An Alaskan Proposal

by Beth Carpenter

  Was she? Sabrina shook her head and reached for the water bottle. “You’ve given me something to think about, but let’s leave it for now.”

  “But—”

  “Tell me what Emma’s been up to lately.”

  Volta paused as though she was thinking about pushing her point, but she didn’t. “Emma.” She shook her head. “Emma has decided she’s going to be a veterinarian when she grows up, so she performed a stuffing-ectomy on her tiger. Then she decided to try it on one of my mom’s down throw pillows. Feathers everywhere. It didn’t go over well.”

  “I’ll bet not.” Sabrina laughed. “What did your mother do?”

  “She sentenced Emma to thirty minutes of solitary confinement for practicing medicine without a license.”

  “That must have been a long thirty minutes for Emma.”

  “For both of them. Mom hates it when she has to discipline Emma. She’d rather be the cool grandma and get my dad or Leith to be the heavy.”

  “Leith as the enforcer?” Sabrina raised her eyebrows.

  “Yeah, I know. But Emma listens to him.”

  “You’re lucky to have your family so close.”

  “I am.” Volta turned to watch a duck zoom and skid across the lake before settling into the water. Then she turned back. “After high school I had big plans. I was going to be a physical therapist, and I convinced my parents that the best program for me was to study kinesiology in Hawaii.”

  “Nice.”

  “It was. I loved Hawaii, and there was this guy...”

  “Ah, the guy.”

  “Yeah. But—” She let out a long breath. “It didn’t work out. It was starting to feel serious, and then—boom—he broke up with me. I finished out the semester and came home. And before long, I met Emma’s dad, and instead of finishing up my degree in Hawaii, I married him. Two years later, he died in an accident, and I was alone and pregnant, and only had a part-time job. I moved in with my parents and felt like a failure.”

  “But look at you. You’re a flight paramedic, and a great mom.”

  “I owe that to my family. After Emma was born, I found a cheap apartment and got a job in a hospital as an aide. It didn’t take long before I realized I wanted to become an EMT. And I wanted to do it on my own.”

  Sabrina nodded. She would have felt the same.

  “I got accepted into a program, got loans and childcare lined up and started studying. It wasn’t easy, but I was doing okay until Emma began getting recurring ear infections. She couldn’t go to day care, and I’d miss class. My grades were falling. One evening, Leith dropped in. Emma was screaming because her ears were hurting, and I started crying, too, because I needed to study for a big test and I couldn’t get Emma settled down enough to go to sleep.”

  “It must have been so hard.”

  “It was,” Volta admitted, “until Leith insisted on taking Emma for the night. He called my mom, and she came to see me the next day. She told me she was proud of me, but that it wasn’t a weakness to accept help from the people in your life who love you. She rearranged her work schedule so that she could care for Emma while I was in class and Leith took her lots of evenings. It made all the difference then and later when I was working on my flight certification. It still does. I couldn’t do my job if Leith and my parents didn’t help out with Emma.”

  “I don’t know who’s helping whom. Spending time with Emma is a blast.”

  Volta grinned. “I’m glad you think so. I’m pretty crazy about her.”

  “She’s a great kid.”

  “I know.” Volta stood and started gathering up the bowls and napkins. “This was fun, but I have an overflowing hamper of laundry to take care of and you have to get ready for work. Let’s do it again soon.”

  Sabrina stood, too. “I don’t know if I’ll be in town much longer. It depends on what job I take.”

  “Then I’ll look you up when I’m in Seattle or Phoenix. They’re major medical centers, so I fly patients there from time to time.”

  “That would be great.”

  Volta squatted down and scratched the dog under his chin. “Bye, Boomer. You take good care of Sabrina.” She straightened. “One more thing. My brother may be a lunkhead, but he has his reasons.”

  “You mean because of his ex?”

