Page 8 of A Secret Escape

“That’s gross.”

But the support, that tiny hint of their old relationship, made her feel a little better until she realized that their old relationship was dead and gone and that things would never be the same again because now Nicole had secrets. One particular secret that she wasn’t sure she could ever tell Milly. And that secret was a barrier to the intimacy that had made their friendship so rare and special.

They’d reached the end of the track,and Milly took a turn to the left, and there, perched on the water and surrounded by trees, was the boathouse. She pulled up outside and switched off the engine.

“We’re here.” Lights glowed on the deck, which stretched out over the lake.

Grateful for a distraction from her depressing thoughts, Nicole stared at the place that had been their forest hideout when they were young.

She hadn’t anticipated such a transformation. The dilapidated building of her childhood had been replaced by an architectural dream of wood and local stone.

“This is incredible.” She almost said that it wasromanticand then realized that would be tactless. “Who did this?”

“Mostly Joel.”

“Who is Joel?”

“Joel is our everything guy.” Milly undid her seat belt. “By which I mean, he does a bit of everything. Plumbing, electrics, carpentry—whatever goes wrong in the cabins, Joel handles it. He’s a miracle, to be honest. There’s nothing Joel can’t fix.”

Maybe Joel could fix her life.

“He built this?” Nicole couldn’t stop staring. “But you had an architect, surely?”

“Joel used to be an architect. A very successful one, I believe. Worked for a big firm. But then he had some family issues and turned up here looking for maintenance work, or anything really, and my mother gave him a job and let him use one of the older cabins that needed renovating. You know what she’s like.”

“Yes, I know what she’s like.” Generous. Warm. How many times had Nicole wished that Connie was her mother? She was the kindest person she’d ever met, with the exception of Milly herself.

Except that tonight, possibly for the first time ever, Milly had been impatient with her.

And Nicole had only herself to blame for that. She’d hurt Milly. And she hadn’t wanted to do that, obviously, but Nicole had found herself in a hideous, horrible situation and hadn’t known how to extract herself. When there were no good options, which one did you pick?

Milly was still talking. “Anyway, it turned out there was nothing Joel couldn’t fix. Which is why I call him our everything guy. I think he only intended his move here to be temporary, but he has been here ever since. He bought one of the original stone cottages that we just drove past. He loves the outdoors. When he’s not working he’s usually climbing. I’m hoping that will keep him here, because if he left I’d be lost. It’s great having him around. He’s one of the good guys.”

One of the good guys.

Were people that easily categorized? Nicole didn’t think so. Good people could do bad things and often did in the world she inhabited. That world seemed far away.

Milly glanced at her. “There’s no one to see you here. You can take the wig off. It must be uncomfortable.”

“You get used to it.” Nicole eased it off and ran her fingers through her flattened hair. “It did the job. You didn’t recognize me. If my best friend didn’t recognize me, then I’m doing okay.”

She saidbest friendand held her breath, waiting for Milly to refute that claim, but Milly said nothing, and Nicole was grateful for that. Silence was better than a denial.

She gazed at the lake, saw moonlight flit across the surface and felt something close to peace for the first time in weeks. The sky was velvet black and studded with stars, a sight you rarely saw when you lived in a city. She turned to Milly, wanting to thank her, but her friend was already out of the car and heading toward the boathouse.

Nicole stuffed the wig into her bag and followed her. They walked along a path illuminated by small solar lights and then up a set of steps that led to the front door.

The door was on the far side of the property and not overlooked, but still Nicole found herself glancing over her shoulder. It was a hard habit to break,even here in the middle of nowhere. She’d been watched for so long she couldn’t imagine not being watched.

She stepped inside the boathouse and waited while Milly touched a couple of switches.

Soft light flooded the space, and Nicole saw a comfortable living room with a vaulted ceiling and a wall of glass overlooking the lake.

“It’s stunning.”

“We wanted the structure to blend into the forest, and we made the most of the light. Wait until you see it in daylight. Uninterrupted views across the lake to the fells.” Milly locked the front door behind them and dropped her keys into a bowl on the side. “But let’s be honest, the entire place would fit into the living room of your house in LA.”

Nicole didn’t want to think about her house in LA. She didn’t want to think about her life at all.

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