CHAPTER ONE

Maggie

 

I was tucking the fitted sheet under the mattress in room 219 when Audra, my supervisor, stuck her head in the door.

“Hey, Mags, you almost done on this floor?” she asked.

“Yeah,” I said, straightening up. “I’ve got two more rooms and I’m done. What’s up?”

“Trashed room on three. I was hoping you could get to it before noon?”

I nodded, checking the time on my phone. Satisfied, Audra retreated and left me to my work.

It was early May and I was three weeks into my job on the housekeeping staff at The Elway hotel in Mountain Valley. I’d gotten the job through my brother, Justin, who owned a restaurant a few towns over. I’d called him two months ago, begging him to find me something, anything, that would get me out of the city.

Mountain Valley was small, but friendly and scenic. Everyone seemed to know everybody. It was a quiet little haven for part of the year, but really came alive in the summer and winter months when it was overrun by tourists and cottagers. Over the past year, movie star Mason Scott had started building a production studio in one of the old abandoned warehouses, and that was bringing in a whole different clientele.

Which brought me back to the trashed room on the third floor. I’d been in town less than a month, but already I’d spotted quite a few big stars coming in and out of the hotel. They were the kinds of guests a small town wasn’t used to, and everyone was still trying to figure out how to navigate the change. I found it amusing, coming from the city and having a much different perspective on celebrities, but in the end, it meant a busier summer for the hotel and an increased need for staff. So there I was.

The work itself didn’t bother me—changing sheets, cleaning bathtubs, scrubbing toilets. It was mindless, and that was exactly what I was looking for, something that would pay the bills but not take up any mental space, leaving me free to write in the evenings. That was all I wanted, to be left alone in peace while I wrote my novel.

I finished dusting, left the room, and was getting ready to tackle the last two when I felt my phone buzz in my pocket. I pulled it out and saw a text message from, of all people, my mother.

Sweetheart. We’re coming for a visit. Be there June 2. Can’t wait to see you.