“Wynter! Oh my gosh. Are you okay? Where are you? Grams said you haven’t answered her calls, and you haven’t come back yet.” There were some muffled voices in the background, and Wynter half-wondered if Marcus had been the one to get Rose to call.
Gritting her teeth, Wynter got to her feet and paced the room. “Who’s with you?”
There was a pause on the other end of the line. “What?”
“Who’s with you? I heard someone.”
“Oh. Just Morgan. We were worried about you. After…” Her voice trailed off, and then she spoke again, this time quieter. “Did you know Marcus had been thinking about proposing?”
“Of course not,” Wynter snapped. Then she closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath. “He knew I didn’t want to get married. Or at least I thought he did.”
“Yeah, I thought it was a little weird. I wonder what got into him. Did you say something to make him believe you were?—”
“You know I didn’t.” Wynter slowed her pacing, second-guessing her answer. Then she shook her head. “I’ve been keeping my distance for the most part.”
“For the most part?”
Wynter flushed, thankful that Rose couldn’t see her. “We were getting closer, but I told him that I wasn’t ready for anything serious because I’m moving back to California.”
Rose hummed in understanding.
When she didn’t say anything else, Wynter groaned and perched on the edge of her bed. She spread her hand along the comforter, smoothing out the wrinkles as if doing so would smooth the mess of thoughts in her mind. “That’s it? Nothing to say?”
Rose spoke to Morgan away from the phone, and then her voice was clear again. “Where are you? I think you need a girls’ night. We’ll bring some snacks and some hot cocoa. And you can tell us what you need.”
Wynter looked around the sparse room. There were two queen beds, a small table with two chairs, and a dresser with a small television. It wasn’t exactly the place she wanted to befor the night, but maybe her friends could help get her mind off everything.
“Fine.”
“Fine?” Rose let out a quiet laugh. “And?”
“Room 110 at the motel just outside of town.”
“Give us thirty minutes.” Rose didn’t give Wynter a chance to argue before she hung up the phone. Wynter glanced at her phone, seeing that the call had ended, then she tossed it aside, ignoring the several other missed calls and messages.
True to her word, Rose showed up with Morgan in tow. Their hands were filled with bags from the grocery store, and they were covered with the snow that hadn’t let up since Wynter had left work.
The second Wynter saw them, the tears started up again. Rose dropped her bags to the floor and pulled Wynter into a hug. “It’s going to be okay.” She rubbed Wynter’s back up and down. “You’ll see. This will blow over by Christmas. I guarantee it. And don’t even worry about what they were talking about.”
Wynter stiffened. “What?” She pulled back and searched Rose’s eyes as the sinking feeling started in her chest. “What were they saying?”
Morgan cut Rose a dark look. Rose shrugged. “What? She can know. It’s not a big deal.”
“What were they saying?” Wynter wheezed.
“Just that Marcus got his heart broken again. And hoping the poor guy,” she continued, using her fingers to quote the words, “would get through it better this time.”
The blood drained from Wynter’s face. She had a feeling those were things Marcus’s family would be saying to one another. But there were others from town at the party. Rumors would spread like wildfire, and by tomorrow, she’d be the villain in this story.
She covered her face with her hands and groaned. “This is the worst.”
Morgan reached over and patted her arm. “No. It’s going to be fine.”
At some point one of them had shut the door and ushered her toward her bed. They’d coaxed her into a seated position and spread out the snacks around them. But none of that mattered. Wynter was feeling lightheaded. She’d never wanted this kind of attention. Everything was falling apart. How could she stick around Copper Creek now? There was zero chance that the community would drop this. What was more scandalous than a proposal gone wrong?
Morgan squeezed her arm again. “Really, Wynter. It’s going to be okay. No one is going to be talking about this in the new year.”
“New year?” Wynter squeaked. “I don’t want them talking about this at all. Marcus was never supposed to do something so… so… impulsive.” She reached for a pillow and buried her face in it. “I can’t believe this is happening.”
