EMMA
That night, the snowfall thickened until the world outside my cabin felt like it was folding into silence. A soft white hush pressed against the windows. The warmth from the small fireplace crackled steadily, but the inside of my chest felt cold… shaking… unsettled.
I’d been lying in bed for an hour, staring at the ceiling, but my mind would not stop spiraling.
Every time I closed my eyes, the day replayed in loops: Gabriel laughing during the snowball fight. His hand brushing the snow from my hair. The way he looked at me with soft, intense eyes, as if I were the only thing in his line of sight.
The almost-kiss that had hovered between us like the charged air before a storm.
My throat tightened.
This wasn’t supposed to happen.
I was supposed to come here, do a job, get paid, a