  Volta nodded. “He should never have married that...woman. But he did, and she jerked him around for five years before she cut him loose. Things like that leave scars. When I talked with him last week he was kind of a mess. But he took Emma anyway. Leith has never let me down.”

  “What do you mean ‘kind of a mess’?”

  “Upset. Sad. You know, that feeling when you’ve done something monumentally stupid and you don’t know how to fix it?” Volta shook her head. “He’s such a guy. But one thing about Leith—once he commits, you can depend on him to stand behind you. No matter what.” She smiled. “Just something to keep in mind while you’re deciding about your job.” She gave Sabrina a quick hug, turned and walked away.

  Sabrina watched her go. So she’d really gone to all this trouble just to leave Sabrina with that little endorsement. Volta’s tendency to butt into Leith’s life drove him crazy, but it was only because she loved him. Leith and his sister always had each other’s backs.

  It must be nice.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  SABRINA ARRIVED AT the store in time to give Autumn her lunch break. Two women and a little girl browsed through the clothes on the sales rack. Sabrina waved to let them know she was there if they needed help and left them alone to shop. A few minutes later, the girl wandered over to Sabrina and held out her stuffed animal.

  “This is my lamb.”

  “It’s a very nice lamb. May I pet it?”

  The little girl nodded, and Sabrina stroked the toy made of an ultrasoft microfleece. The fleece had been textured to resemble a sheep’s wool. Sabrina could envision using the fabric on a jacket. She’d use a suede-like brushed fabric for the body and the microfleece to line the collar, cuffs and along the zipper. It would be soft and warm where the jacket touched skin. Her fingers itched to sketch it out.

  “Anna, come back over here. You need to stay close to me.” The girl smiled at Sabrina and skipped back to her mother, carrying the toy.

  It was a typical workday, and yet it seemed somehow surreal, knowing that tomorrow, everything would be different. Tomorrow, Sabrina would have to give Kate and the people at McCormick and Sons an answer. And then she’d tell Walter and her coworkers. And they’d never look at her the same way again.

  Autumn returned from her lunch break, leaving Sabrina free to get her paperwork caught up. Just in case Walter decided to decline her two-week notice and sent her packing, she didn’t want any loose ends for whoever took over until Marianne returned. At the end of the day, she was washing out her coffee cup in the break room when Tim wandered in. “Hi, Sabrina. Too bad about Marianne.”

  “What about her?” She hadn’t heard any more since the department manager left to help her sister.

  “She’s not coming back. Her sister had the baby, but he’s premature and will need a lot of extra care, and there’s a sibling, too. It’s more than Marianne’s sister can handle alone. Marianne decided to move there permanently so she can help out.”

  “That’s really good of her.”

  “Yeah. I never thought you’d be able to pry her out of Alaska, but things change. You never know what’s going to happen. You just have to adapt.”

  “That’s for sure.” Sabrina certainly wouldn’t have expected to find herself here. Her excellent job-performance ratings and steady salary increases had led her to believe her job with Cutterbee’s was safe, up until the bankruptcy.

  But like Tim said, you never knew. Maybe security was an illusion. McCormick and Sons seemed rock-solid, but the same forces that had bankrupted Cutterbee’s cou
ld impact them as well. Maybe the only real security was knowing you could adapt.

  Once the store was closed and she’d made sure everything was in good shape for the next day, Sabrina went out to her car, but she didn’t immediately start the engine. Leith had once talked about how he would wake up eager to get to his job almost every day.

  She closed her eyes and pictured a workday in Seattle, a bustling, thriving, attractive city. She would commute in with all the other worker bees, and spend her day organizing facts, figures and people. Maybe on the weekend, she’d get to spend some time with Misty.

  Or there was McCormick’s. A typical day might involve anything from chasing down a supplier to attending a Paris fashion show. She’d done it before, and she knew she could do it again. Mom would be there, hopefully willing to babysit Boomer while Sabrina was out of town.

