I shoved the last suitcase into the tiniest available space in the trunk of my black BMW four series gran coupe. The passenger seat, back seat, and trunk were so tightly packed that I wouldn't be able to check blind spots or mirrors. This was not a vehicle meant to move someone halfway across the country, but as I didn't have money for a U-haul, and barely had any belongings left, it would have to do.

I was basically down to clothing after the divorce. Since I was the one who wanted the divorce, and since Harrison had all the money and the high powered lawyer, I was left with nothing. Absolutely nothing. Harrison and his lawyer played games to draw out the legal proceedings on purpose, running circles around my well-meaning and morally upright lawyer who was in way over her head. Eventually all of my money was gone and I was willing to give him whatever he wanted simply to make the situation go away.

I gave up the apartment I was living in, every vacation home we had, every vehicle except the one I had just loaded up because (thank God) it happened to be registered in my name only, and all of our stocks and other assets because "they were attained through the sole discretion and purchase of Mr. Harrison Abbott". I couldn't even pawn my two carat diamond wedding ring because that was considered a family heirloom I had to give back.

I didn't care. I didn't want to live in that apartment anyway, or any other property I had spent time with him in. I did care about furnishings which had sentimental value, but luckily my mother had come around and nicked all of our family's decor and furniture the week after I announced to them my intent to divorce. She was justifiably concerned that those priceless pieces may fall into the wrong hands (his mother's).

While both of my parents vehemently protested my leaving Harrison and had basically disowned me for doing so, my mother would die before she let our family heirlooms fall into the hands of 'Vulture Lady Abbott'. My parents had been so against the divorce scandal and resulting shame it would bring upon our family that they refused to give me any financial help during the divorce... or now. My parents also had multiple properties and plenty of space in each. They could easily provide their only child with a place to stay but...

"What would our friends think?", my mother had asked in horror. "I can't very well have my divorced daughter parading about like there's no shame in what's happened! You absolutely can't show your face until you have a new husband or I'll never hear the end of it!"

I had no friends left who hadn't either bailed when I announced divorce, or bailed when I stopped attending expensive social functions, or bailed because I was broke.

So, I was leaving the Lower East Side of Manhattan and life as I knew it on the East Coast for the Great Smoky Mountains. My dad's dad left his cabin to me when he passed away two years ago. I hadn't given it a second thought at the time but now I hung onto that place like a lifeline. Besides this car, that was the only other thing I owned. I would start my new life there. What that entailed, I had no idea, but it was the only next step I had, and at least I had that.

Yes, thank God for that.

The twelve hour drive was exhausting, made much longer by me stopping every three hours. I parked at a shopping center parking lot at two in the morning, terrified but desperately needing a break, and slept for what turned out to be three hours before proceeding on the last of the journey into the foothills then the mountains. It unfolded in breathtaking beauty in the dawn, so overwhelmingly beautiful I forgot about how tired I was.

Finally driving up the steep dirt road to the cabin I hadn't been to in nearly ten years, not since right before Granny died, I started feeling a lot of feelings I hadn't fully felt yet.

I was nervous about...everything. I was completely on my own for the first time ever. I sorted through the grief I was feeling and realized it wasn't only the loss of my marriage, but also the estrangement from my parents and the people I thought were friends. I had been wounded deeply, completely abandoned by all the people I was closest to in the world. Why wasn't I worth their loyalty? What was it about me that made others flee? Why was no one dedicated and committed to me, not even my parents?

As I pulled up in front of the little cabin in all it's disrepair, it finally sank in how utterly alone I was. I didn't know the slightest thing about living in the woods or repairing anything that needed fixing. Nor did I have money to pay someone else to do it.

But then, something magical happened. Something else suddenly became first and forefront in my mind, which gave me hope.

Freedom.

I was alone for the first time ever because I was free for the first time ever. I didn't have to conform to someone else's standards anymore. I didn't have to worry about how I was making someone else look. I could do whatever I wanted and no one would say anything about it because no one was here.

