Free Melting His Alaskan Heart by Rebecca Thomas

would she. “You know, why people choose the sports they love or why the sports choose them.”
    “Huh. Sports choose people?”
    “Sure. I wanted nothing more than to be part of a team sport, but I lack the hand-eye coordination to make it beyond the recreational level. But I was determined to be in some kind of sport in college, so I ran cross-country. Don’t need as much coordination for that.”
    “I was on a full-ride scholarship for hockey in college, until I blew out my knee. Then all my plans changed.”
    “See. That’s the kind of human interest story I’m talking about. People want to know how you overcame that, how you persevered.”
    “Ah, well, I couldn’t persevere. I had to choose another profession.”
    Carly noted an edge to his voice. Bitterness, perhaps? There certainly was a story there. Ethan had mentioned that the whole family played hockey. She wondered at what level Ethan had played.
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    E THAN SPENT the entire flight contemplating how he planned to introduce Carly to everyone. The weekend was supposed to be a gathering for only his family. How was he going to explain this? Then she’d talked to Travis instead of him. It wasn’t like he was interested in chit-chat, anyway.
    They stepped inside the lobby of the lodge, and the warmth of the fire in the three-story river rock fireplace radiated over him. The lodge had always felt like his personal cocoon of healing and rejuvenation. After his wife died, he moved away from Anchorage and made his permanent home at the lodge. However, he still fulfilled his firefighter duties in Anchorage, so he traveled back and forth on a regular basis.
    The people of Gold Creek were like his extended family, and as much as the tourists annoyed him at times, they kept him distracted from constant thoughts of his wife and their previous life together.
    His mother, Molly, emerged from the kitchen. She had been a pillar of strength for the family after his father had died of a heart attack when Ethan was seventeen years old. Ethan thought nothing could have been worse in his life, but he had been wrong. Things could always be worse. Always.
    Ethan had never imagined he’d have to follow in his mother’s footsteps and learn to exist and move on without his spouse by his side, but somehow she had managed to do it much better than he had.
    “There you boys are.” His mother smiled as she approached her two middle sons. “I heard the plane. I’m so happy you both arrived safely. And you must be Carly.”
    His mother zeroed right in on his guest. “Hello, Mother. This is Carly Hughes.”
    “Yes, I know. Zak told me you’d be bringing a guest.” His mother flung her arms around his waist for a quick embrace and then moved to Travis. Then she reached out and clasped Carly’s hand. “The entire family is here, except Fiona. She had classes she couldn’t miss. She’s a student, but Sabrina and I are delighted to have another woman amongst us for the weekend. Welcome to the Forrester Lodge.”
    “Thank you,” Carly said. If his mother’s greeting overwhelmed her, she didn’t let on.
    “I’ll show you around the lodge, but first let me introduce you to Zak and Sabrina.” His mother wrapped an arm around her and urged her toward the kitchen. “I have them working on a moose rump roast for dinner and since we let Cook off for the weekend, I need to supervise.”
    Carly glanced back at him with dismay.
    Ethan gave a miniature shrug in hopes of letting her know via body language that he was helpless in the face of his mother and her determination.
    Travis turned to him. “You’re just going to let her take Carly like that?”
    “What am I supposed to do?”
    “Mom is going to assume she’s your girlfriend, you know.”
    “She’s not my girlfriend.”
    “You didn’t speak to her the entire flight. I think I got the no girlfriend part, but you’ve never brought a woman to the lodge before, so Mom might make an assumption.”
    “Carly is a