Katia just sat there, looking straight ahead. She was obviously in a state of shock.
Samantha turned to Butler. “I want to see all of the paperwork. The loan totals. Due dates. Everything.”
He nodded. “I’ll have my secretary put it together for you.”
It was then that Samantha felt Anthony studying her intently. She gave him a questioning look. She was the one who stuck up for having him there, but now he was useless. It irked her that an outsider was here—watching their lives fall apart like they were a science exhibit.
Anthony turned to the attorney. “On behalf of Katia, I would also like to request a copy of all of Elliot’s outstanding debts.” He gave Katia a reassuring look. “I’m going to go over this myself to see what can be done to rectify this situation. If there’s any possible way, I’m going to see to it that Katia and her daughters are able to keep their house.”
Katia burst into tears. “Thank you so much.”
Hope sprang in Samantha’s breast. “If you could help, that would be wonderful.”
He locked eyes with her. “For you … I will try.”
In one fell swoop, Anthony leapt from mediocre to hero status. “If you can pull it off, then we … I … will owe you a great debt.”
He nodded, a determined look on his analytical face. “I’ll see what I can do.”
Book Excerpt
An excerpt from The Angler, the Baker, and the Billionaire by Amberlee Day coming October 2016
Sophie Molina tucked a dark curl behind her ear, and looked out the plane window for the tenth time since boarding. Nothing had changed. There wasn’t even moonlight to accentuate the clouds. No matter how many times she looked, the dark night only stared back, empty and cold.
All day long Sophie had tried to shake the feeling that she was leaving light and heading into darkness. San Francisco was sunny and warm that morning when her plane left, even if her spirits weren’t. Her layover in Seattle was partly cloudy, and the further north she traveled on her way to Alaska, the more clouds blanketed her view. Even the sunset was a nonevent.
She’d never felt depressed from lack of sunshine before, but then she’d lived her whole life in California. Maybe six months in rainy Sitka, Alaska, wouldn’t be the pick-me-up she was hoping for.
Or, maybe it was just the heaviness in her heart that made the day feel so dark.
Once she’d arrived in Juneau, the short connecting flight to Sitka was a puzzle. Sophie knew there were major airlines that flew directly into the isolated town of Sitka—she and her mom had taken direct flights from Seattle many times when they visited during her summer vacations—but her cousin Rodger had insisted on arranging this last leg of the trip. She didn’t know Rodger well, as he was more than ten years her senior so not one of the many cousins she played with as a child. She took in her surroundings, she wondering if this flight was Rodger’s way of showing off, and what connections he had to make this possible.
The private jet was tastefully decorated, and luxuriously comfortable. It smelled new, Sophie thought. The only other passenger, a pretty woman with short dark hair and an expensive-looking business suit, was busy on her phone and laptop. She sat at the opposite end of the cabin so Sophie didn’t hear her conversation, but she’d smiled and nodded when Sophie first boarded the plane.
A few minutes after takeoff, the flight attendant asked Sophie if she cared for a beverage, or possibly a chicken Caesar salad.
“A salad?” Sophie asked.
“Yes. Or, I could make you a sandwich, if you’d like.”
Sophie was embarrassed. Whatever this gig was that Rodger had arranged, she didn’t want him to receive a bill for extra service.
She folded her arms over her stomach, even though she hadn’t eaten since breakfast. “No, I’m fine, thank you.”
“Please do have something.” The stylish brunette had abandoned her phone and computer and switched to the seat opposite Sophie. “I’m starving, and I hate to eat alone. Hi, I’m Marisa.”
Sophie shook her extended hand. She felt underdressed in her sweater and jeans. “Sophie. Nice to meet you. I’m not sure … How much is the salad?”
One of Marisa’s perfectly-shaped eyebrows went up a fraction. She exchanged a glance with the flight attendant. “Two salads, thank you Carol.”
The attendant nodded, and left for the kitchen.
“No charge,” Marisa said. “If you’re on the plane, food and drinks are included.”
