She looked up then.
Right at me.
I swear to God; the noise faded. Just for a second. It was just her and me and a silent understanding that passed between us like a shared breath.
I didn’t wave. Didn’t move. But I knew. She saw me.
And more than that… I think she wanted me to be there.
Maybe the time for shadows had passed. Maybe tonight, with snow falling soft and lights glowing warm, it was time to step forward into something brighter.
Toward her.
I watched her step down from the stage; the snow catching in her curls like stardust, her laughter curling through the air and wrapping itself around me like ribbon on a gift I didn’t know I still deserved. She moved through the crowd like she belonged—effortless, radiant, alive.
Our eyes met, and for one breathless moment, everything else vanished. The music, the lights, the people—all of it blurred into the background.
She didn’t hesitate long. With a few soft words to the group surrounding her, she stepped away and started walking toward me. Each step stole air from my lungs. I wanted to run. God, I wanted to disappear before she got close enough to see the truth in my eyes. But I didn’t move.
Not this time.
She stopped in front of me, cheeks pink from the cold, her hair dusted with snow like a halo. I’d never seen anything so heartbreakingly beautiful.
“You came,” she said, and her voice hit me like warmth after too long in the cold.
“Didn’t want to miss you,” I said. It came out quieter than I intended—gruff, raw—but it was honest. The truest thing I’d said in days.
She smiled, small and trembling and impossibly hopeful. “I’m glad you didn’t.”
That was it. That one sentence cracked something open in me. Like the frost finally melting.
I shifted, unsure, the words catching in my throat. “You were great, by the way. Up there. I mean it.”
Her laugh was soft, her eyes dipping shyly. “Thanks. It felt… right.”
“Yeah. It showed.”
A beat of silence settled between us. It wasn’t heavy—it was charged. Hopeful. Like the world was holding its breath.
She looked at me again, uncertain now. “Do you maybe want to?—?”
“Get out of here?” I finished, surprising us both.
Her eyes lit up, a quiet spark flickering in the blue.
“Let’s go,” she said.
And just like that, I stepped out of the shadows. Out of fear. Out of everything that had kept me frozen in place for far too long.
Because if this was a beginning—I wanted to meet it head-on. With her.
Chapter18
Callie
Icaught his sleeve without thinking, my fingers tightening as I tugged him toward the alley besideThe Book Nook. The crowd’s glow dimmed behind us, leaving only the soft hush of snow falling like feathers from the night sky. My breath fogged the air between us as we stepped into the quiet, into the stillness, into something that felt too fragile and too fierce to name.
The moment stretched. The wind curled around us, biting at my cheeks, but I didn’t feel cold. Not with him this close. Not with the echo of his voice still humming through me. I turned to face him, the narrow space between us charged with something electric—hope, hesitation, everything we’d left unsaid hanging like garland strung between our hearts.
