Chapter 1

"No, I'm on my way into Summit Springs now. The band can get here when they get here." Skyla Bridey had the phone on hands-free as she coasted down into Summit Springs, Colorado, the town like a jewel in the late afternoon sun, set in the bowl of a nice little outcrop of the Rocky Mountains, the snow like crystals, reflecting the light.

Thank God the roads were clear. She wasn't really a winter weather kind of driver, after all. It didn't snow where she came from originally.

"Skyla, I still think this is a crap idea," Jonas said. "I don't see why you can't record in Nashville like everyone else."

She blew out a breath, because he just didn't get it. "I tried that. The sound engineers and producers in that town are all convinced they know better than me. I want somewhere small. I'm producing this album, and Hiram Cheedle is a fantastic engineer. He just happens to be semi-retired here in Summit Springs. It will be a great experience."

And just the break she needed from the grueling tour schedule she'd had for the past three years.

She wasn't bitching, hand to God, but she needed to breathe, she needed a little R and R, and she needed to make some real music. Something that fed her soul.

Her last album had been good. Great, really. But it had been seriously commercial.

Hell, one song sounded like freaking disco. That wasn't her. She was a deep country girl.

She wanted to bond with her band, see some snow, and hell, this was the lesbian capital of the southwest. She might get laid.

Skyla grinned, but sobered when Jonas cleared his throat, which always meant he was about to lay down the "little lady" smackdown. He was a fabulous label guy and he and her manager negotiated good contracts, but that meant he was hard to fight with, too.

"I just want you to have the best to work with."

"I do! Don't worry. I've got this. Okay, the road is twisty. Gotta go, bye!" She hung up before he could protest. "Fuck me raw."

She stretched her shoulders, rolling up and down. This wasn't a mistake. She knew it.

She wanted to get out of her little gilded cage, just for a few weeks. She could go skiing. Maybe dog sledding. She saw that someone in Summit Springs did that. Played music. Wrote songs.

Yeah, she was so looking forward to this.

She topped a rise and pulled off at one of those scenic overlook things. Unfastening her seatbelt, she slipped out of the car, staring down a vast valley into a cute little town. There were rivers—one big and three little ones—crisscrossing the town, along with a big hot springs pool. The tiny downtown looked like a Swiss chalet thing, and she could see hotels and a square covered in snow. She'd rented her and the band three houses on the same street, along with time at the recording studio for the next two months.

Skyla sucked in a deep breath, the icy air a welcome shock to her lungs. This shit was crazy brisk. But fun.

Okay, time to get into town before it got dark.

She wasn't scared of driving in the snow anymore, but the snow in the dark?

Yeah-no.

And she was hungry. Starving, in fact. She'd looked at all the Yelp stuff, and she thought maybe pizza. She thought Cherry's Pies looked interesting, and supposedly they had live music several days a week.

Skyla was all about that.

Her bandmates were all coming in from Denver—Mich and Andi, plus Lucie and Greggo and Brenda, then Hiram to run the board for her. They could have a blast for a few weeks, and maybe make a few hits in the process. What wasn't to love about that?

Snow started to fall as she slipped back in the car. Damn, that was pretty. She snapped a few pictures for her folks, because Momma would love to see them. She would be fascinated by the snow. There just wasn't a ton of the white stuff in southern Texas.

But then she high-tailed it back to her vehicle and headed down into town, her GPS telling her how to get to her home away from home. She wasn't taking any chances. Jonas would shit himself if she had a wreck.

The baby downtown made her happy—a bookstore, a coffee shop, a wee shop with wood carvings. Seriously, that was so…chichi.

Her house was a block off Conifer, which was the main street and up a little hill. She pulled up, the code for the door on her phone. She let herself in and the smell of wood oil and citrus hit her, homey and good. She liked the place already, and she hadn't even made it inside all the way.

There was a note from the realtor on the rolltop desk by the door.

Welcome home!

Here are the garage door opener, the keys for the front and back door. The alarm code is on the key fob, leave off the first and last number and put it in backward. The beds have been made, there's a gift certificate for Cherry's pizza here, and I brought in a bill of groceries to tide you over for a day or two. Call me if you need me.

Hannah.>

Whoa.

That was too cool for school. Talk about service. She was tickled as a pig in shit. She wandered, checking out the kitchen, the powder room, which she needed worse than she thought, and then the upstairs with its pretty master bedroom. Nice.

The whole house was charming, warm, and quiet. Even better, the garage was clear, so she could park in there and not have to clean ice off the SUV. Perfect.

She moved the car into the garage, then moved in her guitars first, her suitcases next.

Skyla wasn't traveling with all her normal shit, but traveling light wasn't in her vocabulary.

As she put her last suitcase on the bed, she wondered if Cherry's was within walking distance.