by Holly Jaymes
My father had wanted to hold onto the business, but he was having difficulty, not because he wasn’t capable, but because he was broken down. I didn’t help when I told him my plan to stop working for him and leave my job. At first, he took it as abandoning the family. Luckily, Parker helped dad see that my absence freed up some money so he could pay the rest of his staff.
While I hated that financial troubles in my father’s business were what had prompted my current freedom to pursue my goals, I couldn’t help but feel elated at finally being able to create my best life.
Over the last nine years, I’d lived in my parents’ weekend home, now for sale, which allowed me to save money. Part of that money was going to fund this four-week retreat in the mountains, and then hopefully, the rest would be invested in my clothing line.
It was September, which meant it was still hot, but the humidity was starting wane as fall approached. The leaves weren’t changing yet, which was probably why I’d been able to book the monthlong stay in the historic lodge outside of Front Royal, Virginia. It butted up to a national park, which was always busy in autumn with tourists who wanted to see the changing fall foliage. It was not that I’d be hiking or camping. No, my outdoor activities had only ever been swimming in the river outside my parents’ weekend home. But I did hope the lack of people and clean, and fresh air would help me focus on getting my business plan written, designs drawn, and research of all the support services I’d need such as garment manufacturers.
I’d left my house later than I’d hoped, and it was nearly dusk when I pulled into the parking lot of the log and stone lodge built over a hundred years ago. I smiled as I looked at it nestled in the pretty green protection of trees. While the back was wooded, the front looked out over the lovely Shenandoah Valley. The picture the scene made was quaint and beautiful as a postcard.
I exited my car and inhaled the fresh air. Yep, I was on the right path. The lobby was open and rustic, decorated with pictures and artifacts from the past, such as old snowshoes.
“Welcome,” the man behind the desk said as I approached. “How can I help you?”
“I’m Hope Caldwell. I have a reservation.”
The man looked down and started tapping away on his computer. Not everything at the lodge was old. My research indicated that it had updated and remodeled many times over the years, but more recently, it added a few spa features and a top-notch restaurant. I’d booked a suite with a kitchenette since I didn’t want to waste too much money dining out.
“I’m sorry, Ms. Caldwell, I don’t have a reservation in your name. Would you have used a different one?”
“What?” That wasn’t possible. “I booked this several weeks ago.”
He shrugged. “Through our reservation line?”
“I don’t know.” I pulled out my phone looking for the email receipt of my reservation. When I found it, I handed it to him.
He looked at and then winced. “You booked through a third party. It appears they didn’t complete the transaction with us.”
“How is that possible? Where did my money go?”
“I’d suggest contacting them.”
I stared at him in disbelief. Months of planning, and now that I was on the verge of taking the next step, I was blocked. “In the meantime, can I book a room? I want to stay for a month.”
He shook his head. “The Pioneer Jamboree and the Foode Fest are both this week. We’re booked.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me. What am I going to do?”
“There are several hotels and motels in Front Royal. They might be booked too, but it’s probably your best bet.”
I wasn’t a woman prone to weeping, but it felt like my dream was slipping away again, and my eyes started to well with tears.
Pull it together, Hope. All successful businesses had obstacles. I knew my success would be directly related to how well I could manage setbacks.
“Fine.” Even though it wasn’t this man’s fault, I found it difficult to be civil. I left the lodge and went to my car. “Now what?”
He was right about finding a hotel room. Since it was getting dark, my best option was to head back to Front Royal and hope there was a room.
I started my car and headed down toward town. It wasn’t very far in miles, but the road was curvy, and the speed limit was forty-five, so it would be totally dark when I arrived. If there was nothing there, I might just have to drive the nearly two hours back home. My heart would break if I had to do that. While I could have my retreat at home, I’d been looking forward to getting away and focusing one-hundred percent on starting my business.
I was coming around a curve that had a slight uphill, so I pressed a little more on the gas, but nothing happened. I tried again, but nothing.
Then my headlights went out.
“Oh, God.” I looked at the road ahead. It wasn’t pitch black out yet, but I definitely needed my lights. Next, the dash lights went out.
I tried not to panic, but aside from the fact that I was going over forty miles an hour in a car that was dying, was that I was on a dark country road by myself. I’d seen all the slasher movies growing up. Sometimes that sort of horror happened in real life. This felt especially scary as a woman alone on a dark, not highly trafficked road.
And then my engine died.
Now I panicked. I scanned the road, trying to find a place to pull over. There wasn’t much of a shoulder, but I saw a small pull out a few hundred feet ahead. I coasted and pulled into the tiny area. I stopped the car and looked at my dashboard. I wanted to see if there was any indication of what was going on.
I knew I had gas, but I was pretty sure that running out of gas wouldn’t have caused all the electric mechanisms to go out. I turned the key to off and then on again, but the car remained eerily quiet.
I rummaged in my purse and pulled out my cell phone. Thankfully, it still held a charge. I found the number for AAA stored in my contacts and poked the call option. I put the phone to my ear but didn’t hear anything. Pulling the phone down, I looked at it and saw that I had no reception.
