She shook her head against mine. “No. No, Willow.” She pulled back, cupping my cheeks in her bare hands. “That was my fight. Not yours. Don’t you ever apologize for that. You have always shown up for me. For Rose. And you keeping that peace is what allowed me to bring her around those first years before you went to college. You laid the groundwork for it to keep going once you left. You’re the reason we can still have these dinners. The reason I know he loves Rose more than life. You’ve held your tongue in the moments I couldn’t, and that’s something to be proud of. Restraint can be so much harder.”

I blinked furiously, keeping the burn at bay as snowflakes landed on my eyelashes and Charity’s.

“I’m so scared that I let the silence speak for me,” I whispered.

“Well, you seem to have found your voice now. Use it for good. You know, the whole ‘with great power comes great responsibility’ thing.”

“I’m not Spider-Man.” I laughed.

“You’ve survived more than anyone I know, then gotten on your feet and started going again. That makes you a hero in my book.”

“You’ve raised a daughter on your own. That makes you mine.”

She grinned and shrugged. “I just learned how to tell people no. Something tells me you did, too. Now, go back up the mountain before this gets any worse. The last thing you want is to call Dad to come rescue you if you get stuck. You’ll never hear the end of it.”

“Truth.” We gave each other another squeeze, then piled into our separate cars.

Icy air blasted as I started the engine, and I quickly turned down the vents. After Charity pulled out of the drive, I did the same, following her for a couple hundred yards. The snow fell in thick curtains, working my wiper blades overtime. Visibility was pure crap.

I turned up the road that led to my little outpost, then paused to put my car into four-wheel drive. Spring snow was nothing to mess with. It was heavy, wet, and slick. Great for snowballs and forts but horrible for driving.

My car groaned as we made it up the first ridgeline, skimming the edge of Cam’s property at the hot springs. My toes tingled, reminding me that there was nothing hot about this ride. I slammed the heat to full now that the engine was good and warm and adjusted my defrost. I’d grown up on this mountain, and while this was definitely one of my more challenging drives home, it wasn’t the worst.

Judah & the Lion came through my stereo, and I turned the volume down as I peaked, knowing that the downhill could be just as challenging with the already packed snow under this mess.

I took it slowly, maintaining traction.