Miss Valentine

Chapter 15: Snowstorm and filter

The day started off with a crisp winter chill, the sky a soft shade of gray, promising snowfall. Scarlett had planned to spend the afternoon avoiding the town’s relentless enthusiasm for Valentine’s Day, but fate—more specifically, Everbrook’s unpredictable weather—had other ideas.

By late afternoon, the gentle flurries had turned into an all-out blizzard. The wind howled through the streets, swirling snow into thick, blinding waves. Most of the town had already retreated indoors, fireplaces crackling, mugs of hot cocoa in hand.

Scarlett, however, found herself stranded at the edge of Everbrook’s woods.

It had started as an innocent walk—a way to clear her mind after the confusing conversation with Noah the night before. She hadn’t realized how far she’d wandered until the snowfall thickened, turning the landscape into a disorienting white abyss. The trees blurred together, the path home barely visible beneath the layers of snow. Her phone? Completely useless. No service. No GPS. No lifeline.

Panic simmered beneath the surface, but she forced herself to stay calm. She just needed to keep moving.

That was when she heard it—footsteps crunching through the snow behind her.

She spun around, her heart leaping into her throat, only to find a familiar figure approaching through the storm.

Noah.

His dark coat was dusted with snow, his face half-hidden beneath the hood, but there was no mistaking that infuriatingly familiar smirk.

“Well, if it isn’t Everbrook’s worst explorer,” he teased, pulling his hood back. “Lost, are we?”

Scarlett exhaled sharply, the warmth of her breath instantly turning to mist. “What are you doing here?”

“Looking for you,” he said simply. “Carol mentioned you left the café alone, and when the storm picked up, I figured you might need rescuing.”

Scarlett folded her arms, trying to ignore the way her heart sped up. “I don’t need rescuing.”

Noah glanced around at the thickening snowfall. “Right. Because wandering through a snowstorm is exactly what sane people do for fun.”

Scarlett groaned, shivering as the wind cut through her coat. “Fine. Maybe I was a little lost. But I had it under control.”

Noah arched an eyebrow. “Sure you did.”

Before she could fire back, a particularly strong gust of wind whipped between them, nearly knocking Scarlett off balance. Noah reached out instinctively, his hands finding her arms to steady her.

“We need to get out of this storm,” he said, his voice quieter, more serious. “There’s a cabin not far from here. We’ll wait it out there.”

Scarlett hesitated. A cabin? Alone? With Noah?

Not exactly the best idea for someone who was already struggling to keep her emotions in check.

But as the wind howled around them and the cold seeped into her bones, she knew she didn’t have much of a choice.

“Lead the way,” she muttered, reluctantly following him through the snow.

The Cabin

By the time they reached the small wooden cabin, Scarlett was frozen to the core.

Noah shouldered the door open, revealing a cozy but empty space inside—a stone fireplace, a worn-out couch, a small wooden table, and not much else. He immediately set to work, gathering logs from the stack near the hearth, while Scarlett peeled off her snow-drenched coat.

“This place belongs to the town,” Noah explained as he worked to start a fire. “Kind of an emergency shelter. Figured it would come in handy.”

Scarlett hovered near the fireplace, rubbing her hands together as the flames crackled to life, bathing the cabin in a soft golden glow.

For a while, they sat in silence, the only sound the occasional pop of burning wood and the wind rattling against the windows. The warmth seeped into her skin, loosening the tension in her muscles, but not the tension in her chest.

Noah leaned back against the couch, stretching his legs out in front of him. “So. You wanna tell me why you were out there in the first place?”

Scarlett glanced at him, debating whether to brush it off. But something about the way he looked at her—curious but patient—made her sigh in defeat.

“I just needed to think,” she admitted.

He smirked. “And nearly freezing to death was part of the process?”

She shot him a glare. “I didn’t plan on getting caught in a blizzard, okay?”

Noah chuckled but didn’t push. Instead, he reached over, grabbing a thick blanket from the couch and tossing it toward her. “Here. You’re still shivering.”

Scarlett hesitated before wrapping it around herself, the weight of it unexpectedly comforting. She hated that he was being nice. It was easier when he was just teasing her.

“Why do you do that?” she asked suddenly.

He frowned. “Do what?”

“Act like you don’t care about the town, about all of this.” She gestured vaguely around them. “You always pretend like none of it matters to you, but you were the first one to come looking for me. You show up when people need you. You care more than you let on.”

Noah’s smirk faltered. For a moment, he just stared at her, his expression unreadable. Then, with a sigh, he ran a hand through his hair.

“Maybe,” he admitted. “Or maybe I just like proving you wrong.”

Scarlett rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t ignore the way her pulse quickened.

The storm outside raged on, trapping them together in this tiny cabin, where the air between them felt warmer than the fire crackling in the hearth.

And for the first time since arriving in Everbrook, Scarlett wasn’t sure if she wanted to escape.