Haylee let out a dramaticugh.“Sometimes, you’re too much of a guy, Cody. Seriously. Why do you think she did that?”
“Because she got what she wanted.”
“You remember that rom-com you did a few years ago? The one where the girl lied because she thought she was doing the right thing? Jennalovesyou.”
Cody took a sip of coffee, but its bitter flavor made him abandon the cup. Yeah, he definitely wasn’t feeling like himself right now. “My life isn’t some movie, Haylee. Humiliating someone in front of half the town isn’t the way real people declare their love.”
“She had to make sure you believed her. So you would get on the plane.”
“That doesn’t make any—” In an instant, the truth rushed Cody like a tidal wave. Jenna told him about her older sister putting her life on hold to raise her, and always holding that over her head. No matter what Jenna did, it wasn’t enough to appease Whitney. No, the older sister harbored resentment for the time she could never get back. It created an irreversible rift in their relationship.
How did he not understand that Jenna was protecting herself—and him—by turning back into the icy person he’d met when she first arrived? Of course she’d do it in front of witnesses. He’d broken through her toughest walls. If they’d been alone, she would’ve caved.
“Is it clicking into placenow?” Haylee asked.
“Yeah.” Cody popped up from his chair, overwhelmed by the dozens of things he’d have to do to get out of here. But the first one was all that mattered: booking that plane ticket home. He was leaving today. “Haylee—”
“Shut up and get packed. And don’t you dare come home first. You go straight to Jenna’s cabin and tell her how you feel or I’m not letting you see Melly.”
“That’s harsh.”
“Love you!” Haylee ended the call, and Cody sprang into action packing a bag. He could send for the rest. He paid three months’ rent when he moved in. The least the landlord could do with a place he was going to turn around and immediately re-rent was send Cody’s things back to him in Alaska.
Backhomewhere he belonged.
ChapterSeventeen
Jenna
Jenna held a framed drawing in her hands, tearing up at the unexpected find. She’d been in Grandpa’s cabin two weeks now, but every day, a new treasure or secret surfaced. Her first day, she found an old photo album filled with her grandparents’ traveling adventures. She’d spent hours savoring every photograph.
Four days ago, she found a handwritten ledger in a locked desk drawer upstairs that tracked transactions from an account Grandpa calledMy Best Investments—including monthly payments he sent to Whitney during the time Jenna was going to school. They were sizable. The kinds of payments that made up for a tenant who didn’t pay rent. What the ledger was doing in Alaska, she couldn’t fathom. But it reassured her of one thing: she made the right decision by leaving her old life and starting a new one.
Today, her cherished discovery was a framed drawing of Graham Cracker—the cat she’d drawn at four years old. “Buddy, this is who you’re named after.”
Graham shoved his head beneath her elbow, demanding pets. The forlorn look in his big doe eyes suggested he wasn’t thrilled about being named after a cat. Or maybe it was the absence of his shotgun-stealing buddy that had him moping around the cabin today.
“I miss him too, Graham Cracker.” She set the framed picture on the kitchen counter and crouched to hug the pup. Later, when she found the energy—the will—she’d clean up the dusty frame and hang her cherished drawing above her new writing desk. It warmed her heart to know Grandpa kept it all these years.
Jenna grabbed a treat out of Graham’s special treat cupboard and tossed it to him. The pup caught it in midair and happily trotted to his new favorite spot in the mornings—a sunbathed rug beside the double glass doors to the deck.
They were settling in comfortably.
If only the sight of her phone didn’t make her heart ache. The cell reception at the cabin was nonexistent, except when she was upstairs. That’s when the string of texts Cody sent from the airport infiltrated her resolve to hide away and ignore him. If the texts weren’t enough to cripple her in sadness, the photos she couldn’t bring herself to delete surely were. It might help if she stopped looking at them.
The only thing besides Graham keeping her from completely falling apart was her new book series. Her agent and editor were both over the moon with her new concept and eagerly awaiting the first book.
She couldn’t be certain if Grandpa had designed the upstairs ashiswriting studio or hers. The unusual amount of painting and drawing supplies suggested he at least had her in mind when he set it up. Which begged the question that had continually nagged at her for months. How long had he known he was sick? He only told Jenna a few days before he passed that he wasn’t going to make it through the summer. Made her promise that she’d make the trip to Alaska before the snow flew.
Now a three-inch layer of snow covered the ground surrounding the remote cabin.Did he think he had more time?No matter how much she searched through the cabin, she couldn’t find any letter that might give her the answers she sought.
She left Graham basking in the sun in the dining area off the kitchen and sought out the cushy recliner in the living room. She’d taken many naps in it since she moved in. One sounded pretty darn good right about now.
She curled up with her favorite blanket and hugged it to her chest. What she wouldn’t give to have Grandpa here with her now. She craved his wisdom about love, and desperately wanted to know if she’d made the right choice. She looked up at the vaulted cedar ceiling. “Anything? A sign? A ghostly laugh? Something to tell me if I made therightsacrifice for love. Or did I screw it all up?”
Graham let out a series of barks that catapulted her out of her chair. This far out, she was certain she’d encounter a bear sooner or later. She’d asked locals if they were hibernating yet, but the answers she got were mixed.
Jenna slipped into her fuzzy slippers and grabbed a baseball bat she found on her third day in the cabin. A bear would probably laugh at her if she swung it, but she hoped she could use it to intimidate one and scare it away. It could also be an intruder, in which case a bat might come in quite handy.
