On the phone, Sophia insisted, “This is important,” and the edge to her voice finally compelled him. “Listen,” he said into his phone as he scanned the darkened woods. “I gotta go! Meet me in an hour. At the inn. That’s the best I can do.”

“But—” He clicked off the phone and dialed Bruce’s cell number, listening for the ringtone and the woman who was . . . where? Out here in the uncut trees looking for him? Really?

“James!” the woman—Rebecca?—yelled again.

What was she doing out here?

Bruce’s phone started going off, some Latin-beat ringtone warbling through the night. James headed toward the sound and saw the very dim light of the phone’s face, partially buried in the snow in the midst of a stand of noble firs. As he snagged the cell from the ground and dropped it into his jacket pocket, he wished to high heaven he hadn’t agreed to meet Sophia for whatever “urgent” reason she’d concocted.

He had to convince her it was over.

* * *

Intent on catching up to James, Rebecca half-jogged to the spot where she’d last caught a glimpse of him, pushing forward into this man-made forest, avoiding stumps and saplings, the cold air brittle against her cheeks, branches catching on her hair, clouds beginning to gather overhead.

“James?” Squinting, she tried to make out movement between the firs and pines, but the woods were quiet, the lights from the tree lot becoming more distant. “James?” she yelled, hoping to catch his attention, then louder, “James!”

Nothing.

Damn the man.

She stubbed her toe on a stump and nearly fell. Smothering a curse, she slid her phone from her pocket and turned on the flashlight app to illuminate her path.

“James?”

Still no response, but she felt as if unseen eyes were watching her, zeroing in on the bright light from her phone.

Just your imagination.

Get over it.

Still, she paused, straining to hear.

Was that the sound of footsteps behind her?

The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end.

Whipping around, she shone her light into the darkness.

Nothing.

No one.

Just eerie blue illumination and the sough of a breeze rushing through the branches of the evergreens, a battalion of dark sentinels surrounding her.

“Pull yourself together.” Slowly, she swung the flashlight’s beam over the snow-packed earth, where the light glinted and pierced the shadows.

She decided she’d never find him in over forty night-dark acres of man-made forest. What had she been thinking? The smarter move would be to go back to the café, buy a hot cup of coffee, and sip while watching for him to return to his Explorer. An even smarter move would have been to phone or text him.

She started to punch in his number as a gloved hand reached out from the darkness and snagged her forearm. “Rebecca? What the hell are you doing here?”