The Tourist Attraction (Moose Springs, Alaska)

by Sarah Morgenthaler

  When she reached the door, it stuck, so Lana put her weight behind her pull. Apparently someone had stacked a pile of three-foot-tall plastic Christmas elves against the other side of the door, because when it finally swung open, the elves saw their chance to make their escape. She jumped back to avoid the avalanche, ending up in a snowbank halfway to her now very cold knees. The closest elf was facedown in a boot hole, looking like it had officially given up on making it through the holidays with a semblance of dignity.

  As everyone in the back few rows turned in their seats to stare at her through the open doorway, Lana knew the feeling.

  “There’s another entrance on the other side,” someone muttered.

  Well. That certainly would have been informative.

  Rescuing half a dozen cheap plastic elves from a snowy death wasn’t the worst thing Lana had ever done, although she would have appreciated a few less smirks aimed her way. Lana never had liked it when everyone looked at her when she stepped into a room. She was used to it, but she didn’t like it.

  She’d learned a long time ago to compensate for that discomfort by throwing her best and brightest smile to the room. Usually it worked to take the attention away from her, but not this time. The gathered townsfolk most definitely didn’t smile back.

  “Tough crowd,” she murmured to the plastic elves in her arms.

  As meeting halls went, the barn worked well. A wooden stage had been built on the end furthest from where Lana had made her less than grand entrance. At least most of the people present hadn’t witnessed her faux pas. They’d scooted the chairs around to form rows facing the makeshift stage up front. If Ben hadn’t told her where they held town hall meetings, she never would have been able to find it. By the looks she received when she headed toward the front of the barn, more than a few people wouldn’t have minded her absence.

  They’d tried to make the barn seasonally appropriate, filling it with a cheerful if haphazard assortment of holiday decor. Most was fairly innocuous, but liberties had been taken with Rudolph’s antlers, and something seemed to be going on between Mrs. Claus and Frosty the Snowman, if the twinkle in her eye was to be believed. The pile of elves had been hanging out near the rear escape exit, the one Lana had unwittingly entered. They’d probably had the right idea.

  The combination of strings of blinking Christmas lights, red and green plastic ornaments, blue and white papier-mâché snowflakes, and gold sparkles painted on popcorn balls was somewhat jarring. Someone had mounted a star on the top of a cardboard cutout of a lamp made out of a woman’s stockinged leg, with several presents stuck underneath, although no one had informed Lana that this was the gift-giving type of meeting.

  Drawing her coat close to chase away the chill, Lana scanned the room, searching for a friendly face among the familiar ones. She breathed a sigh of relief when she spotted a short, slender brunette in glasses seated off to the side, across the room from a folding table loaded with coffee urns and holiday treats. Zoey Caldwell glanced up from the book in her lap as Lana approached, brightening when Lana waved at her in greeting.

  “I saved Graham a seat, but you can have his,” Zoey joked. “He’s been a brat all day.”

  “Is he ever not a brat?” Lana replied, sitting down next to her best friend.

  “Hmm, good point.”

  The constant good mood Zoey had been in since moving to Moose Springs still hadn’t faded, and she gave Lana an enthusiastic hug. A hug Lana happily returned. It was embarrassing to admit how much Lana wanted those hugs…and needed them. They had met years ago at a truck stop diner outside of Chicago. Zoey had been Lana’s waitress, and something between them had simply clicked. If Lana had to be honest with herself—which was more of a pain than she wanted to think about at the moment—her relationship with Zoey was the healthiest human interaction she’d experienced in her entire life. And it meant more to Lana than Zoey realized that they would be spending the holidays together.

  Lana glanced around. “I was hoping Jake would be here.”

  Jake was originally Graham’s dog, but all three of them worked equally hard at securing the blind border collie’s affection. So far, Zoey was winning.

  “We asked him if he wanted to come, but he preferred to sleep by the fireplace.” Adjusting her glasses, Zoey said, “I think he was done being dressed for the day. Graham changed his outfit four times.”

  “Jake’s wearing pajamas right now, isn’t he?”

