The one good thing to be said about Matt living in the middle of damn nowhere was that no one could overhear the horrific shouting match going on under his roof.

Or maybe it wasn’t such a good thing. If someone overheard and called some sort of child protective service on her, perhaps it would absolve her of this obligation that was shaping up to be even more difficult than she’d anticipated.

“Obviously, I’m aware you don’t want to go, Ella, but what the hell am I supposed to do? Your dad named me your guardian and I can’t exactly do any guarding if you’re in Alaska!”

“I don’t care! I’m not leaving! You can’t make me leave. I won’t do it!” Ella shouted in response.

Generally speaking, Ella was a cute enough kid, with thick red hair, a freckled face and the same bright, brown eyes Tali had, but right now, with her face all splotchy from crying and twisted up in fury, her niece was a terrifying sight to behold.

“Ella, look, I get that it’s hard,” Tali said, trying to maintain a calm, even tone despite her building frustration. “But I’m not going to rip you out of this place today. I’ll book the tickets for a week from now. That’s the latest I can really manage—I just got a new job, sweetie, and that means I’m on thin ice as it is. I can’t stay away any longer. But that should give you enough time to—”

“I don’t care about your stupid job! This is my home, Tali. I’m not moving to Los Angeles so I can inhale poison everyday and be surrounded by fake snobs and traffic jams! Fuck that, okay? Just fuck it.”

“Hey!” Tali shrieked in surprise. “Watch your language!” She knew Matt would lose it if he heard Ella using that word in any context, let alone to an adult.

“Whatever. My dad hated it there, too! He always said so. He wouldn’t want me moving there. That’s obviously not what he meant to happen when he named you!” Ella’s gaze snapped to the door when the sound of tires on gravel grew louder outside. “That’s Hudson. I’m going!” Ella all but spat, seizing her coat off the hook on the front door and roughly throwing it on.

She flung the door open, letting in a frigid chill—in goddamn September—and was gone before Tali could even pull together a response, not even bothering to shut the oak door behind her.

Tali surged forward and slammed it closed. She swiveled around and took large, angry steps through the living room, kicking over a side table by the sofa in frustration. The lamp and mug that had been resting on it tumbled to the floor and the handle of the mug cracked off.

Furiously, she began rummaging through the house in search of a liquor cabinet.

She needed a strong drink, and she needed it now. Matt had never been much of a drinker, not since Ella was born anyway. She knew he’d have beers with the boys now and then, but she needed more than a beer right now—besides, she’d already checked the fridge and there weren’t even any of those.

Surely he kept something on hand for when he had company over?

Finally, she found what she was looking for: a dusty bottle of bourbon with maybe one shot taken out of it. Tali poured herself out a full glass. She might just finish off the damn bottle before Ella got back so she’d be soundly asleep.

She had little interest in continuing the unpleasant conversation tonight. Or ever, really. But definitely not tonight.

Tali made her way into the living room and sank into a chair, pulling a blanket around her shoulders and taking a deep sip of her drink.

She felt overdue for a cry. She’d had several since hearing the news about Matt. When she first got the call. When she arrived at the airport in Nome and found out they lost her bags. When she’d first set eyes on Ella. When she’d first seen Matt, lying there in his coffin, her vibrant, loving brother so still and cold.

But she’d gone numb at the wake, having to talk to all those strangers. She’d closed herself off in order to cope and held it in, for the most part.

Finally, she was alone, and ready to sob.

Just as she felt the tears starting to prick at the corner of her eyes, there was a knock on the door. She stared at it.

Did Ella forget something? She could just walk in if she had. Unless the fight was making her hesitant...although she had been the complete opposite of intimidated when she walked out the door.

There came another knock, louder and more insistent.

God, she hoped it was Ella. Or some kindly townsperson who wanted to pay their respects. Not some crazy mountain man who was planning to murder her. She didn’t know exactly how many acres Matt’s house sat on, but it was isolated enough that no other houses were visible from his.

Hesitantly, Tali got to her feet and opened the door.

It was Hudson. He stood in the doorway in a red and black flannel jacket, looking at her with an intense expression, his strong jaw clenched. She stared up at him, startled.

“Hi,” he said briskly. “Can I come in?”

She glanced over his shoulder at his truck, where she could see Ella sitting in the passenger seat, then at the clock, which read 6:08.

“Um. Don’t you have an...event to get to?” she asked.

“It can wait,” he said, and stepped in. He was tall—six foot one at least—and she stepped back instinctively. A mistake. She should have stood her ground. He didn’t seem nearly as soft now as he had earlier and she didn’t feel good about why he was delaying heading for the memorial event that he’d yammered on about for what felt like hours.

It was too late. He was in, and he closed the door behind himself.

“What’s going on?” she asked, although she had a strong feeling she knew exactly what this was about. What else could it be about?

She surveyed Hudson as he raised his eyebrows at her, clearly thinking her question was as pointless as she did.

Still, there was no way to guess precisely what he might have to say, and that worried her.