  Finally, there was the design job. Creating a line of functional fashion for Orson Outfitters. Finding the perfect fabrics and making them into something both beautiful and useful, like the jacket she’d been envisioning earlier, with the microfleece trim. And she smiled. That was a job she would look forward to each morning.

  She could do it in Scottsdale with Mama, or Seattle with Misty, but she wouldn’t. There was only one place she wanted to be, one face she longed to see at the end of the day. Was it too late?

  She started the car. This was what she wanted. She just had to screw up enough courage to make it happen. And she never felt more courageous than when she was with Leith. If he would listen.

  She stopped by her apartment just long enough to collect Boomer and drove by Learn & Live, but there were no cars in the lot. At Leith’s house, the driveway was empty, and when she knocked on the door, there was no answer. Maybe he was at his parents’ or Volta’s. She pulled out her phone, but before she could press a button, a chime signaled an incoming text. From Leith. Where are you? Need to talk. And then another text. Please.

  Hope surged. In your driveway. Where are you?

  At your apartment. Stay there. I’m coming.

  What was he doing at her apartment? While she waited to find out, she let Boomer nose around the lawn. Some kids rode by on their bikes and waved. Sabrina waved back. She was on the far side of the yard, letting Boomer sniff along the lilac bush beside the fence, when Leith pulled in beside her car. He must have hit every green light on the way there.

  He climbed out of the car and paused. She looked back at him, trying to read his expression. Tal, breaking with her usual flawless manners, jumped over into the driver’s seat and bounded out of the car and across the lawn, her tail wagging madly. Boomer strained to the end of his leash, pulling toward her. Once she’d reached him, Tal dropped her chest to the ground and Boomer stood on his hind legs to lick at her ears.

  Leith made his way to them. “They look happy.”

  “Yeah, Boomer really missed her.” Sabrina gathered her courage. “And I—” she began.

  “I have something—” Leith said at the same time.

  “You first.” They spoke in unison. And laughed.

  Leith reached for her hand. “This might take a while. Let’s go inside.”

  He unlocked the front door, and they ended up in the kitchen. This time of day, sunlight poured through the window over the sink, washing the new paint in a warm glow. Now that they were here, Leith seemed in no hurry to continue the conversation. He just looked at her, as if he wasn’t quite sure she was real.

  Sabrina smiled at him. “You go first.”

  “All right.” He took a deep breath. “First of all, I need to apologize. It wasn’t fair to ask you to give up a chance at your dream job to stay here with me and I’m sorry.”

  “Leith—”

  “Wait—let me finish.” He reached inside the pocket of his jeans and pulled out what looked like a printout of an email. “I’ve been in touch with an adventure-guide service based in Scottsdale. They’ve offered me a job.”

  “What? Why?”

  “I suppose because they think I’m qualified.”

  “No—why would you apply for a job in Scottsdale?”

  “Because ever since that last day when I told you we couldn’t be together, I’ve been miserable. I miss you. I need you in my life.” He took a step closer. “I know I acted like a jerk, but if you’ll forgive me, I promise to be more flexible. Starting with moving to Scottsdale.”

  She stared at him. “You hate Scottsdale.”

  “I hated Scottsdale, but that was when I was a sulky teenager. You’ve taught me it’s all about attitude. This time, I’m not being dragged somewhere against my will. I’m choosing Scottsdale because I want to be there. With you.” He reached for her hand. “I love you, Sabrina.”

  He loved her. It was more than she’d dared hope. He was willing to give up his job, his family and this place he loved so much. For her.

  “I love you, too.”

  “You do?” His smile could melt glaciers.

  “I do. I love you.” It felt so good to say it aloud.

  “Then you forgive me?”

  “Absolutely, I do.” She reached up to press her hand against his cheek.

  He pulled her close, those blue eyes smiling at her for a long moment before his mouth met hers and she let her eyelids drift closed, losing herself in the warmth of his arms, the touch of his lips. Afterward, he held her, his hand stroking her hair. It was several minutes later before he spoke again.