What was one notch up from panicking? Whatever it was, I was feeling it. I sat in the car, willing my brain to settle down so I could think.
I remembered my brother telling me that Mitch had moved out to this area a few years ago, maybe I could call him. While the humiliation of our last encounter stayed with me, it had been long enough that he’d probably forgotten it. Plus, I was stranded in the dark on a deserted road. I couldn’t let old grievances get in the way of safety.
But then I remembered my phone didn’t work, and if it did, I didn’t have his number. I supposed my brother did, but I’d have to call him to get it.
The other option was to turn my hazards on, assuming they’d work, and wait for help. But all that I could think of was some serial killer stopping. Perhaps I should walk to get help. The question was, which was closer, the town, or the lodge? And did bears hunt at night? What about bobcats?
Perhaps my best option was to hide in my locked car until morning. It was still September so it wouldn’t get too cold out, even in the mountains. Unable to decide what to do, I sat in my car. Why hadn’t driver’s ed covered this topic? Or self-defense class?
I didn’t know how long I was there when I found myself going stir crazy. No cars had passed, and I still wasn’t sure of the wisdom of stopping one if it did.
I picked up my phone and tried to call again. No luck. Maybe if I got out of the car, I could find a patch of air that carried a cell tower signal. I got out of the car. The air was cooler but pleasant. It would have been perfect for sitting on a deck overlooking the Shenandoah, drinking a glass of wine.
Instead, I was stranded on the side of the road. I held my phone up. There were no bars. I moved to the stone wall built to prevent people from falling down the mountain. No bars. I looked across the road. There was no turnout, but there was a shoulder. Since no cars were coming, I could safely cross and see if perhaps that little spit of land had
cell reception.
Thank goodness I was wearing my black and gold sneakers. I couldn’t run a marathon, but I could trot across the road. I reached the other side and held my phone up, and still nothing.
“Dammit.” It was then I realized that I was well and truly stuck. I’d thought it before, but at that moment, I was alone and vulnerable in the world. It was the scariest feeling I’d ever had in my life.
Still unsure as what to do, I started back to my car as that was the safest place for me to be until I could decide my step. I was almost to my car when I heard the engine of another vehicle. It was loud and rough, like a pickup truck, and in my mind, that meant it was likely a man, instead of a woman.
Do I flag it down and hope it’s not a serial killer?
Book 3: Chapter 2—To the Rescue
To the Rescue
Mitch
I was sitting on one of the deck chairs in my mother’s backyard, watching my dog, Duke, a German Shepard I’d rescued three years ago, play with my mother’s dog George. There was a little less running room ever since my brother Gabe had to arrange for a pool to be put in after my other brother, Nate, had one installed for his wife’s parents. My mom had seen how much Hallie’s folks enjoyed theirs, so she had to have one too.
“Besides there’s a grandchild on the way. I need something fun for them to do at my house,” she’d said.
That grandchild was here now. I looked over where Gabe and Samantha sat on the deck swing cradling their six-month-old daughter, Annabelle.
“I suppose Nate and Hallie will be next,” my brother Will said coming to sit next to me on the deck. We’d already eaten dinner together as my family did every Sunday night.
I glanced at Nate and Hallie, chatting with my mother. Nate held Hallie’s hand and occasionally would bring it to his lips for a kiss. It was sweet, although I’d never tell him that. We were brothers, which meant my job was to hassle him.
“Probably,” I agreed. The scene was a happy one, and yet, I felt bad my father hadn’t lived to see it. I was sure he’d have been thrilled to see Gabe and Nate settled and having families.
“You’ll be next after that,” Will said, taking a sip of his beer.
I looked at him. “I doubt it. I live secluded in the woods. I don’t run into many women. You, big brother, will be next.”
He shook his head. “As happy as I am for them, I can’t see myself in their position.”
I had to agree with that. At one time, I had, but that time had come and gone. There was a time, I’d thought a lot of things about my life and its possibilities. Since then, I’d learned that the world could be a harsh place. I wasn’t ever again going to put my faith and trust into another person. The only people I could count on were my family.
“How’s that extension on your place working out?” Gabe called over to me.
“I’ll know for sure if any of y’all come and stay.” I had a good size home tucked away in the woods of the Blue Ridge, but recently had Gabe help me add on a guest suite. I wanted a place that was part of the house, but also separate from it where my mother or my brothers could come and stay and feel like they had their own space.
“Maybe we could come,” Hallie said, looking at me and then Nate.
“The leaves will be changing soon. It might be a nice weekend getaway,” he agreed. A year ago, my brother Nate, with the help of his then-assistant Hallie, took his pharmaceutical company public. Overnight he’d become richer than he’d already been. He’d made me and the rest of the family richer too as we’d all bought stock.
“What are you doing these days, Mitch?” my mother asked. It was her way of asking if I planned to ever work again. I’d retired at twenty-seven after selling the tech company I’d started in my dorm room as a junior in college. I’d thought about going public with it, but lies and betrayals had me saying fuck it to the world. I sold the company for over a billion dollars and left to live in the woods.
