Chapter 1

Rachel sighed and thumbed her phone.

“Will you put that thing down,” Sarah said from the front passenger seat, “He’s not going to apologize. Accept it, you’re better off without that creep.”

“I know, I know!”

Rachel discarded her cell and stared out the back seat car window. The inhabited world receded ever further. Heavily forested hills flanked the winding road to the log cabin that would be their home for the weekend.

“It’s going to be so much fun up there.” Sarah’s eyes twinkled as she looked at her fiancé for confirmation. “Barbecue, hot chocolate and marshmallows, scary stories ... just like in high school.”

Jake nodded his agreement but kept his attention on negotiating the climb into the dusking woods.

Rachel smiled, despite herself. She was a few years younger than her friend, who had just turned thirty, but she’d always been the more mature of the two. Seeing Sarah so excited over this weekend getaway made her equal parts exasperated and giddy.

Yes, she could certainly use the distraction. A few days away from work, away from her nagging mother, and a few days away from that no-good cheating boyfriend of hers. Ex-boyfriend. Water under the bridge.

“You’re right, and I’m sorry. I don’t mean to spoil the fun.” She threw her phone over her shoulder into the luggage compartment and leaned forward between the two front seats.

“Tell me all about this cabin trip.”

“Well,” Jake said, turning the wheel and steering his 4x4 up a steep hairpin turn, “The cabin belongs to a client of a firm I’ve done some freelance programming for. Supposed to be the best hiking trails in the area. Can’t wait to see those views up there.”

“We’re not here just to go hiking,” Sarah intervened. “I am going to make us all a fabulous dinner. We can build a fire—I’m sure the cabin has got a fireplace—and I’ll bake bread for breakfast. And then I want to soak for hours and hours in the hot tub with a good book.”

“It’s got a hot tub?”

Rachel hoped that sounded like a casual question. In truth, she was quite self-conscious about her figure. The idea of getting in a hot tub made her stomach churn.

She eyed her oldest friend’s profile. Sarah was a natural beauty. Slim, with toned legs and ample boobs, an angelic face framed by sumptuous blond curls. Looking at herself in the rearview mirror, Rachel knew her looks were why she always ended up betrayed and hurt. No matter how much a man said he loved a soft belly and big ass, in the end, he was only trying to convince himself. Why else would Dan have cheated on her with the skinniest bimbo at the office?

Jake was handsome enough, in a nerdy, IT-crowd kinda way. He and Sarah had been together for about three years. Just before summer, Jake had popped the question. This trip was supposed to be their engagement celebration, the two of them together. They only asked her to tag along because they took pity on their fat, ugly, betrayed friend.

Before she could burst into tears, she dropped back into the seat and pretended to care about the sunlit landscape.

“We’re almost there,” Jake said. “It’s just beyond that rise.”

Sarah turned around in her seat and reached for Rachel’s hand.

“No more sulking from you, young lady. You and I are going to have fun to last us a lifetime.”

None of them suspected how true that would prove to be.