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I watched him leave the room and close the door behind him. Once he was gone, I climbed into bed and buried myself under the covers. I kept waiting for the tears to come, but they remained elusive, so I stared out the window at the sparkling village lit up below me and the isolated lights dotted here and there on the mountain.

When the girls returned with dinner, they came into my room and joined me in bed. They didn’t ask me for an explanation, and they didn’t try to distract me with talk of other things. They seemed to sense I wasn’t ready to say anything, and instead they got under the blanket on either side of me and rested their heads on my shoulders as we stared out at the darkened mountain view together.

My heart had been battered yet again, but at least I had Cress and Anna. Breaking up with Wes wasn’t what I’d wanted, and yet I felt at peace with the decision. I needed time on my own to sort through my emotions. I needed space to figure out my heart.

CHAPTERTHIRTY-TWO

It was hard saying goodbye to everyone the following morning. We were all going our separate ways and heading home for Christmas. I hated that I wouldn’t see the girls for more than a week, and despite our breakup, I also found I was sad to leave Wes. We might not be together anymore, but he was still one of the people I was closest to. He gave me a warm hug goodbye, and I knew I was going to miss him over the holidays.

It was quite a long trip home, and it was late afternoon by the time Matthew’s plane touched down at the private airport outside of Rapid Bay. I was exhausted because I’d barely slept all night, but my fatigue completely disappeared the moment I saw my mom. She was waiting by her car and grinned from ear to ear when she saw me emerge from the plane. I ran to meet her, needing a hug from her more than I needed air to breathe. She caught me up in her arms and laughed when I squeezed her extra tight.

“Miss me, huh?” she asked.

“You have no idea.” I finally released her and went to load my bag in the car.

“How was the ski trip?”

“Well, I suck at skiing, and Wes and I broke up last night, so it probably could have been better.”

She touched my arm to stop me. “You broke up?”

“Yeah.” I let out a sigh. “But seeing as I’m not a devastated mess right now, it makes me wonder if perhaps it was for the best.”

“You’re not upset?”

“I mean, I am, but it just feels like the right thing to do for both of us.”

“It sounds like you’re being very mature about it,” Mom said. “But this doesn’t have anything to do with Noah, does it?”

It took me a moment to gather my thoughts. “Noah definitely didn’t help the situation,” I said. “But I think it’s more that Wes and I rushed into our relationship when neither of us were ready, and it was starting to show. I thought about it a lot last night, and I think because we’ve broken things off now, we might have a chance at still being friends”

“Is that something you want?”

“It might be hard at first,” I said. “But I definitely still want him in my life.”

Mom smothered me with another hug. “How did I create such a grown-up young woman?”

I laughed and shrugged out of her hug. “Mom.”

She shot me a wink and got in the car.

“How’s the café?” I asked as she drove us home.

“Same as usual.”

“So, quiet?”

“Yeah.” Mom gave me a tight smile. “It’s been slow the last few weeks, but it’s picked up since the winter break started and people began filtering back into town.” The more she talked during the car trip, the more I noticed how hoarse her voice was sounding.

“Mom, are you feeling okay?”

“Fine, why?”

“Your voice is scratchy, and I’m trying to figure out whether you went to a heavy metal concert on the weekend without telling me or you’ve picked up a cold and are going to be sick for Christmas. Neither answer is acceptable.”

She waved off my concern with a laugh. “You worry too much. I feel perfectly fine. I probably just stayed up too late last night.”

“I hope you weren’t up watchingDownton Abbeywithout me. You know we always watch it over Christmas together.”