Race Against Time Read Free

You have a beautiful heart. Now open it up.”
    Mint and Basil from the Herb Litter nosed up to her leg and cocked their heads. Could her dogs be in on the conspiracy as well?
    Her laughter filled the frozen air as she loved on the dogs. Funny, how open and loving she was with them. Why couldn’t she be like that with people? God, could You please help me? I want to be open to loving someone again, but I don’t want to mess up. Like the last time . . .
    Even so she couldn’t stop the longing. So. Time to face the music. It scared her spitless. No doubt about it.
    Maybe she should spill her guts to Jenna and get it all out in the open. There’d be no turning back once her best friend heard the words from her lips. That was the best part of their friendship—accountability. They’d promised each other decades ago that they’d hold each other’s toes to the fire.
    Decision made, Anesia put her tools away and pulled a small bag of smoked and dried salmon from her pocket. Popping a few strips of the natsagga into her mouth, she savored the flavor and headed to the house.
    She rehearsed her words for Jenna as she walked—
    “Anesia!” Beth, one of her employees, ran toward her from the house. “Anesia! The hospital is on the phone.”
    The urgency in Beth’s voice and her complete abandon of coat and shoes set Anesia’s pulse racing. Could something have happened to Jenna and Andie again? Oh God, please no !
    Her heart raced in rhythm to her feet as she barreled into the kitchen and grabbed the phone. “Hello? This is Anesia Naltsiine.”
    “Ms. Naltsiine, we need you to come to the emergency room as quickly as possible—”
    “What’s happened?”
    “Ms. Naltsiine, your daughter, Zoya, is being treated. It isn’t life-threatening, but she’s been shot . . .”
    The woman’s words slurred into random noise in her ear. Zoya? Shot? How could this happen? Anesia’s knees collapsed and she sank to the floor. Her baby—
    “Ms. Naltsiine? Ms. Naltsiine? Are you there?”
    The voice brought her attention back to the phone in her hands. “Yes, yes, I’m here. Is she okay? Who shot her?”
    “I don’t know the details, it was relayed to me that her injuries are not life-threatening. Ma’am, how soon can you be here? Your daughter is asking for you.”
    She grabbed the counter, pulled herself up, and stiffened her spine. Zoya needed her. “I’m on my way.”
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    COLE
    January 2
    North Pole, Alaska
    2:23 p.m.
    Cole Maddox swiped chocolate chips from the bag on the counter as his stepdaughter, Andie Tikaani-Gray, stirred cookie dough.
    Without blinking an eye, she swatted him with the wooden spoon. “No cookies for you, Cole, unless you stop stealing all the chocolate.” She turned to him, wiping her other hand on her apron and planted her feet in a fencing position. “ En garde! ” The spoon slashed through the air.
    “So that’s how it’s going to be!” He shot her his best scowl.
    “You don’t fool me, Echo.”
    He grinned. The kid loved using the nickname she’d given him when they were trapped on the side of Sultana.
    He loved it too.
    With lightning reflexes, he reached for a spatula. “You ready to get trounced again?”
    “Not a chance, old man. You’re losing your touch.” She smacked the back of his hand with the spoon. “See?” She hopped around the kitchen wielding the spoon like a sword. “Gotcha again.”
    “Old man? Seriously? You’re not living up to your call name, Einstein, with all that trash talk.” He approached her with the spatula, settling into his own fencing stance. “It’s time for the student to learn from the master.” Family could heal a world of hurt. His first wife, Amanda, and their three-year-old daughter, Chloe, had been killed in a tragic accident more than a decade ago. Nine long years he’d hardened himself. His heart. His mind. Then he met Jenna and Andie. And they introduced him to God. The same God his Amanda had believed. The one true