. “That will be all.”

  “Of course, Mr. Briggs.” Kayla raised an eyebrow and gave him a pensive look before she crossed the room and clicked the door shut behind her.

  He was a business owner now. He could hire whomever he damn well pleased, and he didn’t want reminders of those days.

  Lauren had asked him to help her with her algebra once. He’d been so tongue-tied. Heat flushed his face and he’d nearly passed out from the anxiety. Eventually, he did help her with formulas she’d been having problems understanding. Miraculously, he didn’t hyperventilate.

  He’d come a long way since high school, but, considering how his heart was pounding at the idea of her, apparently not far enough.

  Then there was the lunchroom incident. He’d earned his nickname for the rest of his senior year because of it. But none of it was Lauren’s fault. She didn’t do anything other than stand up and stretch at the exact moment he’d collided with Billy Barnes. Funny how Billy never got a nickname out of the deal.

  His innate ability to be distracted and lose his concentration on simple tasks like carrying his lunch tray across a room had nothing to do with Lauren. She had always been kind and polite, always had a smile on her face. She was like sunshine.

  Trey stood up from his desk with the intention of telling Kayla he’d changed his mind, but indecision and that familiar anxiousness took over his body.

  He should give his business to a local outfit, instead of someone from Anchorage. But the idea of seeing her again—the girl who he’d admired from afar, the girl who he’d fantasized about—he just couldn’t do it. He’d gotten his anxiety under control over the years, but Lauren Kinkade would likely set him back a few paces.

  Besides, she wouldn’t stay in town. She’d move back to California the second the first snow fell. She’d remember how brutal the winters could be in Alaska and she’d hightail it out of there
.

  He glanced at his wristwatch. Two hours remained before he interviewed other candidates. But what he needed more than anything was to clear his mind, eject any thoughts of Lauren and her arrival back to their hometown.

  Sitting in his office made this difficult. He stripped himself of his jeans and polo shirt in exchange for shorts, sneakers, and a T-shirt. As he passed Kayla’s desk on the way out he said, “I’m going for a run. Be back in an hour.”

  Chapter Two

  Lauren checked her lipstick in the mirror on the visor of her ancient—as in, built alongside the pyramids—Volkswagen van. She struggled sometimes between the balance of dressing fashionably and feeling guilty about it. Alaskans, in general, concerned themselves with keeping warm and dressing practically, not accessorizing their clothes with matching jewelry and complementary make-up. So, in that way, she didn’t fit the Alaska “mold.”

  She wore a purple pinstripe suit—way over the top for the Kenai Peninsula’s casual dress code—but she had to look her best. And yet, she had to be herself. If she didn’t dress in her own style, she wouldn’t have confidence, and therefore she wouldn’t interview well. And she had to interview well, because she needed this job. She needed it like women needed chocolate every twenty-eight days. She was desperate to get Moose’s Tooth off the ground and make money.

  Since her grandmother’s death two months ago, the bakery had been closed, and the bills had piled up. Lauren had back wages to cover and rent to pay. She had promised the employees she would pay them for their forced vacation time. They were understanding, to a point, but more than being profitable, Lauren wanted her grandma to be proud of her.

  At the funeral she got the feeling that people were looking down at her, scolding her for leaving her grandmother eight years ago to run the bakery on her own. But then, Lauren had to wonder if that wasn’t her own guilt playing tricks on her.

  Regardless, she needed to be accepted back into the community. She needed their business to get Moose’s Tooth back where it should be.

  She had no family left now. After her parents had been killed in a car wreck when she was just a toddler, Grandma had raised her. Elsie Kinkade never resented Lauren for leaving home. At least, if she did, she never let Lauren know it. Lauren had worked in the bakery her entire life. She’d wanted a change, something new, something exciting. She’d wanted a life surrounded by people and traffic and lights and activities. She’d wanted a thriving metropolis and that’s exactly what L.A. had given her.

  She got that, and a whole lot more. A big dose of reality.

  But she’d stuck it out for eight years, hanging on to the dream.

  She’d been born in L.A. and it was where her parents had died, so she felt some need to return to the area. She also wanted to pursue her mother’s dream of becoming an actress.

  There was nothing to do in Southcentral Alaska, at least not for people like her. She wasn’t a fisherwoman or a hiker or a kayaker. She wore high heels and dresses. She liked concerts and plays. She had never fit into this town.

  Well, except for working at Moose’s Tooth. Even in her heels, she always felt like she fit in at the bakery. When it came to food and chatting with people, she was at her best. But that wasn’t reason enough to stay there. Or it hadn’t been.

  She had thought after she’d signed with a talent agent that everything would fall into place, but nothing had. The only acting gig she’d managed to land was a toothpaste commercial.

  She had bills to pay just like anyone else. When she’d taken the job with Delights Catering, a whole new world opened to her. A world of parties, entertainment, socializing, and food.

  She had started her blog, “Sweet Home Alaska,” on a whim, after watching Sweet Home Alabama with friends. She thought it was silly at first, but before long discovered how freeing it felt to say exactly what she thought in a blog format. At first she blogged about all the changes she’d experienced from small town Alaska life to the big city in California. Then, after she started working at catering events for Myles, her blog had transformed into a food blog. She posted recipes, favorite meals, and about how delicious food brought people together.