  “His Christmas Ninja Turtle pj’s.” Zoey rolled her eyes. “They’re his favorite.”

  They both knew whose favorite those pj’s actually were.

  “How did the meeting go?”

  “Festively phallic,” Lana decided. “Almost as festive as this place. How did it go meeting Graham’s parents?”

  “They’re just like him. Loving, wonderful, excessively loquacious. Their place in Anchorage is right off the inlet, and it’s very cute.”

  “But?”

  “But that’s a lot of Barnett humor in one room.” Zoey shuddered. “I might need to crash with you tonight, so I don’t murder him.”

  “My couch is always yours.” Lana squeezed Zoey’s hand, briefly leaning in her friend’s shoulder companionably. “I don’t think the heater is doing much to help.”

  “Graham is bringing another one and some more chairs. I guess people always show up when his cousin’s wife, Leah, makes her holiday mix.”

  As Zoey expounded on the deliciousness of holiday mixes, Lana made a mental note. Leah, Graham’s cousin’s wife, owner of a local car rental business and one of Lana’s recent acquisitions. These days, it seemed like everyone was either directly or indirectly affected by the mass purchase.

  “You have your work face on.” Zoey nudged Lana with her elbow. “You’ve been running a hundred miles an hour since this summer. You need a day off.”

  “If I took a day off, I wouldn’t know what to do with myself,” Lana joked. Zoey wasn’t wrong, though. Lana was dying for a day of no phone calls, no emails, and no penises.

  “Have you ever been to one of these things?” Zoey asked.

  Lana started to answer, but Zoey was immediately distracted as her boyfriend arrived. Graham’s best friends—the very tall, very man-bunned Easton, and Easton’s heavily-tattooed twin sister Ashtyn—were in tow. All of their arms were full of space heaters and extra folding chairs. Where one found a Graham Barnett, one usually would find the Lockett twins, although it was impossible to identify the leader in their little trio. Easton’s expression was hidden behind his reddish-brown beard, but Ashtyn’s super short, multi-colored spiky hair was both visible and fabulous.

  “I wish I could pull off that style,” Lana murmured as she watched Ash, fingers absently touching her shoulder-length auburn locks. The closest she’d come to exciting was freshly redone lowlights for the winter.

  “I wish I was brave enough to,” Zoey sighed. Then she quirked a grin at Lana. “Brace yourself. A Moose Springs town hall is nothing like what you’d expect. They get a little weird.”

  “Quirky weird or get-out-of-the-room weird?”

  “It’s more like…do you remember that guy who always came in at the end of my shifts on Friday nights?”

  “The one with the underwear or the one without?”

  “The one without.” Zoey rubbed her hands together to warm them. “This will be worse.”

  Not for the first time, Lana’s overwhelming affection for her friend rushed over her.

  Lana wasn’t the only one overwhelmed with affection for Zoey Caldwell. After setting the heater down, Graham Barnett turned, his eyes searching for Zoey in the crowd. Beside her, Lana could hear Zoey’s breath catch. Graham’s face split into a broad, almost silly grin as he strode across the room, ignoring the leg lamp and heading straight for them. Dropping down into the seat Zoey had saved on her other side, Graham kissed her.

&nb
sp; “Hey there, Zoey Bear.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, giving her the perfect place to snuggle for warmth into his side. Over Zoey’s head, Graham offered Lana an amused look. “Greetings, supreme overtaker.”

  “Graham, stop.” Zoey frowned at him, poking his stomach with a finger. “You’re going to make her feel bad.”

  “He’s just teasing me,” Lana promised. “Graham only teases people he likes. I’m going to get myself a treat. Would you like anything?”

  “Usually I’m the one tossing food your way.” Graham flashed her that charming look of his, the one that always got him out of trouble. “I’m happy to sit back and let you be the bearer of delicious things.”

  “Just a coffee, please,” Zoey decided.

  “A complicated, no-one-can-get-it-right, super-coffee with the exact right amount of everything or she’ll give you hell for it.”

