CHAPTER 1
MILA
Nerves run through me as I stare at my phone. When will they be calling me? Would it be today, or is it going to be another day?
“You’re okay,” I whisper to myself as my leg starts bouncing.
I’m really going to do this. It’s about time I put myself first, but am I really going to go to Whiskey River Mountain Lodge?
My friend Aiden, who’s a doctor, told me to come up and visit him. To get away from everything in life and relax some. When was the last time I took time to relax?
Ring. Ring. Ring.
I jump in my seat, my eyes zeroing in on my phone buzzing on the table. Aiden’s name appears on the screen. People in the coffee shop look toward me.
“Sorry,” I whisper as I bow my head in their direction before picking up my phone.
“Mila, you’re still coming, right?”
I open and close my mouth several times, trying to find the words. Yes, I am. No, I’m not.
I shouldn’t be going. I’m almost forty years old. This place was a kinky place, and I hadn’t been to one in years… Twenty years.
“Mila?” he calls my name. “Are you okay?”
“Y-yes,” I whisper.
“You aren’t backing out, right?” Aiden asks. “We haven’t seen each other in five years. I really want you to come to Whiskey River Mountain Lodge and see where I work. I want you to have a little vacation and get away from the stress in life. You need it. Especially after the call I just got.”
“You don’t need to talk about that,” I mumble, closing my eyes and leaning on the back of my chair.
He raises his voice. “Yes, I do! How long were you going to keep it from me? From everyone?”
“Aiden,” I say gently.
“No, Mila. It’s serious. The nurse called me… your emergency contact. How could you not be taking care of yourself?” he asks. “What have you been doing? How has your boss been treating you?”
I suck in a breath as he mentions my boss. After that incident, he gave me two options: be fired or leave so it wouldn’t be on my record.
But no one knew about it.
No one could find out about it.
“I swear if your boss doesn’t give you time off to come here, then I’m going to fly down there and have a talk with him,” Aiden grumbles. “How many hours have you been working a week?”
“Sixty,” I whisper.
Looking up at the ceiling, tears threaten to spill down my face. I’m so exhausted and have been for years, but I couldn’t do anything about it. Ineededto work. I needed to keep my mind off the guilt eating me up inside, and Chad took advantage of it. He saw how eager I was to work and just kept piling things on my plate, even if they weren’t in my job description.
“SIXTY?” Aiden yells, and I pull the phone away from my ear. “Unacceptable. Did he grant you the time off?”
“Yes,” I lie.
“How long did he give you? After all those hours you worked—and I have a feeling this has been going on for over a year—you have at least two weeks of vacation on top of your sick days and the PTO you start with,” he rambles.
“Two weeks, but he said if I needed a third week that I could have it.” I feel like shit lying to Aiden like this. If he knew, I would be in big trouble. My bottom cheeks clench at the thought.
No.
