Chapter 1
NINA
My alarm goes off precisely at six a.m. I’ve been lying here with my eyes open for the last hour, willing myself to sleep the remainder of the time. However, all I did was daydream about my future. I silence the alarm and push back my blankets. I move to sit on the edge of the bed and turn on the bedside lamp. The room fills with a soft light that doesn’t even bother my eyes. Getting up, I make my bed before leaving the room.
I walk into the living room and stoke the wood-burning stove—my only source of heat in this dream cabin of mine. I add in the wood, close the front, and start toward the kitchen to make some tea. I turn on the gas stove and pick up the kettle. I fill it with water and place it back on the burner. While I wait for it to boil, I prepare my breakfast of oatmeal with sliced strawberry, banana, and blueberries.
By the time the oatmeal is ready, the kettle is whistling at me. I turn off the burner and pour the hot water over the teabag already in my mug. I take both my tea and oatmeal to the living room to eat by the heater. The sounds of the wood popping and cracking as it burns relaxes me. In one way, it almost centers me, gets me ready to take on the day. I love having the wood-burning stove. However, I could do without chopping the wood.
I sit in my brown leather lounge chair, taking in the dark cabin. The walls are made up of rough-cut logs, along with the ceiling. The floors are good old-fashioned hardwood. Someone put a lot of work into this cabin. When I saw it, I couldn’t turn it down. Sure, I miss some of the fancier things, like central air in the summer, heated toilet seats, and a whole-home vacuum system, but this is so much simpler. I was told when I bought this place that it didn’t even have an indoor bathroom or power since it was just being used as a hunting cabin. I’m lucky the people I bought it from decided to add those things in order to make it a home instead of just a man cave.
When I’ve had my fill of oatmeal, I take the dishes to the kitchen and wash them before going for a shower. The bathroom in the cabin is rather small, with only enough room for a tub and shower combo, a sink, and a toilet. There’s just enough room for one person to move about. But I’m not complaining. At least I don’t have to walk through the dense forest to use the bathroom. I turn the shower on as I unbutton my red and black flannel top. I check myself over in the mirror. My long blond hair is starting to look stringy, and I make a mental note to get it trimmed soon. My blue eyes are bright and shining, but my pale skin looks nearly transparent—the typical cry from a nerd who spends more time in front of a computer instead of being out in the sun like normal people. Maybe I’ll even tan at the salon while I’m there getting my haircut.
I pull my eyes away from the mirror in an attempt to save my sanity. I know if I just stare at myself, I’ll fixate on everything I find wrong, like my stringy hair and vampirish complexion. I step into the hot flow of water and make quick work of washing and shaving. When I get out, the mirror is covered in steam. I tie my towel around myself as I brush my teeth and hair.
Thirty minutes later, my hair is dried and pulled back into a tight bun. The little makeup I wear is applied perfectly, a pearl- colored eyeshadow, brown mascara, a touch of blush, and a little shimmery lip gloss. I tuck my white dress shirt into my black pants and pull on the blazer that matches the dress suit. Walking back into my room for my shoes, I scrutinize myself in the mirror and see that despite picking at myself earlier, I look nice and put together.
I slide my feet into a nice pair of black flats and gather up the rest of the things I’ll need for the day. It’s going on seven-thirty when I step out of the cabin. The sun is just rising over the horizon, painting the sky with yellows, oranges, and pinks. The birds are flying around looking for their breakfast, and it’s warm already with just the slightest breeze. I take a deep breath, taking in the crisp mountain air, with traces of a hint of wet earth and the moss growing up on the rocks by the small pond next to the cabin.
I climb behind the wheel and look up at my property. Most would probably see it as rustic or maybe even run-down. But that’s not what I see. I see a beautiful escape settled right into the side of the mountain. There’s silence, relaxation, and, best of all, home.
It takes me twenty minutes to drive into town. I park my car in the parking lot of the police station before grabbing my things and climbing out.
“Morning, Nina,” Nate my coworker says, shooting me his toothy grin.
I return his smile. “Morning. How’s that baby of yours doing?”
He lets out a deep chuckle. “Getting big. She said her first words last night.”
I can’t help but laugh at his excitement. “And it was?”
“Dada,” he replies, his grin only spreading wider.
