3. Gemma
Chapter Three
GEMMA
I took a bite of the scone and a subtle orange flavor broke across my tongue. “Oh, my God,” I moaned, my words coming out muffled because I was chewing. I moaned again and swallowed. Leveling my gaze with Cammi’s, I said, “This is amazing. I thought you said baking wasn’t your forte.”
Cammi smiled, her blue eyes twinkling. “It’s not. I set up a gig with Daphne out at the resort. She’s going to do a rotation of baked goods for me since they have room in the kitchen out there. She’s incredible. We’ve even got a plan for delivery with the guys who come to fly every day. Between them, somebody comes to town every single day. They drop them off for me the afternoon before, and I pop them in the oven the next morning.”
“Wow. I already thought your coffee was incredible, but now with this, you’re taking it to the next level.” I meant every word. I’d discovered Misty Mountain Café on my second day in town, and I loved it.
Cammi beamed. “Thank you. Really. Like I told you, before this year my only expertise was coffee. I’ve got coffee down to a science. Taking this place over is a big step for me, and I knew I needed to up my food game.”
“You’ve given up doing massage?” I asked, referring to the side job Cammi told me she did occasionally in the winters for the physical therapy clinic at the hospital.
“Yeah, I had to. There’s no way for me to fit it in. Is that something you do? I mean, you teach yoga so…” Her words trailed off. Her honey brown hair bounced as she nodded, as if she was answering herself.
“I don’t do massage,” I offered with a smile. “I want to focus on my yoga classes. That, and the horse stuff. I love spending time with animals, and it’s working out to be a pretty sweet set up for me.”
“You gotta do what fits for you. Do you plan to stay in Diamond Creek long term?” she asked as she prepped the coffee I’d ordered before giving me the sample scone to taste.
“I’m hoping to stay. I wasn’t sure if I’d have enough business. I’m realizing if I do double duty in the summer, there are plenty of tourists who want to sign up for yoga classes while they’re here. In the winter, I can charge monthly fees for the locals and maybe some extra things on top of that. I love it here.”
“Diamond Creek’s a good place. I grew up here, so I might sound biased. Even though it feels like it’s the middle of nowhere, we’ve got good restaurants and plenty of shopping. There’s a small town vibe with a touch of the city.”
Turning, I looked out the windows of the small café, which offered a view of the mountains and the ocean bay sparkling under the sunshine. “I wouldn’t say city as far as the view goes, but as far as the restaurants and the coffee, hell yes. Now, I’ve got a morning yoga class, so I’ll catch you later.”
Cammi blew me a kiss and waved as I turned away, calling, “I’ll see you for the evening class.”
On my drive to the yoga studio, my phone rang. My car dashboard indicated it was my mother. I took a deep breath. Although I loved my mother, calls from her did, in fact, require deep breathing techniques on occasion.
Tapping the button to take the call, I said, “Hey, Mom.”
“Gemma, how’s Alaska?”
“It’s still great, Mom. Just like I told you three days ago.”
My mother’s sigh filtered through the car speakers. “I know, sweetie. You’re a long way away, and I’m still getting used to that.”
“I know, Mom. It’s not as far as you think. Portland’s a four-hour plane trip away.”
“I know, I know. We miss you.”
I turned my car onto the road that led to my yoga studio. “I miss you too. I’d love it if you all came up to visit soon. The weather’s gorgeous here in the summer.”
“I’ll talk with your father and see what his work schedule looks like. I hope you’re making friends.”
I bit back a sigh. God bless my mother. She worried about me. But then, she was a worrier. “I promise I’m making friends. I’ve got a class in just a few minutes, so I need to go. I’ll call you this weekend, okay?”
“All right, sweetie. Love you.”
“Love you too.”
With the tap of a button on my dashboard, I ended the call. As I turned into the parking lot, I took another breath and ordered myself not to feel guilty about moving away. I was blessed with two loving parents and an older brother who was also awesome. The cliché that family could be complicated rang so true in my life. Love only added another layer to the complications.
I wouldn’t describe myself as the black sheep of my family, but maybe the gray sheep. I didn’t quite fit, and I’d struggled with feeling like a disappointment. Both of my parents were brilliant. Both of my parents were highly successful lawyers.
Meanwhile, my brother was a star student, valedictorian of his high school class, blasting through college in three years and finishing law school in another two. He did everything at double speed. It was hard to follow in his footsteps. My parents never seemed to know what to do with me because school hadn’t come as easily for me as them. They didn’t know what to do and didn’t bother to get an assessment. They’d been confused about why I was struggling in school when I was younger. When they finally did get me tested and discovered I had dyslexia, things were much better, but then I was playing catch up and still saddled with the frustration of the situation.