  “I guess we need to make plans. When do you report to your new job? Have you given notice?”

  She’d almost forgotten what she’d come to talk about in the first place. “Volta didn’t tell you?”

  “Tell me what?”

  “That I’m considering turning down the Scottsdale job.”

  “No, I haven’t talked with Volta for a few days. I thought McCormick and Sons was your dream job.”

  “It was, but I’m not sure it still is.”

  He drew back so he could see her face. “Sabrina, don’t give it up for me. I can do this guide job in Scottsdale.”

  “It’s not that. Kate Simonton, one of the VPs at Orson Outfitters, has offered me another job.”

  “You got the management job in Seattle?”

  “No... Well, yes, kind of, but there’s also something else. They’re experimenting with a new line of women’s outdoor clothes, and she wants me to design it.”

  “That’s great!”

  “I think it could be. But she’s just offering a one-year contract. If the line doesn’t sell well, that’s the end of it. And I’m out of a job.”

  “It will sell.” He spoke without hesitation. “I know nothing about fashion, but I’ve seen your sketches. Even I can tell they’re good. You’re great with colors and shapes. And if they’re distributing the clothes through the Orson Outfitters’ stores and catalog, you’ll get great exposure. It’s the perfect job for you.”

  “There’s another perk. This designer job would involve a fair amount of travel, but I could be based anywhere I want.” She squeezed his hand. “I was leaning toward here.”

  “Here? In Anchorage?”

  “Yes. Here. Doing work I could really enjoy. Being with the man I love.”

  He smiled, his eyes tender. “Are you sure? I could find something in Seattle if that’s better for you. It’s cold and dark in Anchorage in the winter. You may hate it.”

  “Like you hated Scottsdale?”

  “As you pointed out, I didn’t give Scottsdale a chance.”

  “Winter could be fun. I have a cashmere sweater I’ve only worn once. I’d like a chance to try out wool skirts and boots. And I’ve always wanted to try ice-skating. Do you skate?”

  “I was on the state championship hockey team my junior year of high school.”

  “Of course you were. Leith, I admit, this scares me. I’d love to try my hand at design,
but what if I give up my one chance at the security of McCormick’s to take this job and I lose it in a year?”

  “It’s a legitimate concern. But you’ve been there before and now you have, what, three job offers?” He stroked her hair. “Is that really what you’re afraid of?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Maybe what really scares you is the possibility that you’ll be hurt if you commit to the job here and our relationship doesn’t last. I could be wrong—maybe I’m projecting my own fears onto you. I gave you that ultimatum because I wanted to save myself some pain. It didn’t work, by the way. But I’m wondering if you might be doing the same.”

  “You think I’m afraid of loving you?”

  “I think you’re afraid the love won’t last. That you can’t count on me to stand by you when things go wrong.”

  Sabrina thought about what he’d said. “It’s not easy to give up a chance at a secure job. After seeing my mom fall apart when my dad left, I made up my mind not to depend on anyone except myself.”

  “I can understand that. It’s hard, giving away your heart, especially after it’s been broken. I have a confession to make.” He lifted her hand and pressed a kiss to it. “I almost bought you a ring earlier today. Because I wanted to show you that I’m committed to you, to us. But then I realized, based on experience, neither of us can put much faith in a ring. We both know rings and vows are only as good as the people who give them. Sabrina, all I can say is that I love you. That’s not going to change. What it comes down to is this—do you trust me?”

  She looked into his blue eyes, just as she had that day when she’d panicked on the ledge. Just like then, she saw only goodness and love shining out at her. She saw a man who would do whatever it took to keep her safe and happy. “I do.”

  “Then trust that you can take a chance on a job you love, and if it doesn’t work out, I’ll be there. If the design job ends, we’ll work together to find a position where you can use your talents, here or somewhere else. I’ll be there beside you. Always.”

  “Always.” She smiled. “That’s a really nice word.”