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“ I ’m not going.”

Carson lifted his gaze from the bag he was packing. Deidre stared at the floor, her shoulders slumped.

“You’re not going?” Carson’s heartbeat escalated, and he tried like hell to keep the irritation from his voice as he voiced the next question. “Why are you doing this?”

“There’s no point dragging it out. We’re done,” Deidre said, her voice low. “We just need to admit it.”

Carson searched his girlfriend’s face—or soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend it seemed—looking for the cause for her sudden change of heart. “You said you wanted to work on us.”

“I’ve changed my mind,” Deidre said, barely able to look Carson in the eye.

He watched her a moment, trying to understand why she was backing out at the very last second. “The cabin was your idea. You’re the one who pressured me to reserve a room before they filled up. You said you wanted to try and fix things. Are we suddenly unfixable?”

Carson wanted to feel angrier, but he couldn’t conjure it. Maybe she was right. He’d sensed their relationship had been fading for months.

Yet he’d wanted to give Deidre another chance. There had once been love between them.

“Why the sudden change?”

Deidre’s face grew red and a wave of awkward energy came from her. “I’ve… met someone.”

Met someone?

Anger finally swept through Carson. It was one thing to grow apart. It was another for her to toss him aside for another man. “Out with the old, in with the new, hmm?”

“Come on, Car. The relationship we had is gone and you know it. I’ve met someone who makes me smile again. He makes me smile like I smiled when I first met you.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

“Don’t do this. I hoped we could part as friends,” Deidre said. “There’s no reason for you to feel upset. It’s simply… over. It’s been over for a long time. You know that as well as I do.”

Carson sat on the bed, considering what she’d said.

Where had the sudden anger even come from? Was it the fact he was the dumpee and not the dumper? That was immature and beneath him.

Deidre was right. In the last months, their lives were almost wholly separate. They were more roommates than lovers. He’d told himself it was comfort, not the end. A maturing of their relationship.

He’d lied to himself.

If he was honest, there was a sense of relief down deep. They both deserved more than what they had together. It was best to just let it die a peaceful death than to fight and make things ugly.

He rose to his feet and continued packing his bag.

“What are you doing?” Diedre asked.

“I paid for a cabin, and I’m not wasting it.”

“You’re still going?”

Carson had been looking forward to getting out of the city. Truth be told, he’d seen the pictures on the inn’s website and knew it was a place he had to see for himself. Bear Mountain looked gorgeous, and he had a reservation waiting with his name on it.

“I think we need some space. I don’t want to say something I’ll later regret.” He jammed his clothes into his bag before glancing up. “When I get back… don’t be here.”

Deidre’s eyes shone a little, but Carson didn’t want to let the emotion get the better of him. She knew how to twist him into knots when she wanted. “I love you, Car. I value our friendship. I don’t want to lose that.”

“Right now, that’s not my main concern,” Carson said as he rose to his feet and tossed the backpack over his shoulder.

His main concern was processing the loss of the future he’d envisioned. He cared about Deidre, he really did. They had always been good friends, even at the end, but in that moment he just wanted to get away from her. Maybe down the road… maybe they could salvage something. But not now.

“Just let me get out of here so you can clear out your stuff in peace.”

“If that’s the way you want it,” Deidre said, her voice low. “Just know I want what’s best for you. And that’s not me. You deserve someone who loves you, bone deep and forever.”

Carson turned his gaze to her. “Yeah. You deserve that, too.” And I know that’s not me . He released a sigh. “Be safe out there in the big, bad world.”

Deidre finally fully met his stare. “You, too. Don’t get eaten by a bear up there on that mountain.”

Carson grinned wryly. “I doubt my week can get much worse.”

Deidre brushed her hand down his arm in a half-hearted slap. “Don’t say that. This might be goodbye… but it’s hello to what’s next.”

Maybe.

Carson leaned in and kissed Deidre’s forehead. She clutched the front of his t-shirt and smiled up at him as he pulled away.

“You’re a good guy, Carson Davies.”

After grabbing his duffel, he headed for the front door, knowing the minute he walked outside, he would be closing the door on that chapter of his life. As the knob clicked behind him, he paused, squeezing his eyes closed.

It was done.

Not with a roar, but a whimper.

The gnawing ache he’d felt for months grew in his chest, and he suddenly recognized what it was.

