Free Sweet Home Alaska by Rebecca Thomas

place on earth.
    It amazed him the way Lauren had picked up after high school and left so quickly. How could she ever leave Alaska? There was no other place for him. Alaska was his home.
    He had to believe their affair was just that—an affair. She would leave now and she’d be only a memory—a summer fling. He looked beyond the slide and swing set to the wild irises blowing in the breeze.
    His phone buzzed. He looked at the screen and saw Lauren’s name.
    He swiped across the screen and held the phone to his ear. “Hello?”
    “Trey, hi, it’s me. I tried to call you earlier,” she said.
    “Yeah, sorry, I was really busy. I didn’t hear my phone.”
    “It’s okay. I just wanted to let you know I’ve just landed at LAX. Crazy, huh?”
    “Yeah, I stopped by Moose’s Tooth and they told me you have a meeting with the Food Network. They want to give you your own show. Congratulations.” He said the words earnestly, but a selfish part of him wished she never got that call. If she didn’t get that call, she’d be here with him.
    “Wow. News travels fast. I wanted to tell you myself and I didn’t want to text you about it, either. I’m sorry.”
    “I’m sorry, too, but I’m happy for you. I wish you the best. You know that.”
    “Trey, why do you have that tone?”
    “What tone?”
    “That ‘goodbye’ tone. I wasn’t calling to say goodbye. I have to see what their proposal is. I don’t know that I’m going to take it, but when they agreed to put me on the next plane to discuss a show, the possibility of my own show, I had to come.”
    “Of course you’ll take their offer. This is your dream. Your own show on television. It’s everything you’ve ever wanted,” he said, trying to keep his voice light.
    “It was everything I ever wanted, but now there are more things to consider. There’s the Moose’s Tooth, my grandmother’s legacy, and there’s you. Everything’s different now. And if I am being completely honest, I’d say what I wanted most was for my grandma to forgive me. I took her for granted. I never got the chance to say ‘I’m sorry’ to her, and I left the bakery for her to run on her own,” she said.
    “You had every right to leave, and she knew you were sorry,” Trey said empathically.
    “No, she didn’t.”
    “She did.” Trey should have told her a long time ago. “She knew about your blog.”
    “My blog?” she asked quietly.
    “Your Sweet Home Alaska blog.”
    “Grandma read my blog?”
    “Yes. She knew you were torn up about where you belonged—you said as much on some of your earlier posts.” Trey should have told her the very first time they met. He suddenly felt like he’d kept a secret that wasn’t his right to keep.
    “But she never said anything to me.” Her voice was quiet, barely audible. “She didn’t even own a computer.”
    “I told her about your blog. She’d go to the library and read it. She knew about your attitudes toward food, gatherings, family—she knew the bakery meant as much to you, as it did to her and that you’d come around.”
    “I’m not coming around. I’ve got the chance at my dream job now—and it isn’t in Alaska. It isn’t in her bakery!” she said, sounding heartbroken.
    He regretted not telling her the truth sooner. “I know that,” he said. “But Elsie never blamed you. She knew you loved her, and you have to make the right decision for you. If Alaska isn’t where you want to live, then you shouldn’t be here.”
    “Why didn’t you ever tell me that my grandma read my blog? Why didn’t you ever tell me you read my blog?”
    He wanted to fix things between them. Fixing things is what he did, or tried to do. He wasn’t about to step in the way of her dreams. She would only resent him later. Besides, he would never leave Alaska.
    Their summer affair wouldn’t have lasted anyway. It was better this way. “I stumbled upon your blog by accident. I told Elsie about it, but no one else. I was going to