Chapter 1

I had waited a whole year for this road trip. It took forever for Ethan to finally clear his schedule to go with me.

I started prepping a week in advance. I bought cute outfits, stocked up on snacks, and downloaded a bunch of movies on my iPad so we wouldn't get bored on the road.

The day before the trip, I spent eighty bucks to fill up the gas tank, packed all our luggage into the trunk, and went to bed with a huge smile on my face, excited for the next morning.

The drive from San Francisco to Lake Tahoe takes about three hours. To make sure neither of us got too tired, Ethan and I agreed to split the driving half-and-half, with a quick break at a rest stop.

But I never expected that a five-minute bathroom break would end with my car completely disappearing.

I walked around the rest stop three times. No sign of Ethan. I started to panic, thinking he might have accidentally driven off and forgotten me. I quickly called his phone.

It took four or five tries before he finally picked up. His voice sounded annoyed. "What is it? Don't you know I'm driving?"

My temper flared. "You know you're driving, but do you know where *I* am?"

Hearing my tone, his annoyance softened slightly. "Chloe, look, Lily has a fever. It’s 104 degrees. I had to rush back to take her to the ER."

Lily was his childhood best friend. Every time we argued about her, Ethan would always say, *“If anything were ever going to happen between us, it would’ve happened years ago. Why would I even be with you?”*

I let out a cold laugh. "Lily has a fever? Is she paralyzed? Why can't she call an Uber? Or 911? Does she not have other friends or coworkers? Why does she need my boyfriend to drive three hours back to play doctor?"

Ethan’s tone turned accusatory. "Chloe, why are you so heartless? A 104-degree fever can cause seizures! She’s all alone in the city. Of course I had to go back!"

"Oh, really? So you didn’t even bother to tell me? You just stole my car and drove off? Did you even consider how I'm supposed to get back?"

"Chloe, babe, be reasonable. The rest stop isn't that far from the city. You can just call an Uber or something. Figure it out."

Before I could scream at him, he cut me off. "Be good, okay? I need to focus on the road. Bye." He hung up.

I stood there clutching my phone, my hair blowing wildly in the chilly autumn wind. We were supposed to go enjoy the warm sunshine, but his precious bestie had ruined everything.

A year of waiting. A week of excitement. All gone in a second.

I hadn't even touched the snacks I bought.

The angrier I got, the clearer my head became. I tapped three digits into my keypad. "Hi, I'd like to report a stolen vehicle. The license plate is..."

The highway patrol doesn't mess around. Less than five minutes after I hung up, Ethan called me back.

The moment I pressed answer, his furious voice blasted through the speaker. "Chloe, are you out of your mind?! Reporting me for grand theft auto?! Do you have a brain? I'm driving on the freeway! You could have gotten me pulled over and arrested!"

"I told you! Lily is sick! I had to get her to the hospital! What are you throwing a tantrum for?!"

Wow. He actually had the nerve to blame me.

I was the one who looked forward to this trip, only to be abandoned at a rest stop without a word, told to "figure it out."

"Ethan, I never realized how incredibly shameless you are until today."

"Lily has a fever, so you steal *my* car to drive her, leaving me stranded?"

"You told me to figure it out, right? Well, this is my way of figuring it out. I'm giving you exactly thirty minutes to drive my car back here. Otherwise, enjoy spending the night in a jail cell." I slammed the phone down.

Just to be safe, I also called 911 and reported a medical emergency at Lily's apartment, telling them a woman was suffering from a life-threatening fever.

I didn't want them blaming me for "delaying her medical care" when I forced Ethan to turn around.