I put my car into park, removed the key from the ignition, and started laughing and crying at the same time as I let that sink in.

Eventually I snagged a pillow and blanket from the back seat, proceeded inside, used a toilet which didn't flush in a bathroom where the light didn't work, laid down on top of a dusty quilt in my grandparents' bedroom, covered up with my own blanket, and fell asleep.

...........................................................................

It was noon when Jake stumbled outside to work on repairing the screen door he had broken when he fell through it some time ago.

Something shiny glinting in the sunshine pierced his sensitive bloodshot eye.

He shielded his eyes and took unsteady steps off the covered porch. He was mightily hungover today, as opposed to a normal day, when he was only hungover enough to keep his mind on the hangover instead of on the misery which drove him to drink in the first place.

He stood there staring curiously down the hill at his nearest neighbor. To the best of his recollection there'd never been a vehicle there before, and a BMW at that! He'd thought the place was abandoned. That's what the realtor had told him when he bought his place anyway.

As he was watching, a petite woman emerged from the doorway and paused in front of it. She seemed to be staring off into the woods. He tried to take her appearance in from this distance but couldn't make out any details. He snatched his binoculars from the empty whiskey barrel on the porch that served as a side table next to an old wooden rocker.

Raising the binoculars to his eyes, he peered through, focusing in on the vehicle plate first. New York! Did she drive here? He swung the binoculars around to find her again.

She had slowly walked to the far edge of the porch, facing away from him, surveying the landscape with her hands on her hips.

Her auburn hair was wrapped into a smooth bun on top of her head. Not a single hair appeared to be out of place. She had on a cream colored lightweight sweater and beige pants which hugged every curve. Her clothes fit like they had been cut for her body specifically. He stopped admiring that slim, curvy body before he began, and immediately replaced admiration with disdain. He knew what that BMW and her attire meant. He had seen enough of her type in New York.

Ms. Real Estate was going to be turning that empty cabin into a vacation rental or something worse. Jake couldn't think of anything else which could possibly ruin his life even more.

He set the binoculars down and went back inside, letting the broken screen door swing fully open and slam against the side of the cabin as he went.

Maybe tomorrow I'll get to that door, he thought, reaching for the whiskey as his heart started pounding hard in anticipation of frustrations to come.

...........................................................................

I woke from my nap sore from the drive but determined to get settled in. The first thing I did was several minutes of yoga, in any position which didn't require laying on the floor, as it was covered in an inch thick layer of dust.

I then realized I had no internet access and no idea how to get any.

I walked outside, breathed in clear, fresh air, and observed the forest around me. I had to admit, despite the terror about my blatant incompetence for survival, this place was already doing my soul a world of good.

As I was breathing deeply and smiling to myself, soaking in freedom and fresh air, a sharp bang startled me so badly I nearly shrieked. It was only because I gasped so hard I couldn't breathe that I was able to refrain from screaming.

I whipped around to see what that noise was but I couldn't see anything. I did notice a cabin about the size of mine sitting further up the mountain from me. It was newer than mine, but smaller, and I couldn't recall having seen it before.

I stared hard, trying to determine if there was anyone there, or what could have made the noise. After several strained minutes, I had come up with nothing, so I gave up and began unloading my car.

Afterward, I changed into black leggings and a dark green t-shirt, starting in on cleaning.

Everything needed to be cleaned. I wasn't an expert at this because I had always lived where maids did the cleaning...except during college. In the dorms, I did have to do my part. My roommate, bless her bossy heart, taught me how to clean things correctly, or, at least how her mama did it. So, though I didn't have a ton of experience, I at least had basic working knowledge.

I figured I would start in the kitchen, but when I went to fill a pail I found under the sink with water, none came out.

Now what?

I wasn't going to let my positivity be squashed so soon. Instead, I dug out my Granny's recipe box, selected some meals to make, made a grocery list, and decided to head into town. I checked around and saw that there were still quite a few cleaning supplies available, a vacuum, and several brooms. When I tried the vacuum, it didn't work. I had a thought and decided to try several other lights. Nothing worked. There was no electricity.

