"Okay."
Chapter Six
GABRIEL
Morning light filters through the cabin windows, catching the curve of Noelle’s bare shoulder. She’s still asleep, tangled in my sheets, her hair spread across the pillow. Last night was like the kind of dream you wake up from and try to chase back to sleep, because the real world can’t possibly be this good.
I reach out, trace my thumb over her shoulder blade. She sighs softly, turns toward me, her hand finding my chest.
“Morning.”
She props herself up on one elbow, the sheet sliding down, and it takes all my self-control to keep my eyes on hers.
“Ready for more?”
Her cheeks flush the prettiest shade of pink as she smiles up at me. “You’re impossible.”
“Maybe. But I don’t want this to end.”
Her smile falters and there’s a flicker of something I can’t read in her eyes. She reaches for her phone on the nightstand, the screen lighting up her face. The expression that crosses it isn’t what I expect.
“Oh.”
“What is it?”
She stares at the screen for a moment, like she’s trying to make sense of it. “The Harvest & Hearth job. I got it.”
It takes me a second to place the name. “That’s the one in the city?”
She nods slowly. “Yeah. They want me to start right after Christmas.”
The words hang there like frost in the air between us.
“Wow,” I say finally. “That’s… that’s great, Noelle.”
Her smile doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “Yeah. It is.”
I want to pull her close again, to ask her what she wants, what this means for us, but I hesitate. She’s worked hard for this. She’s got a dream that doesn’t fit inside this small town, and who am I to get in the way of it? It wouldn’t be fair.
“You should take it,” I hear myself say. My voice sounds steady, but it feels like something cracks underneath.
Her shoulders stiffen. “Of course. I mean, it’s what I’ve been working for.”
“Right.” I force a smile. “You’ll kill it there.”
“Yeah.” She sits up, pulling the sheet tighter around her, already halfway out of my bed. “I should probably go. I promised Dad I’d open the diner this morning.”
She moves around the room, gathering her clothes. It hits me like a door slamming shut.
“Noelle…”
She glances over her shoulder. “Thanks for dinner. And for… everything.” The smile she gives me is careful. Like she’s already putting distance between us.
And because I’m stupid, and I have no idea how much she means to me, I let her. I don’t know what to say that won’t sound selfish. If I tell her to stay, and she gives up her chance, she might regret it.
The door clicks behind her, and the cabin is suddenly too quiet. I sit there for a long time, running a hand over my face.Outside, the snow has started again, soft flakes falling through the pines. When I finally move, something catches the light on the floor beside the bed.
It’s Noelle’s watch; small, gold, the glass cracked. I pick it up. The second hand is stuck between numbers, frozen in place. I slip it into my jacket pocket. There’s only one person in town who might be able to fix it.
