I know this chapter is pretty short but I wanted to get it started once I had the idea and I promise later chapters will be longer. This is just a teaser! And it might take me a while to update, even though I've already started working on the second chapter. Life is a bit busy right now, poor timing for inspiration to strike. Let me know if you like the idea!

Chapter 1

Ally sat by the large bay window of her cabin, coffee mug in hand, looking out over the frozen lake and mountain views. She felt calm, well-rested, and at peace, but unfortunately not inspired. She sighed. A month had passed since her arrival at this so-called artist retreat and she had only managed to turn out one mediocre song. Her record label had reserved this cabin, complete with adjoining recording studio, in an attempt to get her fourth album jump-started, but so far it didn't seem to be working.

All of a sudden, she heard the sound of a large motor vehicle pulling up. She got up to look out her kitchen window to see what was going on. A couple hundred feet away she saw an enormous pickup truck pull up and park net to her comparatively tiny Prius. A tall blonde man hopped out of the truck, followed by a ridiculously fluffy dog. He laughed at the dog as he pulled a suitcase and a duffle bag out of the bed of his truck, flashing a brilliant grin, and strolled over to the cabin closest to Ally's, then disappeared inside.

Ally dropped the curtain again, surprised at her new neighbor. In the month she had been here, she had not seen another human being other than the property manager and the housekeeping staff. These cabins were generally popular in the summer, not the winter. She hoped he would be quiet and a loner s she wouldn't be distracted too much from her work.

Ally retreated to the tiny recording studio, which was only a bit bigger than her walk-in closet at home. Still, it fit an upright piano and the audio equipment required and she couldn't complain. She sat in front of the keys, fingers hovering above them, hoping for a tune. The silence should have helped with this but somehow didn't. She was too calm, too relaxed. Nothing was filling her brain demanding to be let out, no romantic interactions were setting her brain on fire. She wound up playing and singing cover songs for hours, just as she had for days.

When she grew bored she left the tiny room and noticed the sun was much lower in the sky, and it was almost sunset. Time to work on dinner. Ally wasn't a great cook, but she could make do when push came to shove.

As she was pulling out the ingredients for a pasta dish, she glanced out the kitchen window again and immediately laughed out loud. The blonde was dressed in only a towel in his living room, dancing with his dog to music she could still faintly hear despite the walls and distance between them. She couldn't tear her eyes away. Not just because he was good looking (which he was), but because he looked so truly happy and carefree, the kind of happy you normally only see in small children. She wondered if she ever looked like that when she was totally alone.

Suddenly she noticed that he had spotted her. He stopped dancing, smiled and waved at her, completely unembarassed. Ally blushed slightly, gave him a small wave back, and then stepped away and returned to cooking. Perhaps things would be getting a little more interesting now that she had a neighbor.

That night she was sitting in bed, trying to read before falling asleep but having difficulty focusing. She kept thinking about her blonde neighbor and how happy he had been. How long had it been since she was that happy? How could an adult in today's world even be that happy, even if momentarily? Suddenly lyrics started racing through her mind and she grabbed the brown journal she always kept by her bedside for moments like these.

Let me see your hands no don't ever drop them
Just let yourself go whoa and be bold whoa
Forget about what everyone else says
Show what you got and that you're ready to rock it
Just take a chance yeah come on and dance
Dance like nobody's watching

She fell asleep with relived smile on her face that night.