The most powerful word she’s ever given me.
And suddenly the whole property doesn’t feel haunted anymore. It feels full. Possible. Hers again.
We spend the afternoon clearing the rest of the snow, marking out where walls might go someday. At one point she slips on ice and I catch her by the waist, pulling her flush against me. She gasps, fingers curling instinctively into my jacket.
We freeze like that.
Her breath warm against my collar.
Her heartbeat drumming against mine.
Her eyes darting from my lips to my eyes and back.
If she’d leaned in even a millimeter…
But she swallows hard and steps away.
Not ready yet.
That’s okay.
We finish as the sun dips behind the mountains, painting the snow in orange and violet. Savannah stands next to me, shoulder brushing my arm, and whispers, “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For giving me back something I thought I lost forever.”
“You didn’t lose it,” I say. “It was waiting for you.”
She looks at me then—not scared, not running, just… open.
“Axel,” she whispers, her voice barely audible over the wind. “I think I’m falling for you all over again.”
My heart slams against my ribs, but I don’t rush her. I just nod once, steady and sure.
“Then I’ll be right here,” I tell her. “Every step. Every brick.”
She exhales, a soft, warm breath that curls between us like steam.
And for the first time in ten years, she doesn’t look away.
Chapter Fourteen
Savannah
The firehouse sleeps in that eerie, post-shift quiet—lights low, engines still, the scent of smoke and cold air woven into the walls. My boots barely make a sound on the epoxy floor as I move through the bay, the letter clutched in my glove like it’s a live coal.
I told myself I’d just slip in, drop it on Axel’s bunk, and go.
I’m a liar.
My pulse has been pounding behind my ribs ever since the moment I finished writing the damn thing. One page. A dozen sentences. Every one of them yanked straight from a place inside me I spent a decade pretending didn’t exist.
Now they’re ink.
On paper.
In my handwriting.
