Everything was Alaskan—from the rug decorated with wildlife to the chandelier made from stacked caribou antlers. Even the coasters on the coffee table had silhouettes of bears on them.
The quiet stirred her from her trance, and Tessa frowned.
The lodge should be bustling with guests. Hadn’t her sisters told her that it rarely had a vacancy in the summer, even in the middle of the week? They’d used that statistic as part of their sales pitch a month ago when they begged her to go in on keeping the place rather than selling. A quick peek out the front windows revealed an empty gravel lot—no cars. It also warned her Liam would be headed inside any minute with her bags.
“Hello?” she called out.
“Just a minute!” Cadence’s voice echoed from somewhere in the back. The kitchen, Tessa guessed.
She followed the sound of her sister’s footsteps against the tile floor, along the path from her distant memories. The kitchen, however, didn’t fit the image in her mind. It looked completely different than she remembered. She’d worked in restaurants with lesser quality appliances.Go, Aunt Patty. It appeared . . . updated. Modern. New appliances, new countertops, new flooring.
Cadence stood at the sink, washing a baking dish by hand. Tessa waited for her sister to cut the running water. “Hey.”
Cadence spun at the unexpected voice and nearly dropped the glass pan. She caught it inches before it crashed against the charcoal floor tile. “Tessa?” Cadence slowly rose to her feet and set the dish on the counter, her eyes never leaving Tessa’s face. “What are you doing here?”
“Surprise!” She forced a smile that she couldn’t find the gusto to feel. During her weeks filmingOrder Up, she’d become exceptionally good at feeling one way but wearing an expression that said the opposite.
The reality she’d been running from hit her like a freight train on a mission. She had planned to win, the possibility of losing a faint reality. But never had she expected to be kicked off for cheating. She didn’t need tocheat. But the producers and head chef hadn’t believed her. Luckily, Cadence wrapped her in a hug before her legs gave out and sent her crumbling to the floor.
“I didn’t know you were coming,” Cadence said.
Me, either. The faint jingling of a dog collar forced Tessa to let go. “Well, here I am.”
“It’s a good thing we don’t have any more sisters,” said Cadence. “I don’t know how many surprise visits I can take in one summer!”
Tessa stretched her neck, looking around the kitchen and through the doorway as far as her sightline would carry. “WhereisSophie?”
“She and Caroline went to the store. They’ll be back soon.”
The last time the three sisters had chatted on the phone, Sophie dropped a bomb. Her now ex-husband was no longer in the picture and she’d moved with her young daughter to Alaska. Tessa had quite a few questions about all that, but they’d have to wait for some privacy.
Raven arrived in the kitchen before Liam, ears perked in greeting as she sat calmly near the doorway. She was such a docile creature. Tessa could hardly imagine her ever having run twenty miles or more a day.
“Got a room for this one?” Liam asked Cadence, hooking a thumb toward Tessa. She waited for him to drop the bags, but the man couldn’t be bothered to do anything practical that might relax those flexed muscles. Diverting her eyes shouldn’t be such a chore when it came to a man she didn’t want to be around.
“Depends how long you’re planning to stay.” Cadence’s tone was kind yet curious.
“Does it really matter?” Tessa asked, unable to hold the tongue that often got her into trouble. “Doesn’t look like we have any guests.”
“Have youbeenoutside today?” Liam teased, finally setting her suitcases down. That obnoxious twinkle danced in his eyes—the same one that had caused many heart flips when Tessa was a teenager. “It’s the nicest day we’ve had all summer. No one’s inside who doesn’t have to be.”
“Liam’s right,” said Cadence. “Everyone is in town or on some outing this afternoon. We’ve got whaler watchers, hikers, a party of four that took an ATV adventure tour, and a couple visiting a dog musher.”
“Sounds like you’ve got it all under control,” Tessa said. When she thought back to how long ago that phone call happened—the one in which her sisters sabotaged her into agreeing to keep this place—she estimated that the lodge may have been open for a week. Maybe two. “I’m impressed.”
“We’re going to make this place a success.” Confidence radiated from Cadence. They may have been reopened for a short period of time, but her sister had invested time into getting to know their guests. It reminded Tessa a lot of Great-Aunt Patty.
“So is there a room, or . . .” Tessa’d never considered the place might be full when she booked her one-way ticket. Maybe she’d be forced to bunk with one of her sisters.
“Yes, we still have a couple of rooms open until Friday.”
“What happens Friday?” Tessa asked.
“The Blueberry Festival’s this weekend,” Liam answered, leaning against the door jamb in a cool magazine centerfold pose. The man was hot enough to melt a North Pole snowman at Christmas. After all these years, couldn’t he have the decency to be fat and bald?
“I should be gone before then anyway,” Tessa finally said.
Cadence’s smile dropped into a frown. Maybe she thought Tessa had lost and was now here to help them run the lodge. But there was nothing for Tessa in this small town. Nothing but broken hearts and shattered dreams. Even if the show didn’t end up giving her a call back, admitting they were wrong, she had open job offers in half a dozen New York restaurants. Well, she did right now. If any of them watched the future dramatized episode that convinced America she was a cheater, that might change.
