Emelia tried not to have a lead foot behind the wheel, as she normally did when she was angry. The last thing she needed was to get pulled over for speeding. She took a deep breath and clutched the steering wheel until her knuckles turned white and she got a cramp in her hand.

Being out on the open road was somewhat therapeutic for her, but it wasn’t enough to pacify the angry swells rolling through her belly. There was little traffic, and dusk was setting in. She could go faster.

The little robotic GPS voice chimed through the speakers, connected in the car through her phone via Bluetooth. She needed to make a right turn, onto the exit ramp. She was close to her destination, but she was nowhere close to locating the answers.

She pushed her blinker and came to a stop at the four-way intersection. She glanced around, but nothing seemed familiar. She was on the edges of the rural outskirts of Chicago. The drive had only been about an hour and a half long, but she still didn’t feel like she’d gotten far enough away to escape the hauntings of her past.

The wounds Trevor caused were still fresh. Had she overreacted by hastily rushing away without even discussing it more with him? She’d been so suffocated by his admission that she couldn’t bring herself to face it.

She was still the marketing director for the band after all. Sure, there was some harbored guilt about just going AWAL and scurrying away without a word like a thief in the night. She wouldn’t disappear forever, but she needed to digest all the torment wreaking havoc on her mind.

She’d left Chloe in charge, a comfort that allowed Emelia to feel less guilty about leaving.

She made a left turn at the four-way stop and slowed her speed. Her mom’s friend had a lake house out here, a sprawling, comfortable place that had housed many gatherings when she was a kid. Her cheeks heated when she remembered how she’d listened to Trevor play here once, hired by the family to do a private show for their family reunion.

If she could just find some kind of connection at that location, then maybe everything swimming in her head would begin to make sense. She had slowed down to almost a crawl. She leaned over the steering wheel to really hunt out the window.

Emelia was glancing around, attempting to locate any signs that would lead her to a direct path on the lake. The problem with the GPS navigation was, she didn’t have a specific address to punch into its receiver. She could only rely on the general direction of the lake itself. It had been years since she’d been out here.

After a few minutes of slow driving, she spotted a sign that read Lake Access and Boat Ramp Ahead, 2 miles.

Emelia breathed a sigh of relief. That was the exact kind of sign from the universe that she had been searching for. She followed the sign and came to a parking lot. She shifted the gear into park and leaned back against the headrest.

The moon was bright tonight a huge, milky stone looking circle in the sea of darkness swelling in the sky. Thankfully, it illuminated enough light to radiate off the water, projecting a tranquil and peaceful shimmer on the lake.

Pole lights lined the driveway, glowing yellow. Insects swarmed overhead the lamps, attracted to the light and the warmth. She drove up to the house and sat there for a while.

Finally, Emelia stepped out of the car and locked it behind her. Her headlights blinked in response and the little horn made a beeping sound. The gravel crunched under her Nike tennis shoes. The world was silent. The only sound around her were the crickets and cicada’s, chirping wildly in the trees surrounding the lake.

She was alone with her thoughts. She wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. Heaving an enormous sigh, she walked to the edge of the boat ramp. There was a dock there, and several boats anchored in.

The peaceful sound of the water lapping against the wooden dock lulled her into a much more serene state of mind than she’d been in before arrival. This kind of tranquil setting was exactly the kind of thing that she had been hoping to capture. She’d made the right decision to make the journey.

Emelia had been independent nearly her entire life. She’d acquired a job at her father’s best friend’s general store at the age of fifteen. She’d been working her ass off ever since. Emelia didn’t take hand-outs from anyone, nor did she expect to receive any free rides in the process of life.

She took pride in her accomplishments and tried to learn from her failures. She was always the type of girl to have the capabilities of picking herself back up and dusting the dirt off her knees and hands.

She was strong because she had to be. She could pick up the pieces when her life broke, and she could throw away the things that shattered her heart. She knew exactly how to move on. She stared at the shimmering water as if all the answers of the universe were underneath the surface.

That was impossible, of course, she knew that. A gentle breeze rolled softly through her hair and billowed loose strands around her shoulders, tickling her neck. She plucked her shoes from her feet and slipped them into the water.

The liquid was cool and refreshing against her skin. She lapped them there, swirling her feet into rhythmic circles. She stared at her feet under the water. She was disgruntled by the fact that she’d allowed two men to mess with her head in the way that they already had.

She wouldn’t permit their mistakes from taking roots and becoming anything more than seeds inside of her mind. She couldn’t bury herself in the stress of a relationship.

Then again, every time she closed her eyes she saw Trevor. His hauntingly handsome eyes burrowed inside of her mind. His laughter and his witty charm made her spine tingle with delight.

She wrapped her arms around herself squeezing delicately. She imagined that it was Trevor’s arms instead of her own. He swallowed her with protection that she craved. She breathed in deep. She smelled his cologne, and it awakened her hungry senses. She was filled with desire for him no matter how angry she was at him.

Emelia knew that Trevor cared about her. Even when he tried to talk to her about the ghosts of his past, she could see the remorse etched across his face and the sorrow lingering in his eyes. Guilt and shame already plagued him, undoubtedly. Was she making it worse by fleeing the confrontation instead of discussing it like a normal adult?

The longer she sat there, the more she began to doubt her hasty actions. Should she just give Trevor another chance? He seemed to be more level-headed than most of the celebrities she had met. He didn’t have the same interest in partying all the time. He seemed to care only about her happiness.

He’d done her a favor by telling her the truth. She didn’t want to be stuck in a dead-end relationship with someone who didn’t care about her. She’d given Grant chance after chance after they’d endured explosive fight after fight. She and Grant were like oil and water, but she continued to date him.

Trevor had made mistakes of his past, and now he was repaying them, but she believed him when he said he would never do anything intentionally to hurt her. She was still torn, and no closer to figuring out what she wanted to do. She could either choose with her head or her heart.

Both just needed time to heal, and then she could decide.