Page 70 of Shadow Blind

“Yeah. That’s why I rushed you into town so early the next morning, before the storm was due to hit. You needed clothes ASAP. Sure, you could have borrowed jeans and sweaters from me—but secondhand underwear and bras?” Kait shuddered, and then shot her a chiding glance. “And if you thank me again for funding that shopping expedition, I swear I’m gonna smack you.”

Demi made a zipping motion across her lips, even though she still felt uncomfortable with Kait paying for everything. As in everything.

The biggest challenge that accompanied running for your life—other than having no luggage, thus no change of clothes—was not being able to use debit or credit cards. Electronic transactions were easy to track. To avoid detection, she had to use cash. Which she couldn’t get without using her debit card.

Enter her best friend, who’d stepped in to cover all of Demi’s expenses.

“Just so you know,” Demi said. “I’m keeping track of every single penny you spend on me, and I will pay you back once I can access my bank accounts again.” She caught the frown pulling at Kait’s face and hurriedly added. “But that’s not me saying thank you or anything like that.”

“Right.” Kait rolled her eyes.

When they reached a fork in the road, they kept to the left.

Demi twisted to look behind her. “Isn’t that other fork the one we took when we went to Talkeetna the other day?”

As soon as Demi had awakened this morning, Kait had insisted on taking her out for breakfast, so she’d expected another trip to Talkeetna. Which, apparently, was the closest city.

“Yes. But we’re not headed to Talkeetna. The best breakfast in the universe is served at The Neighborhood’s Breakfast Bar.” She sent Demi a conspiratorial grin.

Kait had mentioned The Neighborhood several times, but Demi had assumed she was referring to the people and houses surrounding her and Cosky’s home.

“We’re almost there.” Kait’s voice vibrated with anticipation. “It’s around this next bend.”

Demi faced front again. Her chauffeur took the curve, straightened the Expedition out and rolled into an adorable, picture-perfect little village. The place was tiny, encompassing barely a block’s worth of buildings, all of which were made from whole logs. Some shops were bigger—like the grocery-hardware store at the end of the block and some smaller—like the bakery and bookstore. But they were all log cabins. They all had steep, A-frame roofs topped in a fluffy white cap of snow, and they all sported garish, blinking lights proclaiming the name of the establishment in exuberant flashing letters.

The blinking neon signs should have been ugly and out-of-place amid the village’s rustic charm. Yet they weren’t. Instead, they added an avant-garde kind of winkity-wink charm. Like the garish signs were a local joke, and everyone was having a good laugh at them.

The entire block looked adorable, like something pulled straight from a fairy tale.

“I wish you could see your face!” Kait crowed. “I knew you’d love it.”

They parked in front of The Breakfast Bar, which matched the log cabin theme. But with an extra twist of charm thanks to the painted windows that traveled the length of the building. Each window featured wilderness themes of mountains, rivers, and forests, along with the animals that called Alaska home. Demi recognized the impressionist touch of the landscapes along with the whimsical flair of the wildlife. But the random bursts of color were an artistic signature too.

“When did you find time to paint the windows?” Still staring at the colorful glass panes, Demi unbuckled her seatbelt. New images kept jumping out at her the longer she looked. Like the lynx lurking within the boughs of a spruce tree in the bottom corner of the first window, or the owl tucked behind a cluster of pinecones.

“It was a long, slow process. I had to fit the painting around my commissioned pieces, or when a project just wasn’t gelling, and I needed to rethink the design.” Kait pushed open the driver’s door and inhaled deeply. “My God, I never get tired of that smell.”

Demi could smell it, too, now that the door was open. She took a deep breath and groaned at the yeasty, buttery scents. Drool pooled in her mouth. “That’s got to be fresh bread. No wonder you’ve labeled this place as the best breakfast spot in the universe.”

Kait slid out of the SUV on a laugh. “That heavenly scent isn’t coming from Olivia’s kitchen. It’s coming from Mary’s.” She tilted her head toward the cabin to their left with its neon sign blinking BAKERY. “We’ll stop there after we’ve eaten. If we go now, we’ll be too stuffed for breakfast.”

Demi followed her out of the SUV. They gingerly stepped up onto a plank sidewalk that had been scraped of snow and sprinkled with rock salt. The boards were surprisingly sturdy beneath her feet, with a light coat of grit. No slipping at all.

A bell pealed as they pushed open the solid wood door to The Breakfast Bar and stepped inside.

“I can’t believe you all named this cute little town The Neighborhood,” Demi said after they slid into a rustic-looking booth at the back of the restaurant. “That name has such an ominous vibe. Like The Stepford Wives or Get Out.”

With a rueful shake of her head, Kait turned her coffee cup over. “I wouldn’t say we named it, unless the naming came about because of indecision and apathy.” She shrugged. “Nobody could agree what to call our little slice of heaven. And while everyone was arguing, the shops started naming themselves. The Neighborhood this—or The Neighborhood that. By the time the fourth or fifth shop went in, The Neighborhood just stuck.”

Kait straightened, smiling as a tall, Native American woman with long black hair, two menus, and a coffee pot approached their table. “Demi, this is Olivia Holden, the best cook in the known universe. Olivia, this is Demi Barnes. She’s my best friend and visiting from California.”

Surprise widened Olivia’s mahogany brown eyes.

After a hesitation and an apologetic look across the table at Demi, Kait continued. “Demi’s been dating my brother. Aiden’s recent trouble found its way to her door, so he flew down to Coronado and brought her up here. Wolf approved her to stay until the danger passes.”

“Ah, I see.” Their hostess’s face cleared. “It’s nice to meet you, Demi. Whatever trouble Kait’s brother brought to your door won’t find you up here. You can count on that.” The smile that lit Olivia’s face turned her from beautiful to stunning. She placed a thick, one-page paper menu in front of each of them and filled the ceramic cups with coffee. “Holler when you’re ready to order.”

“Why was she so surprised to hear I was visiting?” Demi waited until their hostess had disappeared through the swinging door that led into the kitchen.

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