Moosely Over You, page 1
Moosely Over You
Finding Love in Alaska Book 6
Jacqueline Winters
Moosely Over You is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Copyright © 2021 by Jacqueline Winters
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval systems, without express written permission from the author/publisher, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Copy Editor: Write Girl Editing Services
Cover Design: Alt 19 Creative
Proofreading: FictionEdit.com
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Epilogue
Next in Series
About the Author
SNEAK PEAK OF ABSOMOOSELY IN LOVE
Chapter One
Laurel
There wasn’t enough white chocolate mocha in the entire state of Alaska to get Laurel Evans through this already long day, no matter how many shots of espresso were in it. But two grande cups from Black Bear Coffee would have to get her started. They didn’t come any larger, and she only had two hands.
Because Charlene was out of stoppers, Laurel was hyper-focused on not spilling her coffees as she pushed the door open with her back. She turned the sharp corner around the coffee shop at Mooseberry Lane and Fourth and screamed. One coffee flew into the air, splattering inches from a massive hoof.
It didn’t matter that Laurel had grown up in Sunset Ridge, or that she’d been home for more than six months after a long absence. The unexpected sighting of a bull moose stopped on the street corner, eyeing her curiously from only three feet away, would always threaten an instant heart attack.
She spun on her heel to round the same corner, thankful one coffee remained unscathed. She refused to start off her week being trampled by a startled moose.
Before she could manage a single sip of her precious nectar, however, Laurel plowed into a man and dumped her second mocha all over his blue and white button-up shirt. “I’m so—” She pointed behind her at the antlers poking out from the corner of the building. “Moose. Th-there’s a moose.” Laurel kept looking over her shoulder, concerned the infamous Ed would follow her. But the moose was eagerly licking her first spilled beverage from the pavement. “What do you know? He likes it.”
“Laurel.”
Her heart stopped at the familiar voice she would never forget. Not if fifty years went by without hearing it. “Chase. Hi.”
Since she moved back to Sunset Ridge over Christmas, she’d done her best to avoid her ex-husband. She was overwhelmed as it was by her family—most especially with her youngest sister who just had a baby. Add in two best friends planning summer weddings a week apart, and facing Chase after the way she left things five years ago was not something her very full plate had room for. If only he wasn’t her best friend’s brother and included in that same friends’ circle, avoiding him would be so much simpler.
“Whoa, look out.” Chase pulled her back against him by the shoulder as the local favorite moose shuffled his legs. For a single heartbeat, Laurel surrendered to the protection she’d craved on so many lonely days.
Ed stared straight at them, licking his coffee-splattered lips, then sauntered down Mooseberry Lane toward the bay.
Laurel wriggled free from Chase’s hold the second Ed passed the pharmacy and was no longer visible. The urge to sprint to her car was overwhelming, but she wasn’t a terrible human being. Plus, she needed more coffee before she decided what item on her list to tackle first. “Hope I didn’t burn you. I’m sorry about your shirt.”
“I didn’t like it much anyway.” A half smile tugged at his lips, threatening to lure Laurel into a trap. That tilt of those very kissable lips was what got her into this mess all those years ago. As she fished for napkins in her oversized purse, he asked, “How’re Haylee and the baby?”
“Good. They’re good.” Laurel found three napkins, patting at the largest coffee circle over his shirt pocket. It took seconds to realize her grave mistake. Chase’s muscular chest pressed against her fingers was going to get her into an entirely new mess. “Here.” She shoved the napkins at him. “I can get more inside—”
“Laurel.” His serious tone stopped her midturn toward the entrance. “I really need to talk to you.”
She stared off in the direction Ed had ventured but saw no sign of the moose now that she could really use the distraction. For nearly six months, Laurel had been dodging whatever important thing Chase just had to tell her. Ever since Ava’s New Year’s Eve engagement party. “I’m really busy this morning. Maybe another time?”
“You’re always busy, Laurel. That’s kind of your thing.”
Closing her eyes for a beat, she took a deep breath. She was running on barely two hours of broken sleep. Melly, precious angel that she was, had not thought anyone in the house needed sleep. Silly adults. Laurel spent half her night buried in spreadsheets and balancing books for her dad’s businesses and was now all caught up. But there was a laundry list of things she’d been neglecting: picking out not one, but two bridesmaids dresses, getting a desperately needed manicure, and deciding how to respond to her old boss’s email with a generously tempting offer to return to the Florida Keys. None of them held a candle to her desperate need for more caffeine.
“I’ll buy you another coffee,” Chase offered.
“You sure that’s a good idea? You might end up wearing it.”
He stepped closer, stopping in front of her. Despite the overwhelming aroma of mocha he now wore, a hint of her favorite cologne drifted to her, tugging her into the past. She pushed away the temptation. Staying grounded in the future was the only way she survived living in this small town with her ex-husband. “I’ll take the risk.”
