Chapter 1
Lexie
Idonotcryon the drive up the mountain.
Mostly because the road twisting through Lovestone Ridge is narrow enough to require both hands on the wheel and all of my attention. Also because my sister made me promise. Very specifically.
No sad breakup playlists. No mascara disasters. No dramatic pit stops for gas station chocolate and ugly sobbing.
Just fresh air, a quiet cabin, and one whole weekend to breathe.
That is what she told me on the phone three nights ago after I called her in tears and confessed that, somehow, my life had managed to explode all at once.
“You need out of the city for a few days,” Gaby had said in that bossy big-sister voice that usually means resistance is pointless.“Matt’s family still knows people in Lovestone Ridge. His cousin rents out cabins there. I’m booking you a cabin.”
“You’re what?”
“I booked it,” she repeated. “It’s cute, it’s private, and it has a fireplace. You’re going.”
Which, honestly, had been exactly what I needed after losing my job and getting dumped in the same miserable week.
Getting fired from my assistant job at the online magazine had been humiliating enough, especially when I had not even been the one who made the mistake. But somehow, my boyfriend of two years still found a way to make my job loss an inconvenience for him.
For him.
I grip the steering wheel tighter and squint through the windshield at the long ribbon of road ahead.
The nerve of that man still makes my eye twitch.
Six months ago, Darren lost his own job and assured me it was temporary. He said he just needed a little time. Said he’d pay me back. Said couples supported each other and maybe I should stop stressing so much. So I covered his groceries. Then utilities. Then his rent. Then some mysterious emergency that turned out to be a new gaming headset.
All while he spent most of his days in his apartment, playing video games in his boxers.
And then, when I told him I’d been fired for something I didn’t even do, he stared at me for a long second and said, “I just think maybe this is too much for me.”
Too much for him.
I had actually laughed at first because what else was there to do?
Then he followed it up with, ‘You can’t expect me to carry both of us, Lex. I have my own stress. And honestly, you should’vebeen grateful I stayed this long. Most guys aren’t exactly lining up for a curvy girl with this much drama.’”
That part had hurt.
He knew exactly where to aim.
I exhale slowly, forcing the ache back down where it belongs. I am not giving Darren one more second of my mountain weekend.
Ahead of me, a wooden sign appears between two towering pines.
Welcome to Lovestone Ridge.
Population: Small.
I almost imagine a second line underneath.
Charm: stupidly high.
A surprised laugh slips out of me.
