The first couple of days were somewhat hectic as Sasha grew accustomed to her new home and her grandfather’s schedule. The old man had a mountain of pill bottles on his nightstand, each one fat and amber colored with a white lid, the names of each printed in black letters, none of which Sasha could pronounce.

Her granddad also had an appointment at the local hospital four times a week, the first of which (or at least, the first one where Sasha was present) was the day after Sasha arrived. She drove him to the appointment in his blue truck, he wouldn’t get into her small car, and he barely let her drive, even though the doctor had told him that he was not to drive under any circumstances since the chemo was sapping his energy so badly.

The hospital in town was a squat building with only one floor, a flat white made to look even duller by the sparkling pristine snow all around it. The parking lot was as small as the hospital, only space for twenty spots, and only five of them occupied.

“Jesus, does anyone get sick in this town?” Sasha asked as she pulled into a handicap space, the blue placard swinging from the truck’s rear-view mirror.

“Not if we can help it,” Connor said with a dry laugh. He swung the door open and climbed out of his truck, leaving his granddaughter to hurry after him.

“You need to let me help you walk,” she said.

“Oh, I don’t think so kiddo,” the old man said, pulling his arm from hers. “I’m not dead yet.”

“I know, and I’m trying to keep that from happening at all,” the girl said stubbornly. “So, I’d like you not to slip on this ice and bust your old head open, alright?”

She gripped his arm again, and though he grumbled about it, he let her do so, and they went inside.

Connor sat in a small room in a long chair with his legs up, needles with tubes attached plugged into his arms. He read a paperback book he had brought with him. Sasha sat across the room in an uncomfortable chair that looked like wood but was made of plastic, a magazine from two years previous open in her lap. They sat like that for three hours, and then the old man was done, and they went back to his home.

On her third day in Tall Tree, Sasha was sent into town proper to get some groceries. She headed back the way she had come, cruising down the small main drag she had already seen once, parking in an icy lot next to the small grocery store and heading inside.

The place was the busiest she had seen to that point, with two cashiers inside the main entrance, each of them leaning against either side of one of the two belts and talking to one another. They were younger than Sasha, teenagers who had just got out of class at the local high school an hour ago, and it was evident they were flirting. Sasha didn’t want to disturb them, and neither greeted her, so she pulled a rickety shopping cart from a nearby line and moved on. Four other people milled about the store, a stark contrast to the one nurse and one doctor she had seen the day before in the chemotherapy wing of the small Tall Tree Hospital.

Three of the other patrons were just ordinary people, two women and a man, each of them fifty or older, but the fourth almost made Sasha gasp when she looked upon him.

He was quite simply, the best looking man Sasha had ever seen. He was tall, his skin dark, almost bronze. His hair was chestnut brown, his eyes a smoky gray. He smiled at her as their carts passed, his teeth white and perfect. The man wore jeans and a long sleeve plaid shirt, like a lumberjack, but more like a model trying to pass as a lumberjack. He was scruffy, black hair growing on his square jaw and over his plump upper lip.

He stopped suddenly, reaching out and placing a hand on her arm to stop her too, so swiftly it made her call out, an embarrassed yelp.

“Sorry,” the man said with a grin, his voice husky, almost a growl, but friendly somehow at the same time. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“You didn’t,” Sasha said, and then she realized that he had been there, he had heard her yelp, and he knew damn well he had scared her, so she changed tactics. “It’s fine, I mean.”

“I just, you’re new,” the man said. He laughed then as if there was some sort of joke in what he said, one that Sasha wasn’t privy to.

“Yeah?” she asked, her voice going up at the end, so the single word was a question.

“Sorry, you probably think I’m a lunatic or something,” the man said. Sasha just looked at him.

“We don’t get many strangers here,” he went on. “So it surprised me, and I decided I had to find out who you were, and why in the hell you would come to Tall Tree, Alaska.

“It’s beautiful here,” Sasha said.

“You came because it’s beautiful?” the man asked her.

It was Sasha’s turn to laugh while he stared at her.

“No,” she said. “I just mean, you made it sound like no one should come here, but it’s so pretty. But no, I came because my grandfather is sick and he wanted help.

“Mr. Fray,” the young man said. “You’re his granddaughter?”

“Yeah,” Sarah said, surprised. “You know him?”

“We are all aware Mr. Fray,” the man said with a shrug. “He… well, he’s a… man of great upstanding in Tall Tree.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“He didn’t tell anyone you were coming, we sort of didn’t know he had any family. No one has ever come up before.”

“Yeah, my mother died when I was really young, I sort of lost contact with her side of the family. Well, I guess there’s only been just grandpa for so long, but yeah, we didn’t see each other much. Or at all, really.”

“That’s a shame, but I bet he’s thrilled that you’re here now.”

“We both are,” Sasha said.

The man held his hand out, and Sasha took it. “I’m Hunter by the way. I have to get going, but I hope I see you around,” he said.

“Sasha,” she said with a smile. “Yeah, maybe I’ll see you around.”

“Well, actually, I mean, we can make sure we see each other around, if you wanted. I could take you out to dinner. How long are you staying?”

Sasha was surprised by his directness, asking her out within minutes of meeting her, but she wasn’t disappointed. Dinner with a guy who looked as amazing as Hunter did was just the thing she needed to destress a little bit from everything that had been going on.

“I’m here for a while,” she said.  “I kind of moved here.”

“Oh, that’s cool,” Hunter said. “Well, how about tonight?”

Sasha laughed. “Tonight?”

“You have anything going on?”

The girl shook her head. The man watched her, grinning, his eyes on her swaying blonde hair. He bit his lip softly. As instantly attracted as Sasha had been to him, he felt the same way. He had seen the girl, and his breath had caught in his chest. She was petite but curvy, her face soft and delicate, her blue eyes as pretty as any he had ever seen before.

“No,” Sasha shook her head, and then she hastened to add: “I don’t have anything going on, tonight will be great.”

“Are you staying with your grandfather?” Hunter asked. She nodded, and he went on, “Great, I’ll pick you up at eight, is that alright?”

She nodded again, and then she realized they were still holding hands, not shaking anymore, but their hands simply in one another, held between their bodies. She pulled her hand away. “I’ll see you then,” she said.

“Okay Sasha,” the young man smiled, the smile as dazzling as the others, and then he turned back to his cart and pushed it away, whistling a merry tune as he did so.