Sweet Home Alaska (3 page)

Trey had been a small kid who always carried a comic book; now he was tall with the running grace of a gazelle. If his baby blue eyes weren’t enough to make a girl melt, he had a presence about him, just like the photo of him holding up his prized catch, as though he had life by the tail.

“That salmon never had a chance,” she mumbled under her breath.

“Trey’s quite proud of that King,” Kayla interjected.

“Yes.” Lauren peered at the photo more closely. His smile was beautiful. She hadn’t seen him smile yesterday. “He looks very happy.”

The plan was to stick to business and appeal to the businessman in Trey. He needed to know about her out-of-the-box creative catering ideas. She already had scrumptiously yummy food—that was a given—but now she had to share how the re-opening wouldn’t be a success without her as his caterer and quasi-party planner.

She eyed another beautifully framed photo of a huge log home near a lake with mountains in the background. She didn’t recognize it. The mountains were too close to be anywhere on the peninsula. “Where’s this place?”

“That’s the Forrester Lodge in Gold Creek, Alaska. Trey’s cousins own and built it. He wanted to give the hotel a more rustic Alaskan look, so he consulted with them about it.”

“Never heard of the Forrester Lodge.”

“It was built about five years ago. You’ve been gone. Plus it’s way up north of Fairbanks,” Kayla said matter-of-factly.

“It looks like an amazing place,” Lauren said quietly.

Lauren had come back to the Kenai Peninsula with huge reservations. Alaska was so rugged, and she’d gotten used to L.A.’s mild climate. She thought she was doing the right thing by returning to her childhood home, but she still wasn’t completely sure. “How long have you worked for Trey?” she asked.

“Only a couple months. When Mr. Briggs, Trey’s father, ran Briggs Enterprises, they only did new construction, but when Trey took over he expanded the business to renovating older buildings, too. Most people probably thought the old hotel should have been demolished, but not Trey.”

Lauren heard the pride in Kayla’s voice. She must admire Trey for what he was doing with the hotel, kind of how she had admired him and that old Ford pickup in high school. The guy couldn’t seem to do anything wrong.

“I’ll go see what the holdup is,” Kayla said before she disappeared around the corner.

Kayla emerged from the office a few moments later and directed Lauren inside. Trey sat behind a large cherry wood desk. Behind him, a floor-to-ceiling window sported a beautiful view of the Kenai River, but all Lauren could see was the beauty of Trey Briggs.

He removed his glasses and stood up. The guy had an unpretentious, down-to-earth presence about him. Unconsciously, Lauren reached up to her throat, as if feeling for her quickening pulse.

With only the desk between them, Trey stepped to the side of the room and pulled out a chair for her. Now that he was only inches away, the earthy scent of him enveloped her.

“Thank you for agreeing to see me,” Lauren said, ignoring her dry mouth and heart palpitations. She noticed a curio cabinet in the corner containing
Star Wars
figurines. A small sign of the boy she used to know. A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.

He arched a brow and squared his shoulders before he sat behind his desk again. “You’re welcome.”

His blue eyes and discerning manner kept distracting her. In a perfect world, she’d begin with small talk about the weather or the gorgeous view he had from his office, or maybe even the new
Star Wars
movie, but she needed to forget all that and appeal to the business owner. So she decided to get straight to the point. “The hotel you bought, restored, and are re-opening has a hard time being filled to capacity in the winter.”

His body language was easily readable now. He thought she wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed.

He straightened in his chair, then pressed his lips together. “I’m aware of that. It’s more important than ever to make sure it’s full every day in the summer months. That’s why I’m pushing to have it open in two weeks.”

“But did you know it’s rumored to be haunted?”

He rubbed the back of his neck and gave her a forced smile. “I’m aware the hotel comes with an urban legend, yes.”

His easy acceptance of the hotel’s haunting surprised her. She should have known he would have heard the story. They both grew up in the same small town after all. “So you know the story about the little boy?”

