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Jonah started shaking his head, and she realized how silly that sounded.
“He also said there was something he wanted to talk to me about.”
Jonah’s composed features were at odds with the rigid tension emanating from his body. Jonah could be difficult to read, undoubtedly a valuable trait as a lawyer, but something that had always been frustrating for her. But she could see now that he was worried. She had known him very well once, and even though years had passed, maybe Jonah was right that some things didn’t change—not enough anyway.
“What?” Shay stared at him, waiting. “What is it?” she repeated, impatience seeping into her tone. “What did he want to talk to you about?”
“That’s just it, Shay. He hasn’t said anything yet.”
Her mind began whirring with possibilities. “What are we...you—I mean. What are you going to do?”
“Come on, Shay,” he said. “We. In this, at least, we can be a we, right? Gramps is closer to you than anyone else—except maybe Doc. And that’s what I wanted to speak to you about. I know I’m not your favorite person in the world, but I guess I’m asking for your help in...figuring this thing out.”
As much as she wished otherwise, she felt his words working on her as easily as he’d manipulated that ice cream. In spite of her disapproval of his lack of attention toward Caleb, she knew he loved his grandfather. Caleb was the only family Jonah had in the world. In direct opposition to Shay who had both parents, five siblings and a close extended family.
“Of course,” she said without hesitating. “Jonah, yes, anything I can do. What time is his appointment?”
“Doc said he has a full day tomorrow, so we’re going in early before he opens.”
“Okay, if something is wrong with him, Doc is the obvious place to start. Call me after you see him, okay?”
“Absolutely. As soon as I know anything I’ll call.”
* * *
JONAH KICKED UP his speed as he approached the road leading to the Faraway Inn. Instead of calling, he’d decided to go for a run and tell Shay the news about Gramps in person. Running eased his anxiety like nothing else, even though the exercise didn’t seem to be helping much now.
Doc and Gramps had holed up in his office for nearly an hour this morning while Jonah sat in the waiting room and tried not to let his anxiety-ridden imagination get the better of him. Then Gramps had come out and announced that Doc was sending him to see a heart specialist in Anchorage—in three weeks. Amazing how a few weeks could suddenly feel like an eternity.
Upon returning home from Doc’s, Gramps said he needed a nap and then promptly disappeared into his room. This caused further angst for Jonah because Gramps didn’t nap, other than dozing off occasionally in his recliner during a ball game—if that counted—and even then it had to be a pretty dull game.
Now, each stride seemed to heighten Jonah’s anxiety as it took him closer to his ex-fiancé—to the woman he had once believed would be his wife and the mother of his children.
Shay...
Seeing her the night before had absolutely tied him in knots. It was difficult to believe that he and Shay had ever believed they could share a life together. She wanted this... Jonah looked around at the rugged countryside that surrounded the remote town of Rankins. Mountains with jagged, snow-covered peaks dotted the skyline, while thick green forest stretched for-seemingly-ever. The view on his other side was of a raw, picturesque, island-dotted coastline with the town of Rankins perched on the shore of a small bay.
Sure, it was postcard pretty, but it was just...nothing. For as far as a person could see, even with binoculars from the ridge on the outskirts above town—the ridge where the Faraway Inn sat. Shay’s Faraway Inn. The inn that had ultimately meant more to her than he had.
Jonah had wanted—wanted still—a high-powered law career, skyscrapers, noise, a penthouse apartment, impractical cars that didn’t have four-wheel drive and snow tires. And yes, he wanted to be successful, make money, and enjoy these finer things in life—the things he knew his late father had wanted for him, too.
Somehow Shay always made him feel like his aspirations were some kind of mortal sin.
The sight and sound of a vehicle going by and then making a u-turn didn’t really register until a horn honked behind him. He looked over his shoulder.
“Jonah?” Shay’s cousin Bering shouted from the window of the mud-spattered black pickup idling toward him.
Jonah jogged back toward him. “Hey, Bering! How’ve you been?”
Bering pulled over, then hopped out and stuck out a hand. “Fantastic, actually.” He added a befuddled kind of head-shake as if he couldn’t quite believe it himself.
Jonah gripped his friend’s hand. “Yeah, hey, congratulations—in person—on your marriage. Looking forward to meeting your wife, Emily, right? Sorry I couldn’t make it for the ceremony. Gramps told me all about it.”
“I bet he did. And forget about it. I didn’t expect you to come all the way home for it, buddy. But thanks for the uh...the gift. I’m sure Emily sent you a thank-you and all that.”
Jonah grinned. “You’re welcome for the...gift, Bering. I’m glad you’re enjoying...it.”
“Oh, boy, yeah—we are using the heck out that...thing.” Bering looked guilty as he added, “Sorry, Jonah—I don’t even know what...”
Jonah laughed. “I don’t remember what I got for you either, Bering. My assistant took care of it for me.”
They both chuckled, and Jonah realized how good it felt to share a joke with a friend. He didn’t have friends like this back in Chicago. Coworkers, colleagues that he admired, but no true got-your-back kinds of friends like Bering.
