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ONE
Sophie’s eyes flew open at the sudden pounding on the cabin door, her heart rate going from resting to jackrabbit speed in two seconds flat. She’d slept like the dead, feeling safe in the peaceful atmosphere of the wilderness retreat. It had been weeks since she’d trusted her surroundings enough to let down her guard and truly rest.
“Soph, are you up? The first activity starts in twenty minutes,” her friend Luna called from outside the cabin. “I need you there.”
Twenty minutes? What time was it? Sophie reached for her burner phone on the nightstand. Nothing showed on the screen. She hit the button on the side, trying to bring it to life. Still nothing. Well, that explained why her alarm hadn’t gone off.
“Shit,” she muttered as she squinted at the time on the microwave in the cabin’s kitchenette. Nine forty. A string of other curse words went through her head.
She’d missed her check in with Helen and Julia by almost two hours. They must be worried about her, and she didn’t like doing that to her friends. The three of them had been in hiding since they’d uncovered evidence of drug smuggling nearly a month ago. When they’d first hidden, one proof of life text a day between them was enough. The situation had become more dire after Helen’s kidnapping, making them increase their communication to morning and evening.
Sophie shuddered just thinking about that day. Her best friend had nearly died at the hands of Mason, a once trusted ally. Thankfully, Helen’s husband had used his Navy SEAL training and rescued her in time. As for Sophie herself, she might not be a trained warrior, but she was prepared. Usually. But a prepared journalist would have a back-up phone.
“Soph,” Luna persisted from outside. “Tell me you’re awake. Please.”
“Come in.” Sophie tossed the quilt aside and scrambled out of bed as the cabin door opened. Luna walked in, a luminous blonde goddess despite the early hour. Sophie was sure that her own curly, red hair was springing wildly in every direction.
“You okay?” Luna asked, concern on her face.
“Yeah, just overslept.” Sophie inspected the burner phone, removing the charging cord from the phone and jamming it back in. Something was supposed to happen, but it didn’t. She checked to make sure the cord was plugged into the wall socket. No lights or chirp. Next, she flipped on the bedside lamp to make sure the socket was working. A little glow filled the room, but the burner phone’s screen remained dark. Apparently, there was no easy fix for this.
“I need you to be at this activity.” Luna picked up a discarded sweatshirt and folded it neatly before putting it on the back of the plush loveseat. “It’s opening day, this is the first couple’s retreat I’ve hosted, and I’m nervous. The couples all seem nice, but I have to make a good impression if I’m going to get this venture off the ground.”
Sophie planned to show Luna support, but she wasn’t at the retreat because she had work to do on a relationship. Far from it. She hadn’t been seriously attached to anyone in more than five years. Being here was about having a safe haven where she could keep a low profile while she continued to investigate Benjamin Wilson’s drug smuggling operation. She planned to expose the museum director and his crimes the second she had hard evidence against him. She could already visualize the headline on the front page of the newspaper in large type with her name on the byline underneath. Despite weeks of her best journalistic effort, she didn’t have enough to go to print. It was frustrating as hell.
“You know I’m not actually trying to save a marriage,” Sophie reminded her friend. “Not sure how much of a positive impact I’m going to have when I present myself as half a couple because myhusband,” she put air quotes around the word, “didn’t show.”
“More than you know,” Luna insisted. You’re basically a plant, so you can pretend that you’re trying to save your, uh …relationship, and you’ve come here for ideas on how to do that. It’ll make it look like my counselors and I have the secrets to happily ever after.”
“There’s such a thing?” Sophie asked. She knew happy marriages were possible. Her own parents had always had a solid relationship, and her sister and brother were happily married. But she’d been a reporter long enough to see that as the exception rather than the rule. Infidelity, betrayal, violence, gaslighting—there were a million ways for relationships to go wrong, and she felt like she’d seen every one. It didn’t leave her with a lot of faith in the idea of happily ever after.
“Of course, there is,” Luna said. “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t believe it with my whole heart.”
Sophie wasn’t convinced, but she had promised to help her friend and former college roommate get this venture off the ground in exchange for a place to hide out while she kept working on her story. She’d fallen asleep the night before, following a lead that had potential for a big payoff. She had to get back at it, but more pressing was the need to contact Julia and Helen. They were bound to be panicking over her radio silence.
“I’ll do what I can, but where can I get a phone charger?” The day before she’d had to wiggle the cord to get it to charge. Now, it seemed like it wasn’t connecting at all. “I saw a little store in the main building when I arrived yesterday. Would they have one?” If she was very lucky, they stocked some electronic basics.
Luna shook her head. “We just have snacks, swim caps, and over the counter medicine in there.”
Weird combination and disappointing since getting a working cord was top priority. “What’s the nearest town?” Any big box store would do. She hadn’t passed any in the last hour of her drive to the retreat, but maybe there was something close by, just on a different route than the one she’d taken.
“Isolated location, remember? We’re surrounded by thousands of acres of forest. The whole point is to get away from the distractions of the world, reconnect with what’s important, and focus on the commitment to the one you love.”
From everything she’d seen, the retreat site was picturesque and lovely, but the location was turning out to be damned inconvenient. She’d been grateful to find that there was cell service when she’d arrived. But where was she going to get a charger? She hated to think that her friends were unnecessarily worried about her.
“If you need to make a call, you’re welcome to use my phone.” Luna pulled her phone from the pocket of her loose-fitting, linen pants and offered it to Sophie.
“Thanks, but I can’t. It would be a risk that I’m not willing to take.” Sophie had given Luna some information about why she needed a place to stay but sharing too many details with her friend would potentially put her in danger. Using her phone would create a similar issue. If someone connected the GPS on a borrowed phone to Julia and Helen’s burners, it might help them locate the other women. It was a long shot, but not a chance that Sophie was willing to take.
“If you get dressed in the next ten minutes, I’ll find you a charger. Someone on staff must have one that’ll work with your phone,” Luna said with a sigh.
“I’m on it.” Sophie grabbed jeans and a lightweight sweater from her open suitcase and headed into the cabin’s bathroom. She brushed her teeth, splashed water on her face, and ran a brush through her hair before pulling it into a high ponytail with a floral scrunchie, her current favorite.
Seven minutes later, she walked beside Luna on the way to the main lodge for the first event, which was a meet and greet over coffee. She needed the coffee, but she wasn’t so thrilled about starting the charade with all the other attendees. The evening before she’d encountered two couples. She’d given them only a minute of her time, enough for a brief hello before scooting off to her cabin.
What would it be like to be surrounded by couples when she was not only faking an estrangement but faking a relationship itself? She was decent at playing a role. Sometimes, taking on a persona helped her get the scoop on a story, but this seemed too much, especially since she didn’t want to spoil anything for Luna. Her pace slowed, making Luna shoot a glance in her direction.
“I don’t know about this,” Sophie said. “Are you sure I’ll be an asset for you? I feel like a liability.”
