Chapter 4
Chapter Four
JOSIE
You do not need to be thinking about how hot Tate is now. Talk about awkward, my rational mind scolded me.
Tate was an old friend. It would be awkward to have the hots for him, but our shared history of getting cheated on by our respective exes made it extra awkward.
It was a story made for lots of gossip. “High school was high school,” I said to myself in the car.
“There was plenty of drama, so it’s no big deal. ”
Part of living in a small town was that everything felt bigger when it blew up. Getting cheated on was an old story. When I’d talked to my therapist about it years later, she’d pointed out that cheating with shared friends wasn’t uncommon because of familiarity.
I’d hated the looks I’d gotten at the time when it all came out. It was so annoying. Then I’d felt bad about people being shitty to Kayla and Lyle—more so to Kayla because women usually carried more of the social blame.
I sighed as I turned down the driveway where my GPS instructed me.
I drove through a cluster of spruce trees before it opened up.
Three A-frame houses were on a small rise, offering a view of the valley with a glacial lake behind them.
With it being early evening in winter, the sunset cast pretty colors over the mountains with shimmers of lavender and pink.
I stepped out of my car, the hard-packed snow crunching under my feet when I took a few steps away and turned in a slow circle. My breath misted in the air.
When I moved away right after high school, I’d gone to Colorado to train because I had a scholarship at a university there and a commitment with a coach. I’d loved it there, but it wasn’t Alaska. My body felt like a bell was chiming inside now that I was home again.
“Hey there,” Tate called out.
I turned to see him walking down the stairs of the small house on one side of this row of three. “Hey,” I returned as I approached him. “This is beautiful, Tate.”
When his lips curled up at the corners, my belly did a little shimmy and twist, and heat rolled through me in a slow wave. Dear God, I must’ve seen Tate smile thousands of times. I had never, not ever, reacted like this.
I cleared my throat. “So, uh, which house am I looking at?”
He gestured toward the one in the center beside the one he had just walked out of. “That one. I’m still working on the third one over there.”
“Did you build these?” I asked as I followed him up the shoveled path from the parking area to the steps that led up to the house.
“Somebody else framed in all three and then sold the property. I snapped it up for a good deal. I’m doing the interior work.”
“Rumor has it that you’re a smart investor,” I teased.
“Rumor?” he teased as he opened the door and gestured me inside ahead of him.
“Well, my mom and dad mentioned it, and I ran into Beck. You know, my cousin.”
“Of course, I know Beck, Josie. We work together now.”
I tapped the snow off my boots on the small grate running the length of the tiled entryway. “I know you’re a true Alaskan because you put this in here.” I pointed down.
He chuckled. “It goes right into the drainage system.”
Without asking, I toed my boots off and left them on the wide doormat by the door. Tate followed suit.
“My parents mentioned you own the property where they plan to resurrect the old ski trails with an actual ski lodge.” I couldn’t help but be curious about this.
“That rumor is true. That place has been sitting empty for decades. The family who owned the land put it up for auction, and I got it for a great price. I reached out to Archer Cannon at Fireweed Industries. If you haven’t heard, he moved back to town because they’re renovating the old mine into a renewable energy business.
He contacted the family that owns Last Frontier Lodge in Diamond Creek, and they signed on to help with the renovation and planning.
I’m pretty stoked.” Tate’s grin was wide.
I smiled back at him. “You should be proud. That’s some good business sense.”
He chuckled. “I hope so. I just own the property.”
“Well, that’s actually a pretty important part.”
“My business plan is whenever I see something cheap that I could maybe do something with, I buy it if I can afford it. Aside from the old ski property, that includes this place and another derelict cluster of rental houses a little farther out of town. I can’t be a firefighter forever.
The shelf life for that career seems to stretch into maybe early forties, at least for hotshots.
Some of them do it longer, but it’s not an easy career.
I need a plan for when that’s over or if I get injured.
I also have to think about Kara,” he explained.
“You’re not getting injured,” I said quickly before adding, “Who’s Kara?”
Tate’s brows hitched up. “I’ve already been injured, Josie,” he said with an eye roll. He rolled a sleeve up to show off a nasty scar on his upper forearm.
“Tate!” I exclaimed.
“Clearly, I’m fine.” He lowered his arm, holding both arms out as if in evidence of his being fine.
He was fine, but not the kind of fine I thought he was referring to. I forced my brain back on track. “Is Kara your girlfriend or something?”
“She’s my daughter.”