“Man, it’s good to lay eyes on you though,” Bering said. “Glad to see city life isn’t making you soft. How long are you in town for?”
“Not sure yet. A few weeks at least.”
“That’s great. We’ll have to get together. By the way, have you heard yet that I’m going to be a dad?”
Jonah felt something wrench hard in his chest. He was happy for his friend of course; it was just being here so close to Shay where he was inundated with these thoughts of their almost-life together that had him feeling a bit envious, he told himself.
“Congratulations, Bering! That’s amazing.”
Neither he nor Bering were much for social media, so over the years they’d mostly kept in touch via the occasional email or phone call—usually on Bering’s part. Suddenly, Jonah felt a little guilty about that.
Bering dipped his head in the direction of his pickup. “Hop in, I’ll buy you breakfast at the Caribou. I’m meeting Tag and Cricket and some of the guys.”
“That sounds good, but, um...I’m not quite finished with my run.” Not to mention that Shay’s older brother, Tag, would be less than thrilled to discover he was back in town.
“Ah, I get it. You headed up to see Shay?”
“I am, but not for the reason you’re probably thinking.”
“I wasn’t thinking anything.” Bering shrugged, but he appeared to be fighting a grin.
Jonah stared at his feet for a few seconds. Maybe it would do him some good to talk to Bering. And he definitely wouldn’t mind seeing some of the guys. He looked back up. “You know what? Breakfast sounds great.”
* * *
“SO, IF MR. TAKAGI CALLS—or shows up—tell him that yes, he can absolutely check in early. His suite is ready and he could be arriving at any time because he’s flying in on his own plane. And you will personally help Mr. Takagi put the koi in the tank and get him anything he needs, okay? We will also be feeding the fish and monitoring the water temperature et cetera, per Mr. Takagi’s instructions. You’ve read them, right?”
“Yes, but Shay, they are goldfish. How difficult can this be?”
“Hannah, they are not mere goldfish.”
Hannah tipped her head and gave Shay a doubtful look.
“For your information—these fish are worth thousands of dollars. There is one that could sell for over ten-thousand alone. It has a rare lipstick pattern.”
Hannah snickered. “Lipstick pattern, huh? I don’t even want to think about how that came to be.”
“Hannah, this is serious.”
“I know.” Hannah nodded, her face now a solemn mask. “I do know, so in my ongoing quest to constantly improve my customer service skills, I am going to assure Mr. Takagi that I will win him as many goldfish as he wants at the next carnival to come through Glacier City. You can get six Ping-Pong balls for a five-spot, and as you’re well aware, my accuracy at the fish frenzy is renowned. And, as a special bonus—for Mr. Takagi only—I can arrange for these fish to all have Hannah James’s personalized Ping-Pong pattern.”
Shay sighed, dipped her head and pinched the bridge of her nose. Then she looked back at her sister and met gold-brown eyes that were a close match to her own, except Hannah’s were now filled with laughter.
“In spite of your lame attempts at fish humor here, you are going to follow all of these instructions, right?”
“Of course,” Hannah said. “But remind me again why we’re going to have the giant goldfish trough out back.”
“We have to keep these fish alive until Mrs. Milner gets her pond and atrium finished. There was a delay in the construction, but Mr. Takagi could only transport the fish now—and he insists on transporting all the rare koi himself. If she didn’t get them now then she would have to wait months for another opportunity, which would add the complication of the winter weather. Mrs. Milner asked if we could keep them here because she doesn’t want them at her house with all the noise and mess of the construction going on.”
Hannah stared back at her and Shay could tell she was trying not to crack a smile.
“Go ahead and say it,” Shay said.
“Okay, I’m thinking about how Bud and Cindy—our goldfish? The ones I won at the school carnival in fourth grade? We had them for nine years in a glass bowl in the middle of the coffee table. Mom and Dad raised six kids in that house. Mittens drank out of the bowl daily and I wasn’t exactly religious about changing the water.” She chuckled. “Remember that time Seth knocked the bowl over and Bud and Cindy were flopping around on the floor? Mittens swatted Bud around a couple times like he was a cat toy and I was sure he was a goner. But I scooped them both up and dropped them in Tag’s glass of water.” She laughed for a few long seconds.
Shay stared back at her blandly, brows arched—prompting her to get to the point.
“I’m thinking the goldfish will be fine, Shay.”
“Hannah, listen to me, if you are going to operate your own place someday—like you tell me you might like to do—then you have to go above and beyond for your guests.” Owning her own hotel had been Hannah’s latest idea in a long list that she’d been compiling during the months of her recovery.
Shay reminded herself to have patience. Hannah was still trying to deal with having her life’s work—her identity—snatched away from her. It had been just over a year since the accident—and the end of her professional skiing career. Her body had healed for the most part, but Shay knew it would be a while before the rest of her completely caught up.
“It’s part of—”
Hannah interrupted. “Shay, I’m kidding. I’m ready for the fish. What is wrong with you, today? You always—well, almost always, think I’m funny.”
