I stare at the message, then up at the stars.
My dream. About to come true.
So why does it feel more like a nightmare?
"What are you going to do?" she asks.
"I don't know," I admit. "I have one more game. One more chance to prove I belong at that level. And then?—"
"And then you choose," she says. "Really choose. Not what you think you should want. What you actually want."
She pulls me into a hug, squeezing tight. "I love you, Ry. Whatever you decide."
"Love you too," I manage.
"Get some sleep." She pulls back, studying my face. "You look like hell."
"Thanks."
"Anytime." She grins, then heads back toward Piper's cabin.
I watch her go, then stand alone with the stars and my phone and the weight of a decision I'm not ready to make.
The cold finally drives me inside.
The light is on in Piper's cabin. Shadows move behind the curtain—her and Sage, probably laughing about something else embarrassing from my childhood.
My phone buzzes again. Preston, excited about logistics and contracts and the future I've always wanted.
The light in Piper's cabin flickers. She appears in the window for just a second, looking out at the stars, and even from here I can see her smile.
I press my forehead against the cold window. The glass fogs with my breath.
Twenty-three feet away, that light stays on.
Chapter 19
Piper
Sage Lockwood is eating cereal straight from the box on my couch.
Again.
She's been here for two days, and my cabin has officially become Lockwood Sister Headquarters. Her duffel bag exploded across the living room sometime Thursday afternoon. Her phone charger has claimed the outlet by my bed. There are three different types of tea in my cabinet that definitely weren't there before.
"Your brother's place is like twenty-three feet away," I point out Saturday morning, pouring my second coffee. "You could literally throw a rock and hit it."
"Yeah, but his energy is all..." She waves her spoon in a circular motion. "Broody hockey man who doesn't know how to process feelings. Yours is more 'girl figuring her life out but at least she has good snacks.'" She crunches another handful of Cheerios. "Plus, he keeps rearranging everything I fix. I spent an hour creating optimal feng shui and he moved the couch back the second I left."
"The horror."
"Right?" She grins at me. "So I'm staying. Unless you have any objections?"
"If I said no, would it make any difference?"
"Absolutely not."
"Then there's more cereal in the pantry."
