I let my arms loosen around her, and she removed hers from around my neck.
“Thank you for sharing that with me,” she said gently. “I know I’m no one special, but I think you are worthy of love. You don’t have to know how to be someone’s person. You just have to let someone try to be yours.”
Her words hit me in the chest.
Not like a blow, but like something cracking open, something old and rusted that I’d welded shut a long time ago. I didn’t know what to do with her kindness—with the way she said things that made it harder to hold onto all the defenses I’d spent years perfecting.
It would’ve been easier if she’d brushed it off or given me some throwaway line, but she hadn’t. Belle had somehow said exactly what I’d needed to hear.
She smiled at me and must have noticed a look on my face that told her I was still processing her words, because she turned her body back toward the screen.
“This is my favorite part,” she said, a soft smile tugging at her lips. On screen, a singing iceman danced across the stage. “Snow Miser and Heat Miser each get their own song. I used to hum them for weeks after.”
I watched her for a beat longer, her eyes lit up by the screen, completely absorbed in the scene like she hadn’t just cracked something wide open inside me.
I wasn’t sure what to do with everything I was feeling, but I knew one thing—I wasn’t ready to let her go.
Not when being with her made the world feel warmer.
Not when I finally didn’t feel so alone.
I used to think I was fine with the way things were—keeping people at arm’s length, going through the motions.
But now?
Now I just wanted more time with her.
And I didn’t know what that meant…only that I didn’t want this to end.
Chapter 14
Belle
December 22nd
Picking up my phone,I opened the sibling group chat. I had wanted to wait until I was in a little better headspace before I filled them in on the latest events. And since I was about to head down for the resort’s Mynt to Be Sleigh Ride and S’mores activity this evening, I knew I needed to do it now before they started bombarding me with texts.
But before I could say anything, a message came through, just as I had predicted.
Ethan
Sooo…did you finally drop the dead weight?
Claire
Please say yes,please say yes.
Neither of them were known for their subtlety.
Belle
Yes. I ended things, and he left this morning for a work “emergency.”
Claire
How ever will you survive without being ignored while skiing?
Ethan