While in town, perhaps there would be somewhere I could ask about plumbing and electricity.

Feeling a slight damper on my mood, I shook it off.

This is still better than being married to Harrison, I reminded myself. These are simply challenges, hurdles. This isn't a big deal. I can do this.

I changed my clothes back into what I had driven here in, as I wasn't ready to begin unpacking my clothes into dusty drawers and closets.

I quickly redid my bun, then touched up my eyeliner, powder, and blush.

"Let's get this over with", I whispered to my reflection as I applied lip gloss.

...........................................................................

There was pretty much only one of everything in the friendly little town down the mountain from my cabin. One grocery store, one hardware store, one bar, one church, one restaurant, one gift shop, one gas station, one bed and breakfast, one ranger station, one outdoor equipment rentals, ect. They weren't at the bottom of the mountain, either. A comfortable sized town was down at the true bottom, with plenty of retail and tourism. It was a matter of a ten minute drive versus a half hour one. What exactly you were shopping for determined if the drive was worth it.

I pulled up to the little grocery store, getting several stares and second looks as I climbed from my car. I'm sure BMWs weren't seen very often, and I was sure they would take me for a tourist, so I didn't take it personally. I simply smiled and said 'Hi'.

Zipping through the aisles, I quickly knocked off most of my list, though I had to purchase brands I wasn't familiar with.

As I started checking out, and had opened my mouth to ask the checker about electricians and plumbers, I watched her slide the package of chicken across the scanner and had a revelation.

"Oh, NO!", I wailed.

"What?!?", the middle aged woman asked, freezing, her brown eyes wide and staring at me.

"I was going to ask you about an electrician, and I realized I should have figured that out before purchasing groceries which require refrigeration!", I groaned.

"You don't have electricity?", she clarified.

"I don't".

"You better talk to Travis", she said, nodding determinedly. "Where's about you stayin', hun?"

"My grandparents' old cabin. I inherited it".

"Not Greg and Bev Wallis?", she clarified in astonishment.

"Correct".

"Rillian?", I heard a deep voice from behind me and turned completely around to meet the dark brown eyes in the gorgeous dark brown face of a man I almost instantly recognized.

"Will?!?", I gasped in wonder. "Will Lemke?"

He grinned a sideways grin revealing perfect white teeth in a wide mouth and I knew it was him. I'd recognize that sideways smile anywhere!

I barely acknowledged that he was dressed in some kind of uniform before I half ran the two steps to him and flung my arms around him, laughing in surprise and true joy.

"Good Lord, girl, is that really you?", he asked, lifting me off the ground in a bear hug.

"You've gotten so big!", I exclaimed.

"And you haven't grown a bit!", he teased.

I was 5'3" and 115 pounds. I was the same height I had been in high school but I was fifteen pounds heavier. Will appeared taller- I was guessing around 6'2", and was definitely broader and more muscular.

He set me down, staring at me in wonder. I had spent every summer with Will, from as far back as I could remember until I stopped coming for only a weekend at a time. I think the last time we saw each other, I was sixteen. He was eighteen and planning on leaving for college.

"I never thought I'd see you again", he said. "You're staying at your grandparents' place?"

"Yes, I arrived this morning, but there's no electricity...and no water, either", I remembered.

"Molly's right", he said. "You gotta talk to Travis. Mol, can you set her stuff in the cooler till we get her straightened out?"

"Oh, yes, please", I said. "I can pay now and come back for it?"

"Sure thing", Molly said agreeably.

As she continued to ring me up, I asked curiously, "Who's Travis?"

"He runs the utilities around here", Will explained. "The power comes up from below but he manages everything in our town because it's awful having to wait for them to send someone up. He's the handiest guy we know, and everyone is handy around these parts".

"Ain't that the truth", Molly chimed in, her slightly round face smiling approvingly.

