1. Stella

Chapter One

STELLA

Sometime in January

“Trashcan turkey,” I said.

Tish eyed me curiously, her brows hitching up. “Trashcan turkey?”

“It’s awesome. You put a trashcan on an old broom handle, or something like that, put the turkey on it, and smoke it over charcoal or wood.”

“Wow,” my friend said.

“You’ve never heard of it?”

“I can’t say that I have,” she said dryly.

“I promise it will be delicious,” I said.

Tish shrugged, her lips teasing with a smile. “I trust you. Go for it.”

Several days later, I walked into the yard at Tish and Griffin’s house. I tromped through the snow to where Griffin had told me there was a fire ring. I had an old broom handle I’d scrounged up. Once I tripped over the rocks for the fire ring, I kicked them loose to prop up the broom handle. Griffin had already placed a tidy stack of firewood out here and left a bag of charcoal for me.

In short order, I had a turkey smoking under the trashcan and felt pleased with myself for getting it all set up. My mom used to make turkey like this when I was little and I had fond memories of it.

Tish came out with our mutual friends, Madison and Maisie, to check on the status.

“Oh, wow, this looks like…” Maisie paused, her brown curls bouncing as she glanced my way.

“Trashcan turkey. It’s smoked turkey,” I explained.

She giggled as Madison eyed the project curiously.

“Look I grew up trashy and poor. I’m living up to my heritage,” I pointed out with a shrug.

“You’re a paralegal and you just finished law school,” Tish pointed out. “That’s not trashy.”

I snorted as I poked at the fire with a long tree limb I’d found in the snow. “My past is complicated.”

“Well, my dad was a card shark and got arrested for it a few times,” Maisie offered with a wry smile. “That’s why I usually win when we have card night.”

I’d heard bits and pieces of Maisie’s story, but this detail was news to me. “Seriously? That’s why you’re so good at cards.”

She nodded. “My dad is really good at cards. He still is. He’s still a scammer and still trashy.”

Since she was laughing about it, I let my own laugh sputter out. “Well, I learned how to make trashcan turkey from my mom who’s got a heart of gold, but she’s kind of trashy too. Not a card shark though. I wish she had been, maybe we’d have had more than two pennies to rub together.”

Madison was eyeing the situation skeptically with her hands on her hips. “My parents were rich criminals,” she offered.

“What?!”

“True story,” Madison said, her tone dry.

“Learn something new every day,” I said, completely unsure how else to respond to that.

Madison grinned. “My point being that money doesn’t tell you much about people.”

Maisie helped me add some more rocks to help stabilize the stake at the bottom, while Tish and Madison headed back inside.

“It’s a campfire in the winter.” Maisie bounced in the snow as she smiled at me. Her cheeks were pink from the cold. “If this works, I’m gonna tell Beck we have to do it next year for Thanksgiving.”

“I’ve actually never done it by myself, but it worked when my mom did it.”

There were more people than I had expected to be here at the not-a-holiday party Tish and Griffin had organized. I met Tish when I helped handle some of the details of her custody case. When I moved to Willow Brook, Alaska to work in the expansion office for the law practice I’d worked for in Fireweed Harbor, Tish had welcomed me into her circle of friends here.

I was relieved to have a project to keep me distracted because Hudson Fox was here. Ever since I’d driven over one of his crutches months ago, I’d stumbled into the worst crush on the guy. I felt ridiculously flustered around him. Seeing as he was friends with many of my friends, it was difficult to avoid him.

For today, I could focus on my little project, but I was starting to feel like I had overpromised on this. When Tish started planning this, someone requested turkey and this seemed like a fun way to cook it. Even with my mother’s instructions, I fretted. I studied the trashcan, which was starting to glow orange.

“There’s a fire under it, this is how it’s supposed to be,” I said out loud to myself.

A raven was watching me from the trees, judging me, or so I thought. “Why are you looking at me?” I asked when it let out a startlingly human-sounding call.

I had no clue if the bird was answering me when it let out another sharp call into the icy winter air. It was roughly twenty feet away in the trees, perched on a bare branch above the snow. A magpie flew by, chattering at the raven who ignored it completely. All things considered, the raven was much larger and gave the magpie just as judgy of a look as it gave me.

The problem with this whole project was I didn’t even know how to check to see if the turkey was done. I fretted some more before leaning down to add some lighter fluid to the coals. Mistake.

Next thing I knew, there was a trashcan-shaped ball of fire. I could totally handle this. I looked toward the raven. It stared right back at me, still giving off judgy vibes.

I fetched my fire gloves and ran over, grabbing the trashcan again and flinging it into the snow. Everything was fine. Until my hair caught on fire.

I heard the sound of footsteps hurrying across the back deck. I hoped it was at least one of the firefighters. A moment later, someone lifted me and tossed me into the snow.

My fall was cushioned by at least three feet of snow. “Oh, my God!” My exclamation was muffled by the snow on my face.

I was discombobulated and felt someone’s hands sliding over my back and my hair. I was pretty sure it was a man because they were big and strong.

And then… “Stella, what the hell happened? Are you okay?”

Freezing cold and covered in snow, I rolled over and looked up into Hudson’s green eyes.