Alaskan Christmas Redemption

by Belle Calhoune

  Although she’d had crushes before and dated a little bit, Piper had never in her life felt anything remotely like what she felt for Braden.

  “What has you smiling like that?” Clara asked as she popped into the kitchen to check in with her regarding the lunch menu. “You look as if you just won the lottery.”

  “Can’t a girl be happy? Christmas is coming, Clara. The most wonderful time of the year,” she said in a singsong voice. For good measure, Piper spread her arms wide in dramatic fashion.

  Clara looked at her skeptically. “Whatever you say, boss.”

  Piper headed back out to the dining room. She loved seeing all the familiar faces settling in for a good meal. This was her favorite part of owning the Snowy Owl. The people were at the heart of it all. For the next hour, Piper busied herself on the floor, helping seat customers, taking orders and cleaning up the counter area.

  “Hi, Piper. I just wanted to come over and say hello before I leave.” The deep voice quickly brought her out of her thoughts. Tim Carroll, the tall, handsome man who had just approached her at the counter had always had a boyish charm. He’d been in the same class as Piper throughout their childhood and teen years. He was one of Braden’s buddies.

  “Hey, Tim. Long time no see. How have you been?” Piper asked, feeling nostalgic at the sight of him. As small children they’d chased each other around the playground and attended each other’s birthday parties. It had been way too long since she’d seen Tim.

  “Pretty good, Piper. I can’t complain. I’ve been living in Homer for the past few years. I came back to visit my parents for the holidays.”

  “Aww. They must be happy to see you back.” Christmas was a time for family and togetherness and festivity. And this year, it heralded new beginnings for both the diner and her relationship with Braden.

  “I’ve thought about you and your family a lot since that day on the trails.”

  “Thanks for saying so. We’re holding up as well as we can. The holidays are tough. But this year I’m trying to focus on our blessings and carrying on daddy’s legacy with the diner.”

  “You’re doing a great job. Everyone is raving about the new additions to the menu. The Oreo milkshake is my favorite.” Tim patted his stomach. “Jack would be so proud of you.” He made a face. “I was snowmobiling that afternoon with Braden. I know how broken up he was about Jack’s death. One moment they were arguing and the next Braden was heroically giving him CPR.”

  Piper frowned. What was Tim talking about? She bristled against the suggestion. He had to be mistaken. “Arguing? No. You must be thinking of someone else.” Suddenly, she felt flustered. Why would he say something like that about Braden and her father? It made no sense.

  A look of confusion crossed over his face. “No. I was there. I heard the whole thing. I’m sure it would have blown over later, but unfortunately the crash happened. I—I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

  “Well now that you have, what was the argument about?” she asked. She needed to know the details. Her father and Braden had always gotten along so well. What could have happened that day to change things?

  “Piper, I shouldn’t have mentioned it.” Tim’s face appeared ashen.

  “But you did,” she said. “Tell me.” Her sharp tone brooked no argument.

  Tim hesitated before answering. Seconds ticked by before he said, “Jack confronted Braden about racing fast on the trails. He said there had been some complaints. They had a little back and forth before Jack took off down the trail.”

  Disbelief washed over her. “This can’t be true. Braden would have told me.”

  Tim shook his head. “I’ve upset you. I really didn’t mean to do that. I should have kept my mouth shut,” he muttered. Tim sent her a sorrowful look before darting away.

  Piper grabbed hold of the counter to steady herself. Tim’s disclosure regarding Braden’s argument with her father left her feeling stunned. It just didn’t gel with everything Braden had told her about that tragic afternoon. They’d talked countless times about the day of the accident without Braden ever disclosing that he had argued with her father. Why would Braden have lied to her? There was no disputing the authenticity of Tim’s account. He’d always been a truthful person, and he had nothing to gain by making up a story about Braden. She put her head in her hands. Her temples began to throb, and a sickening sensation washed over her. Was this the reason Braden had been so disconnected with her since his return?

  Suddenly it felt as if she had complete and utter clarity. This was what had been standing between them for the last few years. This was the reason why he hadn’t been himself around her. She let out a sob. Braden had fought with her father before he crashed his snowmobile, which meant her dad had been upset before the accident. Had their fight distracted Jack? So many questions were racing through her mind. Had he been responsible for her father’s death?

  “Are you all right?” Jorge had walked up to her without her even realizing it. He was peering at her with a look of concern stamped on his face.

  “I just need a minute,” she said, heading back toward the kitchen and grabbing her parka so she could slip out through the back door. Her ears were ringing, and she could barely focus. Clara called out to her, but Piper kept walking, intent on leaving the diner before she broke down in front of everyone. A cold blast of wintry air hit her squarely in the face as she pushed the door open. Her eyes burned from a mixture of the fierce wind and her utter devastation. She pressed her eyes closed and began to pray. Please, Lord. Don’t let this be true.

  “Piper! Clara told me you were out here. What’s going on?” The sound of Braden’s voice echoed like a gunshot.