As much as Laurel wanted to run the other way, this conversation had been inevitable for months. He’d even given her four additional weeks after Melly came into the world before he brought it up. Had it not been for Ed just now, she might’ve squeezed out five. “That moose,” she muttered.
“What’s that?”
“Coffee first. No bombs dropped until I’m at least halfway through my cup.”
“Deal.” He held the door and waited for her to reenter Black Bear Coffee.
Behind the register, Charlene wore a knowing smile, promising she’d witnessed both embarrassing incidents. If this was how Monday morning was choosing to behave, Laurel wanted a do-over. For years, these mornings were one of her strengths. She was the rare breed who lived for Mondays. She woke up recharged, ready to face any challenge head-on. Until her sweet niece entered the world. Laurel no longer knew what a normal night of sleep felt like.
Good thing she loved Melly more than she’d ever loved anything else. Even white chocolate mochas.
Arnie Powers adjusted his suspenders at the back of the line as he fixed his attention on Chase’s coffee-stained shirt, and smirked. “Hope you didn’t get third-degree burns. You should know better than to make this one mad.” He cackled, nodding at Laurel.
“You’d think I’d have learned my lesson by now,” Chase bantered back, both men allowing Laurel to go in front of them. “I guess I’m addicted to pushing my limits.”
“Always thought you two . . .”
Laurel drowned out the conversation happening behind her. Too many locals had opinions about the two of them, and she didn’t care to hear which side Arnie was on. It wouldn’t change anything. She stared at the two heads in front of her, uncertain whether the line was too long or too short. The sooner she had her coffee, the sooner she’d have to hear whatever it was Chase wanted so badly to tell her. A knot twisting in her stomach warned her she wouldn’t like it.
“Heard there was a fire north of town last night,” Laurel overheard Arnie say to Chase as she stepped up to the counter and ordered. “Anyone hurt?”
“No, no one was there.”
Laurel hated to admit her curiosity was piqued. When she and Chase were first married, he was only a volunteer firefighter working seasonal jobs with demanding hours and solid pay. But when they found out they were pregnant, Chase vowed to find something more stable with benefits and set his sights on one of only two paid positions with the fire department.
After she left town five years ago, she expected him to abandon that pursuit. She never thought he was passionate about the position that promised more paperwork and politics than fieldwork. She still found it surprising that he was the deputy fire chief, second in charge of the whole fire department.
Maybe I was wrong about what he wanted.
“It was that old shack off Jack Rabbit Creek Road, wasn’t it?” Arnie asked. In the brief silence tha
“Everything dried up before we had a chance. Couldn’t risk it,” Chase answered.
“However it happened, I’m glad that eyesore’s gone.”
“A lot of people are.” Because Laurel knew him, she recognized the evasiveness in his answer. Something bothered him, and she hated even more that it bothered her. She’d always care about Chase. That much was inevitable. But this unbreakable thread-thin connection that existed between them should have broken by now.
“Here you go.” Charlene held out a fresh coffee to Laurel. “Try not to dump this one out, okay?” Her eyes twinkled as her gaze flickered to Chase, then back to Laurel. “Unless he deserves it, of course. Then, by all means.”
“I’m not with him,” she said quickly, her cheeks heating. “He was just—”
“You’re blushing, sweetie.” With a wink, she moved to finish Chase’s cup, leaving Laurel to duck her head and pretend to search for stoppers she already knew were on backorder. It was only that Chase Monroe had caught her off guard this morning that she was acting this way. After a solid cup of coffee, distance, and a two-hour nap, she would have her head on straight again.
She took a deep sip, allowing the caffeine to filter through her veins.
“Don’t want to take any chances on that one, huh?” Chase’s teasing voice forced her eyes open. She stepped out of the way in time to avoid his reaching arm securing napkins. “Me, either.”
Laurel checked her phone to avoid the mischievous gleam in his eyes, willing a text or call. Didn’t Melly need diapers, or wasn’t Cody short a kayak guide? Of all the mornings for everyone to go radio silent.
“Let’s take a walk.” Chase touched her shoulder, urging her toward the door.
“I don’t have much time.”
He held the door open, obviously seeing right through that lie. “It won’t take long.”
Laurel eyed her car longingly, but where would she go? The books were caught up. Haylee and her mom were both cranky from a sleepless night, no doubt fighting over the remote. Kinley and Ava were working, as were her brothers. “Fine, but make it quick.”
Together they strolled down Main Street toward the water as Laurel sipped on her coffee. Already she wished she’d asked for two. She scanned for Ed, but saw no signs of the moose that had popped up out of nowhere.
