Chapter 12
K reston
The next morning dawned to find Kreston at his desk in the mayor’s office, staring at a mountain of paperwork. Each spreadsheet tracked another crisis caused by the storm. His office closed in on him, as if his responsibilities were physically taking up space, crowding him like unwanted house guests.
“No mail delivery for nearly a week, and tomorrow is Christmas Eve,” he muttered, updating his ever-growing list. “Generator at the hotel needs checking. Henrietta’s pipes froze. The school roof is—”
“—about to collapse under your self-imposed burdens?” Jessie appeared in his doorway, holding coffee and cinnamon rolls. She had the look—the one that meant he wasn’t getting out of this conversation, no matter how many excuses he came up with to dodge it.
“I didn’t ask for breakfast delivery.”
“That’s why you need it. You refuse to ask for help even when you’re drowning.” She set the food down on his worn oak desk and settled into the chair across from him.
“Remember, five years ago when you refused to call for help when I found you crying with a black eye in the Spenard Roadhouse restaurant in Anchorage?” he countered.
“That was different. I was on the run and couldn’t tell anyone. ”
“If you recall, I didn’t pummel you with questions,” he reminded her. “I just listened when you asked me to please help you disappear and start over.”
She pushed a cinnamon roll toward him. “And you moved mountains to create a perfect paper trail for ‘Jessie Thompson,’ complete with a failed business venture so my abusive husband wouldn’t find me.”
He bit into a cinnamon roll. “I did what anyone else would do, given the situation.”
“No. You did what you always do. You saw me drowning and threw me a lifeline, despite you barely being able to keep your own head above water.” She fixed him with a stare. “It’s high time you let someone throw you a lifeline for a change.”
“I’m not drowning,” he insisted, ignoring the pain poking at his chest. He knew what she was getting around to saying, and he shifted in his chair.
“Really? Because this morning your office was mysteriously organized, and yesterday you reorganized the emergency supplies in the hotel after Tess stashed them in the kitchen freezer.”
“I always do that,” he countered. “We can’t store emergency supplies in the freezer.”
“Kreston, come on.” Her voice softened. “Talk to me. What’s really bothering you?”
Words had a way of coming out easier with Jessie. She’d seen him at his worst, fresh off his Wall Street debacle, trying to figure out which end of a mop to use while wearing designer shoes instead of insulated boots.
“She’s going to leave, Jessie.” He knew he sounded pathetic but couldn’t help it. “Once the weather clears, Sadie will return to her life in Seattle. And I’ll still be here, making sure Ten Second Tess doesn’t reorganize the supply closet, flip brooms upside down, or stuff toilet paper inside the mop bucket.”
“Remember when I left my old life in the dust? The one with the country club membership and the perfect society marriage that came with perfect society bruises?” Jessie reminded him.
He winced. “What does that have to do with this?”
“I’m making a point,” she said firmly. “You help everyone else but yourself.”
“Oh, when have I done that?” He snorted in a contradictory manner.
Jessie threw up her hands in frustration. “Okay, Clueless Wonder, how about when Lucky’s family disowned him for choosing bush planes over banking, and you left your whole life behind to fly with him to Alaska? You arrived in Polar Creek with nothing but a broken Rolex and a Harvard degree, and you refused to ask for help. How about when you brought Tucker here after the fire? Not to mention Aloha and Ten Second Tess? Hell, you’ve rescued half the people in this town!”
She sat back and heaved out an exasperated sigh. “It’s high time you think of yourself first for once.”
He didn’t know what to say. Sure, he’d done those things, but it was his way of seeking redemption for himself and his failed life. Helping these people had given him a renewed sense of purpose instead of feeling like a battle-weary loser of the American dream .
“The thing is, I don’t want her to leave, but I also don’t want her to stay,” he forced out. “Getting involved again scares the shit out of me.”
“It scares the shit out of all of us,” admonished Jessie. “Look, you can’t have it both ways. Come on, Kreston, man up! Pull up those tighty-whities and face the fact you have feelings for Sadie Foster.”
“And then what? She has a life back in Seattle, and I sure as shit don’t want to move back to the lower forty-eight,” he said defensively.
“All I can say is, you’d have to be blind not see the change in both of you when you’re together. I’ll bet she’s been more herself here than she ever was in Seattle.”
He shook his head. “Jessie, it’s an impossible situation.”
