Page 5

ISLA

Having arrived a good thirty minutes early, I commandeer a stool at the bar and keep Birdie company while she works.

The Lair hasn’t changed much over all the years we’ve been coming here. It still has the same ‘home away from home’ feel that it’s always had.

This is where Birdie and I came to celebrate our twenty-first birthdays–which were thankfully only a week apart. We sat at this very bar and ordered two Cosmopolitans thinking we’d be like the Alaskan versions of the Sex and the City girls.

I still remember us locking eyes and clinking our fancy cocktail glasses before taking that first sip, giggling as the taste tickled our taste buds.

Some nine years later, I feel it’s kind of kismet that this is where another important moment in my best friend’s life will happen too. Once she says yes, of course…

As if reading my mind, the woman in question slides the exact same cocktail in front of me. Leaning into her hands, she eyes me curiously. “You’re not usually a Saturday night girl, Iz. Not anymore, anyway. Everythin’ OK? Is your mom better this week?”

I smile. “I’m good, I promise. And Mom’s doin’ OK too.” I add a shrug for good measure. “Can’t a girl just want to hang out with her best friend for a night?”

I know I’m laying it on thick, but there’s no way I’m going to ruin this night for Birdie. She’s one of the most important people in my life and I’m just happy that I can be here to witness her special moment.

She studies me for a moment before her radiant smile turns full beam.

“Well, good. As long as y’all know that just because I’m livin’ up the mountain at Cooper Ranch now, that doesn’t mean I’m not still here for you and Jessica.

You know you’re just as much a part of my family as Dad–and now the Coopers–are. ”

My eyes sting as I reach out and link my pinky finger with hers. “Don’t worry, B. You’re stuck with me and I'm happy to be stuck with you too.”

“Exactly,” she whispers, her voice a little rough. “And you never know, maybe soon it’ll be you tellin’ me all your ooey-gooey love stories. You know, when your turn comes to meet the love of your life. I want that for you more than you could ever know, Iz.”

I know my loved-up, over-the-moon-with-happiness best friend wants that for me just as much as Mom does. The difference between us is that I don’t believe my soulmate is just going to waltz into my life like Will Cooper walked into hers—and in a furniture shop, no less.

“Since you’re here tonight, you’ll get to finally meet Will’s brothers. You always keep missin’ them and Will said they were comin’ down the mountain for some of Margie’s hot wings and Cajun fries after plantin’ all day.”

“Finally,” I say, playing along since Birdie doesn’t know why I’m here. “But I bet they’re not just comin’ here for the food. Especially not Will, anyway.”

“Well, I’d like to think Will prefers me to Margie’s cookin’ but you never know. Her food is good…”

Remember how I said that my best friend was loved up? It’s whatever the level is above that.

After hearing her gushing about meeting Will at the furniture store, and then about the epic first date/personal tour of town they went on, I was hopeful that my beautiful friend had met a good, honest, hardworking man who would treat her well.

When they went on a road trip to Moose Mountain with two of Will’s brothers, there was an air of certainty around them when they returned. It was like they just knew they were each other’s true love.

As Birdie explained it to me, it turns out her favorite author’s books—which I thought were purely fiction—are a retelling of real-life events. And they’re all tied to the Cooper family’s bloodline in some way or another, which includes Will.

I’m still a little–OK, a lot –skeptical about the whole thing. A mountain spirit bringing two soulmates together in small town, Alaska? What I do believe is that they’re made for one another. One look at Will and Birdie when they’re together, you can’t help but wonder if there’s something to it.

I just don’t think it’s in the cards for me. I’m thirty, living back with my mom in my hometown in the middle of nowhere. It’s highly unlikely that my soulmate is going to hunt me down and just happen to stop in Timber Falls.

“How’s ranch life treatin’ you? Have you found any more clues or treasures from Will’s grandfather?” I ask when she finishes serving another customer and walks back over to my end of the bar.

“Remember how I told you there was an old journal with a note on it for Will to read it first?” I nod, leaning in closer.

