Amber McCormick navigated her compact rental onto the side of the road under the sign that announced she was entering Sapphire Falls. She pulled her cell

phone out of her purse and powered it on. She made it a rule never to drive with her phone on in case she was tempted to look at it. Not only was distracted driving incredibly dangerous, it was also against the law in most places now, and Amber was definitely a rule follower.

Immediately the screen lit up with missed texts and calls. No surprise—most of them were from her friend, and former roommate, Josie Price. She ignored the voicemails and dialed Josie’s number.

Her friend answered before the first ring.

“Seriously,” Josie said. “It wouldn’t kill you to keep your phone on.”

“No,” Amber answered smoothly. “But it could kill someone else. What’s up? I just got to Sapphire Falls.”

“Oh no.”

“Oh yes.” Amber ignored the prickle of concern that popped up. She wasn’t going to let anything ruin this trip. She’d finally planned something spontaneous. And the irony that she’d planned a spontaneous trip wasn’t lost on her, but for Amber, leaving on a mostly unplanned vacation to visit a friend in the middle of nowhere when what she really should be doing was deciding on what job offer to take was huge. Bigger than huge, really. And the last thing she needed was anything that would make her wish she hadn’t hopped on a plane that morning. “That was the plan,” she said to Josie. “Please tell me you remember.”

“I remember.”

“Good.” Relief washed over her.

“But I’m not there.”

Panic punched her in the gut. “What?” Amber forced herself not to get worked up. She always did that. She got worked up in the smallest situation and overreacted. But this situation isn’t small. “Where are you, Josie?”

“Well…here’s the thing.”

“Where are you?”

“Washington.”

“Washington? Why are you in Washington?”

“Amber, honestly. It’s not a big deal. I’ll be there in a few days and we’ll hang out just like we planned. I’m so sorry, but I have to deal with this or I could lose the deal. It’s not like I’m not going to be there soon. It’s just that—”

“How soon?” Amber did a quick calculation in her head of how long it would take her to get back to San Francisco. She could be on a plane and in….where? She had nowhere to go. For the first time in her life, Amber didn’t have a plan and that scared the hell out of her. But she couldn’t get worked up. At least not yet.

“I promise a few days at most. I have a real estate deal going sideways. I need to be here to sign the contract before I lose it. But it might take some massaging.”

Josie had been Amber’s roommate for their first two years of college before Josie had dropped out to join the real estate market. She’d actually been fairly successful, even with the bust of the market, because she got personally involved with every deal. She’d found herself a small niche as a house flipper in upcoming markets. Which was why she was in Sapphire Falls. The local economy was starting to rebound from the recession and was becoming a hot market for young couples. She’d found herself a little house in desperate need of a facelift and while the physical labor didn’t appeal to Amber in any way, a tiny town—tucked away from everything—did. At least for a few days.

“I promise I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Josie was saying. “Don’t even think about leaving before I get there.”

How did she know that had been Amber’s first thought? Because she knows you better than anyone. Amber would have laughed at herself and the situation she found herself in, if she wasn’t so freaked out. “Josie, I can’t just stay in your—”

“Oh my goodness,” her friend interrupted her. “Of course you can. Sapphire Falls is like the safest town ever. There’s zero crime and I bet you’ll be there not even five minutes before someone knocks on the door with fresh baked muffins. The key is under the pot next to the door.”

Amber’s hand flew to her mouth in horror.

“Don’t be all weird about it, Amber.”

“I’m not.”

Josie laughed. “Right. Well, trust me. There’s not really even a reason to lock the door at all, but it’s what everyone there does.”

“If everyone does it, you might as well not lock the door at all.”

“That’s what I’m saying.” Her friend laughed again. “Look, I have to go, but make yourself at home, okay? I put a pile of blankets on the couch and fresh towels in the bathroom. Whatever you need, help yourself.”

Amber sighed. She knew enough to know when she’d been beat. “Okay.”

“You’ll be fine, Amber. Love you.”

She hung up the phone and immediately powered it off before she stuck it back into her purse. She looked up the directions she’d printed. The house seemed to be easy enough to find. And she really didn’t have much of a choice anyway. She’d agreed to stay and the sun was already going down and it would be dark before long. She hated driving in the dark, probably more than she hated staying in strange houses alone.

