Chapter One
TALIA
The driver took the next curve too fast, and I pitched sideways across the seat.
I caught myself against the door before my forehead met the window.
“Are you trying to kill me before we get there?”
“No, Miss Talia, I’m not.”
“Then slow down.”
He eased off the gas. Dust rolled past the windows, turning sunlight gold between the pines.
I shifted my handbag onto my lap.
“Daddy really told you not to bring my suitcases?”
“Yes, he did.”
“And you listened?”
The driver met my eyes in the mirror. “He signs my checks.”
“He used to sign mine too. Look how well that worked out.”
My phone had lost service. The screen showed my father’s message.
DADDY:You’ll stay one week. Then we’ll discuss whether you’re ready to come home.
He intended to decide when I was ready, as though eight months of therapy had turned me into an appliance he could reset in Colorado.
Daddy had found the therapy bills I’d hidden among consulting reimbursements in his office. He wasn’t angry about the money. He was furious that I’d talked about myself—and our family—to someone he hadn’t approved.
By Saturday morning, my cards were frozen, my office access was gone, and he had given me two choices.
“You can return to Brooklyn under closer supervision, or spend one week in Colorado with the mountain man who accepted your placement through Mountain Mates.”
I’d chosen Colorado before Daddy finished his espresso.
The road leveled, and a cabin appeared beyond the trees.
“That’s it?” I asked.
The driver slowed near the front step. “That’s the address.”
There were no neighboring houses, no cars, and no sign of the man who’d agreed to receive me.
An engine sounded behind us.
A work truck came around the bend.
“Mr. Bricker is here.”
The truck stopped at an angle behind the SUV, blocking most of the road.
The man who stepped out looked like Jonah Bricker’s profile picture had been taken before someone informed him shirts came with buttons.
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