Page 34 of Spicy or Sweet (Wintermore #2)

SHAY

Considering how little experience they get in Wintermore, the volunteer fire department has the fire out in twenty-five minutes. It all goes fairly smoothly, and once the fire is out, a few of the team go in to check for lingering embers.

From the street, it’s hard to say how much damage there is, but I saw the look Quinn exchanged with Felix when he first checked out the bakery. It’s not good.

The Whittens arrived almost as quickly as the fire department. Noelle accepted the hugs but didn’t speak to anyone other than Rora—I watched Noelle ask her a question, but I was swept up by the Whittens, hugging me and checking to make sure I was okay.

Just seven hours ago, we were laughing at Charlie’s blatant attempt to cheat at Monopoly. It’s scary how quickly things change, but I can’t pretend I’m not touched at how easily the Whittens have accepted me in their midst—they seem genuinely concerned for me.

Noelle insisted I get checked out first. I feel fine, but Quinn told us it was protocol, and Noelle practically pushed me in his direction. He checked my vitals, and other than a strong smell of smoke and a lingering cough he assured me was normal, I got the all clear.

Despite her insistence that I get checked out, he practically had to drag Noelle to get looked over.

I hover by her family, tuning out their theories on what caused the fire, watching her.

Quinn doesn’t look worried, thank god. But I’m less concerned about the physical impact of the fire than I am about how Noelle is going to react to having her dream go up in flames.

Quinn gives her a blanket, and she wraps it around her shoulders, staring up at the charred remains of the bakery as he walks in our direction.

“She’s okay,” he says to a collective sigh of relief. “I think she just needs a minute to herself.”

He heads back to help in the bakery, and I turn back to face Noelle. I’ve never wished I could read her mind more. Her expression is unreadable, almost blank. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen her so… switched off.

“You okay?” Rora nudges me lightly, stealing my attention from Noelle.

“Yeah,” I answer on autopilot, but Rora gives me a skeptical expression. “I am, I just… God, that could’ve been so much worse, you know?”

“I know. I’m so glad you’re both okay. Thank you for getting her out, Shay.”

“Do you think she’s okay?”

Rora wrinkles her nose, blowing out a long breath.

“She’s… recalibrating. She has a lot to think about, and it’s been a long time coming, but these are shitty circumstances to force her into it.

She’ll be okay, though. She’s Noelle—where some people come out of hard things tarnished, she shows up brighter, every time. ”

“She really is like a little ray of sunshine,” I agree, and Rora chuckles.

“Why do you think Sunny’s middle name is Noelle?”

Before I get a chance to answer, an engine rumbles along the street, and I have to give myself a shake as I watch a figure exit the truck.

Rora stands on her tiptoes beside me to look. “Is that—”

“Nico,” I say, taking long strides across the asphalt to reach him, because he hasn’t spotted me, but he’s looking at the wreckage of Noelle’s bakery with a terrified expression.

I call his name, and before he even turns, his body sags in what can only be relief.

“You’re okay?”

“I’m okay,” I confirm. “How did you…” I trail off, because of course he knew something had happened. No matter how distant he’s become over the years, we still have the same connection we’ve always had.

“I woke up and I just knew something was wrong,” he confirms, shaking his head. He looks at the charred bakery and curses softly. “Noelle’s bakery?”

“Yeah. Her smoke alarm woke me up, but by the time we got outside, it was already pretty far gone.”

Nico’s eyes widen. “You were inside?”

“The fire never reached her apartment,” I assure him. “We’ve been checked over by the fire chief and EMT, and he’s not worried.”

“Good. Shit.” He rubs his face with his hands. Nico has never been a good sleeper, even before the accident, and I know he would never admit how little he sleeps these days, but the smudges beneath his eyes look almost like bruises. “That’s good.”

“Are you okay?” I ask gently, even though I know he’s not. If the situation were reversed, and I’d gone running into something not knowing if he was okay, I don’t know what I’d do, but I know I wouldn’t be okay. It’s scary enough knowing he’s all alone on the mountain.

Instead, he pulls me into a crushing hug.

I squeak because I wasn’t expecting it, and I don’t remember the last time Nico hugged me. I lean into it; he feels like a home I haven’t visited in a long time—familiar, but foreign.

“If something happened to you, Shay—”

“But it didn’t.”

“But if it did,” he insists. “I’m going to need you to outlive me, because I can’t handle losing you.” The “too” is unspoken, but blaring. It has the power to choke me if I let it, but I can’t keep letting it.

“That’s really morbid. And unfair. Why do I have to be the one to live with it?”

Nico nods behind me, and I look over my shoulder to see Noelle’s family huddled around, talking to a firefighter I vaguely recognize—I think he works at the gas station.

“You have people,” Nico says.

“I barely know them.” Though it doesn’t feel like that.

“For now, but you’re going to. Right?”

“I hope so. You know, you could have people, too. You could start by taking Bryan up on one of his many offers to visit,” I point out, and he gapes at me.

