Trusting someone meant they could leave.
Meant they could shatter things.
Meant I’d need to rebuild from scratch.
And I wasn’t strong enough for that twice in one lifetime.
But then she’d looked at me by the firelight like she wanted to understand the pieces of me, like she wasn’t afraid of the shadows behind my answers, and I’d felt something inside me hesitate.
Not open.
Just… hesitate.
For the first time in years.
A sharp knock broke through the quiet.
I straightened, pulse tightening unexpectedly.
Another knock, firmer this time.
Then silence.
I turned toward the door, heart steadying itself in slow, deliberate beats.
And stepped forward.
Chapter Seventeen
Sienna
By the time I stepped into the lodge kitchen, my hair was still damp from the world’s fastest shower, and my nerves felt frayed at too many edges. The kitchen smelled like cinnamon muffins and fresh coffee, comforting, warm, normal, which only highlighted hownotnormal the last twenty-four hours had been.
Violet stood at the island, slicing fruit for brunch prep. Fiona leaned against the counter, scrolling something on her phone while snacking on blueberries she absolutely was supposed to be saving for guests.
Both of them looked up at me at the same time.
And then… froze.
Violet lowered her knife slowly. “Why do you look like you just came face-to-face with a yeti?”
Fiona straightened. “Or had a sexy wilderness epiphany?”
I groaned. “Can I walk into a room without accusations?”
“No,” they said together.
I dropped into the chair beside the island. “Fine. We had… a weird dry run.”
Violet perked up. “Weird how?”
“Nature weird.” I grabbed a muffin, tore it in half, and shoved a piece in my mouth before I could overthink the next sentence. “We saw bears.”
Both sisters paused.
And then started talking at once.
“You what—”
