I take another deep breath, and for the first time in months, I don’t feel the sharp snag in my ribs at the inhale. It feels like someone has untangled the aching knot in my chest just a bit.

“I’m sorry,” Jack says. My foot is in her lap. Her fingers are on my skin. Somewhere across these woods, her family is throwing snow at each other. “But did you even like working at Laika?”

“Of course I did,” I answer automatically.

“You just… you didn’t seem very happy there, last year.” Jack absentmindedly squeezes my foot. “You seemed like you wanted to be happy there, because it fit with this idea you had of your life—this ten-year plan—but did it really bring you joy?”

I run my tongue along my bottom lip, considering. Was your dream job supposed to bring you joy?

Jack drops my foot so it sinks into the cold snow. “Sorry,” she says, dropping her gaze, too. “Sorry, that was presumptuous. I–I shouldn’t have forced you to open up about all of that.”

I reach for my discarded sock. “You didn’t force me.”

Jack rises clumsily, her boots slipping before she’s able to right herself. “Yeah, but I just…” She whips off her Carhartt beanie, ruffles her hair, then shoves it back on her head. “I just think, probably, we shouldn’t—Is your foot okay?”

It hurts a bit as I shove it back in my boot, but I nod.

Jack nods, too. Emphatically, her head bobbing up and down. “Good. Cool. Good.”

Someone comes crashing through the forest, and we both jerk our heads to see Andrew approaching with two snowballs. “Unhand her, you fiend!” And he launches the snow at his sister.

“I’m literally not touching her,” Jack says. “And we were on the same team.”

“Oliver, my pet.” He drops down in front of me. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I just… twisted my ankle.”

Without another word, Andrew gathers me into his arms and sweeps me away. And I have to admit: Dylan wasn’t wrong. Andrew is very good at being hot and lifting heavy things.

I tell myself not to look back at his sister in the snow.

But I do.

A Webcomic

By Oliverartssometimes

Episode 3: The Other Woman
(Christmas Eve, 1:32 p.m.)

Uploaded: January 7, 2022

“I think it’s time to introduce you to the most important woman in my life,” Jack says. She steps onto the snowy side street, her work boots sinking up to her ankles. “Elle, this is Gillian.”

She places her hand on the hood of an ancient pickup truck. “Gillian,” she says to the truck, “this is Elle.” She leans in close and stage-whispers. “But don’t worry. You’re still my number one girl.”

I put my hands on my hips. “Do you always talk to your truck?”