Alaska Adventure Read Online Free

notice her full head of curly red hair and her bright blue eyes than the extra ten pounds she carried. Yet she still felt different. Between her natural tendency to be shy and her self-consciousness over being plump, she preferred being alone, pursuing what was important to her. When Saturday night rolled around, she was happy staying home by herself or with a friend, watching TV or renting a video—usually topping off the evening by ordering in a pizza or whipping up a batch of brownies.
    “Well, Laurel,” Cassie said, determined to stop letting her mind wander and instead concentrate on the phone conversation, “it sounds like you’ve got a great summer ahead of you.”
    “I’m already counting the days!” Laurel assured her. “How about you? Have you thought about what you’re going to do?”
    “I’m looking forward to spending three long months at home. Just think—no classes, no grades, and no exams. Oh, I’m still hoping to find a job somewhere in town. But mostly I want to paint. I’ve got a million ideas that I simply haven’t had the time to follow up on, thanks to that weekly paper in English Lit and those problem sets in Calculus and everything else that’s been keeping me too busy to breathe all semester.”
    The girls had just hung up when Cassie’s father poked his head in the doorway.
    “Sorry. I didn’t realize you were in here.”
    “That’s okay. I’ve finished talking on the phone.”
    “I wanted to get a book.”
    “Help yourself. We’ve got thousands.”
    Dr. Davisscanned the shelves, his head bent to one side as he read the titles on the books’ spines.
    “Who called?” he asked pleasantly.
    “Laurel.”
    “How is she? Is she enjoying spring break?”
    “She’s so focused on her summer that she’s barely thinking about spring.” Dragging herself off the couch and perching on the thickly padded arm, Cassie continued, “Laurel’s got this crazy plan. Believe it or not, she’s going to Alaska this summer.”
    “Really?” Dr. Davis sat down at his desk, putting the book he’d retrieved from the shelf off to one side. He fixed his gaze on Cassie, pressing the tips of his fingers together to form an inverted V.
    “There’s some research project one of the professors at the university is running. I think he’s a biologist.”
    “Actually, he’s an ecologist.”
    It took a moment for the meaning of her father’s words to register. “You mean you’ve heard about this project?”
    “Certainly. Ethan Wells and I have been friends for years. We met when we both served on the university’s undergraduate admissions committee.” He paused for a moment before adding, “As a matter of fact, he called me just last week.”
    “Really?” Cassie was barely listening. She was much less interested in hearing about her father’s friends at the university than she was in studying the outline of his silhouette, wondering how she could capture on canvas the odd shadows cast by the late-afternoon light.
    “It was you he wanted to talk about.”
    “Me?” Cassie’s interest was suddenly piqued. “Why on earth would some science professor I’ve never even met want to talk to me?”
    “He remembered a conversation he and I had about you last spring. It was back when you were trying to decide whether to go away to college or to stay right here in Mountainville.”
    Cassie squirmed uncomfortably.
    “Ethan told me he remembered my saying I was concerned about your reluctance to try new things,” Lawrence Davis went on.
    “Daddy,” Cassie protested, feeling her cheeks redden, “do you have to go around telling our personal business to total strangers?”
    “Ethan’s not a stranger,” Dr. Davis said gently. “He’s a friend.”
    Cassie was growing more and more uneasy. She wasn’t sure where all this was leading ... but the gnawing feeling in her stomach told her there was an excellent chance it would turn out to be a place she wouldn’t be pleased about.
    “Go