“Wonderful. Thank you.” Sophie looked around, again wondering how she’d managed to be here. She took a closer look at Marisa. Expensive clothing, sleek haircut, and very comfortable in this setting. “Is this … your plane?”
Marisa laughed. She relaxed back into her seat. It was near midnight, and Sophie thought Marisa looked awfully tired.
“No, not mine. My … employer. Don’t you know whose plane you’re on?” When Sophie shook her head, Marisa continued, “I was told you’d be here, but nothing about who you are.”
Sophie squirmed. “I’m not really sure why I’m here. My cousin Rodger—“
“You’re Rodger’s cousin?”
“Yes. Do you know him?”
“Oh, yes, I know Rodger, and his wife, Cathy. They’re lovely people. I’ve met several of the Platskys.”
“I’ve barely met them myself, just summer visits when I was younger. I grew up in the Bay area.”
“I love San Francisco. We have an office there.”
“Oh? What’s the name of your company?”
Marisa hesitated. “It’s mostly an investment firm. Probably nothing you’d recognize. What brings you from California to Sitka, Sophie? Taking a vacation?”
The salad arrived just then, and Sophie took the distraction to think how to answer Marisa’s question. It wasn’t a simple answer, and she really wasn’t sure why she’d been invited, or why she’d agreed to come. She suspected the invitation had been something in the way of a pity invite, but she found she wanted to accept it.
She finished her first bite of tender chicken, and said, “I’m coming to help Cathy open a business.”
“Is she expanding her catering? She’s a wonderful baker.”
Marisa really had met her family. “I don’t know if she’s still planning on catering, but she’s opening a storefront, somewhere along the water.”
“That’s wonderful! Have you ever had Cathy’s cinnamon rolls? To die for.”
“No, I haven’t. I’ve heard a lot about her baking, though. Seen a lot of beautiful pictures.”
“Well, you’re in for a treat. If you’re coming to help her, are you a baker also?”
Sophie took a drink of water to help with the sudden lump in her throat that had nothing to do with her food.
“Yes, I am,” she said. “Tell me more what it is you do that has you flying on a corporate jet.”
Marisa speared a piece of lettuce with her fork. Sophie was surprised to see that her own salad was already half finished. She hadn’t realized how hungry she’d been.
“I’m an executive assistant,” Marisa said.
“Secretary?”
“No, but a little bit, yes. I mostly make it possible for my boss to be wherever he wants to be, and still run a large corporation.”
“So, you do all the legwork, and he gets all the glory?”
“Sometimes it feels like that. He’s a genius in his way—don’t tell him I said that, I don’t want it to go to his head—but he can be demanding, too.”
“I bet.”
“Take tonight. I really could have waited and come up Monday morning, because there’s nothing that can’t wait until then. But what does he say? ‘I want you here tonight so I can have you working tomorrow by five.’”
“Five in the morning? On a Saturday?” Sophie said. “That’s almost as bad as a bakery.”
“Yes, it is, isn’t it? Sometimes that’s the price of international business. Or in this case, doing business with New York from Sitka. Anyway, I
shouldn’t complain. I do love the travel and the pace. I would occasionally like a vacation, though.”
“From the sounds of it, I should think you’ve earned one.”
“Many times over. And to be honest,” Marisa said, a warm glow lighting her eyes, “the first chance I get for a vacation, it will be my honeymoon.”
“Congratulations!” Sophie said. “How long have you been married?”
Marisa slumped. “That’s the thing. I’ve been too busy for us to set a wedding date, much less a honeymoon.”
Sophie frowned, righteously indignant for this stranger.
“That’s terrible. You need to tell that boss of yours to cut you some slack. He can’t be paying you enough to make it worth putting off your wedding.”
“That’s the thing.” Marisa’s smile was tired. “He does make it worth my while. Or at least it’s been worth it, up till now. I think my fiancé is getting tired of waiting. I know I am.”
While the conversation turned to the sights to see in Sitka, Sophie still found herself disliking this mystery boss who took the obviously devoted Marisa for granted.