  “Lana will get it right.”

  “Einstein couldn’t get it right.” Graham winked at Zoey, knowing he was ruffling her feathers but doing so anyway. “I don’t know, darlin’. You’re super particular. You should probably remind her.”

  “Lana’s much smarter than you, and even if she did get it wrong, I wouldn’t say anything. Unlike you, who has deliberately screwed up my coffee every day this week because you think it’s funny.”

  “You get the cutest little scrunchy face when it’s too sweet—”

  “Graham.”

  “Or not sweet enough.”

  “Graham.”

  “Or forbid there’s regular dairy instead of non-dairy creamer—”

  Lana left them to their conversation, having been exposed to their antics enough to know how this would progress. Graham’s particular brand of affection was exactly what Zoey needed in her life. And if Graham following her around like a love-smitten puppy was any indicator, she was exactly what he needed too.

  Lana didn’t know what she needed, but some eggnog would be a pleasant start.

  A table had been set up along the wall, complete with coffee urns and cookies, the little hard ones from a Christmas-themed tin. So far no one was eating the cookies, preferring a large Tupperware container full of homemade party mix. Sadly, there was no eggnog and not enough hands, so Lana fixed coffees for three instead. Taking a small portion of party mix and two cookies out of politeness instead of any real desire to consume either, Lana turned and bumped cookie plate to cookie plate into the man behind her.

  “Oops, sorry. Oh. Hello, Rick.” Lana glanced up at the only person in this town who made her heart skip an extra beat.

  “Hey.” The quiet, rumbled word was nice, especially from a man more known for nodding than talking.

  Hazel eyes just a shade greener than she remembered gazed down at her over his own coffee. Normally clean shaven, Rick Harding must have slept in late that morning, because the light stubble on his face was as unusual for the pool hall owner as it was attractive.

  There had been a time when Lana had considered Rick somewhat average. Average height, somewhat larger than average muscular build, with a strong jaw on a pleasantly attractive face.

  Then he’d come to her rescue the previous summer, after some disgruntled and inebriated townsfolk had taken her to task for announcing the condominium project. Someone had caused her to deliberately fall, hurting her arm. After helping her off the ground, Rick had promptly punched the lights out of the man who tripped her.

  There were many people in Lana’s life, but very few heroes.

  “It’s really good to see you again,” Lana told him sincerely.

  “I didn’t realize you were back in town,” Rick admitted in his low, rich voice.

  She’d never been able to decide if he was quiet or shy, or maybe both. But the fact that he’d noticed she was gone somehow warmed her far more than the coffee cups she was balancing.

  “I had to meet with my general contractor. We start construction soon.”

  Rick nodded, shifting on his feet and glancing down at the coffee in his hands.

  Lana liked how his hands were strong, and how his fingers—calloused from work—wrapped around his coffee cup. She liked his broad shoulders and the way his jeans were worn from use, not styled to look that way. The flannel-lined hoodie he wore reminded her of the woods, and being warm, and Christmas time. Back when she was young enough to believe Christmas was reindeers and mistletoe and lists to Santa, not emotionally charged dinners with an extended family more interested in profit margins and expensive cocktails than truly enjoying each other’s company.

  They hesitated, an awkward moment where Lana wasn’t sure what to say and Rick stood there saying nothing. Then of course they spoke at the exact same time.

  “Are you—?”

  “Do you—?”

  A flush reddened his face beneath the scruffy beard. “Sorry,” Rick mumbled. “You first.”

  He looked so cute, shifting on his feet.

  “I was just going to ask if you’re ready for Christmas. The presents, the tree, all of that stuff.”

  A soft snort was his answer. “It’s not really my holiday,” Rick admitted. “Are you staying around?”

  He sounded almost hopeful. Lana wasn’t a blusher, but something about the way he was looking at her made her cheeks heat. “I was hoping to.”

