Prologue
Forrest
“Ten...nine...eight…”
The countdown echoed from the street below as I frantically typed in my credit card information. For whatever reason, the compulsion to hit submit just as the clock struck midnight and the new year began overwhelmed me. New year. New start and all that bologna.
“Three...two…one.”
Submit.
And just like that, I turned the crappy end to the old year into an amazing start to the new—at least in theory.
It was official. In only a few short weeks, I was going to be hiding, I mean, relaxing in an isolated cabin surrounded by nothing but trees, snow, and possibly a few pesky squirrels. If all went well, I’d be able to finish my novel and forget all about the catastrophe that was my love life.
Not that love was ever present in said love life. No, it was more a combination of wishful thinking, a dash of lust, and a hella lot of awkwardness, the culmination of it being my New Year’s Eve break up brought to you by none other than your friendly neighborhood text message.
I think we should stop seeing each other.
Which of course was delivered as I was taking my shower to get ready for our New Year’s Eve date, the one where I had already booked dinner, dancing, and a night in a fancy hotel. I included all the bells and whistles that you’d expect in a made-for-television movie. Only those always ended in either a happily ever after, and there was no happily ever after for Chris and me.
Not that there had been a happily ever now for us, honestly. Truth be told I was just holding on to what we had because it was easy—easyish anyway. He was available to have dinners out, was easy on the eyes, and the sex wasn’t awful. Sure, I didn’t always knot with him, but eh—knotting was overrated.
I was such a stinking liar. Knotting was most definitely not overrated, and if I had had any decent decision-making skills whatsoever, I’d have left him months ago. Instead, I waited until he dumped me, on a holiday of all times.
I glanced at the listing one last time before shutting down the computer. Mapleville was only three hours away, but was night and day compared to the city I lived in. There was not much there, and it looked like the only thing to do was outdoor activities, which were far from my idea of fun in the winter, and getting work done.
Worked for me since I needed to get my novel written if I had any hope of keeping my agent off my back.
Lulu meant well. Not in the way someone looking out for my best interests kind of well, but in the let’s be successful I’m going to motivate you or die trying kind of way. She was sure I could parlay the success of my mystery trilogy into some sort of movie deal if I could stay relevant long enough. Her words, not mine.
She wasn’t wrong that my mysteries could make for interesting fodder on the big screen. They probably would, but so would about fifty other mysteries released at the same time. It wasn’t enough to have a good story, you needed to catch the right eyes, which is why I left all of that to her. I was happy working alone most of the time and with minimal schmoozing.
I folded my now shut-down laptop and wandered over to the window to get a view of the city below. People were still hugging in the street, all happy about the New Year and most likely pretty stinking drunk. I had to admit the energy where I lived was lively, and seeing so many people enjoying themselves, even from afar, lightened my spirit.
I pulled out my phone and added my week away in my calendar, making it official before padding off to bed.
I’d barely climbed in when Snowflake decided to make her nightly appearance for cuddles. She started purring the second my hand made for her chin. I couldn’t help but smile. There was something about Snowflake that just brought out the warm fuzzies, which was probably how I ended up with her in the first place.
If you’d asked me even six months earlier if I was a dog or a cat person, I’d have quickly replied, “No.” But then I was walking up to my apartment the first week and over treads Snowflake all purring and adorable, and, next thing I knew, I was at the vet’s shelling out all my money to get her wormed, vaccinated, and much to her dismay, spayed.
According to the super, she’d been left in one of the apartments when a family moved, and every time he tried to catch her to take her to the shelter, she outmaneuvered him. Proving that A, she was smart and B, she could read me as a sucker a mile away. I was okay with that.
“The year is going to be a good one.” I scratched under her chin as I nestled under my down comforter. “We are going on vacation, yes we are.”
Technically, the site had said dogs welcome, but cats were smaller, and what was the worst they could do? Kick me out? It was one of those rent-someone-else’s-home-through-a-third-party sites, so chances were I’d never meet them anyway, and I did pay the dog deposit. And there was no way I was going to leave her in the kennel, not after she’d gotten fleas the first and only time I boarded her there.
She rolled over onto her back, waiting for her belly rub, proving she was mostly a dog.
“You are going to like it. There is a fireplace, and it’s in the woods, so you probably will have plenty of mice to catch.” She just soaked in my attention as my eyes started to sag. Before I gave up and allowed slumber to take over, I once again repeated what was quickly becoming my mantra. “This year is going to be amazing.”
It was, too. I could feel it. Maybe last year’s awfulness between moving to the city on a whim and discovering I was so very much not a city alpha was for the best. Maybe I needed things to be less than awesome to force me to make a change. I still wasn’t sure what that change was, but my gut told me Mapleville was going to play a key role.