Alaskan Holiday
Page 27

I would have kissed her if half the lobby hadn’t taken an interest in our reunion. “You missed me?” I asked.
“Every single second,” she confessed with a soft sigh.
The disappointment I’d felt earlier left me. She’d been thinking about me while I was away with the same anticipation I’d felt on the other side of the country.
“What are you doing here? I thought you had plans this evening.”
“I do. With my three best friends. I haven’t seen them in months and I wasn’t sure what time you’d be back. Jack couldn’t remember, and I’ve been in desperate need of girl time.”
I did my best to hide my frustration. It was selfish of me to want her all to myself. She hadn’t seen her friends in months, and I couldn’t begrudge her this evening, despite my own need to be with her.
“What brought you here to the hotel?”
“I was going to leave a card for you at the front desk, but then I saw you and, well, I had to let you know.” Her eyes were wide and inquiring.
“Let me know what?” I asked. She’d lost me somewhere between the hug and the reason for her being here.
“How crazy I am about you and how miserable and lonely I’ve been without you.” Her eyes were warm and sincere. “We had such little time to talk when you first arrived, and you were so quiet. It wasn’t until later that I realized that you’d been that way ever since Thanksgiving. It felt like everything changed. When I called, you were too busy to talk for more than a few minutes. Your text messages were short and to the point, too, nothing like they had been earlier. When I asked, you said it was because of the commission. Then you were here in Seattle and you seemed distant and distracted. It’s something more, isn’t it?”
I could try to hide my insecurities, but at the same time I knew Josie deserved the truth. I held her gaze and told her what was on my mind. “I saw the photo you posted on Facebook with you and Chef Anton,” I admitted, holding her loosely and breathing into her hair. Showing weakness went against every instinct I had, but Josie deserved the truth. “I was jealous and afraid I was losing you the way I always feared I would.”
“Oh Palmer, if only you knew.”
I believed I had a good idea of what had happened. “Jack says you quit your job. What did that man do to you, Josie?”
She shook her head. “Nothing. Everything. It’s a story for another time.”
“Josie!” Jack shouted with surprise, joining us. “Didn’t think we’d see you tonight.”
“I’m only here for a few minutes. I stopped by to leave a card for Palmer to welcome him back and found him in the lobby.”
“What’s the card for?” Jack asked.
“Oh, I forgot to give it to him. It’s an invite to dinner tomorrow night.”
“What is your mom cooking?”
Leave it to Jack to be worried about his next meal.
“It’s one of her specialties. Don’t worry, you’ll like it.”
Personally, I couldn’t imagine Jack taking a dislike to anything homemade.
Josie’s eyes reconnected with mine. She smiled, and I swear I could have dropped to one knee and proposed on the spot. She radiated happiness; seeing her was everything.
“Mom is looking forward to meeting you both,” Josie said, having trouble keeping her eyes off me.
“Thank her for the invite,” I said.
“I will.” She looked at the time and her shoulders deflated. “I need to go or I’ll be late for the party. My friends have been after me to get together ever since I got back from Alaska. I can’t disappoint them, although…”
I could see her struggling, torn between spending time with her gal pals and wanting to be with me.
“Go,” I urged. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Yes, go and have a great time,” Jack insisted. “You deserve a bit of fun, and it is the holiday season. You don’t need to worry about the restaurant or Chef Anton ever again.”
I noticed the way Josie stiffened at the mention of the chef’s name, which made me more determined than ever to find out what the other man had done to upset my girl.
Even though Josie was in a rush, I had to know. Placing my hands on both her shoulders, I asked, “Tell me, Josie, what’s the real reason you quit?”
She shook her head and avoided eye contact. “It’s water under the bridge. I don’t want to talk about it, okay?”
I wanted to shout, “No, it isn’t okay!” but I could tell this was a subject she preferred to avoid. I would have to let it go. For now. “Just answer me one thing: Did the chef try anything with you personally?”
“If you mean anything that made me…uncomfortable, then not really. You were right to suspect he wanted to…date me.”
Date. That was a delicate way of saying what I knew she meant.
I’d known it all along. I certainly wasn’t surprised to learn he’d been pressuring Josie. She was beautiful, funny, and smart…I could go on and on. Working side by side with Josie, Chef Anton would have found it impossible not to be attracted to her. I couldn’t fault him for that. Although, if the chef had tried anything unwanted, then he and I would need to have a discussion.
“Did he pressure you?”
“A little.”
“Why do I think you’re downplaying what happened?” I asked her.
“Palmer, please, drop it. That was only a small part of the overall problem. As soon as he fully understood I wasn’t interested, he left me alone.”
Relieved, I walked Josie outside to the front of the hotel. “Can I see you tomorrow?” I asked.
She bit into her lip, looking torn. “I’ve got two job interviews scheduled. I’m sorry, Palmer. I’d really like to spend time with you, but I need another job, and the sooner the better. I’ll see you tomorrow night. All the rest of my time is free through Christmas, I promise.”
My heart sank. If Josie was on a job search, then that told me she wouldn’t be returning with me to Ponder. I swallowed down my disappointment, discouraged but unwilling to show it.
“It’s fine, Josie, don’t worry.”
She impulsively hugged me before scurrying off down a busy Seattle sidewalk, getting lost in the crowd.
Jack joined me. “She’s something special, isn’t she?”
“Yeah,” I agreed. A businessman rushing past bumped into me and caused me to stumble. “Let’s get out of here,” I said. “All these people are making me feel claustrophobic.” If this was what it was like every day in the city, I didn’t know how I would last until Christmas. Ponder had never called out my name louder than it was right at that moment, in spite of having the woman of my dreams here in the big city.
“Don’t know where all these folks come from,” Jack complained.
“Me neither,” I agreed, uncomfortable and longing for home. I’d already had enough of people and airports and Christmas in the city.
“I bet the majority have never even tasted the finer things in life, like caribou meat.”
“Probably not,” I agreed, grinning.
“They do have good fish-and-chips here, though. I’m ready to eat. What’s the holdup?”
I grinned, put my arm around his shoulders, and walked with him down to the Seattle waterfront.
* * *
—
The following evening, we took a cab to the address Josie had given Jack for dinner with her mother. The house was in a quiet neighborhood with an amazing view of the city lights. Lots of the families had Christmas lights on their homes, along the rooflines, on porch decks, and around tree trunks. Decorated Christmas trees were visible in the large living room windows. A couple of the yards had big blow-up holiday figures on their front lawns. All this outdoor decorating didn’t make a lot of sense to me. In Ponder we had nature giving us displays all through the holiday season, with a multitude of stars randomly tossed like bright dust across the night sky, punctuated by the aurora borealis.
Jack rang the doorbell while I held on to the bouquet of flowers Jack and I had purchased at Pike Place Market earlier that afternoon. The day had been long and mindless. I’d filled the time walking along the waterfront. Jack and I had gone into the IMAX theater and toured the market. All the while I’d wondered if Josie had gotten either of the jobs she’d interviewed for, and what that would mean for us if she did.