  No! She didn’t want to face him right now. Her emotions were all over the place. She needed time to process what she’d just learned before she spoke with Braden.

  “Talk to me, Piper!” There was an urgency in Braden’s tone she couldn’t ignore.

  Piper slowly turned to face him. Tears slid down her face, but she didn’t bother wiping them away. She knew with a deep certainty that more would be coming. It felt as if her heart had been ripped out of her chest. Anger bubbled up inside her with such a ferocity it frightened her. She’d known for a long time something was off with Braden, but she’d let her guard down because she’d been falling for him. He’d made her feel things she now felt ashamed of.

  “It’s freezing out here. Come back inside and tell me what happened,” Braden suggested. His features were furrowed with worry. Any other time she would have found it endearing. At the moment it only served to intensify her rage.

  “What happened?” she asked, glaring at him. She strode toward him, swallowing up the distance between them in a few angry strides. “I’ll tell you what happened! I just found out that my best friend has been lying to me for four years about the circumstances of my father’s death.”

  * * *

  The moment Braden saw Piper’s face he knew with a deep certainty that he was wading into dangerous waters. The expression stamped on his best friend’s face was one of betrayal and utter devastation. Regret speared through his chest. Why hadn’t he summoned the courage to tell her the truth when he had the chance? Now she would never believe he’d been planning to tell her the news this afternoon.

  Words failed him. What could he say? That he’d been a coward? That he’d failed to do what was right from the very beginning? More than anything, he wanted to express his regret and to let her know how deeply he cared about her. She was everything to him. Losing her was unfathomable.

  Lord, please give me strength to face my truths and acknowledge my weakness. Show me the path to make things right with Piper.

  “I’m not exactly sure what you’ve heard, but I haven’t been completely honest with you about the day Jack died. We had an argument before we set off on our snowmobiles. He was upset with me and some friends about some reports h
e’d heard.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked in a raspy voice. “How could you keep something like that from me for all this time?”

  “Because I didn’t want to lose you. It sounds pathetic, but it’s true. It’s the reason I left Owl Creek.” He let out an agonized sound. “I felt like the worst person in the world comforting you after he died. You leaned on me, and I wanted more than anything to shoulder you through your grief. After a while I couldn’t bear to look you in the eye, all the while knowing what I was keeping from you.”

  “You stood by me while I grieved, then six months later you left town.” She put her head in her hands and let out a groan. “You leaving Owl Creek hurt me so much. In the space of a few months, I lost both of my anchors.”

  “It was eating me up inside, knowing if I told you about the disagreement I had with your father you might blame me for the crash,” he admitted. “I’m so sorry, Piper.”

  “So he was agitated before he hit the trails? Is that what you’re saying?” she asked, angrily wiping away tears from her cheeks.

  Braden nodded. “Yes. He was furious when he came looking for me and we went back and forth.”

  “And what did you say to him?”

  “I—I asked him why he was focusing on me. I pushed back against his allegations because they weren’t true. He told me I was being prideful.”

  Piper’s brown eyes went wide with shock. “That doesn’t even sound like him. He must have been really angry to say those things and to confront you.”

  “He was pretty upset. I’d never had a cross word with him in my entire life. He just seemed annoyed from the moment he approached me. It escalated from there.”

  Piper flinched as if he’d struck her. “So he went snowmobiling after this awful fight?”

  “Yes. The way we left things wasn’t good, but I promise you, we would have mended things if he—”

  “Hadn’t been killed?” Piper’s tone was as emotionless as her expression. It felt as if Piper had thrown a grenade down on the ground and it had exploded in his face. There was nothing he could say to dispute her father’s heartbreaking death. In her eyes that made him guilty. He could see it emanating from her eyes.

  He nodded. “Yes. In a million years I don’t think either one of us ever imagined those would be the last words we ever exchanged. And I’m more regretful about it than anything else in my life. I loved Jack, Piper. I considered him a friend.”

  Piper’s lips were trembling. “Then why didn’t you tell the truth? Or didn’t you think it mattered?”

  “Of course it matters. I was afraid of losing you. That’s my only defense.” He shrugged. “It may sound as if I acted terribly, but it deeply affected my life. I left town and everyone I love because of it. It was never something I forgot about. It’s been with me this whole time.”

  She shook her head fiercely. “I still don’t understand why you didn’t tell me the day of the crash. That’s not how you treat someone you care about!”

  “You know how much I care about you. Working together has been amazing. And we’ve become so much more than friends.” Braden reached out to grasp her hand.

  She recoiled from his touch. “I can’t trust you. You lied to me for years about my father’s final moments. What you did was cruel and self-serving. You kissed me, all the while knowing you were harboring this terrible secret.” She ran a shaky hand through her hair. “You told me he was happy before the crash and that’s not true. That gave me so much comfort, and now I know it was nothing more than a fabrication to cover up what really happened.”

