Chapter 4
Alison
Ali exhaled with relief as she watched June’s eyes drift shut and her features relax. Her face looked bruised and pinched,
with deep hollows under the eyes and a pallor that worried her.
Despite that, she was still lovely, with high cheekbones, finely arched brows and blue eyes that reminded Alison very much
of her father’s.
Over the past three weeks while she had been making a total fool of herself trying to carry out intern duties for which she
was entirely unqualified, Alison hadn’t had the chance to really look at the woman. Now that June was asleep, Alison studied her relaxed features, hoping for some kind of resemblance to her .
They didn’t look much alike. Where June was tall, willowy, athletic, with chestnut brown hair and eyes the color of a mountain
lake, Alison was eight inches shorter, petite, definitely more curvy than athletic.
Also, June was a high-powered company executive who both impressed and intimidated every other employee at Move Inc, while
Alison had been a lowly intern, nervous and uncomfortable if anyone even talked to her.
She still couldn’t wrap her head around the results of the DNA test that had completely shaken the natural order of things in her world a few months earlier. It still seemed inconceivable that her late father, literary icon Carson Wells, could have a secret love child somewhere out in the world who was now thirty-four years old, eight years older than Alison. Or that the secret love child was now a smart, savvy executive at one of the top technological innovation companies in the world.
She knew it had to be true, though. Their DNA was too closely linked to be anything other than sisters, especially as June’s
DNA also closely linked to their father’s DNA.
When the match had come through for the test she had almost forgotten she and her father had taken before his death, Alison
had been stunned and upset.
How could Carson have kept such a huge thing from her? And how could the man who always wrote books about honor and integrity
have walked away from a child?
She had wanted to reach out as soon as she had learned about the link. After some detective work, she had traced the user
to Seattle, to one woman: tech executive Juniper Connelly, who had a reputation for fierce creativity and brilliant focus.
She didn’t feel like she could simply rush up to her and tell her they were half sisters. She wanted to get to know the other
woman first to see if Allison even wanted a relationship with her. This business leadership internship seemed the perfect
opportunity.
After weeks of observing her half sister in her natural milieu, Ali still didn’t really feel as if she knew her. Juniper could
be prickly, tough, demanding, driven. But also compassionate and gentle, like when Alison had discovered by accident that
she donated heavily to a Boys and Girls Club in the area and that she personally volunteered at a community recreation center,
working with at-risk youth who were in danger of slipping through the cracks.
She was an enigma. Which was why Ali found herself here, in the cardiac ICU at Seattle’s biggest hospital, trying to figure
out what she was doing there and, more importantly, what she should do next.
“I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” the nurse said gently. “I’m sorry, but she needs her rest, especially with all the
tests she will be having tomorrow.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll take good care of her.”
She had just walked back to the ICU waiting area when her phone buzzed with an incoming text and she pulled it out.
Are you still in Seattle? Let me guess, you’re at one of the hundreds of Starbucks there.
Xander Scott, one of her oldest and dearest friends, could always make her smile, even in the most stressful moments.
Still in Seattle but not at Starbucks , she texted back. You wouldn’t believe where I am right now. The story is too long to tell you over text. Definitely a mojitos-and-nachos kind
of tale.
Sounds good to me. And on that note, I’m passing through Seattle next week on my way back from Indonesia and could stop for
a quick layover before I fly back to Wyoming for a few weeks to stay with Aunt Sylvia after her hip surgery. Would love a
chance to catch up and maybe crash on your couch.
Xander’s schedule as one of the most successful travel vloggers on YouTube was insanely busy. She couldn’t remember the last
time they had been able to cross paths.
At his text, she had a sudden longing for home. Bridger Peak, their Wyoming hometown, was small and quaint, with spectacular
surroundings and hardworking people.
It was home, even though being there without her father seemed wrong, as if a vital life force had dried up.
She still had her grandmother Loretta, the bookstore, the Painted Sky ranch her father had loved so much. But she didn’t have
Carson, with his sharp mind, his compassion, his deep love for her and their mountain community.
