Free Sweet Home Alaska by Rebecca Thomas Page B

glass at the hotel. I was just curious—do you know?”
    “Yes, because of his little sister, Iris. She died when she was three. Trey’s never talked about it, but his older brother told me he took it very hard. Trey was only five at the time.”
    “I had no idea.” A stab of remorse lay buried in her breast. “I’ve got to run. Maybe we can meet up later. We should go out to lunch or something.”
    “Sure. Sounds good,” Kayla said with a surprised tone.
    Lauren steadied herself, sat down on her couch, and signed onto her laptop. She searched the name ‘Iris Briggs’ in Alaska. The beaming face of a three-year-old girl with red hair smiled back at her. She read the obituary. Iris had died of cancer. Her heart squeezed in anguish for Trey and his loss.
    She was actually trembling now. Not only for Trey’s loss, but for her own, too. She’d never come to terms with her grandmother’s death. She hadn’t even faced it yet. Not really. She preferred being angry, or so busy working she didn’t have time to feel this desolate sense of loss.
    She had lost her parents, she lost her grandma, and she desperately didn’t want to lose Trey.
    After strapping herself into her van, she headed straight to the hotel. She knew with her current state of emotions it wasn’t the best way to approach a meeting with Trey, but she had to do it. What if she was wrong? What if Trey was telling her the truth, that he really wasn’t interested in anything further between them? And why didn’t he ever say he’d been following her blog?
    She pulled into the Salmon Catcher parking lot, put her van into park, and resolved to go after what she wanted. And what she wanted was Trey Briggs.
    She trod across the parking lot with confidence she didn’t feel, but she was determined to make those acting classes pay off. Even if she didn’t feel sure of herself, she was going to act like she was.
    She stepped into the hotel’s busy lobby. There were staff members clearing away dishes from the morning’s breakfast. There were people passing in and out of the front doors, up and down the spiral staircase, and customers checking out. She searched the faces until she spotted Trey walking across the mosaic-tiled lobby talking with a member of the housekeeping staff. When he looked up, he locked gazes with Lauren and immediately stopped talking. His mouth hung open for the briefest of moments until he said something quietly to the staff member and she continued down the hall.
    Trey stood immobile, staring at her, taking in every inch of her with his eyes. He stepped forward and smiled, though Lauren noted the lines of stress etched in his face. “I hear congratulations are in order. You signed the deal.”
    “Yes, I did. Who told you?” She clutched her handbag like a lifeline, hoping it might keep her steady.
    “I don’t remember. This is a small town. News travels fast,” he said. His voice sounded emotionless and flat.
    Lauren had asked her staff not to tell anyone. But then, people in this town never could keep a secret.
    “Will you be selling the Moose’s Tooth before you leave?” Trey asked in a louder-than-normal voice, as though everyone in the lobby was included in the conversation between them.
    “Are you so anxious for me to leave then?” she spouted, just as loud. “Who said I was leaving?”
    “I…” he said in a more subdued tone, “…just assumed you were.”
    “You shouldn’t make assumptions like that.”
    “Lauren, maybe we should go someplace more private to discuss this.” He placed his arm on her back and urged her to walk toward the front doors.
    “There’s no reason not to keep the good news private.” This wasn’t going the way she’d planned. She slowly released a pent-up sigh. “I signed the deal.”
    “So you’ll be moving back to L.A.?” His tone was businesslike. It grated against every nerve ending in her body.
    “I didn’t say what the deal was. But then, you made it pretty clear you