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That word holds everything I have never been good at saying aloud.
With one more smile, she turns toward the SUV.
Zymon is already waiting beside the open door, one hand resting on its frame as he holds it for her.
I watch as Stevie thanks him without meeting his eyes.
Oh…
Someone has a crush.
I file that information away for later when she starts messing in my love life again.
The SUVs begin pulling away and Stevie rolls down her window and waves at me.
I lift my hand.
She keeps waving until the car turns a corner towards the gates and disappears from view.
And just like that, she’s gone.
I stand there for another moment, staring at the gates as they close.
Everyone is gone and the campaign is finished.
The outside world has begun to disappear again, taking the noise, the cameras, and everything that isn’t just us with it.
And I’m still here with Stephen.
What I told him earlier was true, even if it took everything in me to admit it.
There’s nowhere I’d rather be than at Winter Storm with him.
With a peaceful and content sigh, I turn toward the mansion, where the glass windows are covered in frost. Somewhere inside is the man who was never supposed to become part of my life. The man I was supposed to leave behind the moment this day ended. The man I had every intention of walking away from before I ever gave myself the chance to want him.
And yet, here I am.
Staying for him.
Because the truth is that somewhere along the way, without my permission or my understanding, my frozen heart heard the song of his and chose him.
And after years of belonging only to the ice, I think I might finally be brave enough to belong to him, too.
thirty-four
. . .
The Sweet Dream Outside My Door
“Some people save you without ever realizing you were drowning.” — K
I wake up choking.
Not physically but emotionally.
Like the nightmare reached inside my chest, wrapped a hand around my lungs, and reminded me that grief has a fucking long memory.
My mother’s voice still echoes in my ears.