He leaned back in his chair, then rubbed his chin with his thumb. “Yes, it’s rumored that a young couple was staying on the third floor when their son disappeared.” His glittering blue eyes gazed at her with such intense scrutiny that her pulse pounded in her ears. “For years afterward, the hotel staff claimed to get calls from room 313, even when no one was staying in that room. They claim a child would say, ‘where’s my mommy?’ on the line before hanging up. It was actually never proven that the couple arrived with a child. There are varying accounts.” He leaned in closer. “What does this have to do with the re-opening of the hotel?”

She reminded herself to appeal to the business owner in him. There was no other way. “I did a search online. There are several hotels throughout the world that claim they are haunted. You’d think this would be a deterrent for customers, but in reality it’s a huge draw. And while Alaska has no problems filling hotel rooms in the summer, wintertime is another matter.”

“You aren’t telling me anything I don’t already know,” Trey said.

“It’s June now. You have no worries for filling your hotel to capacity, but for your grand re-opening, why not plant the seed and capitalize on the potential paranormal aspects of the hotel?” She pulled out her file. “Now, if you were opening in the fall, I’d definitely say let’s cater to the otherworldly.” She flipped open a page of the three-ring binder. She ran her finger down the list. “We’d make Zombie Gut Punch, Blood Salsa with olives that look like eyeballs, a Jack-o-Lantern cheese ball, Mummy cake. I have a list of drinks they could make at the bar, starting with Vampire cocktails, Bones of the Dead Margaritas, Spider Web Sangrias, and that’s just the beginning. If you don’t believe me about the popularity of haunted hotels, just do an Internet search. Seriously, Travelocity has an entire section for people who want to stay in a haunted hotel.”

He inched closer to her, leaning over the desk. “Interesting concept, but what you’re suggesting sounds more like a Halloween party.”

“I know. Sorry. That’s not what I’m suggesting. Only that you could capitalize on the haunted rumors,” she explained.

He leaned back in his leather swivel chair and eyed her carefully. She sensed his churning thoughts. “No, I’m not interested in propagating the idea that my hotel is haunted.”

So her first idea was shot down. On to the next. “I can understand that, so what about this? A huge trend today, especially among the twenty- and thirty-somethings, is cosplay. What I want to suggest is not some lame costume party, but rather, a comic book and sci-fi-themed cosplay party.” She stopped to take a breath before she forged on. “Everyone comes to the grand re-opening in costume. So we cater not only to adults, but children as well.”

“Cosplay.” He eyed her quizzically. “You know about cosplay?”

“It’s the combination of two words ‘costume’ and ‘play.’ Participants don’t just dress up as some random character, they actually try to embody them, at least for a day. Typically from a comic book or science fiction or fantasy genre.”

He nodded. Then flexed the muscles of his jaw. “I know.”

He was toying with her. How silly of her to believe a comic book reader and
Star Wars
fan would know nothing about cosplay. “Of course you do,” she said, embarrassed.

“And you know about cosplay because you lived in L.A. with all those actor types.” He absently tapped his fingers on the arm of his chair.

“Yes, I suppose it’s my actress background that helped me with some of my ideas. But I also worked for an amazing catering company for years.”

“I have someone else in mind to cater the hotel’s re-opening.” He stood up and paced across the room.

That was abrupt. She swallowed hard, determined not to let his hawk-like blue eyes unsettle her and her goal, but the scent of him pulled at her desires no matter how hard she tried to focus.

Suddenly this wasn’t about just the job. She wanted an excuse to be near him. Her fingers tingled with the sensation to touch him. A shiver ran through her. “But there’s more. I’m not finished.”

“Go on, I’m listening.” He stopped his pacing and rubbed his chin again.

“I know you like kids. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t have done all that fundraising in high school to build more playgrounds. I’m sure you must know they have that new surgical pediatrician, Dr. Clayton, at the hospital now. People are coming from all over the state to see him. So we’ve got to consider young families that need a place to stay while they’re seeing the doctor. Kids would rather stay where they know some of their favorite characters may have stayed. You could even go so far as to have themed rooms?” She glanced as his curio cabinet. “You could have the ‘Wolverine room,’ the ‘Princess Leia room,’ the ‘Batman room.’ The rooms’ names could be as limitless as the comic books themselves. In fact, outside each of those rooms, you could have a glass cabinet with a comic book of that character. What if you called the grand re-opening cosplay celebration ‘AlaskaCon’?” Lauren had been so caught up in her ideas she hadn’t even realized she’d stood up.