"He also plows, and uh, technically he's the sheriff".

"The town sheriff is also the town electrician and plumber?", I asked in disbelief.

"Yep", Will said with a chuckle. "Everyone does a little of everything. Trav and I help each other out a lot. Either uniform will work for most situations".

I eyed his uniform more closely. "You're a ranger!", I said proudly. "That's what you always wanted to do!"

That made me really, inexplicably happy. I was seriously so happy for him following and fulfilling his dreams.

"Yep, I've been back here for a couple years now. Had to wait for a spot to open up. Didn't hurt me none to get some solid years of training elsewhere, either. No one to train me here".

"Wow, and before you were in-?"

"Redwoods National Forest in California".

"I've always wanted to go", I said wistfully.

I had never traveled to the West Coast or Midwest. Mother said those areas were uncivilized and Harrison had held the same opinion. In fact, Mother also thought Tennessee was frightful, and the only reason she allowed me to come visit my grandparents here was because she had never actually been to see the conditions of the cabin herself (or she would have never allowed it) and because it got me out of her hair.

"Are your parents still here?", I asked.

"Down the mountain", he said. "They want to be closer to doctors. But where have you been? What have you been doing?", Will asked next.

"That's a long story", I said, as I paid Molly for my groceries, wanting to avoid explaining that as long as possible. "I'll tell you, but...".

"Yes, ma'am", Will said agreeably, handing Molly a bottled tea and a bag of beef jerky to ring up. "Let's get you situated first".

...........................................................................

When Jake next decided to stumble out his front door to check traps, the BMW was gone.

Good fuckin' riddance, he thought angrily, hopeful that the property posed too much work to fix up. He really preferred not having a neighbor. He intensely preferred not seeing any other human ever. Having a neighbor that close, and especially if it was a steady stream of tourists renting the place, well, he wasn't sure he would be able to tolerate that. Which meant he would need to move his cabin deeper into his land, which would take time, effort, and money, none of which did he want to spend right now.

He walked the route of his traps through the woods, found a dead rabbit in one, and brought that back with him. By the time he had returned, not only was the BMW back, but also Travis' Sheriff Durango and Will's Ranger F-150.

Dang, calling in the cavalry, he mused. What's she got them boys out here for? She must be real serious 'bout buyin' the place.

He silently hated her for ruining his life, went about cleaning the rabbit outside, and when he looked up again, Travis' Durango was gone. As he was looking down the hill at the cabin, Will exited the front door and held it open for the petite woman, who locked the knob behind her.

Great, she owns it already. She wouldn't have the key otherwise.

He watched Will open the passenger door of his truck for her and watched her daintily accept his hand for assistance climbing up into the cab.

Interesting, he thought as he watched them drive away together, what does a real estate agent and a Ranger have to do with each other? He couldn't imagine how they could be benefiting each other in a business deal or what input Will would possibly have about the place.

He didn't really care. He was disgruntled that he had now learned this woman already owned the property.

Today was not a good day.

...........................................................................

Travis was a lanky, chiseled, weathered man in his fifties with sparkling dark brown eyes, dimples, and graying brown hair which was thick and unruly when he took off his Stetson.

He had a pretty blond wife, Dawn, and three pretty blond teenage girls whom his wife homeschooled rather than driving them thirty minutes to and from school each day. He showed me plenty of pictures, clearly adoring his family. I thought they were precious and he was about the kindest man I had ever met. How I longed for someone to adore me like he did them!

Travis turned on my electricity at the transformer but he needed to do some additional steps at the cabin for the electricity and plumbing both. He explained to me about the generator and propane tank, and said he would be more than happy to help me get the tank refilled the next time he filled his own.

Within twenty minutes, everything in the cabin was working as it should be. Will and Travis tested outlets and made sure appliances were working.

"I am so grateful!", I exclaimed, shaking his hand. "You're like magic!"

He chuckled. "Careful, darlin'", he joked, "don't want that to go to my head now".