I never quite got over feeling like such a disappointment. Fortunately, I excelled at sports. Softball was my thing, and I’d been a high school star, until my coach took a shine to me and a few other girls on the team. It’s not all that fun to be a statistic—yet another teenage girl fending off inappropriate sexual advances from an adult coach.
My parents didn’t know how to fix that little mess. All in all, between the situation with my coach and then injuring my back the following year, my promising college sports career collapsed. The saving grace was I found yoga to help with my injury. I loved it, and I loved teaching classes. Between that and riding horses, another holdover from childhood and a bright spot, I carved my own path, a path that led me to Alaska by chance.
Now, my parents acted like I was a million miles away and took it a little personally that I’d chosen to move away from Portland. They felt guilt for not understanding my struggles earlier, all of it compounded by what happened with my coach. I knew they genuinely didn’t expect me to change who I was for them, but it had become this tangled, messy baggage in the aftermath of how things played out. For reasons I couldn’t easily articulate, I knew I needed the distance and a fresh start to find my footing in life. Alaska was giving me that.
I hurried into my yoga studio, casting a quick look around. It was a shared rental space that hosted my yoga classes, exercise classes for physical therapy patients, and dance classes. I loved the space as it was open and bright with a beautiful view out the windows toward the mountains.
Students started trickling in not long after I got everything set up and unlocked the doors. I found that the morning group tended to be the students who were serious and wanted to start their days with yoga. I loved it because it got me to start my day that way too.
* * *
My day was busy between my morning class and then heading home to let the horses out into the pasture and do some training with Charlie. After my mishap, I wasn’t riding him outside of the fenced area. I was working with him in the small lunging ring. He had basic training, but his spunky personality meant he needed more work to curb some bad habits.
My other job was doing freelance graphic design work. I’d started doing it in Portland for friends on occasion. It wasn’t anything I ever wanted to do full-time, because I couldn’t imagine sitting at the computer for that long, but I enjoyed making signs and promotional materials. It was a steady supplemental income and a great contrast to my other work. Today, after I finished up, I worked on some small graphics for myself to post locally, promoting my yoga classes to tourists
After that, I returned to town for my evening yoga class. The first to arrive: Diego with the crew from the resort. Today’s group included Diego, Grant, Flynn and Daphne, along with Elias and Cammi. This group of men was supercharged with testosterone and sexiness. But then, Alaska men seemed supercharged in general, carrying themselves with an easy type of masculinity, not from working out, but from living rugged lives where they stayed active.
When Diego crossed over to collect a mat from the shelves on the wall, he stopped beside me. “I hope you haven’t gotten thrown off again.”
When I met his eyes, his mouth kicked up at one corner, sending my belly into a series of wild flips. I shook my head. “Oh, no. I don’t think I’ll be taking Charlie on the road again for a while. He has a rambunctious streak.”
“Clearly,” Diego replied with a solemn face. I didn’t miss the teasing glint in his eyes, and my pulse revved in response.
I was blessedly distracted by another student. I started the class, telling myself over and over not to spend too much time focusing on Diego. I made a habit of moving around the room whenever I taught class, but I found my eyes lingering on him, again and again and again . It didn’t help that the man was practically a living, breathing sculpture.
After class, I was chatting with Cammi and Daphne when Daphne said, “You should come.”
“Come to what?” I asked.
“The grand opening.”
“Reopening,” Cammi corrected, her cheeks flushing slightly. “Now that it’s been a few months, and I’ve had time to put my stamp on Misty Mountain, I’m doing a grand reopening this weekend.”
“We’ll all be there,” Elias said as he stopped beside us.
“Of course, you will,” I teased.
Elias curled his arm around Cammi’s shoulders, speaking to the room at large, “Anyone you know, round them up.”
When Diego and Flynn meandered over, Daphne smiled between them. “Flynn’s coming.”
“If you didn’t notice yet, Flynn goes anywhere you want him to go,” Diego teased with a warm smile.
Daphne’s cheeks went a little pink as her gaze arced over to him. “You’ll be there, right?”
“Absolutely,” he said. “Wouldn’t miss it. Plus, you told me I had to go.”
Daphne rolled her eyes. “I hope you’re going because you want to be there.”
“Of course. I know there will be amazing coffee. I also hear there will be alcohol and your food. I wouldn’t miss it,” Diego said firmly.
When Daphne cast me a questioning glanced, I chimed in, “I’ll be there.”