“Come outside,” I say, quiet but firm. “We’re talking. Now.”
Mila’s lips part. “Beau?—”
I lean in, my mouth near her ear, voice low enough that only she can hear. “You can be mad at me. You can cry at me. You can tell me to go to hell if you want. But you’re not leaving without hearing the truth.”
Her breath shudders.
She nods once.
Outside, the cold bites.
I guide her to the side of the building, where the snowbanks make a little wall and the world feels far away. I let her wrist go, but I don’t step back.
Mila folds her arms like armor. “Okay. Talk.”
My jaw flexes.
I’ve faced cliffs and storms and blood and screams.
This is harder.
“I saw your note,” I say. “The part where you said I deserve someone who isn’t afraid.”
Mila flinches.
I point at her chest, not touching her, but close. “That’s you.”
She shakes her head. “No, it’s not. I’m?—”
“Human,” I snap. “You’re human. And you’re brave. You called when you were stranded. You moved to a mountain town alone. You looked a man like me in the eye and didn’t shrink.”
Her eyes widen slightly.
I step closer anyway, because distance feels like lying.
“You’re afraid of falling in love,” I say, voice low. “And you know what? So am I.”
Mila’s breath catches. “You are?”
I swallow, throat tight. “The last woman I loved… she died.”
The words hang there in the cold like smoke.
Mila’s face changes—shock, pain, empathy so sharp it hurts to look at.
“Oh,” she whispers. “Beau…”
“I didn’t come up here because I hate people,” I say. “I came up here because loving someone taught me what it feels like to lose oxygen. And I decided I’d rather be numb than feel that again.”
My voice cracks at the edges, and I hate it, but I keep going.
“Then you show up on my road with a cupcake air freshener and your big brave eyes,” I say, rough, “and you look at me like I’m safe. Like I’mgood.Like I could be more than the worst day of my life.”
Mila’s hand lifts to her mouth, trembling.
“And I can’t do it halfway,” I add. “I can’t have you in my bed and then pretend I’m fine when you leave. I can’t kiss you like you’re my salvation and then act like you’re just a moment.”
Mila’s eyes fill. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
