Chapter 4
Grizzly Manor Cafe was an adorable little breakfast place with wood siding and a giant brown bear statue out front.
Inside, a Seat Yourself sign directed me to a window seat with a view of the mountains. I dropped into the booth and flipped open the laminated menu. I immediately searched for all the fixings.
The Grizzly Breakfast. Eggs, bacon, hash browns, and pancakes. Just how I liked it.
“Morning,” the waitress greeted me. She had kind blue eyes and short curly brown hair. “I’m Bonnie. What can I get you?”
“The Grizzly Breakfast, please. And hot chocolate. With extra whipped cream.” I grinned, already excited for the sugar rush.
Bonnie chuckled. “I’ll see what I can do.”
While I waited, I studied the café: stickers plastered every wall, table, and even the ceiling. There were ski stickers, camping pun stickers, and even stickers from other places around the world. It reminded me of Emily’s van.
A wave of homesickness sat heavily in my stomach for a few minutes until my food arrived, and then it grumbled with hunger instead.
The food looked amazing, and my mouth watered instantly at the sight of the heaping pile of fluffy pancakes and the steaming hash browns.
“Here you go, hon. Anything else I can get for you?” Bonnie asked.
“Actually,” I said, realizing there actually could be something else Bonnie might be able to help me with. “Are you hiring, by chance?”
Bonnie blinked. “Looking for work?”
“Yeah, I just moved in down the street. Next door to Jay?” I pointed out the window in the general direction of where I’m pretty sure I came from.
Bonnie’s brows shot up. “Dr. Alarcón? Really?”
So he was a doctor. Now the massive cabin castle made sense. I gave a relieved smile. “Yeah, I’m staying in the cabin across the lake from him.” I was glad to know that the waitress knew of Jay.
“Well, we could use bussers. Ever waitressed before?”
I winced. “No, I’ve never bussed tables before, but I am a dental hygienist. I have a bachelor’s degree, and I’m a fast learner.”
“Dental hygienist, huh?” Bonnie’s smile remained polite, but I could tell she didn’t really know what to make of it. Dentistry wasn’t a profession that usually made people ooh and aah. It was typically something people feared, actually.
And in my opinion, the people who actually liked going to the dentist were psychopaths, and those who enjoyed working for one were even more mentally deranged.
Dentistry wasn’t like the medical field for instance. Being a doctor or nurse was widely considered a heroic job. But scraping plaque and drilling decay out of teeth was just, well, gross.
At least the medical field could be romanticized.
People often watched dramas about sizzling hospital romances on TV: nurses falling for doctors, doctors infatuated with surgeons.
I’d seen them all. Blood was so much cooler than spit, and broken bones were a hundred times more interesting than chipped enamel.
The waitress let out a small chuckle. “Well, I don’t know if the owner would hire you without any experience. But I heard the ski resort is hiring right now. Maybe you could check them out?”
“Thank you, I’ll look into it.” My heart sank a little—my first rejection. But at least I’d asked. I would check out the resort next, then browse online as well, and maybe check for fliers at the grocery store, if people still did that sort of thing.
“No problem. Is there anything else I can help you with, hon?”
My empty cabinets flashed into my mind, and I nodded. “Could I grab some muffins to go?” During my insane cleaning spree, I’d discovered that the fridge was broken too, so I would be stuck with non-perishables for a time.
“Of course. I’ll be back with your check and some muffins.”
Bonnie went back to the kitchen, and I tried to push aside thoughts of job applications so I could enjoy the delicious breakfast in front of me. After all the cleaning I’d done, I’d worked up quite an appetite.
I scarfed down the whole stack of buttery pancakes and nearly the entire plate of eggs, bacon, and hash browns. Once I finished off the whipped cream from my hot chocolate and had a few sips of the chocolaty goodness, I was stuffed. I sat back in my chair with a groan.
That’s when Bonnie returned, holding my check and a box of muffins. “Here you go. No rush. And good luck on finding a job.”
“Thank you,” I said.
After finishing up at the diner, I signed the check, slid back into my car with my box of muffins, and had barely turned into the driveway when my phone started ringing.
“Hello?” I answered.
“Are you alive?” Emily asked, and I let out a dry laugh.
“Barely. The cabin was way worse than I thought. I almost died of dust inhalation.”
“All the fresh mountain air will clear that up in no time. Don’t worry.”
“I miss you,” I said with a sigh.
“I miss you too. How’s job hunting?”
I found myself smiling. “Actually, I think I found a place I can apply to. The ski resort is looking for new people.”
“Look at you!”
“Well, don’t congratulate me yet. I still have to get the job.”
“You’ll get it. I know you will.” I could hear Emily’s van humming even through the receiver. “Are you at least enjoying being out in that beautiful forest by yourself? It seems like the most peaceful place in the world to finish your novel.”
“It is peaceful. But I wouldn’t exactly say I’m alone. I have a neighbor.”
“Neighbor?” Emily asked, her voice changing pitch.
“Yeah. I have a really rich neighbor. In comparison, his house makes the cabin look like an abandoned shack.”
Well, it sort of was an abandoned shack, but that was beside the point.
“You have a rich neighbor? Is he hot?”
I rolled my eyes and let out a snort. “What makes you immediately assume he’s hot?” My friend was always so eager for drama. Emily could gossip about the weather.
“I’m a hopeless romantic. Of course, I’m going to assume it’s a good-looking guy.”