She pushed away the familiar ache to text Xander back.
Sounds good. I would love a chance to catch up. I hope I get the chance to meet Giselle.
The words were a lie. She didn’t know much about this latest girlfriend but what little she did know didn’t endear the other woman to Alison.
Giselle was as gorgeous as a model, with brilliant green eyes in a sleek tanned face. She spoke English with a pronounced
French accent that only seemed to add to her appeal. The woman was freakishly stunning no matter what they did together, whether
that was climbing a mountain in the Himalayas or surfing on the beaches of Morocco or having dinner at a posh seaside restaurant
on the Amalfi Coast.
She still couldn’t quite wrap her head around the changes to her best friend. After spending his teen years as king of the
geeks at their high school, the guy who played trumpet in the marching band and was the Dungeon Master of their Dungeons &
Dragons group, Xander had come into his own as an adult, especially when it came to women.
In his exotic travels that he documented through his channel, it seemed he was always accompanied by a different gorgeous
woman. For the past year, it had been Giselle, a fellow vlogger from France who seemed to hang on Xander’s every word.
It took a moment for his reply to come through.
Giselle decided to head back to France. We’ve gone our separate ways.
She stared at the words, trying to ascertain whether he was hurt or relieved or... something else. She didn’t know if she
should tell him she was sorry they had split or if she should offer a supportive good riddance .
She had only met the woman a few times through video calls, the most recent that she had made to Xander a month ago to tell him about her newly discovered sister and to let him know she was staying in a mutual friend’s apartment in Seattle during her last-minute internship.
In a brief interaction before she left the room so they could talk, Giselle had been haughty and dismissive, full of politeness
while giving the distinct impression she was looking down her elegant nose at Ali.
She dithered as she gazed down at his text message before she quickly texted him back
I’m sorry?
He sent back a shrugging emoji.
It’s for the best. She wouldn’t have enjoyed Bridger Peak.
Gotta go , he texted almost immediately, before Ali had a chance to absorb that. On my way to catch a train. I probably won’t have great internet for a while. I’ll reach out when I’m back in civilization.
Talk soon.
She tucked her phone back into her pocket, feeling a mix of emotions at their interaction.
Xander had been her closest friend since they were in elementary school, when he moved to town with his great-aunt and -uncle.
She had been asked by their teacher to sit by him at lunch and welcome him to Bridger Peak. While she had dreaded the assignment,
it turned out Xander had been funny and nice and she had liked him immediately.
Through the years, their friendship had sustained her through some tough times. Moving to Colorado for her undergrad and then
Utah for law school. Breaking up with her first real boyfriend. And her second.
Most importantly, losing her father.
Lately, something seemed to have shifted between them and she couldn’t quite put her finger on exactly what it might be. Their conversations had become increasingly stilted, and she couldn’t shake the fear that they were losing their friendship.
She wouldn’t worry about that now. He was coming through Seattle and they would have the chance to meet up. They would also
probably see each other in Bridger Peak, as she intended to return for the summer as soon as she could arrange it.
Which brought her right back to the problem of what she was supposed to do now. June had been in the middle of ending Ali’s
internship when she suffered her cardiac event.
She sighed as she walked out of the waiting room and headed for the hospital exit. She would grab something to eat and then
come back to stay with the woman she had come to Seattle to meet.
Ali had fully intended to tell June about that DNA test and had been trying to figure out the best way to broach the subject.
She had known that the longer she delayed being honest with her, the more awkward the inevitable conversation would be.
How could she tell her now, though? June had just suffered a cardiac arrest. She had been dead , for heaven’s sake. The only reason she was here instead of lying on a slab in the morgue was because of Alison and her dogged
determination to learn CPR after their father’s death.
Maybe that was the reason she had been so compelled to come to Seattle, to meet her sister in person and try to establish
a link between them.
Yes, she might have been a complete failure as an executive management intern. But she had done at least one thing right.
She couldn’t help feeling fate was giving her another chance to connect with Juniper.