When the plane landed, Sophie walked down the stairway to the dark airport tarmac. Even at the airport, the cool, fresh air—so different from San Francisco—brought back memories of her childhood, and her mother. She breathed it in deeply. Maybe it had been a good idea to come north, she thought. She looked once again for a view, but found that the Sitka, Alaska night was a dark grey mass of clouds.
Sophie waved a quick goodbye to Marisa, and went to meet up with Rodger. Marisa had said she had a float plane to catch. Sophie wished she’d had more time to get to know this friendly and articulate woman, but the mysterious Marisa had already stepped into a waiting car and driven off into the Alaskan night.
* * *
Sophie awoke to sounds of men working, the dim glow of first light coming through thin curtains, and the heavenly aroma of freshly baked cinnamon rolls.
As she’d slept in yoga pants and a sweatshirt, Sophie pushed her mess of dark hair out of her eyes, rolled out of bed—the clock said 4:45 a.m.—and opened her cabin door to the deck overlooking Sitka Sound. Shuffling sleepily across the wood planks, she investigated the noise.
“I think I slept in,” she croaked.
The three men standing in the parking lot below stopped and looked up at Sophie. It took a moment for them to answer, and for her eyes to focus. Rodger was the only one of the three she recognized. The other two scraggily fishermen were helping load equipment into a truck.
“Cathy’s already baked the rolls,” Rodger called up to her. “That’s all she’s doing today. She figured you’d want to sleep in with your late night.”
“I never sleep in,” Sophie said, her words blurring in a yawn. “I’m usually up by three when I’m working.”
“No need in the kitchen this morning. If you’re getting up, why don’t you get dressed and come out on one of the boats?” Rodger asked. “We can always use another set of hands. Or, just come for the experience. Get a real welcome from Sitka. You might not get another chance once you’re working.”
Sophie nodded, yawned again. She wasn’t one to turn down adventure, and she was still too sleepy to think what a morning on the water would be like. “Give me five minutes.”
She’d just pulled on jeans and an old wool shirt of her mom’s when Cathy Platsky knocked on her door. It had been late when Rodger picked Sophie up from the airport. He’d driven her to Angler’s Cove Lodge, owned by the charter fishing company he managed, and she’d gone to bed without seeing the rest of the family.
“My, look at you!” Cathy, pregnant and obviously close to her due date, enfolded Sophie in the biggest hug she could manage. “You’ve grown to be a lovely woman, Sophie.”
“Thank you. That’s sweet.”
“No, I mean it. Last time you were in Sitka, you were, what? Twelve?”
“Fifteen, actually. When Grandma Platsky died. I was just short, and really skinny.”
“You were very active, if I remember right,” Cathy said.
“I was. Not as much now as I used to be. Your twins must be teenagers now?”
“They’re fifteen, if you can imagine. They’ve been helping on one of the boats this year.”
“They must be excited about the new baby.”
Cathy sighed. It occurred to Sophie that her cousin-in-law had probably been up for hours. What would it be like to be pregnant at forty, and working baker’s hours? She felt bad she hadn’t woken up earlier to help.
“Excited, yes,” Cathy said. “This little one has definitely been a surprise to all of us, and we haven’t even met her yet.”
“Is it a girl, then? And …” Sophie glanced at Cathy’s enormous belly. “Just one?”
“Yes.” Cathy grimaced. “Just one. Sophie, thank you so much for coming. Your help’s already appreciated more than you can imagine.”
“I’m the one who needs to say thank you. I really … I didn’t know what I was going to do. Still don’t, but being here gives me some time to think about it.”
“I hope you don’t mind us putting you up here in the lodge. We’ve thought about getting a bigger house, but with starting the new business … and it won’t be too many more years before the boys are off to college, anyway.”
“No, I love it here. I hope I’m not taking a customer’s spot, though.”
“Not at all. This place is big enough; the lodge always has extra rooms. I hear you’re going fishing with Rodger this morning?”
