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"I think so," Grace replied as they walked upstairs. She’d been tasked with making sure the guests opting to ride out the storm in their rooms had enough blankets in case the power went out. “But actually, since you’re coming up here anyway, can you check my windows? I had trouble with the latch and wanna make sure I’m not responsible for turning my room into a snowglobe.”
He nodded with a short laugh, and as they entered her room, Ethan placed his stack of blankets down and moved towards the windows. He checked each latch, then gave her a cheesy thumbs up. "Looks solid. You shouldn't have any trouble."
“Thanks.”
"No problem. Better safe than sorry, right?"
“Right.”
Ethan glanced toward the window again as he picked up his blanket stack and they headed into the hallway. "Am I weird for being a little excited about this storm? All of us trapped in here like we’re in a movie or something… no one knowing what surprises might pop up… It’s kind of fun."
Grace chuckled nervously. "I guess that’s a positive spin, as long as it doesn't trap us all together fortoolong."
"You’re probably right," Ethan agreed.
They delivered blankets to the guests who wanted them, chatting amicably as they went. As they headed back toward the stairs and passed by Sofia’s room, Grace pointed at her door. "How are things going with you two?"
Ethan sighed, a rueful look crossing his face. "Ah, you know how it goes. We realized we're not quite right for each other. It's amicable, but it's over."
Grace's heart went out to Sofia, but she understood the importance of it needing to feel right. "I'm sorry to hear that. Finding the right person can be tricky."
"Yeah, it can," Ethan agreed, his voice tinged with a mix of regret and acceptance. “Are you and Tommy… Well, I don’t mean to pry, but you seemed different this morning and I got concerned for you. You guys okay? You’re dating, right?”
Grace rubbed her temple. She had no idea how to respond to that.
Were they okay? Were they still dating?
Despite her resistance, her heart knew what she wanted the answer to be on both counts. And even though Ethan and Sofia hadn’t been right for each other, there was something about her connection with Tommy that felt right.
Maybe it was intuition… or maybe she had no idea what she was talking about, considering she’d never been in this situation before.
Either way, when Joan bustled down the hall and asked Grace to come help her with the kids, she was more than grateful that she didn’t have to answer Ethan’s question.
CHAPTER18
Tommy
Grace had beenbusy helping Joan with various tasks as Tommy did his part, but when noticed her lingering in a corner, staring down at her phone with deep lines of concern etched into her pretty face, he dropped what he was doing and headed right for her.
"What's going on?"
Grace looked up from her phone with a start, deepening his worry.
"Grace?" he prompted when she seemed to be in a daze.
"Oh, uh, yeah... It's just an email from Snow Hill's Biggest Fan."
Tommy blinked, more than a little confused now. "I thought that whole thing fizzled out?"
Grace's expression cycled from hesitant to guilty to worried. But Tommy was still completely lost. As far as he knew, the mystery woman's emails were bothersome, but not anything alarming. He'd been concerned at first, but she'd convinced him it wasn't necessary, and she hadn't said a word about it since her first week in town.
But, right now she seemed…
Wait, was thatfearin her eyes?
"What's going on?" he asked again through gritted teeth.
"Things have been... tense since the night we first kissed," Grace admitted, her cheeks flushing slightly as she spoke. "She sent me a strange email that night, saying maybe I shouldn't stay in Snow Hill longer after all because I might not be who she thought I was."