“Seriously? You’re almost in a fire, and somehow still finding a way to worry about me?” At least he didn’t shoot down the suggestion immediately, for once.

I shrug. “I always worry about you. Just like I assume you always worry about me. I think that’s just how family works.”

“Maybe. Speaking of family, where’s your girl?”

My girl. I like the sound of that.

I point in Noelle’s direction, and Nico hums.

“She’s younger than I remember.”

“She’s thirty, it’s not that—” I protest until I realize his mustache is twitching. “Shut up.”

“You look happy,” he says, and he sounds relieved.

“I am. Just worried about how she’s going to handle this.” I gesture to the general chaos of Main Street.

“She’s got good people around her—you included. All you can do is be there for her.”

I raise a brow at Nico, because that’s weirdly good advice, considering how removed from people he is.

“And on that note,” he continues, “go be with her. She’s sitting on her own.”

I look over at her, still huddled in a blanket on the back of the fire truck, watching everything pass her by.

“She wants space.”

“I’m no expert, but she keeps looking over here when you’re not looking. I think she probably wants you,” Nico says, and, sure enough, Noelle looks up and catches my gaze on her. Even from here, I can tell her face is pale, whether from the chill in the air or the shock, I don’t know.

“Do you want to meet her? You know, like, as my girlfriend,” I ask Nico, and he doesn’t seem surprised by me calling her my girlfriend. I suppose finding me with her family painted a pretty clear picture.

“Of course I do. Just maybe not when she’s had probably the most stressful night of her life.” Nico’s smiles never quite meet his eyes, but he gives me one all the same. “Maybe I could come back down in a few weeks when things are settled?”

Hope swells in my chest, though I know better than to let it get its claws in me. Still, I nod. “I’d love that.”

“Right. It’s a plan.” For a moment, I think he’s going to hug me again, but he takes a step back. “I’ll call you tomorrow to check in, once you’ve caught up on sleep.”

Call, not text. I don’t know what exactly it means, but it feels like progress.

“Sounds good. Thank you for coming.”

“Always, Shay. Love you.”

“Love you.”

I watch him drive away, my heart hammering in my chest. Progress. Definitely progress.

My feet are freezing as I make my way over to Noelle. We didn’t have time to put socks on, and the adrenaline that kept me warm has long gone.

She doesn’t seem to hear me approach, lost in her own world.

“Hey,” I murmur, and she looks up, a little startled. “You want some company?”

I half expect her to decline, to push me away—not because she doesn’t want me around, but because she doesn’t want to put any of her worries on me. But a soft smile appears on her face, and I take the first deep breath I’ve taken since we got out of the building.

“From you? Forever,” she says, her voice scratchy.

She holds her arm out so I can sit beside her, then pulls the blanket around us both. I loop my arms around her waist, and she rests her chin on the top of my head.

“I’m so sorry,” I say, tightening my hold on her as we watch the firefighters doing whatever it is they do when they put a fire out. Quinn had what looked like a checklist when I last saw him.

“Thank you,” she replies. “But it’s okay.”

She sounds… oddly fine. I pull back enough to search her face, and there’s a lot less stress than I expected.

Laughing at my scrutiny, Noelle shrugs. “I know it sounds stupid, but it is okay. I promise.”

“But you worked so hard to make this place what it was.”

“I did, and my hard work paid off, even if just for a little while. My whole life, I’ve always known exactly what I wanted my future to look like, and I made that happen after busting my ass for years.

And then it only took an hour for the universe to more or less wipe the slate clean.

For the first time ever, I have absolutely no idea what I’m going to do.

” Her smile grows wider and brighter with every word, light shining in her eyes, despite the dark night.

“And that’s a good thing?” I ask, because it shouldn’t sound like one, but it does, how she says it.

“It’s a great thing, sweetheart,” she confirms. “You know, if this had happened a couple of months ago, I probably would’ve been catatonic.

But I guess somewhere between our first kiss in the kitchen and watching you beat my whole family at Monopoly last night, I figured out there was more to life than a damn bakery.

” She taps my nose with her finger, then gently cups my chin.

“Thank you. Both for getting me out of the fire and reminding me of how good it feels to actually live my life, instead of just existing.”

“That’s funny,” I reply, blinking as tears threaten my eyes. “That sounds a lot like what you’ve done for me, too.”

“Well, that must mean we’re meant to be.”

“Obviously.”

Our happy smiles should feel out of place among the wreckage, but outside of Noelle and me, I’m not paying attention to anything else.

Noelle hops down from the truck and folds the blanket into a rough pile.

“I know we have a lot to talk about tomorrow—whatever that intense conversation you and Nico were having was about, what caused the fire, what comes next… but right now, I just want to cuddle in your bed with Croissant, and shut it all out for a few hours.”

I take her offered hand—the jump down is further for me—and plant a kiss on her cheek when my feet are flat on the ground again.

“Then let’s go home, baby.”