“It was like time reversed itself,” she said. “It took me right back to when … when I left. I want to blame him, but of course I can’t. Especially since it was all my fault.”

Jonathan stopped sounding amused. “Nothing about what happened was your fault,” he said fiercely. “Not Ashley dying on the mountain, not your dad’s heart attack, nothing.”

Lily nodded, which was dumb, since he couldn’t see her. But her throat was too tight to talk.

“Lily? Tell me you didn’t stay away all this time because you think you’re responsible.”

She opened her mouth and then shut it.

Jonathan swore with impressive skill. “You’re no more responsible than the mountain itself,” he said.

“Not true.” Everything had been a dare between Lily and Ashley, a challenge. God forbid they play Barbies or have a tea party together, like so many other little girls. Nope, they’d goaded each other through life at full speed, fighting for their parents’ attention, grades, skiing, climbing, and once upon a time, Aidan.

“Lily—”

“Listen, I’ve gotta go,” she said, unable to discuss it. “I’m heading into a tunnel, bad connection.”

“There are no tunnels in Cedar Ridge.”

Committed to her lie, Lily used the back of her throat to fake static. “Hello? Sorry, Jonathan, I’m losing you.”

“Uh-huh,” he said dryly. “You need more phlegm in that static, babe.”

With a grimace, Lily disconnected. She pulled back onto the road. A few minutes later she passed by the resort, which looked busy.

They were in the middle of high summer season, which drew in everyone from bikers to kayakers to climbers to office dwellers on vacay.

Just past the resort, her GPS binged, letting her know that she’d come to the address that Jonathan had given her for housing. He’d told her that the efficiency apartment came with the job, and when she pulled up in front of a large barracks-like building, she got why.

It was employee housing for the resort.

Lily’s unit was on the second floor, and she’d gotten a one-room apartment. She’d assumed that meant one bedroom, but nope. It meant one room. As in the kitchen, dining room, living room, and bedroom were all one big open space.

Big being a bit of a stretch.

Out the back window, she had a view of the lake. From the front window, her view was the parking lot of the resort and the base building.

And the mountain.

She could see most of Cedar Ridge from here, including Dead Man’s Cliff far off to the right. Technically it wasn’t part of the Cedar Ridge Resort property. In fact, Dead Man’s Cliff was closed off to climbers and skiers alike, having been deemed too dangerous since the early 1960s. The only thing allowed there was on-trail hiking.