The answer came too quickly.
Shehadn’tbeen thinking. She’d been feeling.
And at that moment she’d known she still loved him.
The realization pressed on her chest as she rolled onto her back again.
Nothing about that made sense.
Not with everything happening. Not with danger circling Refuge Cove. Not with her life unraveling three thousand miles away.
Especially when she still didn’t know whether she even had a future to go back to.
Or even if she wanted to go back if she could.
After another few minutes she finally gave up on sleep and slipped from bed.
The house remained dark and silent as she padded downstairs in leggings and an oversized sweatshirt. She found coffee waiting in the kitchen—the coffee pot was on a timer—and poured herself a cup.
Cup in hand, she retreated upstairs again and closed herself inside her room.
She curled into the corner of the bed and reached for her laptop.
She’d been avoiding it since arriving at Refuge Cove.
But she couldn’t hide in the mountains forever pretending Los Angeles no longer existed . . . even if part of her desperately wanted to.
The screen glowed to life, and notifications flooded across the display.
Missed calls. Unread texts. Dozens of emails.
Though she’d expected them, her stomach tightened.
Most of the messages blurred together quickly as she skimmed them.
Where are you?
Call me ASAP.
The press is getting worse.
Vince is saying you’re unstable.
Her jaw tightened at that last one.
A few entertainment sites had emailed interview requests directly to her public account. One subject line used the words MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS in all caps.
Rowan closed her eyes at the words.
Her coffee no longer tasted good. She shouldn’t have put this off so long. She should have known to do damage control, to not believe that if she stuck her head in the sand her problems would disappear.
After taking a deep breath, she kept scrolling. Then she stopped.
One email near the middle of the inbox caught her attention for reasons she couldn’t immediately explain.
Lauren Holt.
The last name hit first.