Tali didn’t know a whole lot about Hudson, even though it seemed he and her brother had spent almost all of their time together since they met. When they talked on the phone, Matt always preferred to ask her questions and hear about her life. He loved Alaska. He’d gone up for a summer of fishing after graduating high school and never looked back, but he always said “I hibernate with these hillbilly hermits eight months a year. Tell me about civilization! Tell me about your alien landscape of skyscrapers and food trucks and art museums with weird avant-garde displays that people pretend to like while drinking wine.”

When Matty did talk about himself, it was almost always about Ella.

Still, she knew Hudson was his right-hand man. They’d started working on the same commercial fishing boat at the same time all those years ago, for some old jerk of a captain. They had bonded quickly and bounced from boat to boat for a couple of years, always sticking together and enduring the difficulties that came their way through their solidarity, until they were able to afford a boat of their own...which they went in on with another good friend. Jack? Jake? She couldn’t even remember now.

She’d met him today too, hadn’t she? He was a bit older than them, kind and lovely, just like everyone else she had received condolences from. But just like everyone else, his face was a blur.

Hudson was the only one of the lot of them she could picture quite clearly, considering he was the first person she met on arrival. And he was a memorable person. She would able to picture him clearly even if he wasn’t currently looming over her, his stubbled jaw set, his expression full of distaste.

Over the years, Matt had described Hudson as “solid as a rock,” a “helluva guy,” “the best darts partner in the state,” and a number of other things.

She knew he’d practically raised Ella along with him after her mother took off when she was still an infant. More than once Tali had asked Matt when they were getting married, which only made Matt chortle and say things like, “I could do a lot worse than Hudson Quinlan. Why do you ask? Would a wedding be enough to convince my busy baby sister to take time out of her schedule to actually visit?”

Standing beside her now, Hudson certainly seemed solid as a rock, and the dark, stormy look on his face made her feel a lot smaller than five foot six.

“‘What’s going on?’” he asked incredulously, lip curling. “Oh, I don’t know, could be that I have a twelve-year-old kid in the front seat of my truck, absolutely sobbing her heart out because she’s just been told—a couple of hours after saying goodbye to her father—that she’s about to be dragged across the continent against her will by an aunt she doesn’t know? Just a thought!” he said, looking almost manic. “Are you absolutely insane?”

Tali’s shoulders stiffened. She had never liked being yelled at, and Hudson was definitely speaking at a volume that was well outside her comfort zone.

“Excuse me?” she asked, stepping back. “How dare you barge in here and start shouting at me like you own the place? Our family has just been hit with a completely unexpected tragedy and we are dealing with it as best as we—”

“So it’s true, then?” he interrupted.

His chestnut-brown hair was a lot messier and more disheveled than it had been earlier. Combined with the flannel jacket, she was starting to feel like maybe her crazy murderous mountain man theory wasn’t so off the mark.

He continued to fume at her, much too close for comfort, “She didn’t...misinterpret, or get the wrong idea? You really plan on taking that little girl away from everything she’s ever known during the worst grief she’s ever experienced?”

How dare he be so intrusive!

Tali folded her arms across her chest, refusing to be intimidated, although those muscular arms of his could probably snap her like a twig if he had the slightest inclination to do so.

“Yes, Hudson, I do,” she said. “I don’t have a choice. I realize it’s not going to be easy, but Matty decided I should be the one to care for her and—”

“I don’t think he meant ‘care for her’ by ripping her away from the only world she knows and her entire support system!” Hudson shouted, his green eyes flashing in fury.

Tali stood on her tiptoes in a futile attempt to add some height as she spat back, “Well, he wasn’t exactly clear on what he wanted. He never once discussed this with me, not once! He gave me no warning. Not a word. And it’s not like he worked in a damn office building where the greatest threat was a damn stapler accident either! He should have...God, I wish he had... I learned about this responsibility less than a day ago, Hudson! I am dealing with it as best as I can, so—”

He let out a dry laugh at that and looked pointedly around the room.

“By shouting at a child, kicking over a table, and drinking bourbon?” he snapped.

Tali bristled, almost hissing like a cat, “Excuse me, you judgmental bastard, but I did both of those things after she’d already left!” she spat.

“Yeah?” Hudson asked, walking over to pick up the broken mug. “Well this was his favorite mug. You might know that if you’d ever made it up for a visit in the last thirteen years. Ella’s going to lose it if she sees this.” He stood up with his back to her, and she saw him make a quick, angry wipe at his eyes before he stormed off toward the kitchen.

Tali followed after him. “What are you doing?” she asked as he threw open a drawer and started rummaging through it. His back was too broad for her to see what he was doing, but at last he seemed to find what he was looking for because he slammed it shut and stomped over to the kitchen table.

“Fixing it,” he said, not even looking at her as he sank into a kitchen chair.

“You know your way around the place pretty well,” she muttered. He looked up at that to meet her eyes with his piercing green ones. She felt they were looking right through her.