Not that she’d ever done the latter.

She tilted the rearview mirror down so she could see her reflection. “Pull yourself together, Amber.” She took a deep breath. “You don’t need to be in control. Just trust. You will be fine.”

It was silly. Ridiculous really, but it was a mantra she’d been repeating to herself for the last few days ever since she’d decided to go “off plan” for a little bit. If Josie had heard her, she would have laughed. Hard. Of that, there was no doubt. But Amber didn’t care.

She was stuck. She’d been stuck for a long time and although she had no idea how to get unstuck, she did know that she couldn’t keep doing what she’d been doing.

Something needed to change.

The problem was, she still didn’t know what.

* * *

Cole Price was sure his little sister wouldn’t mind if he crashed at her house. Well, he was pretty sure Josie wouldn’t mind. After all, she’d said it would be okay. The fact that he’d screwed up on the dates and was a few weeks earlier than he’d told her he was coming wouldn’t be a big deal.

Probably.

Either way, it didn’t matter because she wasn’t home when he let himself in the front door with the key he’d guessed to be under the flower pot on the front porch. He’d laughed when Josie told him she was doing a flip in a small town in Nebraska. It didn’t really seem like a hotbed for real estate, but just driving through the little town of Sapphire Falls, even a guy like Cole, who was anti everything quaint and small town, could agree that it was probably a good investment. The town was cute, like a made-for-television movie. There seemed to be a handful of new businesses and people walking around everywhere. Small-town America—some people liked that. Cole wasn’t one of them, but he did like his little sister and after almost two years of backpacking and working in Australia, he actually missed her.

He unlocked the front door with a click and hauled his backpack and the one small bag of supplies that he’d stopped for inside. Josie told him the house needed a lot of work—most flips did—but she’d insisted that this one was livable. Her plan was to live in the house for a few months while she did the needed repairs. Cole had only taken a total of three steps into the house, but already he could tell the work would take longer than a few months.

The exterior paint was peeling badly, and he’d counted more than one shutter hanging askew. Never mind what he’d find when he looked a little closer at the roof and gutters. And the outside was one thing, but the inside was a whole other thing altogether.

He didn’t bother to take his boots off as he walked across the seventies gold-flecked linoleum into the kitchen, where he was greeted with more seventies influence in the way of mustard-yellow appliances and matching golden oak cupboards.

“Wow.” He shook his head and laughed as he opened the fridge to put his beer inside. “At least it works,” he said. “Nothing worse than warm beer.” And as he was on the subject…he grabbed a can from the six-pack before he put it on the empty shelf inside.

He’d already been stateside traveling for almost two weeks, visiting old friends and managing to avoid his family. Well, all of them except for Josie. He would have been happier to spend more time with his little sister, but she’d been so busy. He’d take what he could get before he headed back to Sydney. Australia would be even better than it already was if it wasn’t so damned far away. Although, the fact that it was on the other side of the world had definitely been one of the selling features of buying the original plane ticket almost two years earlier. The farther he could get from his family, their expectations, and a life of responsibility and predictability, the better. And it had worked, too. Living and working in Australia had been everything Cole thought it would be. He worked when he needed to, loved when he wanted to, and moved on when it was time.

The only downside had been missing his friends and of course, Josie, which was why he was a back for a visit. He could do without seeing his parents—they’d never had a close relationship—but when it came to his little sister, Cole had always had a soft spot. He hadn’t seen her since the last time he’d crashed on her couch when she was still in college, right before he’d left. They were definitely overdue for a catch-up. And by the looks of things, Josie would be able to use his help for a few days, too.

With his beer in hand, Cole walked through the house. It didn’t take long, and when he was done investigating the upstairs, which really only had one usable room at the moment considering the others were full of fixtures, boxes, and cans of paint, he plopped down on the couch. At least Josie had a little bit of furniture and a TV. He flicked on the television and flipped through the channels until he found a football game. It didn’t matter who was playing, especially because within thirty minutes, he could barely keep his eyes open. He managed to flick the television off before he stretched out and fell asleep in the dark room.