Chapter 1
The GPSâs carefully modulated female voice had informed them it was ârecalculatingâ twenty minutes ago, and so far the percentage bar at the top of the unit had remained at a solid, unyielding and entirely unhelpful eighty-eight percent. Jessie wasnât worriedâthey were on a major highway, the scenery was pretty and she was with Max. She didnât mind the drive.
Max, on the other hand, had already apologized several times, sheepishly admitting he hadnât bothered to print out directions or look at a map beforehand. Now he gave a frustrated sigh and reached to reset the device. âIâm sorry, Jessie. I really didnât think Karen would let me down.â
Karen? Jessie kept her expression neutral. Sheâd known Max for nearly five months. Theyâd been dating seriously for three. Heâd often referred to an âexââsometimes the âevil exâ and sometimes âthat crazy woman I was with,â and once, after a night of too many beers, he went so far as to say âthat insane fucking bitch.â It was the only time Jessie had ever heard him swear. It had been so sexy that sheâd have pounced him right then and there if theyâd been alone instead of in the middle of his best friendâs living room at a party. Heâd never said his exâs name.
âRecalculating,â the GPS said.
âShut up, Karen,â Max said, visibly irritated, and shot Jessie another apologetic look. âSorry.â
Jessie burst into laughter. âKarenâs the GPS?â
He nodded, watching the road as he fiddled with the unit. âYeah, you can pick the voice for it. John, Alex, Lisa...â
âAnd you picked Karen.â Jessie laughed again, wishing she could lean over to kiss his face right off but keeping herself in her seat instead. Thereâd be plenty of time for kissing when they got to the cabinâat least if she had anything to do with it.
âYep.â Max grinned.
Jessie melted.
Theyâd been introduced by Jessieâs friend Kelly, who was dating Maxâs friend Len. Kelly had confided to Jessie that Max had had a spectacularly bad breakup that he wasnât really ready to date anyone, that he was a super-sweet and nice guy who wasnât going to expect a lot from her, but they really needed another couple to get this great deal on a night out at the local casino, and would Jessie please, please, please do Kelly this favor and agree to go out with him? Jessie, wary because Kelly had set her up with a couple of real douche bags in the past, had only agreed because Kelly promised to pay for her share of the night out. As far as Jessie was concerned, a steak dinner and a hundred bucksâ credit for the slots was worth a night out even with a total jerkâthough Max had turned out to be anything but. He was everything Kelly had promised, and more. Theyâd become an easy foursome after that for nights out, and after a few weeks, Max had hesitantly asked to exchange phone numbers âso we donât have to go through Kelly if we want to get together.â Five months later, they were on their way for a weekend of camping in the remote wilds of northwestern Pennsylvania, and Jessie was determined that it was going to be a romantic weekend getaway.
Their first.
Five months since that first ânot a date,â three months since Max had asked her if it would be okay if they went to the movies without Kelly and Len. Heâd taken her to see a truly awful superhero flick and left her on her doorstep with nothing but a kiss on the cheek. Since then, theyâd graduated to casual hand-holding, a few make-out sessions that had always been inconveniently interrupted by one thing or another and a lot of increasingly suggestive text message exchanges. Max was a flirt, but he seemed more comfortable with innuendo over the phone or online than in person. Heâd told her he thought people took things too fast, and while it had been refreshing at first to discover he was such a gentleman, Jessie was ready for more.
So funny, she thought, watching him as he concentrated on the road ahead, occasionally glancing at the GPS to confirm they were still on route. Five months of being together almost every day, if not in person, then on the phone or messaging, had taught her a lot about Max. Jessie knew his favorite color, his brand of cologne, that he hated raisins cooked in anything and called them âSatanâs boogers.â She knew the name of his first dog, where heâd grown up, his shoe size and that he loved pecan pie but hated lemon meringue. She knew so many bits and pieces of him that she didnât doubt she knew the whole...except for the parts about his ex. That was an open, blank space in the lexicon of Max.