“Only people who know it better than I do would be Matty and Ella,” he said fiercely, not looking up. The tiny bottle of Krazy Glue looked even smaller in his massive hands. He unscrewed it with surprising grace and started to squeeze the glue along the parts where the handle should attach.

She watched him, focusing on her breathing, wanting to take this moment to regain control of the conversation.

Very quietly, still entirely focused on the mug, he said, “You can’t possibly take her away, Tali. This is her home. It’s where she belongs. The people here—we’re her family too. Maybe not by blood, but this is all she knows. She’s just lost her dad. You can’t take everything else away too.”

She sighed heavily. “Hudson, I don’t have a choice!” Tali said, more quietly this time. “I have a life in LA. And a job—a good one that I’ve fought tooth and nail for over the past three years to get.”

“Yeah, I heard about that,” he muttered. “So I guess being able to cook overpriced food for A-List celebrities is more important than giving your niece stability after her father’s been suddenly ripped out of her life? Nice priorities.”

Tali felt as though he’d slapped her across the face, even though he was still sitting on the other side of the room holding her brother’s mug in his hands.

That was horribly unfair of him, and a knife in her gut.

Is that what Matt would think if he could hear them? That her job meant more to her than her family? Because it wasn’t the case, of course it wasn’t, but...she’d spent all those years in culinary school, and the years after working insane hours for megalomaniac chefs who were awful people with so much to teach her that she’d put up with whatever she had to. And now she’d finally landed the dream job in a city where the competition was brutal.

Did it make her a monster not to want to give that up?

“Be honest, Tali,” he said. “Do you really want this responsibility?”

Tali hadn’t been expecting him to throw that question at her and she was so riled up that she answered without thinking. “Honestly? No. I don’t! I don’t want the responsibility of looking after a child I barely know! But it’s been given to me, so I just need to deal with it in whatever way I can. And as kind as it is for you to offer up your advice, I really don’t want or need it!”

The words burst out before she could stop herself, and she clapped a hand over her mouth after the last of them, as if that could undo her telling the truth.

He stared at her quietly, long and hard. She stared back, trying not to give in to the burning shame tearing her up from the inside.

“Listen. If you don’t want it, don’t take it on,” he said, stubbled jaw set. “No one can force you to if you decide to walk away. Matt was adored by every last person in this town. We look after each other here. There’s not a soul who wouldn’t take care of Ella like she was their own. I’ll do it, if that’s what she wants. I’ve known her since she wasn’t much bigger than my hand, after all. If not, there’s half a dozen others I can think of off the top of my head who’d be a nice fit. The parents of her friends. The Callaways. The Lawlers. Mabel Cotter—she used to look after Ella when she was just a little thing and we were out at sea. Doesn’t matter. Any of it would be better than hauling her off to a city crawling with millions of strangers. Who’s going to look out for her when you’re doing this fancy job of yours? Who is she going to talk to? How’s she supposed to connect with anyone when nobody there will have the slightest clue about what her life here looks like? How’s she supposed to hang onto memories of Matt when she can’t go any of the places they went, do any of the things they always did?”

Her chest hurt as he laid out a very clear alternative choice. It sounded just fine. Better for Ella by a long shot. She’d be happy. She’d be safe.

But she couldn’t just leave her, not even knowing she would be in good hands.

“I...he chose me,” she choked out. “Matty chose me. He wanted me to do this. I’m not going to abandon the last relative I’ve got.”

His expression darkened even further.

“So you’re really serious, then? You’re going to take her away?”

“I...yes. I mean, that’s the plan. She’ll adjust. LA could be good for her. She’ll have access to the best high schools, and great universities. Culture and diversity. Music. Art. What’s her future going to look like if she stays here? Sixty years freezing her ass off as a fisherman’s wife? She’ll be okay. She’ll be more than okay! It’ll open doors for her.”

He gave her a look of total disgust at that. “That’s a great list of excuses you’ve come up with to justify a decision that’s going to hurt an innocent kid. You know, when Matty would tell me about some of the shit you got up to when you were younger, about all the worry you put your ma through, I used to think you sounded real selfish. I told him as much, and it pissed him off something awful. He never wanted to hear a bad word said against you. He was so proud of how you ‘turned it around,’ so proud of the woman you grew up to be. But it seems to me you haven’t grown up at all,” he said, full of venom.

He set the mug down on the table and got to his feet. He walked toward her, crossing the room in just a couple of strides. “I’ll admit I haven’t seen much of the world, but I can still safely say you’re about the most selfish person I’ve ever come across. If you take that grieving little girl away from here, you’re going to break her. More than she’s already been broken. If you think that’s what your brother would want, then you didn’t know him at all.”

Her jaw dropped. It took all she had not to reach up and slap him across the face. In fact, all things considered, she was able to keep her tone calm and measured as she said, “Go fuck yourself, Hudson. After you get the hell out of my brother’s house.”

“Fine. I can’t stand to be here another minute anyway. Hope you manage to catch up on that lost sleep of yours. Hope your conscience lets you,” he said, voice dripping with bitterness. He turned his back on her, walked toward the kitchen door, and in an instant was gone.