Page 33

It didn’t matter that my life had blown up. It mattered that I kept it together while I was trapped with the man who hated me. It mattered that Iappearedokay, not that I was.
I went and sat on the couch, choosing to doomscroll social media instead of dealing with my problems. All I saw were reminders of them since everyone was talking about the disastrous storm outside.
After twenty minutes of being alone, I got up to be sure Alden hadn’t frozen to death. I peered out the window. I couldn’t see well, but I could see the blurry outline of an axe in his hand. He was chopping the branches with a full-body swing thatalmostmade me want to go outside and see it in person.
Hehadpicked me up like I was nothing. Had anyone managed to do that before?
What would he look like in full detail? Would his hair be falling out of place? Would his jaw be ticced?
No.No.I was not going to swoon over him, no matter how good his silhouette looked in the window.
If it were anyone else, this could have been a scenefrom a romantic movie. Two people stuck in a house. What could happen?
But in this situation, it was only pain. I’d seen this ending before and I didn’t like it very much.
I shook off the thoughts, shutting the curtains. I was in a delicate state, newly single, with most of my things in a place I was no longer welcome. I wouldn’t even have my camera for a week, and I wasn’t used to not having a way to document my life.
The last thing I needed was to drool over Alden and have my brother’s best friend break my heart for the second time.
I busied myself with gathering blankets from the closets in case tonight was freezing. The Christmas tree twinkled innocently in the corner, and it hit me that the holiday was in a few days, and no one had any idea of where we’d be. When I was a kid, we dreamed of snow on Christmas. Now it seemed more like a nightmare.
My hands stilled as I realized, for the first time in my entire life, my family wouldn’t be together.
Fuck.This was just another thing to add to the mounting reasons that everything wasbad.
Tears welled in my eyes as I remembered all our traditions that wouldn’t be happening. There would be no breakfast casserole, no home-cooked dinner that all of us gathered around the table for, and no movies by the fire.
Christmas was sacred. It was the one warm glow in adark and dreary season. I looked forward to it every year, but it didn’t seem to be happening this time.
Damn it. Why couldn’t I keep cool? Why was I so upset about missing one stupid holiday?
Between the bad proposal, having to temporarily move in with Nick, and this snowstorm, everything felt like it was falling apart.
Blindly reaching for my phone, I knew I needed my best friend.
She would be away from work because of the storm unless she were stubborn enough to stay at the office. Her job as a CEO sometimes came before everything else.
Except for me.
“Holy shit, Stella,” Winnie said the second she answered. “I’ve seen three wrecks on my way home. What is happening?”
“I’m glad you didn’t stay at the office. You’d be trapped.”
“I love my business, but notthatmuch. I left right when the dark clouds of apocalypse gathered.”
Speaking of weather, the wind returned with a vengeance, making the house whine. I winced against the noise.
“What the fuck is that?” Winnie asked. “Are you outside right now?”
“No. I’m at Amma’s. I’m stuck here.”
“In the country?Is it worse there?”
“Very. A tree already fell.”
“She better not be out there cutting it.”
“She’s not here at all. She’s trapped at a neighbor’s house.”