What had just happened?he asked himself. He knew he’d never met Bailey before, yet she clearly knew him by name. He shouldn’t be surprised, since the entire town had rolled out the red carpet when he and his brothers arrived in Moose Falls.
Caleb was shaking his head. “So you’ve been holding out on us, huh?” Caleb asked him, his gaze narrowed as he looked at Landon. “Youareseeing someone.”
“N-no,” he sputtered. “I have no idea who she is. That man called her Bailey, but I don’t know her. I swear.”
His brother rolled his eyes. He could tell that Caleb didn’t believe him, and he couldn’t really blame him. His story sounded suspect. Bailey had been very up close and personal with him.
“Well, the two of you looked pretty cozy back there,” Caleb remarked. He raised an eyebrow. “Sure there’s nothing you want to tell me? I’m all ears,” he said with a mischievous grin. Both his brothers were constantly advising him to put himself out there and find a romantic partner, so he knew Caleb would eat up the details (if there were any) and come back for seconds. Then quickly tell Xavier, True, and Sophia. Maybe even Hattie and Daisy.
Landon shook his head. “There’s nothing to tell. Seriously.”
“Whatever you say,” Caleb said, taking a sip of his smoothie. He winked at Landon. “In my opinion, that type of nothing is the best kind of something.”
“Let’s just get out of here and head to the office,” Landon said, still confused about the woman named Bailey. She’d said his name, which had thrown him a little bit off-kilter. He wasn’t a stranger to her.
Maybe that part shouldn’t have been so surprising, since everyone in town knew who he and his brothers were before they’d even set foot in Alaska. To Landon it seemed as if they had all been waiting twenty years for their return. According to Hattie, not a day had gone by without her hoping for a reunion with her grandsons.
Once they were in Landon’s truck, he quickly changed the topic away from Bailey. Caleb was like a hound dog whenever he tried to dig up information. Landon shifted the conversation to their inheritance. As they both knew, time was ticking away. In the blink of an eye, their year in Moose Falls would be up.
“So where’s your head at? About Yukon Cider?” Caleb asked.
Roughly ten months ago, they had moved to Moose Falls, Alaska, at the behest of their long-lost grandmother, Hattie Stone. Although they had received cards, gifts, and checks from her over the years, they hadn’t spent any quality time with Hattie since they were small. Due to renal disease, she was terminally ill and looking to get her affairs in order. She wanted Landon and his brothers to take over her hard cider company. The paperwork they had signed upon their arrival in town dictated that they had one year to decide whether to stay and run Yukon Cider, or sell. They had to be unanimous in their decision or forgo the inheritance altogether.
With everything changing in the personal lives of his brothers, all bets were off. It would make sense for Xavier and Caleb to want to stay in Moose Falls, because they were both in love with their partners and setting down roots. Staying in Alaska didn’t make the most sense for him. He still had unfinished business in California with Abbott Laboratories. He missed his former life as a research scientist and working in a lab setting. He hadn’t been able to forget that he’d been targeted and scapegoated by the lab directors. They had falsified evidence against him and forced him out of the laboratory.
Landon’s big goal was to return to Abbott Laboratories and restore his reputation as a chemist. Later today he had a Zoom call with his colleagues, Griff Benson and Sonali Patel. He was hoping that there were more developments that would bolster his case against the laboratory. They were all working behind the scenes to take Abbott Laboratories down.
“I’m still pondering the matter,” Landon admitted. Allthese months later and he still wasn’t sure. Coming back to Alaska did feel like coming home again, but he wasn’t exactly doing what he’d always dreamed of—being a scientist. “I think we both know which way Xavier is leaning,” Landon said. “Especially now that he’s in the honeymoon stage.”
“Literally,” Caleb said, grinning. “He’s living his best life.”
Their older brother, Xavier, had just returned from a weeklong honeymoon in Greece with his wife, True. The newly married couple had met on the same day the brothers had first arrived in Moose Falls. True had been working as the manager of Northern Exposure, a tavern owned by their grandmother. Xavier hadn’t been able to resist True’s challenge to eat the tavern’s wings, which he hadn’t known were ghost pepper wings. Recently, True had bought the establishment after having her eye on it for years. With Caleb getting engaged to his own fantastic woman, Sophia Brand, the Stone brothers were coupling up at a rapid pace.
Except him, Landon thought. A sigh escaped his lips. Being in a relationship seemed as unlikely for him as walking on the moon. He didn’t dare admit it out loud. His brothers were constantly questioning his single status and none too subtly grilling him about past romances. Sadly, there hadn’t been any relationships. Sure, he’d dated here and there, but he’d never had a girlfriend or a serious relationship.
He’d asked himself why dozens of times, never coming up with an answer that made sense. He wasn’t the best in social situations, which was a bit limiting. Landon wasn’t naturally outgoing like Xavier and Caleb. Mostly he thought he was afraid to fall. He’d seen what happened when love turned to something else, something painful and heartbreaking. Like with his parents. To this day, neither had found anothergreat love. Red was a good-looking, charismatic man, while Daisy was a gentle and beautiful soul.
Both his brothers had been in tumultuous relationships before coming back to Moose Falls. Finding romance in their Alaskan hometown hadn’t been on anyone’s bingo card, yet love had bloomed. Seeing them so settled made him believe it could happen for him as well.
“Hey! Did you hear me?” Caleb asked, interrupting his thoughts. “I was asking you something.”
“Sorry,” Landon apologized. “Trying to focus on these slick roads.”
Driving in Alaska wasn’t for the faint of heart. He was just getting acclimated to the unexpected twists and turns in the weather. He’d done his fair share of nervously clutching the wheel as he drove through snow, ice, sleet, and hail. As of late, though, Landon had mastered this particular skill. Life in Moose Falls fit him like a glove, despite the nagging worry that he had things that he needed to get back to in California.
“I asked if you’d made a list of the pros and cons about staying or leaving. That might help move you along on the matter,” Caleb said. “I’ve been keeping a list since we got here.”
Landon nodded. He had made so many lists, yet none of them had led him in a decisive direction. And he only had a few more months before a decision had to be made. A part of him knew that his indecisiveness was deliberate. A decision like this one was nearly impossible to make. “I’ve made dozens of lists,” he told his brother. “Most times I end up feeling even more conflicted, mainly because I have unfinished business in California. And I’ve teamed up with some former colleagues to try and prove my case.”
“I hear that,” Caleb said. “For me it’s a lot more straightforward. Now that I’m the spokesman for Yukon Cider and engaged to Sophia, I can’t imagine being anywhere else. Now that doesn’t mean we have to run the company, but it gives me a strong incentive to stay.”
“I haven’t given up on getting my good name back in the research community, not to mention that I can’t imagine being here without Hattie,” Landon blurted out. Lately it was the huge elephant in the room when he was with his brothers. Being back in Moose Falls was so tied up in their grandmother. Despite the lost years between them, they loved her and had all grown close to the Stone matriarch since their return.
“Yeah, I keep thinking she’ll outsmart this disease. I mean, if anyone can accomplish that feat, it would be our grandmother.” Caleb’s voice sounded optimistic.
As a scientist, Landon knew that scenario was extremely unlikely. Hattie had laid everything out in full detail for them regarding her renal failure. They’d met with her medical team on several occasions, and there was no doubt that her days were numbered. She wasn’t going to make a miraculous recovery, no matter how much they all wanted it to happen.
Landon pulled into the parking lot for Yukon Cider and put his truck in park.
