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I waved, wondering if I would see any of these people again.
A few minutes later, Chase had led me into the café where I’d stopped for coffee the morning after our night together. “This is the old firehouse,” he explained when he saw me eyeing the pole painted brightly with fireweed flowers in the middle of the café.
The cute and cheerful space had artwork on the walls and tables scattered throughout the room. The low hum of conversation reached us, and the scent of rich coffee and freshly baked goods filled the air.
When we reached the front of the line, the woman at the counter cast a beaming smile. “Hey, Chase.”
“Hey, Janet. This is Hallie.” He nudged his chin in my direction.
“Nice to meet you, Hallie. I'm Janet. I own this place. Good to have you here.”
I managed to say something polite while my mind spun. I was still adjusting to the fact of my pregnancy, and now it felt surreal that I’d actually found Chase. I supposed it wouldn’t have been all that hard, but with the situation, it felt monumental.
Chase said to Janet, “So Maisie is going to text me with coffee orders for the station.” He lifted his phone to check the screen. “Nothing yet.”
“Just forward me the text, and I’ll get everything ready,” Janet replied.
Chase chuckled as he slipped his phone back into his pocket. “You got it. What do you want?”
I looked up at the chalkboard. “Do you have any tea?” I asked Janet.
“Of course, I have tea. I make a mean cup of coffee too,” she added.
“I'm not drinking coffee right now,” I said quickly, realizing there were so many things I hadn’t gone over in my head about finding Chase and telling him I was pregnant. Namely, were we talking about it with other people?
Janet simply reached under the counter and handed me a small chalkboard menu. “Teas are listed there.”
“I'll take…” I scanned it and selected one.
A few minutes later, we were sitting down. I blurted out, “How are we handling this? Who are we telling? None of these people know me. I’m planning to tell my parents and my brother soon.”
Chase leaned back in his chair, a smile slowly stretching across his face. “This is definitely on the list of things I hadn't thought about today. I'm sorry.”
“I know, I know.” My words rushed out. “This is a lot.”
He shrugged easily. “It's okay. I can handle it.”
We fell quiet, and I realized we hadn't talked much about ourselves during the single night we’d spent together.
“So all I know about you is you live here, you're a firefighter, and now I know your last name.”
His eyes crinkled at the corners, and his gaze was warm. “And I know your name is Hallie Thomas, and you’re a photographer. What kind of photography and where do you live?”
“Black and white. I do artsy stuff. I've been showcased in a few galleries, but I also pay a lot of bills by doing assignments for places. And I live in Anchorage.”
“What do you mean?” he prompted.
“Location and feature photography, things like that. Alaska's good for it because of the touristy businesses. They want classy photos, and I make it happen.”
“That makes sense. There's a gallery here in Willow Brook.”
“I think I’ve heard of it.”
“Midnight Sun Arts,” he added.
“Oh, there’s a location in Anchorage and my sister-in-law manages the one in Diamond Creek.”
Chase nodded. “My friend Jasmine Ward does pottery. She sells it at Midnight Sun Arts in Anchorage and down in Diamond Creek. She must know your sister-in-law in Diamond Creek. Jasmine manages the one here,” he explained.
“Oh, that's really cool! I'll have to swing by. I've seen her work in the Anchorage gallery.”
Chase nodded and took a swallow of his coffee. “So you have a brother and parents then?”
I smiled, trying to ignore the nervousness spinning inside. “Yeah, my older brother lives in Diamond Creek. He's the police chief down there. My parents live in Anchorage.”
“What about you?”