“Daddy’s girl already, huh?”
“That she is,” he says, opening the door to the precinct and allowing me to walk through ahead of him.
“Thank you.” I turn to see him pull on his police hat.
He sends me a nod and heads toward his desk while I make my way back to my small, dark office in the back.
“Nina, did you hear?” Claire, a fellow officer asks as I’m walking past the break room.
I decide to dip in and pour a cup of coffee. I drop my things onto the round table in the center of the room as I reach for a paper cup. “Hear what?”
She smiles wide. “The new sheriff arrives today. I hear he’s just dreamy,” she says all breathlessly and schoolgirl-like.
I laugh as I pour my coffee. “Still very single, are you, Claire?”
Her smile falls as she rolls her head to the side to look at me with a bored expression. “Is it that obvious?”
I giggle. “It is when you talk like that. You know, even if this guy is dreamy, you still can’t go after him. He’ll be your boss.”
“Way to ruin my daydream, Nina.” She rolls her eyes but smiles, telling me she’s quite aware. “That won’t stop them, though,” she says with a laugh as she takes off out of the break room.
I shake my head as I take my coffee and things to my office.
I set my things down and start up my computer before taking a sip of my coffee. I look at the sketch I left laying on my desk from yesterday. It’s a part of the presentation I plan on taking to the city council in the next month or so. There’s a meeting once a month, so if I don’t have this done in three weeks, I’ll have to wait another month before I can propose my idea. I thought I had it ready to go last week. I thought it would be done for this month’s meeting. However, I decided to add some outside features like, basketball courts, skate ramps, and a pool.
It’s my dream to open a youth center for the kids in town. This is a very small community, and there really aren’t many things for the kids. Sure, there’s a park, the school playground, and the lake, but most of those places don’t have a chaperone, leaving plenty of kids to get into trouble or be picked on. The rise in teen misdemeanors has gone up in the last few months. Someone needs to intervene.
When the computer comes on, I type in my login info and start going through my daily tasks. I make sure the server is up and running, start up the virus scan that checks over every computer in the office, and update the system for security purposes. While the computer does its job, I turn on the desk lamp and pick up my pencil to resume work on my sketch.
Other than updating the system and running security checks, my job is basically to just sit here and wait for something to break. In the last two years I’ve worked here, I’ve picked up many hobbies as a way to kill time. I’ve been designing my own website mock-ups for the youth center to put into my presentation for the city council. With the rising numbers in juvenile crime I see from working here at the police station, the sketches of what they’ll see in the town, and the website that pulls the whole thing together and makes it feel real, there’s no way they’ll turn me down.
Before I know it, the computer is beeping, letting me know the tasks I had set up are finished. It usually takes a total of three hours to update the system and scan every computer for security issues and viruses. I can’t believe I’ve lost three hours by sketching. I close out of things on the computers and look back down at my sketch. The whole thing looks perfect.
The building is modern with its sleek design, but it also holds a few architectural aspects that will make it fit in with the rest of the buildings in the city. I want it to stand out, but I don’t want it to look out of place, since the town was founded over a hundred years ago, and most of the buildings are old.
The front of the building will be a parking lot so it will look like any other store in town. But the back will have the courts and skate ramps. There will also be a little area outside where people can just sit in the grass and relax or where classes can be held on nice days. Inside will be the indoor pool that can be used year-round. The building will also include a cafeteria area where hot meals will be provided for the less fortunate kids who don’t have access to school lunches anymore due to summer break. There’s a community room with tables where we can do group activities, an art room, a few classrooms for when we start up classes like woodworking and SAT prep, as well as an up-to-date computer room where we will teach coding, typing, and other useful computer skills. All of this will be completely free to the kids, and it will not only keep them out of trouble, but it will also help them further their education in the summer and prepare them for college. I even plan on hiring some kids who may be looking for summer and weekend jobs. Just thinking about this project gets me excited.
“Nina, the new sheriff is here,” Claire says with a knock on my door.
I set my pencil down, turn off my desk light, and stand up. Glancing down at myself, I straighten my shirt and pull on my blazer. With a deep breath, I turn and leave my office, ready to meet our brand-new sheriff, who Claire probably already has a thing for. I laugh at the thought and shake my head.