  He reached out and lightly grabbed her by the shoulders, forcing her to look him in the eye. “No, Piper. That’s not true. He was happy and joyful before we argued. Everything I told you was true.” He winced. “I left out the part about our argument, which was incredibly wrong and foolish of me. I’ve blamed myself for Jack’s death for a long time, but in the end, I think it was just an accident. A terrible, heart-wrenching accident.”

  Piper glared at him. “One that forever altered my life...and caused my family unbearable pain. It wasn’t just an accident to us. It was a bomb that went off and destroyed our family. We lost our very foundation. We were ripped apart at the seams.”

  “I—I didn’t mean it like that,” he said, wishing he wasn’t so clumsy with his words. He’d inadvertently made it sound as if Jack’s death was insignificant when in reality it had been catastrophic to all those who loved him. He couldn’t even begin to put into words how deeply it had affected him. He’d been broken in the aftermath of Jack’s death. And to this day, he still wondered if Jack crashing his snowmobile had been his fault.

  Piper ducked her head. She wrapped her arms around her middle and began to rock back slightly. She looked as if she was in a different world, far away from his reach.

  “Piper, don’t shut down on me. What’s been blossoming between us has been incredible. I know you feel it too.”

  “Anything I’ve felt for you makes me ashamed now.” He reached out to touch her, but she took a step backward. “Go away, Braden! I can’t stand to look at you. You don’t belong here.”

  “Please, don’t say that. I know you’re angry, but we can talk this out. I can fix this.” He heard the pleading tone in his own voice.

  “There’s nothing to fix, Braden. Nothing at all. And there never will be!” Piper took one last look at him before turning away from him and heading back into the Snowy Owl. Her angry strides mirrored everything she’d just said to him. He knew he would just be wasting his time to ask for mercy. She was done with him.

  He deserved every single bit of her censure and disdain. Everything had blown up in his face just as he’d decided to tell Piper his secret. Timing was everything in life. If only he’d had the courage to speak up earlier. Perhaps he could have salvaged their friendship.

  The verse from Luke had been echoing through his mind for weeks now. “For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.” His truths had come to light, and now, just as he had feared for the last four years, he’d lost Piper. And somehow it felt way worse than in his darkest imaginings.

  He had no idea how to move forward without her in his life. She was the sun everything revolved around. Piper was the one who knew him best—warts and all. Their friendship had always been special to him, but now he felt so much more. Somewhere along the way he’d fallen in love with her. It was overwhelming to know his heart was wrapped up in someone so completely it no longer belonged to him. But it didn’t matter because he’d lost her.

  There was no doubt in his mind that Piper wanted nothing to do with him from this point forward. She’d radiated pure rage and disgust. Throughout their lives Braden had always known exactly what to do in order to make Piper come around after little squabbles and arguments. This time felt incredibly different. It felt like a door had slammed shut on him, one he had no way of ever opening up again.

  Chapter Twelve

  The last few days had been pure torture for Piper. She couldn’t stop thinking about Braden, even though she was still convinced that she never wanted to lay eyes on him again. It was a horrific realization to know she’d lost so much in one fell swoop. She would never get over this rift between the two of them. Her life wouldn’t be the same without her best friend in it.

  She looked around the diner and took a steadying breath. She really needed to keep it together and remember what she’d been fighting for this whole time. This evening was the grand debut of Pie in the Sky, and she needed the celebration to go off without a hitch. Not having Braden at her side would be a painful reminder of all that had transpired between them. Piper wasn’t sure the ache would ever go away, but she needed to put one foot in front of the other and keep the focus on increasing profit.

  Thankfully, Jorge was back at work, and along with Otis, Birdi
e, Clara and her regular wait staff, they would be ready to show off the pies tonight. The Snowy Owl would be open for regular dining, but they would be celebrating her new venture and heavily promoting the pies.

  Thanks to Elena, everything in the diner looked festive. She’d placed balloons all over the establishment, along with a few fun signs. Everything matched up with their Christmas decor. Birdie had placed colorful ribbons on each of the pie boxes, giving the baked goods a celebratory look. Piper stood back and surveyed the row of pies she’d placed on the counter. Despite the situation with Braden, she couldn’t help but feel excited.

  Her mother, who’d agreed to help out tonight, joined her at the counter. “Where’s Braden? He was the one who encouraged you to focus on pies in the first place. I thought he’d be the first one through the doors.”

  Piper winced at the mention of his name. She was trying so hard to push him out of her heart and mind. “He won’t be coming around anymore,” she answered quietly. She didn’t want everyone to hear the news. The last thing she needed was to be the subject of town gossip. She took her mother’s hand and led her through the kitchen into the back office.

  Once they were inside the small room, Trudy immediately began to pepper her daughter with questions.

  “What’s going on? Did the two of you have a fight?” Trudy asked. Alarm rang out in her voice.

  “It wasn’t a fight,” Piper said, letting out a sigh. “He’s been keeping a huge secret from me, and I found out that he’s nothing more than a big, fat liar.”

  “Piper! You don’t mean that!” Trudy admonished her. “He’s your oldest and dearest friend in the world. You shouldn’t speak about him like that.”