“Don’t give me that crock—make it possible! Was it possible for a high-society wife to become a small-town cook? Or for a Wall Street hotshot to find happiness running a town and a hotel in nowhere, Alaska?”
“So, what do you expect me to do?” he asked quietly.
“I’ll give it to you straight.” Jessie reached across to squeeze his hand. “The universe has plunked what could be the gift of a lifetime for you in Polar Creek. I think it would be a huge mistake for you to allow this wonderful gift to fly away.”
Suddenly, Ten Second Tess appeared in his office doorway with a concerned, wide-eyed expression. “Someone stole the cinnamon rolls!”
“No one stole them, Tess.” Kreston pointed at them. “Here they are. Jessie brought them over.”
“Oh! Never mind, then.” Before he could respond, Tess vanished from his office just as suddenly as she’d entered.
“I can’t figure how she remembers our names but not how to organize a closet.” Kreston shook his head. “Should she be out wandering around?”
“She’ll be fine. I’d better get back to the Crooked Spoon.” Jessie stood and tapped his desk. “Think about what I said. That’s an order.”
“I better get over to the hotel, too. I’m on the hook to grill an Arctic char for dinner.” He scratched his nose. “And apparently, I have to sing a song. I guess you’ll have to set up your karaoke machine in the restaurant.”
“You? Sing?” Jessie chuckled. “Oh, right. The fish bet. You have the afternoon to prepare. And don’t forget the holiday party tonight.”
“Right. I brought my party clothes with me this morning. Won’t have time to go home and change. Wait a second, and I’ll walk over with you.” Kreston grabbed his jacket from its coat hook, and they stepped out of his office and across the street to the hotel, where he got to work reviewing supply orders. He smiled at the regulars as they gathered in the hotel lobby for their daily afternoon confab.
He was walking out of the hotel office to chat with Aloha at the check-in desk when the lobby door burst open. Sadie staggered in, holding a limp but semi-conscious Ten Second Tess in her arms.
“What the—” he started. “What happened?”
“Found her in the snow on the school playground. I think she’s hypothermic.” Sadie’s voice cracked with urgency.
The lobby erupted into chaos as people rushed over.
“Get some blankets and a bowl of hot soup!” shouted Lucky .
“Pour her a cup of tea!” Tucker called out.
“Someone call a doctor!” hollered Aloha, setting down her deck of cards.
“Hot water bottles!” the Gossip Trio chimed in.
Sadie’s voice sliced through the panic like a machete. “Everyone, calm down!”
Kreston felt his insides shift. He liked it when people took charge of a situation. Thankfully, it was someone else for a change.
“Kreston, carry Tess up to my room,” ordered Sadie, and instructed everyone else. “Lucky, find extra blankets. Tucker, tell Jessie to bring up a pot of tea. Aloha, call...” she paused and looked at Kreston. “Who should she call? Do you have 9-1-1? Please say there’s a doctor in town.”
“Aloha, use the landline to call Hardware Bob’s wife. Tell her to please get here as soon as possible,” he ordered, and Aloha headed for the phone.
“Janet is Polar Creek’s nurse practitioner,” Kreston explained, lifting Tess from Sadie’s arms and easily climbing the stairs.
“Hope she gets here fast.” Sadie trailed behind as they rushed upstairs to her hotel room, where Kreston gently laid Tess on the bed.
“She’s shivering,” noted Sadie. “Body heat is our best option to warm her. Please go downstairs and tell Jessie I need her help up here immediately.”
“Will do.” Kreston sprinted down the stairs, his mind racing.
What had Sadie been doing out in the storm? Had she gone looking for Tess and somehow tracked her through the snowstorm? Sadie not only found Tess, she’d carried her back and took charge of the situation while everyone else panicked. She saw what needed doing and did it.
Kreston had been so wrapped up in his own fears, he’d missed the obvious: Sadie didn’t belong in Seattle.
She’s like the rest of us—she belongs here.
According to Jessie, the life we think we want isn’t always the one we need. He knew what he had to do, and he would make it happen tonight at the holiday party.
Hopefully, Ten Second Tess would be okay with Sadie and the entire town looking after her. But Kreston had a feeling he wouldn’t be. Not with Sadie melting his carefully constructed walls of defense, one brick at a time.
He’d run out of excuses. He’d pull up his big boy whitey-tighties and tell a certain city slicker from Seattle how he felt about her.
And it scared the holy living daylights out of him.