Winter break meant three weeks apart — Reese back in Duluth with her dad and Cole staying in Northbridge for optional captain's skates. Although he didn't express it directly, the thought of going home for three weeks will bring unique kind of scrutiny from his father, which would be experienced face-to-face rather than through a phone call.
She hadn't anticipated that missing him would feel like a tangible presence, a gentle ache she carried around Duluth, much like a bruise she kept forgetting to shield. Over the past four months, she had woven a life that included him in nearly every aspect — the comforting aroma of coffee at five-thirty, the serene quiet of him engrossed in game tape across the room, the reassuring weight of his arm as she drifted off against his shoulder on the couch