“You’re crazy.” I shook my head, even though Emily couldn’t see me. “Can’t I just have a healthy exploration of my identity in the forest without meeting a guy?”
“Hope, stop trying to crush my dreams and just tell me what he looks like.”
“He’s got dark hair, blue eyes, and a dog.”
“And…?” Emily pressed.
“I think he might be a doctor.”
“OH. MY. GOSH.” Emily seemed to be having an aneurysm on the other end of the line.
“Chill, Em. He could be a podiatrist, for all we know. He probably removes ingrown toenails all day long.” I bit my lip, fighting a smile. Why was I feeling so giddy talking to Em about Jay? I’d met him once.
The image of Jay’s perfect teeth flashed into my head. Ugh. I was the biggest sucker for a gorgeous smile.
“Don’t you dare try to ruin the mental image I’m conjuring right now with ingrown toenails, Hope Elmswood. Now tell me, is he tall?”
“Ugh, you’re relentless. I’m nipping this in the bud right now.”
“Fine, I’ll stop for now. But Dr. Neighbor Guy is not being sidelined forever. We are talking about this later.”
I chuckled. “Whatever you say, Em.”
There was a short pause. And that’s when I could tell the tone of the conversation was about to take a more serious shift.
“Well, I love you. I’ll definitely be visiting in a few weeks, so make sure the cabin is all fixed up before I come. I really hate spiders.”
“You got it. I’ll get to work on that.” I let out a weak chuckle. “Love you, Em. And I miss you.”
“I miss you too. We’ll talk soon.”
“Talk soon.” I hung up the phone and got out of the car.
It was officially time to start job searching.
Grabbing my laptop, I sat outside on the front porch so I wouldn’t roast like a kebab inside the hot cabin. Balancing the keyboard on my knees, I opened my Safari browser and typed into the search bar: jobs in Big Bear.
It was slim pickings, as I expected. There were opportunities at the ski resort, and it said the pay was twenty-five dollars an hour.
Not what I made as a hygienist by any means, but it was better than some of the other jobs I was seeing that barely paid minimum wage.
There was a kayak instructor position, but I didn’t know the first thing about kayaking.
The next one that popped up was for handling boats at the marina. Something I also knew nothing about.
I knew the entire anatomy of the head and neck and every single bacterium that could possibly exist in one’s mouth, but I didn’t know how to tie a boat to a dock.
Out of desperation, I submitted a few résumés despite my lack of skills and sighed, hoping at least one would land me an interview.
Just as I was about to close out of the web browser, a brand-new listing appeared that I wasn’t expecting. It sent a jolt of anxiety into my bones—one that only existed with things related to dentistry.
Summit Dental Clinic
Hygienist Needed
Four days a week. Competitive pay. Please call Shelby for details.
619-334-5627
I stared at the job listing for several minutes. There was no way I would take another hygiene job after just escaping my father’s clinic and swearing never to step foot into a dental clinic again.
I knew it was a bit dramatic, but it wasn’t easy for someone to understand when they didn’t come from my world.
I’d been betrothed to porcelain crowns and scalers from the moment I was born. When you’re the princess of the dental world, you don’t get much say in your career choice—especially when the original heir, Mason, failed to inherit the crown and chose doomsday prepping instead.
I had never been that interested in the dental field growing up. It wasn’t my passion. All I had ever wanted to do was write books. I spent all my time either reading books or spilling words onto pages as I tried to write one.
But my parents were quick to snuff out that young, na?ve flame I’d dared to ignite. Being an author wouldn’t allow me to make a suitable living, they’d said. I needed a real job, they’d said. And so I listened to them because I trusted them at the time. They were my parents, after all.
They were also the holders of all things money.
They had agreed to pay for everything if I went to dental school. When I didn’t outright agree, they convinced me to try dental hygiene school first and said that if I enjoyed it, then I could go on to dental school. It had seemed practical enough.
Because I was the youngest and the last chance to pass on the dental legacy, they’d offered to buy me an apartment near campus so I could be involved with campus life and even gave me a weekly allowance. It was a calculated arrangement, but one I hadn’t been able to refuse at the time.
They were ecstatic when I went to school and even more so when I graduated and agreed to apply for dental school.
I’d been proud of myself for making them proud.
I survived four years of exams and clinicals and graduated with honors.
Despite having dreams elsewhere, I feared that maybe my parents were right—and that I didn’t have what it would take to become a real author.
So while I waited for dental school applications to open, my father had me working as a hygienist at his Riverside clinic to avoid a lapse in my resume.
I was ahead in life and should’ve been happy with the world at my fingertips.
And then, three months ago, everything changed.
I sighed and clicked out of the job search page.
I grabbed my phone and checked for messages.
I’d been periodically looking at the screen all day, expecting a message to pop up at any moment from my parents.
But so far, nothing. I thought my mom might have reached out and tried to smooth things over by now.
I was trying not to feel the sting of the fact that neither of them had reached out.
It was what I had wanted, after all. Wasn’t it?
As I lay down to sleep that night, the job listing for a dental hygienist lingered at the edges of my consciousness like a ghost. I tossed and turned, trying to tell myself it didn’t matter that hygiene paid three times as much as any of the jobs I’d just searched for.
I valued my happiness too much to subject myself to that sort of environment ever again.
I wanted to sleep through the night without waking up with my heart nearly beating out of my chest and my face and fingers going completely numb. I wanted desperately to free myself from everything that had occurred in that horrible place with my father and Dr. Pike.
The pay reduction would be worth it.
As long as it kept my demons away.