Clementine and their father normally did the cooking. They were so much better at it than she was, but she’d asked for her favorite recipes in the hopes that they’d make her feel more connected over the holiday.
They didn’t. Looking at the containers of partially assembled ingredients now, she felt like a fraud and somehow lonelier than before, which didn’t seem possible.
Worse than all that was the realization that she was the only one suffering because of the separationshe’dpushed for.
Her parents were living it up on vacation visiting her father’s family in Monterrey and her sister, who she’d been so worried about, was doingfine.Better than fine. She’d somehow managed to secure herself a perfect job on a desolate, isolated island off the coast of San Franciscoandwas newly mated.
Clementine was celebrating the holiday with Emory, and every time the loneliness got to be too much, Nelly would touch her mind and feel… frustratingly perfect contentment.
Everybody but her was doing great, and she hated the kernel of resentment and hurt that lodged in her heart when she thought of it.
Of course she was happy for her sister. Clementine had earned every bit of joy the universe could offer her. Their parents also deserved it, considering all they had given up for their daughters.
Nelly just wished she could be happy, too.
“Well, being happy doesn’t start with you staring at your kitchen counter,” she muttered. “What I need is a glass of wine, a movie, and a very good night’s sleep.”
Propelled by the tiniest burst of motivation, she closed all the containers of homemade salsa, slow-cooked pork, pickled peppers, and other ingredients. Once they were safely stowed in the refrigerator, she let out a sigh of relief and reached for the bottle of wine on the counter.
The hard question would be which movie to—
The unmistakable sound of a crunching metal made her jump. Nelly gasped and whirled around to stare at her front door. It sounded like a car crash, but that wasn’t possible. The gravel road leading to her cottage was way off the main road leading to Montague, and evenifsomeone got turned around enough to make it close to her house, she doubted anyone would be stupid enough to drive in the blizzard currently battering the walls.
It took her incredulous mind several seconds to assimilate that yes, it definitely sounded like a crash and yes, that meant someone might be hurt.
“Shit!”
Nelly wasn’t dressed to go outside in a blizzard, but she didn’t have time to change out of her pajamas and into more weather-appropriate gear. Breathing fast, she shucked her slippers in favor of shoving her fuzzy socks into her work boots, which sat beside the front door. Next, she dragged on her insulated winter coat, her wool scarf, and snatched her outside gloves off the hook beside her keys.
Normally she would have put her much thinner, nearly invisible inside-only gloves on beneath her cold weather ones, but she worried that every second counted when an injured person might be out in the storm.
Throwing open the door, Nelly was hit by a blast of icy air.Damn, it’s cold!
The frigid wind tore through the fleece material of her comfy pajama bottoms, rendering them almost completely useless.
Tugging her scarf up and over her nose, she gritted her teeth.Don’t think about it.
It was only late afternoon, but visibility was so bad there might as well have been no sun at all. Nelly squinted into the blizzard as she stepped out the door. She was prepared to charge out, but something falling onto the toe of her boot stopped her.
A… gift?
Nelly stared blankly down at the rectangular package wrapped in cheerful pink paper.
Someone had dropped off a gift for her. Her chest squeezed so tightly that her breath escaped in a steamy wheeze through the fabric of her scarf. Stooping to grab it, a terrible worry began to worm its way through her cycle of panicked thoughts.
There was really only one person who would drop off a gift for her, but without removing her gloves, she couldn’t be certain. But who else could it be? No one other than Suhana liked her. And hadn’t she promised to stop by with a present?
Nelly’s stomach rolled.Did I just not hear her knock?It was possible that she’d come by when she was on the phone, and between the call and the storm she just hadn’t heard her.
Oh, gods.
All but throwing the gift onto the little entryway table she’d squeezed into the foot of space between the door and the back of her couch, Nelly slammed the door shut and charged out into the blizzard.
“Sue!”she called, gloved hands cupped around her mouth. “Sue! Are you out there?”
Following the vaguest shapes of tire tracks in the snow, she trudged ahead. Almost immediately ice began to form in her eyelashes and hair as she called again. “Sue, if you can hear me, try to make a sound! I can’t see a foot in front of me! Help me out, okay?”
But there was no response, and that only worried her more.
