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Chapters (48)
  1. 1. One
  2. 2. Two
  3. 3. Three
  4. 4. Four
  5. 5. Five
  6. 6. Six
  7. 7. Seven
  8. 8. Eight
  9. 9. Nine
  10. 10. Ten
  11. 11. Eleven
  12. 12. Twelve
  13. 13. Thirteen
  14. 14. Fourteen
  15. 15. Fifteen
  16. 16. Sixteen
  17. 17. Seventeen
  18. 18. Eighteen
  19. 19. Nineteen
  20. 20. Twenty
  21. 21. Twenty-One
  22. 22. Twenty-Two
  23. 23. Twenty-Three
  24. 24. Twenty-Four
  25. 25. Twenty-Five
  26. 26. Twenty-Six
  27. 27. Twenty-Seven
  28. 28. Twenty-Eight
  29. 29. Twenty-Nine
  30. 30. Thirty
  31. 31. Thirty-One
  32. 32. Thirty-Two
  33. 33. Thirty-three
  34. 34. Thirty-Four
  35. 35. Thirty-Five
  36. 36. Thirty-Six
  37. 37. Thirty-Seven
  38. 38. Thirty-Eight
  39. 39. Thirty-Nine
  40. 40. Forty
  41. 41. Forty-One
  42. 42. Forty-Two
  43. 43. Forty-three
  44. 44. Epilogue
  45. Afterword
  46. Also by
  47. Acknowledgments
  48. About Author

That was it? After everything? Not even a hug goodbye. I mean it made sense; it was a barely two-week-long trip. It’s not like we had the connection of a lifetime. But I thought…my throat clogged, and Finn disappeared without even a glance back.

So maybe there was no such thing as fate. Maybe this was another lesson.

I left the lodge holding it all in until I got to my car. I was strong-willed enough to keep the tears at bay until I was alone. Then I settled behind the wheel and turned on the heat. As the windows defrosted, I opened the gift he handed me.

Inside was a stuffed “Max the Dog” toy with a card attached. I smiled through my tears. I opened the small card on it and saw Finn’s handwriting.

So you can count him to sleep at night, my little Grinch.

  • Love, Finn

So, I curled back inside myself and drove home with blurry eyes. I should have known better than to let this happen again.

37. Thirty-Seven

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I used to think doing a misty flip on the snow was the hardest thing I ever had to do. I was terribly wrong. Letting Olive go, watching her choke back tears, and seeing the resignation on her face was ten times harder. I knew it would be difficult, but she would eventually see this was for the best. It took me hours last night to come to terms with this decision. Asking her to stay with me—to stay here, in Aspen? It was ridiculous. And it would be better if we both accepted our inevitable fate that this was never going to last. Like the shortest winter love there ever was, we were combustible. And we only had so much time with a passion like that.

I stayed up all night before wondering what to do. I loved Olive, no doubt about it. But I knew deep down this had to end at some point, and it was better for it to end now instead of dragging it out. The thing was, Olive didn’t deserve the weight she carried by being back in Aspen. She deserved to be in the comfort of her own home and not feel like she had to tiptoe around anyone.

I knew she was going to be down about it, but she would get over me and go back to Florida, to men that worshiped at her feet. It broke me to think about, but it was for the best. And maybe one day she would think of me when she pictured Aspen at night. Or when she heard a Christmas song on the radio. Or even when her stupid tan, pretty-boy-surfer husband couldn’t give her a proper orgasm. Either way, I’d hoped our short time together was enough to be planted in her mind forever.