Chapter 1

Grandma Swanson was gravely ill, and there were no train tickets left.

It was over a thousand miles home. I'd only just gotten my license and didn't dare drive that far alone, so I begged Zion Stephens to make the drive with me.

Instead, he pulled up a navigation app and said, frowning,

"I'm swamped at work. Stop leaning on me for everything. What could possibly go wrong if you just follow the GPS?"

So I steeled myself and set out for home alone.

Then a downpour caught me on the road, and the car stalled out and sank into a mud pit.

I called Zion a few dozen times. Every one of them rang busy.

By the time the rescue crew pulled me out and I made it home, all I found was a memorial hall full of chrysanthemums.

I didn't even get to see Grandma one last time.

But right then, Zion's girl buddy posted to her feed.

"What would I ever do without my puppy boy?"

"I said once that I wanted to do a road trip, and he spent over twenty hours on a call with me mapping the whole thing out."

The photo attached showed Zion's sharp handwriting.

He'd laid out her GPS route, her hotels, backup roads, even the weather for the next fourteen days, right down to what she should wear.

I looked at the black-and-white photo in Grandma's memorial hall, then back at Zion's comment, and all at once I let go.

...

"Mattie, that boy Zion didn't come back with you?"

"You two are getting married any day now. Your grandmother fell ill and passed. He should be here with you."

Seeing me fixed on my phone, Mom came over and took my arm, her voice careful, testing.

I turned to her with red eyes, not knowing how to explain.

Grandma's memorial portrait and her urn sat right in the center of the front room.

I'd fought my way home through everything, and I still hadn't gotten to see her one last time.

And the man I'd loved for seven years was getting ready to go on a road trip with another woman.

It was more than I could take in, and I had no idea how to put it into words. In the end I just shook my head and said to Mom,

"I'm not going to marry Zion."

Mom must have guessed something had gone wrong between us. She knew how close Grandma and I were, so she didn't press. She only gripped my hand tighter.

Then my phone rang.

It was Zion.

I answered, and before I could say a word I heard Virginia Barnes's voice on the other end.

"Hey, so Zion and I are heading out on a road trip. We're ending up near your hometown, so we figured we'd just stay at your place."

"I mean, Zion's my puppy boy, and he's covering the whole cost of this trip, so as his daddy I should save him a little money, right?"

Listening to her call him her puppy boy over and over, I tightened my grip on the phone. My voice came out cold. "Put Zion on."

Last year, before Zion and I were engaged, we went on a trip too.

He didn't want to drive. Said driving wore him out.

We split every cost down the middle the whole way.

The only thing he treated me to was a single iced coffee.

But now, in front of Virginia, driving didn't wear him out anymore, and there was no more splitting the bill.

Did he really think Virginia was some queen to wait on hand and foot?

Hearing how serious I sounded, Virginia muttered something in a wounded little voice.

Zion took the phone, a trace of impatience in his tone.

"Get a room ready for Ginny. The sheets and duvet cover, ideally, should be—"

"Zion."

I cut him off. My chest felt like someone had it in a fist.

I'd called him dozens of times and he hadn't picked up.

And when he finally reached me, he never asked if I'd made it safely, never asked how Grandma was.

There was only Virginia in his heart.

I gave a cold laugh.

"Don't bother coming. My grandmother's dead."

"You're not welcome here."