I wasn’t completely idle, though. Occasionally I’d help my brother Will out in his security firm with tech issues. I did a little consulting when I was feeling bored. Mostly I volunteered with the National Park Service doing things like keeping the trails clean and recording wildlife in the area.
“Same old things.”
“Slacker,” Nate quipped.
I shrugged. “I imagine you could slack off too if you wanted.” Then again, the world needed Nate and his continued research of illnesses like multiple sclerosis and the development of medicines to help people who suffered. “Of course, your contribution is much more needed than my skills.”
“Don’t sell your skills short,” my mother said, frowning at me.
“She’s right,” Will said. “Your skills have helped me keep assholes from doing bad things.”
I took a drink of the water I’d switched to drinking after dinner since I had a long drive back home. “There’s a lot of people who can help with that.”
We chatted for a bit longer, but not wanting to get home too late, I finally stood and prepared to leave. My mother walked me to the door, as she always did since I was usually the first to leave because I had a longer drive.
“I worry about you all by yourself out in the woods, Mitch,” she said as I made my way to the front door.
“I’m good, mom.” I opened the door and let Duke out. “Go to the car, Duke,” I said to him. He bounded out the door toward my SUV.
“Are you going to hide out there by yourself forever?”
Yep, I thought, but knew she wouldn’t want to hear that. “I’m happy out there. You should come and visit.”
“Maybe I will.” She hugged me, and then I headed out.
In my SUV with Duke in the front seat next to me, I wove my way through the streets and roads of northern Virginia. Even on a Sunday evening, they were crowded, and it seemed to take forever before I reached Interstate 66 to take me west toward Front Royal.
Although traffic moved along, it wasn’t until I reached the slopes of the Blue Ridge that I felt like I could take a full breath again. Since it had just turned dark, I knew the September heat and humidity would be down now that the sun was gone, so I rolled down both my windows. Duke stuck his head out, and I laughed.
“You feeling the need for fresh air too, Duke?”
He turned his head to me and barked, which I took to mean, “Yes, I prefer nature to the city too.”
I finally reached Front Royal, and then headed south up into the less inhabited parts of the Blue Ridge. The road was dark and empty, just like I liked it.
“We’ll be home soon, Duke.”
I was about midway to the Old Blue Lodge, when I came around a corner, and my lights caught a car in the turnout on the northbound side of the road. There wasn’t much of a view at night, but perhaps it was a couple of teenagers making out. I planned to drive by until I saw a female figure walking to the vehicle holding her phone up as if she was trying to get service.
“Good luck with that.” As I passed, I looked out and felt a niggle of familiarity. I shook it off. No one I knew would be out here. But I couldn’t shake the idea that perhaps she was in trouble. I pulled off the road, made a U-turn, and then headed back down to the turn-out.
When I reached the area, I pulled in behind the dark sedan. I turned my lights down so I wouldn’t blind her.
“Stay here, Duke,” I said as I opened my door and climbed out. I strode toward the woman. “Do you need—” I stopped short. “Hope?”
She stopped too and looked at me in surprise. “Mitch?”
Had I never fucked her, I would have immediately hugged her. But since I had touched her, and it ended badly, I wasn’t sure I should. She was the one who finally, awkwardly, gave me a quick hug. It was long enough that I could note that she still smelled good.
Having sex with my friend Parker’s sister was something that should have never, ever happened. I regretted betraying him like that from the moment my orgasm ended. And yet, another part of me was glad it happened beca
use touching Hope Caldwell had been the highlight of that summer. In fact, in some ways, I resented Parker because I would have liked to have spent more time with Hope as more than her friend.
Although I’d been Parker’s friend first, since they were twins, she was often around, and we’d become friends too. I’d remembered the summer when we were fifteen and hanging out at the river when I’d seen her in a blue bikini that matched her eyes that I’d gotten a hardon. It was the first of many I’d have over her.
It was frustrating to have a thing for my friend’s sister and not be able to do anything about it. Then nine years ago, I did do something about it. I’d fucked her on the banks of the river, and it was beautiful and physically satisfying until I remembered that her brother would kick my ass for it.
I didn’t handle it well and had always regretted that. But as Hope looked up at me now, I realized she’d probably forgotten it, or at the very least, relegated it to the past. She didn’t still look angry. Then again, she appeared to be stranded on the side of the road, so maybe she wasn’t in a position to be angry.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
She shook her head and inhaled a deep breath as if she was trying to keep it together. “My car just stopped, and I can’t get phone service to call for help.”
“Let me drive you where you need to go. Are you up at the lodge?” Then I realized she was facing toward town. “Or back at Front Royal.”
“I was supposed to be at the lodge, but for some reason, they didn’t get my reservation. I was going to see if I could get a room in town.”
I knew two fairly good-sized events were taking place this week, and it would be difficult to find a room if she didn’t already have a reservation.