“I guess so. I’m not sure what I’ve gotten myself into, though. I’ve been out on boats when I’ve been here before, but this charter thing’s new to me. How long do they go out for?”
“All day. They don’t head back until afternoon. Are you up for it?”
Sophie took a deep breath. She’d been babying herself for a while, not pushing. It felt time for something new. “What about bakery plans?”
“Plenty of time for us to talk about that later. A day on the boat will be a good thing.” She smiled, a wide, knowing smile. “Besides, once we get going on the bakery, you might not have time for fishing. Before you leave, swing by the kitchen. I have some things you’re definitely going to need.”
By the time the boat, Just for the Halibut, had cruised out to its destination for the day, Sophie found ample reasons to be grateful she’d stopped to pick up Cathy’s contributions. The bag she’d given Sophie contained motion sickness medicine, which thankfully was quick to kick in; a bright yellow raincoat and pants that were unsightly but kept her warm and dry; sandwiches and chips for the crew’s lunch; and, for their breakfast, two dozen of the most delicious cinnamon rolls Sophie had ever tasted.
Cathy had also thought to send thermoses of hot drinks, and after downing two of the rolls, Sophie, a little groggy from the medicine, sipped on rich hot chocolate in an out-of-the-way corner of the deck to watch the men work.
Sophie’s boat mates for the day were five men, all wearing the same utilitarian yellow rain suits Cathy had provided Sophie. There was Rodger, who managed all the company’s charter boats; an older native man with dark, leathered skin; a scruffy-looking younger man who had eaten at least five of the cinnamon rolls in a row without uttering a word; and two men in their thirties, who were clearly the paying customers of the day. The last two—good-looking but boorish braggarts, from what Sophie could see—smelled of cologne and pretension.
Fishing was a busy business, the way the crew handled it. She had occasionally gone fishing with her father in California as a child, and it had mostly involved sitting quietly in a rowboat, and usually stopping for a burger on the way home because they hadn’t made a catch.
Sitka charter fishing was a different experience all together. The three crewmen moved busily around the deck, securing and preparing various things. Most of the equipment was foreign to Sophie, so she just enjoyed watching.
It was raining softly, so she tugged the hat up to cover the messy bun s
he’d tossed her long, dark hair into that morning. It was relaxing, even mesmerizing, to be out on the water in that beautiful place. Her memories of Sitka didn’t compare with the picture-perfect reality, even on a cloudy day: silver-grey water, forested islands dotting the view wherever she looked, and magnificent snow-capped mountains peeking through clouds in the distance. Despite being on the coast, it was the complete opposite of San Francisco, and Sophie felt both more relaxed and more alive than she had in a long time.
Rodger, she found, planned to fill the role of older brother while she was in Sitka. Sophie didn’t mind, but as she was an only child, it was a curious experience. When he’d picked her up from the airport, he’d explained that his boss—also Marisa’s boss—owned the plane, and he thought it would be a treat for Sophie to arrive in Sitka in style. She’d enjoyed seeing his excitement, so she didn’t let on how embarrassed she’d been before Marisa had made her feel welcome.
The fish were definitely biting. Rodger had known exactly where to bring the boat in order to catch fish. Within an hour of their arrival, one of the businessmen had his first halibut, and his friend soon followed. The fish were bigger than any she’d seen in person. It was a busy morning, and Sophie was so fascinated watching that she had crept out of her corner to get a view of the latest catch, when someone bumped into her. She looked to see whose way she was in.
It was the younger crewman, the scruffy, grubby one with the long hair and beard. Flakes of cinnamon roll, wet with rain, sparkled in the gnarly beard. Above his sunburned cheeks and nose, though, his eyes were a surprisingly clear hazel, and rather than scooting past her, he stopped, looking right at her. He was so close, his beard a grisly tangle that she had to suppress a shudder. He wore a dark stocking cap under the raincoat hood. He looked like a homeless person, and she had a prickly thought that he might be dangerous. When he leaned even closer, Sophie drew back an inch.
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