Shay stared at her sister, anxiety fluttering in her stomach. Maybe it would help to talk about it. “Don’t say anything to anyone else, okay? I’m waiting for Jonah to call. Caleb—”
“Jonah!” Her voice shot up in tone and volume. “Jonah is here? He’s in town? In Rankins?”
“Yes, to all three of the exact same creatively crafted questions,” Shay answered drily.
Hannah flashed a knowing smile with an exaggerated nod. “I get it.”
“Get what?”
“Why you’re all testy and irritable.”
“Hannah, no, I’m not. Jonah doesn’t have anything—”
Hannah held up a finger. “Hold on just a sec.” She grabbed her phone and tapped out a text. Then she looked back at Shay. “Continue.”
“I’m worried about Caleb. He had an appointment with Doc this morning.”
“Doc? Well, of course you’re worried about Caleb, too, then. But that’s not what’s going on right now. Because when you’re worried you look like this—” Hannah made a ridiculous tight-lipped face that Shay was almost certain she had never made in her life.
“And you get quiet—not snippy. I know. It’s Jonah.”
Shay narrowed her eyes at her little sister.
Hannah met her look and added a one-shoulder shrug daring Shay to dispute her claim.
“Really?” Shay said. “You know, huh? Can you tell what I’m thinking now?”
Hannah winced. “I can actually, and I don’t think it’s very nice to mind-talk to me like that. I would never mind-say something like that to you.”
Hannah reached down and picked up her phone, which had let out a buzz. She looked at the display and grinned. Her fingers flew over the screen again.
“You know I hate it when you text and talk to me. And what are you smiling about?” Shay realized then that her voice did have an edge to it—best to work on that, she told herself, before she inadvertently unleashed on a guest.
“Oh, I’m just excited that I was able to scoop Piper. What do you think is wrong with Caleb? I thought he was getting over that bug. Did he have a relapse or something?”
Shay looked at her quizzically. “Piper?” Piper Davidson was a friend of Hannah’s and the younger sister of Shay’s friend, Laurel. Laurel owned the Rankins Press, the town’s newspaper. Piper wrote the “Happenings” column in addition to being the biggest gossip in town.
Hannah seemed pleased with herself. “I texted Piper asking if she knew that Jonah was back in town, and she texted back saying that she hadn’t heard that yet. So, yay—scoop.”
“And this is news, why?”
“Come on, Shay. Jonah coming home is kind of a big deal. Small-town boy goes off to the big city, has tons of success and makes piles of money. He’s good-looking, he’s a bachelor, he owns a ’69 Boss 429. I can guarantee you that everyone will be talking about this.”
“You know what kind of car he drives?” Shay heard Hannah’s phone buzz again, no doubt Piper with a follow-up question. She hoped it didn’t involve her. After all, it’d been ten years since she and Jonah had broken up, Sometimes though it felt as if it was only yesterday. She and Jonah had been friends throughout their childhood, and it had seemed inevitable when they’d started dating during their senior year of high school. They’d gone away together to the University of Alaska and earned their undergraduate degrees. Jonah proposed soon after he’d found out that he’d been accepted to Yale Law. They’d come home to Rankins to enjoy one more carefree summer with plans to elope in the fall before they moved to Connecticut. Life was as perfect for Shay as it had ever been—before or since.
But then, as that summer was drawing to a close, her world began to unravel.
Shay’s Grandpa Gus died and left her the inn. Shay had spent much of her childhood working at the inn with her grandfather and while it was her dream to have her own hotel one day she hadn’t expected it to be the Faraway Inn.
Shay had been touched and honored and hadn’t felt like she had any choice but to stay in Rankins and take over the business. Grandpa Gus had taught her so much, showered so much love and attention on her. She owed it to her grandfather—to her family, to continue the inn’s success.
Jonah and Shay had been left with two different dreams—two different lives—that couldn’t possibly merge. Hannah asked, “Do you have any idea what’s wrong with Caleb?”
“No, I...no idea...”
“I really hope he’s all right, Shay. You know I love him, too.”
“I do know that, Hannah.” The entire James family adored Caleb.
“So, how did it go when you saw Jonah? Was there weirdness? Or was it like old times?”
“Okay, Hannah, you’re my sister and I love you, but can we not talk about this? About Jonah? I’m anxious for Jonah to call, but it’s only because I’m waiting for some news about Caleb—”
Hannah interrupted, “I can help you there.” Hannah held up her phone so Shay could see the display. “Jonah is at the Cozy Caribou having breakfast right now with Bering and some of the guys. So, I’m guessing that Caleb must be fine or else Jonah wouldn’t be...”
Every vein in Shay’s body seemed to throb at once. Jonah had said that he would call her after Caleb met with Doc, but he was hanging out at the Cozy Caribou instead? Having breakfast? No doubt chowing down on a pile of biscuits and gravy. How was she supposed to help him if he didn’t keep her informed? Why had she been so foolish as to think that he had changed even one bit in this selfish regard?