"Thank you so much!", I exclaimed again, still pumping his hand.

Will and Travis both laughed at me, then Travis tipped his Stetson in my direction and left.

"Boy, this place brings back memories", Will said, glancing around with a soft smile playing at the corners of his perfectly sculpted lips.

"I haven't even had time to let any of that sink in", I explained. "I need to clean and organize and unpack...".

"Let's go get your groceries then", he said, giving me a sideways grin.

"Oh, you don't-", I started to protest.

"It's my pleasure", he said confidently, with a genuine smile. "Besides, I still haven't heard what you've been doing the past ten years".

"Twelve, actually. It's been twelve since we've seen each other", I corrected him.

"Unreal", he breathed with a slight shake of his head. "Alright, let's go".

On the drive to and from the grocery store, I filled Will in on the story of my life. How I met Harrison in college and we started dating...after he found out who my father was; how my father hired him as an intern at his company...after we started dating; how our parents knew we were going to get married before we did; how our marriage was a business transaction to everyone other than me; and how once I finally realized that's what it was, I was so lonely, unfulfilled, and empty, I realized I had to escape before I lost my soul.

"I am sorry. I had no idea. That sounds...cold and awful. Your parents approved this?" Will seemed baffled.

"I think it was their idea for us to get married, and they have disowned me because I chose to get divorced. I embarrassed them. Harrison has branched off with his own company now but he worked for my dad for eight years. My parents cut me off and my mother told me I couldn't come home until I had a new husband".

"Oh, hell no!", Will exclaimed, sounding angry. "What is wrong with them? You're their only child! Supporting you through this should be their priority, not what others think!"

"I wish. Where I come from, no one thinks like that. I thought Harrison and I were in love. I loved him and I couldn't understand why I made him so unhappy all the time. Now I know. I was trying to enjoy our life together and he was simply trying to live his life but I kept interrupting".

"That's cold", Will repeated harshly. "I'd like to give him a piece of my mind...or fist".

"It's not worth it", I said. "He won't learn from it and you'll just get sued".

"It would be worth it to me", Will said, with an edge to his voice that gave me a slight chill. I'd never heard that tone from him before.

"You're staying here to get away from it all for a while?", Will guessed.

"Ah, no, I moved here because the divorce got strung out for so long that I ran out of money for a lawyer and ended up losing everything. My parents refuse to help. All I have is the cabin and my car".

"Rillian", he gasped, giving me a sharp look. "Are you serious? What will you do for work? What were you doing before?"

"I majored in English but I've never had a job".

Will was coming around a bend on the serpentine dirt trail which served as the road to my cabin, and when I said that, he nearly missed the curve, almost colliding with a tree.

"I'm sorry, never?!?", he asked after he recovered, his eyes wide with astonishment.

I felt the disapproval in that question keenly. I knew it wasn't typical, but it's what had been expected of me, and I hadn't ever needed to make my own money before.

I stared at my hands on my lap and nodded.

"Girl, what did you do for all those years?", Will asked.

I felt ashamed and heard my voice wavering as I answered, "I managed our household and our vacation homes. I decorated and hosted parties and coordinated events and fundraisers with other wives of people my dad and Harrison worked with".

Will was silent. I got the very distinct impression I was a disappointment to him.

He pulled up behind my BMW and parked. He was fairly quiet as he helped me unload groceries then double checked that the refrigerator and freezer were working properly.

"Anything else you want me to check on while I'm here?", he asked.

"I can't think of anything".

"Give me your phone", he instructed and I obligingly handed it to him.

I watched as he added his number then dialed it. Once his phone rang, he hung mine up.

"There", he said, handing my phone back. "You need anything, you call me. If you need anything fixed or you have questions about something, or you want to talk...call me",  he insisted.

I couldn't help but smile at that.

"Okay", I agreed.

He gave me another hug, less dramatic than the first one.

"I'm really sorry about what happened to you", he said, "but it sure is good to see you again".

"Yes, same here".

...........................................................................

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