Kisses in the Rain Read Free Page A

Sigmund and his crystals. She thought about her dwindling savings account. She thought about moving into a cute little apartment in one of the city's historic old wooden houses. A pink one.
    "Then you leave Monday. Is it settled? You'll work with me?" He looked pathetically eager.
    "Leave? You didn't say anything about leaving."
    "Well, I guess I forgot to mention it. You know I need you to set up the newest Bagel Barn. I've done all the groundwork. All that needs doing is to get the place started, hire a helper, and run it all summer. That way you get a good idea about how a Bagel Barn works and know what the problems are. Nothing like hands-on training experience, I always say."
    The man's rambling was exasperating to say the least. It was a constant challenge to hold him to the topic at hand.
    "But Sidney, where is this newest Bagel Barn?"
    "Ketchikan, Alaska," he said.
    Martha stared at him. The vision of her own apartment in one of San Francisco's historic wooden houses crumbled away, leaving her with the image of an igloo, which was not her idea of a habitable dwelling for a sophisticated, college-educated woman of twenty-seven. "Alaska?" she said, unable to believe it.  
    "Alaska," he replied.
    As far as Martha was concerned, he might as well have said, "The end of the world."

Chapter 2

    Martha felt unexpected awe at the vastness of the Alaskan landscape as her plane, a regularly scheduled airliner, penetrated the shroud of fog overlying the city. To Martha, in the brief glimpse she caught of it as the plane bounced down on the runway, Ketchikan didn't look like much. Squat, square buildings, precariously perched on the rocky shore, seemed to lean off the edge of Revillagigedo Island into the water of the Tongass Narrows. Across the Narrows were the docks where she would begin setting up the newest Bagel Barn.
    "Chistochina, Yakutat, Levelock, Nome," Martha chanted under her breath as the plane taxied toward the terminal. These were the names she'd read on a map of Alaska, and she liked the way they rolled off her tongue. She'd taken to reciting them to herself on the flight from San Francisco in a kind of litany of reassurance.
    She rode a ferry from the airport, which was located on a separate island, across the Narrows to the neighboring island whose name was conveniently shortened to "Revilla" by the locals. If only Lindsay could see this country, Martha thought wistfully as she took in the majestic mountains and the utter immensity of the land, but then she had second thoughts. Lindsay had clearly thought that Martha was crazy to be going.
    "You can't be serious," Lindsay said when Martha told her about Sidney's stunning offer.
    "But I am," Martha had said calmly.
    "Then he can't be serious. What on earth is in Ketchikan, Alaska, anyway?"
    "The newest Bagel Barn. Sidney says that big cruise ships stop in Ketchikan all summer long. He says that it's a great place for a Bagel Barn. He says—"
    "Please don't tell me anything else that Sidney says," groaned Lindsay. "Obviously the guy has quite a line of persuasion." She plumped up her pillow; she was propped up in bed.
    Martha peered up at Lindsay from her perch on the floor, where she sat with her hands locked around her knees. "I believe in him, Lindsay," Martha said quietly. "He's making a success of his own original idea. He needs my help."
    "But how are you going to handle selling bagels to tourists all summer? It's not something you've ever done before. Maybe you'll hate it. Do you realize that you've been chewing on the skin next to your thumbnail again? You know that's one habit of yours that drives me crazy."
    Martha inspected her thumb, where the skin beside the nail resembled shredded wheat. She always chewed on the skin beside her nails when she was nervous. She clamped her other fingers around the offending thumb so that Lindsay wouldn't have to look at it.
    "Martha, are you sure you haven't bitten off more than you can chew?"
    When Martha started to