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JUNE

I was lost.

That much I knew for sure.

Yet, I didn’t know how toundothat fact. Hiking to the lake to celebrate summer solstice seemed like a good idea.At first.

I sat by the water, wrote down my manifestations for the new season, and got lost in a comfort read while the sun kissed my skin.

But then it came time for me to walk back, and I realized all that precious battery power I’d used to rereadGloryfor the third time had completely depleted my phone down to one percent.

Fuck. Was that my payback for obsessing over a fictional triad every chance I got? If I was wrong for envying Glory for having two boyfriends who were also boyfriends, then I didn’t want to be right. I knew that kind of thing only happened in books, but it was my comfort read anyway.

And that comfort read had left me with a completely black screen five minutes into my trek back to the main road.

I couldn’t say that I’d ever been good with directions. I relied way too heavily on technology to navigate spaces, even the spaces I should have been familiar with by now.

After living in Bliss Peak for the past year, I’d made this journey countless times. And yet, I still needed assistance on getting back to the paved trail that led to the public entrance.

Letting my head fall back, I stared up at the canopy of trees above me and squinted at the sun. That was a good sign. If the sun was still high enough to peek through the trees, I had time. Surely, I could figure a way out of these woods before nightfall.

I held firm to that hope until I passed the same tree three times and realized I was walking in circles. How that was even possible in the woods was beyond me, but I was kinda good at pulling off the impossible. And I knew it was the same tree because I’d left a red Sharpie at the foot of it after the second trip to make sure I wasn’t losing my mind.

I mean, Iwaskinda losing my mind, but not to the extent that I didn’t realize I was going in circles.

“Damn it, if I brought my Kindle instead of reading on my phone, I wouldn’t be having this problem.” Except the reason I didn’t bring my Kindle was because I forgot to charge it last night.

This little predicament was the result of a domino effect of bad decisions, and there was really no need obsessing over things I couldn’t change now.

Fragrant pine trees surrounded me on every side, and each possible path looked identical to the one adjacent.

Blowing out a frustrated breath, I stood in place for a few beats and decided to go straight. No more turns, because apparently I didn’t know this place by memory like I tried to trick myself into believing.

If I went straight, I would either end up deeper in the woods or back where I needed to be. Enough daylight remained for me to feel good about my odds.

So, I left my Sharpie right where it was and walked straight.

What felt like an hour passed before the rustle of pine needles under my sandals gradually faded, replaced by the crunch of gravel. The paved trail was nowhere in sight, but the winding path in front of me intrigued me enough to keep walking in that direction.

It only took me a few seconds to realize I was on the opposite side of the lake than where I usually ventured. The side with the lake house I could only admire across the water. It always looked like a black speck from my vantage point, but now that I was up close and personal, I realized just how wrong my expectations were for the “quaint little cottage” I imagined.

There was nothing quaint or cottage-like about this house. It was sprawling and beautifully modern with black siding, and enough square footage to house at least three large families comfortably.

For a while, I stood there with my jaw unhinged as I took it all in.

The rocky path morphed into their driveway where I found an old Bronco and matte black G-Wagon.

Hope ballooned in my chest.

“Somebody’s home,” I said to myself as I walked up to the front door.

Large, open windows spanned the house and not a single one of them was covered.

“Why don’t rich people like curtains?” I asked no one as I drew closer to the house.

Decidedly, it wasnone of my businessas long as the rich people in question were generous enough to let me charge my phone.

My stomach chose that exact moment to rumble and I placed a hand over it, trying to quiet the sound before I raised my other hand to knock on the front door.