  A loud clearing of a throat pulled their attention to the stage, and the tired-looking officer standing on it. Jonah wasn’t the mayor—as far as Lana was aware, there was no mayor—and the members of the town council all collectively slouched in their seats, refusing to meet Jonah’s eye. Which left their poor overworked police officer to deal with running the meeting alone, like he dealt with protecting the town alone. Jonah was going to need some backup if her condominiums brought more residents permanently to Moose Springs.

  “More police,” Lana murmured to herself.

  “You don’t like Jonah?” Rick asked, glancing at the officer curiously.

  “Actually, I like him a lot,” Lana admitted. “I’d like him even more if he wasn’t stretched thin enough to see through. I’m hoping to talk the new mayor into giving him a little help.”

  “We don’t have a mayor.” Rick’s eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

  “I suppose I could always run.”

  She’d meant it as a joke, but the look of horror on his face almost managed to hurt her feelings. Then abruptly he chuckled.

  “You’d be good at it.” Those greener-than-normal hazel eyes crinkled with amusement. “Better than I was.”

  Hmmm. Why was it a compliment from him felt like a warm brownie and a mug of hot tea in front of a fireplace? Then suddenly what Rick had said registered.

  “Wait, you were mayor?” Too bad Rick wasn’t the mayor now. Lana could only imagine how much easier her life would be.

  “Only for a month, a few years back. We all took a turn, and none of us wanted anything to do with it. This town is a pain in the ass.”

  Lana couldn’t help her laugh.

  “L, you can flirt later,” Graham called from their seats on the other side of the barn. “Rick, be careful, buddy. She’s a piranha in sheep’s clothing.”

  “Pariah, dearest,” Lana joked back.

  She turned back to Rick and saw a deeper flush had reddened his face. Rick opened his mouth, as if to continue the conversation like a normal human being, then promptly shut it again. He glanced down at his coffee cup, clearing his throat.

  Lana knew she made him nervous, and while it wasn’t a first for her, she wished that Rick found her more approachable. It was nice having someone to talk to. Feeling as if perhaps she’d overstayed her welcome, Lana took an awkward step back.

  “Well, I better take my seat.”

  “Do you need help?” Rick started to ask as she turned, juggling her off-balance coffees, but his helping hands only jostled them more. “Oh,
sorry.”

  He cursed when the closest coffee spilled on the sleeve of her coat. The poor man grabbed some napkins from the table, dabbing them at her arm while pouring coffee all over his own hand in the process. The only way to save him from more scalding was to take another step back.

  “Thick jacket,” she promised, trying to ease his discomfort with a smile. “Did you burn yourself?”

  “Naw,” Rick mumbled, still holding his handful of coffee-soaked napkins. “I have thick arms. Skin. Arm skin. Damn, I don’t even know what I’m saying. Are you sure I didn’t burn you?”

  “I promise.”

  He looked like he wanted to be anywhere else at that moment. Since Rick had saved her once, Lana was happy to save him in return, even if it meant denying herself his company.

  Still, she couldn’t help giving him a flirty wink. “I’ll see you later, Rick.”

  Order Sarah Morgenthaler’s next book

  in the Moose Springs, Alaska series

  Mistletoe and Mr. Right

  On sale October 2020

  Click here!

  Acknowledgments

  In the fall of 2018, I took a trip to Alaska to research the area for another series. The last thing I expected was to walk into a little tourist trap souvenir store and walk out with the idea for this book. In all the amazing time since, my life has been a whirlwind of moose, romance, and having far more fun than I ever thought possible. There are so many people who helped Tourist come into the world, and I’m so overwhelmingly appreciative to all of you.

  Thank you to God for giving me a life I love and definitely do not deserve.

  This book wouldn’t have happened without my husband, Kenney. Thank you so much for your endless patience, love, support, and willingness to hug me when I cry after I hit Send. To my mom and dad, the most amazing parents a girl could ask for. I’m so proud to say you’re my best friends. My brother, for always giving me the books you loved to read when growing up and for making “moose-tastic” a part of my vocabulary.

  To Sara Megibow, for not only being an incredible agent but a wonderful person and the best cheerleader for your clients. Working with you is a joy, and I’m grateful every day.