POP.
The power snaps out, and Frankie jumps. I reach out without thinking, hands landing on her waist to steady her before she stumbles. Her skin jolts under my palms, and I freeze.
It’s dark. The only light comes from the snow outside, a soft glow filtering through the window. I can feel her breath, just inches from mine. My hands still on her hips.
Slowly, her fingers curl into my sleeves like she can’t decide whether to shove me off or hang on tighter.
The lights hum and flicker, then snap back on.
We’re too close. But she doesn’t move, and neither do I. And when those light green eyes raise to meet mine, something low and painful drags through my chest.
I want to say something, anything that might keep her here with me a moment longer, but she beats me to it.
“I didn’t need an explanation, you know,” she says, voice brittle. “Didn’t need a grand gesture or some poetic paragraph. Just…something. A reply. One fucking message so I knew you weren’t dead.”
She swallows, and her eyes sharpen like they did in the snow—fierce, but hurting.
“I gave you the benefit of the doubt. Fordays. I even—” Her voice catches. “I googled fire calls in the GTA, just to make sure there hadn’t been… you know, some tragic accident.”
That punches the air from my lungs. I remember what she told me, about her parents. The car crash and the aftermath. How some days the grief and panic sneaks up on her.
And I made her feel that again, because I couldn’t send one goddamn message.
I take a step closer. “Frankie—”
She flinches, like the sound of her name in my voice stings.
“Forget it,” she mutters, already turning. “I shouldn’t have said all that.”
I catch her wrist before she can slip past me.
“Frankie, please.”
She turns to look at me, and my mouth’s already open—
“Guys?” Lulu’s voice echoes up the stairs. “You alive up there? Dessert’s ready!”
Frankie blinks, looks toward the door, then jerks her hand out of mine.
And then she’s gone again.
Chapter ten
Frankie
By the time Mason walks back into the dining room, the pie is sliced and Leah’s just started plating up when Lulu spots him and grins.
“Well, look who survived,” she drawls. “We were about to send a search party.”
Logan leans back in his chair. “Thought maybe you’d fallen in. That guest bathroom is dangerous. The wallpaper alone could kill a man.”
“They’re hydrangeas,” Leah says, carrying over two plates. “My favorite.”
“It’s very… floral,” Logan replies, catching the candied pecan Lulu tosses at him and popping it into his mouth. “You good, bro? Look like you saw a ghost.”
My stomach flips. Mason’s eyes skate across the room and catch mine for a second. Just one, but it’s enough to remember the warmth of his hands on my hips. The way his voice dipped when he said my name.
He shrugs, casual as hell, and slides into the seat next to Herb.
