Mia seesawed her hand in the air. “Big picture is fine. Little tiny details that make me question my existence on earth? That’s a different story.”
April laughed. Mia was funny. Always had been. She had a dry sense of humor April appreciated, and as one of the first out-and-proud lesbians April had ever met, Mia was a bit of an icon in April’s mind, a touchstone for all the baby queers in Clover Lake.
“Let me grab your key,” Mia said. “Your cabinmate hasn’t checked in yet.”
“No worries,” April said. “More time to get settled.” She’dknown from the jump that she’d have a cabinmate, who was also her co-teacher for the art classes. April was ready for the distraction, and excited to plan a fun and unique curriculum.
“Oh, hey, a guest mentioned you the other day,” Mia said as she riffled through a stack of papers with key cards clipped to the corners. “When they called to check their reservation.”
“Really?” April asked. “Who?”
“Nicola something. Let me see…” Mia moved over to the computer and clicked around. “Reece. Nicola Reece. Apparently she works at some fancy museum in London.”
“And she’s staying in Clover Lake?” April said.
Mia laughed. “Right? But I guess she came to town a few summers ago with her partner and loved it. She said you did a tattoo for her.”
April frowned, trying to recall the name, but her mind was blank. She did a million tattoos a year, and she remembered most of them, but she’d always been a visual learner. A name wasn’t going to do much for her. “I’m better with faces. And the tattoo itself. Did she say what it was?”
“No, but she’s taking all your art classes, so I’m sure you’ll see her then,” Mia said as she went back to searching for April’s information. “Ah, here we go.”
She handed April a dark green card with Cloverwild’s logo etched on it in gold—the resort name and a canoe stretched underneath the length of the word—along with a few sheets of paper. “That’s your itinerary, your cabinmate’s information, your class schedule and rosters, things like that. There’s a map of the property on the back. It’s all online too, but some people like a physical copy.”
April tucked the key into her pocket, then thanked Mia before heading for the door and her contraband cats, scanning the top paper as she went.
Her eyes snagged on a set of letters.
A name.
She froze, slowly turning back toward the desk.
“Hey, Mia?”
“Yeah, hon?” Mia asked, shuffling through another stack of papers.
“Is this right?” April’s heart had sped up, then left its designated place in her body, catapulting around like a pinball.
“Is what right?”
“This name.” April blinked at the two words. “My…”
Her cabinmate.
Her co-teacher.
A name she definitely knew, no face required.
“It’s all correct, whatever it is,” Mia said, who understandably didn’t have time for whatever meltdown April was currently experiencing. “Checked it myself this morning. Excuse me.” She frowned down at her phone, then hurried off toward the kitchen.
April barely noticed any of that though. Barely heard Mia’s answer. She stood in the middle of the room, fingers trembling on the papers, her vision blurring as she stared down at the name of the very person who had ruined her life three years ago.
Chapter
Two
Daphne Love hadn’twashed her hair in over two weeks.
Granted, her blond curls were naturally coarse and dry, requiring no more than a weekly wash day with some deep conditioning and high-quality gel, but by this point, she was far beyond the freedoms afforded by her hair type.