“I’m not interested in themed rooms, but your ideas for the re-opening party are intriguing,” he said quietly. He paced back to his desk, but remained standing.

“Okay, we won’t do themed rooms, but I’m just getting started.” She clutched her hands together. “I was thinking that with the new
Star Wars
movie, we could give it a
Star Wars
theme. ‘AlaskaCon—The Force is Alive!’ Or we could keep it strictly to comic books. We’d advertise by inviting attendees to come to the grand re-opening dressed as their favorite comic book characters.”

Trey remained quiet.

Lauren took this as a sign to continue. “The party could be for adults and children alike,” she said. She reached for her notebook, plopped it on his desk, and leaned against the edge, closer to him. “Imagine, if you can, cupcakes that look like Princess Leia; I’ll attach Oreo cookies to each side like hair buns. We’ll have Chewbacca Burgers or Han-burgers, whichever you’d like. We’ll have Galaxy Grilled Cheese sandwiches, Tusken Raider Taters, Obi-Wan Kabobs, Skywalker Smoothies, Wookie Cookies…” she stopped, wondering why he was glaring at her with such intensity. Was he upset? Did he think she was nuts?

This was supposed to be about business, but something about Trey tugged at her primal parts. Her mind raced for all the other things she’d practiced in her pitch. “But ultimately, you know Moose’s Tooth has the most mouth-watering food in town.”

“So you’ve said,” his voice had a gravely tone.

“Yes, so I’ve said, but you know it’s true. There isn’t another place in town that makes food as unique as Moose’s Tooth.”

“Maybe, but it’s been floundering since your grandmother passed.”

“I’m aware of that.” She took a step away from his desk. Like she needed him to remind her that Grandma was gone. “I’m well aware of the state of my business. Thanks. I’m not going to deny that getting this job is important to its success. Everyone in town will attend your grand re-opening and they need to be reminded that we exist—that Moose’s Tooth is open and has expanded to include catering,” she said.

Oh, what the hell, she wasn’t above begging. “Please say you’ll hire me, Trey.”

He moved away from her and stared out the window.

She sat back down in her chair and fought the urge to bite her fingernails. This entire experience was more nerve-wracking than she could have imagined. She could keep talking, but somehow she sensed that she had said everything she could say.

“All right,” he said, and swung around. “I’ll give Moose’s Tooth and your ideas for a cosplay AlaskaCon party a shot.”

Excitement bubbled within her. She bolted up from the chair and stuck out her hand. “Should we shake on it?”

His warm hand encompassed hers and she nearly melted into a puddle on the floor. She hadn’t realized the depth of how disappointed she would have been until now. She had no plan B for getting back into the good graces of her hometown. With a little convincing, Trey had welcomed her back; hopefully the town would, too.

She wanted so much to belong. To feel like this was her home again, but without the welcoming arms of her grandma, she didn’t feel at home. She’d never felt at home in L.A., either. An Alaskan girl who attempted to dress and act like an actress in Hollywood, or a high-heel wearing washed-up wannabe actress living in the last frontier—neither place was a fit for her. She wasn’t sure where she belonged.

Chapter Five

The next morning, Trey was still impressed with Lauren’s ideas for the grand re-opening, and couldn’t stop thinking about them. As much as he didn’t want to hire her, her passion sucked him in. Originally, he had been thinking finger sandwiches and meatballs, but now she had infused him with so much more enthusiasm for the event. He absently went to his bookmarked webpages and clicked on “Sweet Home Alaska.” Lauren hadn’t blogged for a while, mentioning only that she’d had a death in the family, but she continued to provide weekly recipes. Today’s post read:
A festive fruit salad—perfect for a night under the midnight sun
. He wondered if anyone else in town followed her blog, or if he was the only lovesick fool paying attention.

An AlaskaCon cosplay costume party was a little unorthodox, but he couldn’t dismiss her ideas for promoting guests to the Salmon Catcher hotel throughout the entire year, not just the summertime. He called Kayla into his office. “Did you cancel the other interviews we had set up?”

“Yes, I did, yesterday after you told me you’d decided to hire Miss Kinkade,” Kayla said.