Stars Over Alaska (Wild River #4) - Jennifer Snow Page 0,107

right words.

“I’m just putting it out there that you could stay here—if you want,” her mother added awkwardly.

Could she though? She hadn’t lived with her mother in over twelve years. Would they be able to put their differences aside that easily? Had it really only taken this experience for them to realize life was far too short to shut out the people who loved them? She’d done a lot of thinking in the last few days and she understood now everything her mother had been trying to do. She didn’t agree with all of it, but she suspected her mother regretted some of it as well. And she was finally able to acknowledge her own part in everything. “I’m not sure that’s the best idea... It’s not a terrible idea,” she said quickly when her mother looked disappointed, “but I think maybe we start slow? Baby steps.”

Her mother nodded eagerly. “Like brunch?”

Leslie laughed. “Like brunch.”

An awkward silence hung over them. “Um...should we hug again or...?”

“I think one was enough,” she said.

Her mother looked relieved. Baby steps. “Did you want to come in? Were you here to visit?”

“Yeah, if you’re not busy.”

“Not at all. Actually, I received a bit of a surprise the other day.” She moved back into the house and Leslie followed her inside. The usual gripping feeling in her chest she normally experienced upon being in her former family home, around her mother, didn’t appear and she took it as a good sign.

In the kitchen, her mother handed her an envelope.

“What’s this?” Leslie took it and read the return address. LA. Selena’s address. She frowned. “Selena sent you a letter?” That was old school. Leslie had assumed Selena wouldn’t have known what to do with a stamp.

Then again, she’d underestimated her quite a bit. If she was being completely honest, she missed the woman already. Which was unexpected—the star had driven her insane.

“Yes,” her mother said. “And um...she’s right about everything she says.”

Oh no. “What did she say?” she asked slowly.

“Just that family was too important to throw away because of differences. That a bond between mother and daughter should be stronger than anger and hurt.”

Leslie took a breath. “I’m sure she stole that line from a recent script,” she said with a teasing grin.

“She also sent this,” her mother said, taking a check out of the envelope. “To cover the cost of the cabin.”

Leslie’s eyes widened at the number of zeros. Holy shit! This was quite the apology.

The sticky note attached read “Hoping this will help with the rebuild. Still lots of memories to be made.”

“Wow.” This amount of money could build two cabins. “This was generous of her.”

“Yep.” Her mother leaned against the counter and stared at her for a long moment. “I mean, I was thinking of just sending it back... We can’t really accept it, can we?”

“If I know Selena, she’d just hire someone to come build the cabin for us. She’s a little headstrong when she cares about something.”

“Oh...okay. So, we should keep this gift from her?”

Leslie nodded. “She’d be offended otherwise.”

“But do we even want to rebuild the cabin?”

Suddenly, Leslie wanted to rebuild so much more. So many aspects of her life had been put on hold the last few years while she buried her feelings and held on to a past that no longer let her choose her own happiness.

“I definitely think we should rebuild,” she said. “Selena’s right—there are still more memories to be made.”

* * *

THE JUNIOR HIGH school gym was standing room only by the time the play was about to start that evening. Leslie scanned the auditorium from the second-row seat they’d been able to snag because Eddie had insisted on getting there two hours early. Her brother’s affection for his girlfriend’s daughter was obvious and it didn’t surprise Leslie how wonderful he was at this future stepdad role. Eddie really knew how to step up to responsibilities and seeing the three of them together, Leslie knew the admiration they all held for one another was mutual.

“I think there’s more people here than at Selena’s movie premiere,” she said.

“I heard that,” Selena said, as her face appeared on Leslie’s phone via FaceTime. She was filming on set, but had insisted on being there remotely to see Kaia’s performance. Leslie wouldn’t admit how much that meant to her. Since leaving LA the day before, Selena had texted six times. And Leslie had texted back.

“Seriously, check it out,” she said, holding the phone up and scanning the auditorium for