“Ed’s probably running laps around the town after that sugar rush,” Chase offered, causing her to laugh.
A sliver of tension disappeared, allowing Laurel to look ahead and appreciate the bright blue sky that held only a dusting of wispy clouds. The mountaintops welcomed the bright June sun in all their glory. Moments like these made her remember why she loved it here so much. One only had to stare off into the beauty to feel as if even the toughest days were conquerable.
Her happy thoughts were short-lived as the bay approached too quickly. Laurel was less at peace and more desperate to avoid Chase’s news every second possible. The knot in her stomach was back with a vengeance. She stalled, checking her phone, willing it to ring. Surely Mom needed her to grab some milk or Dad wanted her to rerun some figures for the store. At this rate, she’d even welcome a call from her middle sister, Sadie. She was that desperate.
“What’s up with that fire?” she asked. “The one Arnie Powers was asking about.”
“Old shack burned down last night. That’s all.”
Laurel raised an eyebrow at Chase, staring at him through a yawn of his own until he met her eyes. “There’s something more. You’re worried about something.”
They crossed the last street before the water and Chase nodded toward a bench that overlooked the bay. A couple of joggers ran along the sidewalk in front of it before he sat down. “We haven’t had enough rainfall this year. That fire could’ve been a whole lot worse.”
“Do you think it was an accident?”
He patted the seat beside him. Laurel went to take another sip of coffee and found her cup empty. Tossing it into a nearby trash bin, she finally relented and joined him. She hardly made contact with the bench before Chase dove right into the heart of the matter. “There’s no way to sugarcoat this, so I won’t.”
The serious tone caused Laurel to stiffen with concern. Guess we’re done discussing the fire. She hadn’t given much thought as to what this news was other than not good, but now she was afraid it was bad. Too many possibilities raced through her overactive mind, and none of them did anything for that knot in her stomach. “Are you sick? You’re not dying, are you?”
“What? No.” Chase’s light chuckle eased a sliver of her fears. “Nothing like that.”
“Then, what?”
“We’re still married.”
Laurel stared at him, unblinking. “Excuse me?”
“It’s a technicality,” he explained, his gaze focused on a fishing boat in the bay headed toward deeper waters. “A missed signature.”
“We got divorced five years ago.” Laurel took a deep inhale, willing her brain to function at a higher capacity. Surely there was something she was missing. Something she misunderstood. No one went five years believing they were legally divorced only to find out they weren’t. “This isn’t some movie, Chase. This is real life.”
“Jenkins discovered it,” he said evasively.
“Six months ago?” She remembered how he’d pulled her into a spare room at Ava’s engagement party, insisting he had something important to tell her. Only she asked him to wait until Melly was born before he did. And he’d waited all that time.
He dug his fingers hard into his neck as he rolled it around his shoulders, like he always did when he was avoiding some hard-to-spit-out truth. “More like a year.”
“A year?” Laurel gripped the bench so hard she thought she might crack a board. “You didn’t think to call me?”
“Don’t have your new Florida number.”
Laurel pinned him with narrowed eyes. She hoped he could feel the daggers she was shooting at him. “So, you ask my parents. Or Marc. Or Cody. Or look me up on LinkedIn.” Laurel’s hands trembled from multiple emotions: irritation, shock, and worst of all, mourning. Sitting still had never been her forte, but now it felt impossible. She sprang to her feet so she could pace, narrowly missing a jogger on the sidewalk.
The day she left Sunset Ridge would be burned into her mind forever. The pain she felt when she shattered the undeniable connection between them and boarded the plane. She left a piece of her soul behind that day, but it was what had to happen. The only fair thing to do in the grand scheme of things.
Why was fate pulling a fast one on her now?
“You get married to someone else while you were away or something?” Though Chase chuckled, she caught the undercurrent in his tone. She wasn’t doing this. Not today. Not on such little sleep and not nearly enough coffee.
“How did you find out, Chase?”
“I told you. Jenkins.”
She bit down on her bottom lip so hard she thought it might bleed. Jenkins had handled the whole divorce. But because Chase paid all the fees, it made irritating sense that the lawyer wouldn’t try to contact her about the matter. “Whose signature is missing?”
“Yours.”
Her TOMS sandals tore up the grass as she marched back and forth, back and forth. The shock of this news made the series of sleepless nights seem pleasant in comparison. How could they have been married this entire time? “Do you have the papers?”
“They’re at Jenkins’ office.”
At least this matter could be put to rest swiftly. “Well, don’t just sit there. Let’s go.” Laurel had to sign them now, before she had too much time to think and lost her nerve. She refused to believe this was fate nudging her at some sappy second chance. They weren’t meant to be together, and she couldn’t start entertaining that very dangerous thought just because this small detail came to light.