  Then Grandma had died and left the bakery to her. She could have sold it, but she wanted to see if she could bring her love of catering back to the town she missed.

  The only way to find out if coming back was the right thing to do was to give it a try—to work as hard as she possibly could to be accepted back into the community. And landing a spot as the caterer in the Salmon Catcher Hotel’s grand re-opening would be a perfect place to start.

  If the town’s darling, Trey Briggs, accepted her, then everyone in town would accept her, too.

  Her cell phone chirped. “Hello?” she answered.

  “Miss Kinkade, this is Kayla, Mr. Briggs’s assistant.”

  “Hello, Kayla. I’ll be there in just a few moments.”

  “That’s what I was calling about. I apologize, but the interview has been canceled.”

  What? This made no sense. “Then I assume we’ll reschedule for another time?”

  “No, Miss Kinkade. There will be no interview.”

  “I see.” Lauren’s heart pounded in her ears. So this is what small-town life meant? Maybe she’d made a mistake in coming back. Maybe she wasn’t meant to be here. “Thank you, Kayla.”

  Lauren clicked off her phone and gripped the steering wheel. “What the heck?”

  Was this the kind of reception she should expect from other businesses in town? A cold shoulder and a ‘no thanks, we aren’t giving you the time of day’ after all. Little did they know how determined she really was. She was more than a pretty brunette in heels.

  She clenched her teeth and tried to think about her options. She watched as people entered and exited the two-story log building that housed a dentist’s office, a sporting goods store, and Briggs Enterprises.

  She stared at ravens flapping overhead, squawking to each other from adjacent spruce trees. Ravens were one of the most intelligent and hardiest of birds. They found food to sustain themselves during the winter, and they were opportunistic, not to mention popular in mythology and folklore.

  She needed to be like a raven and toughen up.

  A familiar face exited the building. But this man was so tall, much taller than Trey. She had been taller than Trey when they were eighteen. Now all his pimples were gone, and from the looks of it, he’d put on weight in all the right places. She eyed the muscular curve of his calves and the way his broad shoulders filled out his T-shirt.

  Whoa.

  She peered through the windshield at him and leaned forward, trying to make sure he was the same Trey Briggs of her graduating class. He looked so different, and yet she noted his determined pace. He kept his head down and moved across the parking lot as though he knew exactly where he was going and no one was going to stop him.

  She reached for her van’s door handle. She wanted to give him a piece of her mind, but she stopped to look at him more closely. The man was gorgeous. Acute interest unfolded in her belly.

  She’d asked him for help with her algebra once and he’d looked at her like she’d grown horns on her head. He had always kept to himself, very quiet and introverted.

  She’d gotten him to cave when she’d asked him to help her with algebra; he could damn well give her the interview he’d agreed to. She was going to be like a raven, be opportunistic. Besides, he knew as well as anyone that her grandmother’s food was the best in town.

  She remembered the blue 1970 Ford pickup truck Trey had driven to school. It had started out as a hunk of junk, rusty and blowing smoke wherever it went, but he had restored it. The guy was knowledgeable and he fixed things. So it hadn’t surprised her when she read about Briggs Enterprises purchasing the old run-down, three-story hotel on the Kenai Spur Highway and refurbishing it.

  It made sense; it was what Trey did. It fit his golden boy image. He’d also started a fundraising campaign their senior year of high school to
raise money to refurbish all the elementary schools’ playgrounds.

  The guy was a freaking boy scout, a model of good behavior.

  And yet he wouldn’t interview her. She’d never been anything except polite to him. She couldn’t say they were friends, but when they passed in the hallways, she’d always said hello.

  Did he harbor some kind of resentment toward her that she didn’t know about? Had she done or said something to hurt him somehow? She didn’t understand. There was that time in the lunchroom when he’d run into another student, sending food everywhere. Other kids had made fun of him for that, but she hadn’t. In fact, she thought it was funnier that he’d always carried science fiction or comic books hidden between his textbooks.

  Regardless of what made Trey Briggs tick, she needed to stop reliving the past and look forward to the future. Trey got into his black dodge pickup truck and pulled out of the parking lot.

  Without thinking, she put her dilapidated van into drive and followed him. She needed to formulate a plan, but had she resorted to paparazzi tactics now? What was she going to say once she got him face-to-face?

  Sticking to business was the first course. Calming her frazzled nerves, the second.

  She had to convince him she was the best person for the job. He appeared to be an astute businessman, and if he wanted to bring in more customers during the off-tourist seasons and support the local economy, he needed to listen to her.

  Chapter Three

  Trey drove to the edge of the bluffs. He breathed in the salty sea air and listened to the birds chirp. Running on the beach would clear his head.

  Trey climbed down the steep pathway to the beach. He jogged in the sand and relished the feeling of his lungs heaving and legs burning. This is exactly what he needed. No more thoughts of Lauren and how badly he’d handled the news that he was scheduled to interview her.