Chapters (48)
- 1. One
- 2. Two
- 3. Three
- 4. Four
- 5. Five
- 6. Six
- 7. Seven
- 8. Eight
- 9. Nine
- 10. Ten
- 11. Eleven
- 12. Twelve
- 13. Thirteen
- 14. Fourteen
- 15. Fifteen
- 16. Sixteen
- 17. Seventeen
- 18. Eighteen
- 19. Nineteen
- 20. Twenty
- 21. Twenty-One
- 22. Twenty-Two
- 23. Twenty-Three
- 24. Twenty-Four
- 25. Twenty-Five
- 26. Twenty-Six
- 27. Twenty-Seven
- 28. Twenty-Eight
- 29. Twenty-Nine
- 30. Thirty
- 31. Thirty-One
- 32. Thirty-Two
- 33. Thirty-three
- 34. Thirty-Four
- 35. Thirty-Five
- 36. Thirty-Six
- 37. Thirty-Seven
- 38. Thirty-Eight
- 39. Thirty-Nine
- 40. Forty
- 41. Forty-One
- 42. Forty-Two
- 43. Forty-three
- 44. Epilogue
- Afterword
- Also by
- Acknowledgments
- About Author
Matt coughed and gave his wife a stern look. She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.
I couldn’t help but let out a tiny, appreciative grin. As much as I wanted to hate everything about Finn, he was sweet—and easy to look at.
“I’m happy for you, too,” Sarah said quietly, and the room stilled. It had been more than she said to me all day.
Quietly, I thanked her, then self-consciously looked down to the piece of pie on my plate. Even though there were barely two bites left, I threw it away. The room suddenly felt smaller. Although the extra fat I used to carry was now trimmed down, I still had the urge to wrap up in a larger oversized sweater. It didn’t matter how much weight I lost—I would always feel this way.
Matt broke the silence. “So…what are you and Finn going to do while you’re in town?”
I fiddled with the edge of my short sweater and improvised a response. “He’s got a bunch of Christmas stuff planned around his work schedule. He really loves the holidays, so he wants to take me to do a bunch of stuff in town.” This much was true, and one of the few things I knew about Finn; the man did not hide his love for all things Christmas.
“Did he say where? Can we come?” Matt asked, and I couldn’t decide if he was interested in our plans because he liked Finn or he wanted to protect me. Possibly both.
Taylor answered for him. “No, honey, they probably want to be alone. Why don’t you and Finn go to a hockey game sometime or something?”
Matt grumbled an incoherent response and leaned back in his chair. Without meaning to, I met eyes with Sarah. Neither of us broke this time. We stared into each other's similar eyes—both with two completely different stories to tell.
I wiped my sweaty palms on my leggings. “Excuse me,” I said and squeezed through the small entrance and crossed the house to the back porch. Even in the open space, with the view of the city lights and snowy mountains, I still felt constricted. I needed a warm beach. I needed an Adirondack chair and a cold drink in my hand. I needed palm trees, not pine trees.