Loneliness.

Even with Deidre at his side, he’d felt lonely. They’d been kidding themselves to think the relationship could’ve been rescued. Thankfully she’d admitted it when he’d not been able.

The elevator doors shut behind him and only made the emotions swirling within stronger. Alone inside, he faced the mirrored doors and saw the sadness in his own blue eyes staring back in the reflection.

What happened next?

Carson didn’t make a good bachelor. He liked having someone to come home to.

Someone in the bed beside him at night. He liked feeling a sense of belonging to another person, sharing his life.

That was likely the reason he’d remained with Deidre for so long, even when that sense of belonging had faded.

Me. Myself. And I.

It’s all I need.

This weekend alone will prove that.

The elevator dinged just before the doors opened to the parking garage. With a deep breath, he stepped out and on toward new adventures.

“All of the guests have arrived, except for one. Last name Davies for the Larchmont Cabin,” Royce shared as he straightened up the desk he seemed chained to as of late.

Staying inside was wearing thin on his soul.

He belonged outdoors, running through the trees, not bound to a hunk of old wood.

“Two occupants and they’re signed up for two wildlife tours.

One tomorrow afternoon and one Sunday morning.

If they don’t show, we won’t have a full booking for either. We may have to cancel them.”

Jared glanced at the lackluster sign-up sheet. Royce knew neither tour had more than three people on the list. If they lost two, there was no reason to keep them open.

“No one cares about hiking the trails anymore. They all come up here to fuck,” Jared said with a smirk. “Our treehuggers seem to be a thing of the past thanks to our little celebrity.”

They’d recently had a B-list actress more famous for her drunken and drugged mishaps than anything she’d done on the silver screen make use of one of their cabins where she’d tried to reconnect with her latest boy toy.

It had been a last-ditch Hail Mary in order to salvage their train wreck of a relationship.

The pair of them had been a handful and the worst guests ever, but once she’d posted videos to TikTok about her experience at the Bear Mountain Inn, their phone had started ringing off the hook. Their business suddenly seemed the go-to for marriage counseling from her army of fanatics.

Too bad it wasn’t the main reason they were open.

And their tour operation was also suffering because of the new business—to the point it could be on its last legs.

“Another couple of weeks like this and we’ll have to either let Paul go or find some other work for him,” Jared added.

Royce took his glasses off and tossed them onto the desk. He scrubbed his face and then looked up at Jared. “We’re fully booked through the end of the year. I’m sure we can find something for him to do.”

“He knows this mountain better than anyone. For a human, that’s saying a lot.”

“He was raised by bears,” Royce said with a wry grin.

“My point is, what do we get him to do? He’s not going to be happy cleaning up cabins or playing servant to these folks. I’m barely tolerating them myself. Maybe we need to start shooing away this new brand of guest. They’re bad for business.”

“And just how do we determine which guests are which? It’s not like we can demand they tell us why they’re coming when they make reservations.”

Jared shrugged. “Well, we don’t take online reservations for a reason. We could slip it into the conversation, right?”

“This is a momentary blip. Soon, they’ll forget all about us, and we’ll get back to business as usual. We just need to get through it for now.”

“Have you seen our reviews? They’re all prattling on about this place like it’s Relationship Mecca.

I don’t think it’s going to die down as quickly as you think.

Plus, they’re too fucking close to the valley.

It’s got everyone on edge. The entire den is afraid to shift.

” Jared chuckled, a wicked glint in his eyes.

“Maybe we need to treat a few like shit and get some bad reviews in the mix. A few of these assholes deserve to be taken down a peg or two anyway.”

“No,” Royce said forcefully. “I’ll do nothing to destroy the reputation of my grandparents’ business. I can’t believe you’d suggest that.”

Jared rolled his eyes. “I was kidding .”

Royce glared at him.

He lifted his hands. “Okay, half kidding.”

“The influx of cash isn’t hurting us right now. There are some renovations and upgrades we’ve wanted to do since we took over and this windfall might just about cover it. I say we let it roll for a little while longer—eventually, they’ll forget. They always do.”

The magic of the mountain usually kept humans away—those who didn’t have a drop of bear blood in their veins, at least. That magic was failing them thanks to social media. It never forgot. If only they could wipe all that shit off the internet.