“It turns out that Old Old Man Wilson and Ridley’s granddaddy—I guess he would be Old Old Man Cooper— used to be best friends.

Like you and me, that level of best friends. How crazy is that ?”

Ridley was Will, Case, Sutton, and Jude’s grandfather. He is the reason why the brothers moved to town.

What’s confusing about Birdie’s news is that the Wilsons and the Coopers are enemies. Not rivals, not even foes—I’m talking ‘they hate each other.’ Well, no one has ever worked out exactly why they are generational adversaries, but it sure has made for interesting town gossip over the years.

“That doesn’t make sense. What would cause such a fallin’ out?”

Birdie's eyes light up. “I know !” She dips her head and meets my eyes, her voice dropping to a low whisper. “I’m wonderin’ if somethin’ happened way back then, and that’s why the families butt heads like grumpy mountain goats with a grudge.”

We both straighten again, but I can see her mind racing a mile a minute like mine is.

We weren’t overly invested in the Wilsons vs.

Coopers drama until the current Old Man Wilson–Sully–ran his mouth in front of everyone at the Icebox diner not so long ago.

As Birdie told me, he was spouting nonsense that made no sense.

Since then, we’ve been trying to investigate—with no success, unfortunately.

“Sutton and Jude think there’s some hidden gold or somethin’ that’s worth a lot of money and that’s why the Wilsons hate us.”

My lips twitch as I arch a brow her way. “Us?” Her cheeks blush adorably and there’s no mistaking her wry grin. I decide to spare her our typical good-natured ribbing and press on. “What does Will think?”

“He has been tryin’ to speed read the journal to try and piece it all together.”

“No luck then?”

She sighs. “Nope. Case even offered to write some computer code or whatever it’s called so that the internet can search for answers for us.”

“He can do that?”

“Apparently, you can put some keywords in and let the program run in the background. He was goin’ to search for anythin’ related to Timber Falls, Wilson, and Cooper. And the mountain, of course.”

Now I’m officially intrigued. “What does he do—or what did he do for a job—that means he knows how to do that? Is he a hacker?”

“I don’t know exactly what he used to do, but he was livin’ in tech land in California and working for a company who does computers, projects, security… somethin’ like that, anyway.”

Her words trigger something at the back of my brain. Didn’t Curious say he worked with computers in Northern California? Ugh, here I go again, thinking of my one-night-friendship-stand.

That’s how I describe it since we didn’t even kiss. Even still, it was the most memorable and intimate night I’ve ever had with a man. And doesn’t that say something?

Thankfully, she keeps talking, distracting me from my thoughts.

“We all decided that scouring the internet might be a little too much. Besides, the truth will come out eventually, if and when it’s meant to.

A bit like how Will and I found each other.

It was all part of the plan. We’ve just got to believe the whole saga will be revealed when the time is right. ”

“It has to. Secrets always have a way of comin’ out.”

“They sure do,” she replies. “But other than the guys workin’ their butts off diggin’ holes and plantin’ trees all week, life’s been pretty normal up the mountain.”

“And livin’ with a house full of single city boys isn’t too bad?”

She laughs. “Nope. They barely let me do anythin’. I had to do rock, paper, scissors against the twins the other night just so I could do the washin’ up after they cooked.”

“Oh to have that problem,” I muse.

“Believe me, I know. I’m a helper, I want to help. And now I have these four city-boys-turned-mountain-men who won’t let me help.”

“First world problems, B,” I say with a grin. “So, before he gets here and our girl chat is over, tell me all the latest juicy gossip about you and your One .”

As if mentioning his name conjures him up, Birdie’s attention shifts toward the front of the bar. If I hadn’t guessed Will had arrived already, the soft heart eyes she shoots that way would be a dead giveaway.

I guess it’s time to meet the rest of the famous Cooper brothers…

Except the moment I turn around to get my first look at them, I freeze in shock. Because staring back at me, nearly tripping over his own feet when his wide eyes meet mine, is the man I never thought I’d see again.

Curious .