SNOWED IN WITH MY TEMPORARY ROOMMATE

The snow started falling an hour after I arrived. At first, it felt harmless, soft flakes drifting lazily from the sky, the kind that made everything look quieter, gentler. The kind that belonged on greeting cards and childhood memories. I watched it from the cracked window of my apartment, arms wrapped around myself, trying to convince my heart that coming home for the holidays hadn’t been a mistake. Then the power went out. The heater died with a sad little groan, the lights flickered once, and everything went dark. My phone buzzed immediately, an alert about a severe snowstorm, road closures, and possible outages lasting days. Days. I laughed, short and hollow, because of course this would happen. I came home hoping for warmth, familiarity, something steady. Instead, I was standing in a freezing apartment with a broken heater, frozen pipes, and no backup plan. By nightfall, my breath fogged the air. That was when my cousin finally replied to my desperate text. I’m so sorry, Aria. We’re already full. Try Ethan, he’s renting out his spare room temporarily. Ethan. I didn’t know him. Not really. I’d heard of him—quiet, respectful, a single dad who lived a few streets away. The kind of man people described with words like stable and safe. Exactly the kind of man I wasn’t supposed to end up snowed in with. But desperation has a way of lowering pride. So there I was, an hour later, standing on his porch as the storm howled behind me, my suitcase at my feet, my fingers numb, my heart pounding harder with every second. The door opened. Warm light spilled out, along with the smell of something comforting-cinnamon, maybe, or coffee. He stood there, tall and calm, wearing a sweater that looked soft enough to ruin me emotionally. His eyes flicked from my face to the snow-covered suitcase. “Aria?” he asked gently. “You must be freezing. Come in.” I stepped inside, not realizing until much later that I’d just crossed the line between temporary shelter and something that would change my life completely.