“It’s the witching hour, Miriam. This is a terrible idea,” she whispered, stamping her feet and blowing into her gloves. Miriam was wearing a puffy coat that went down to her knees, brushing the tops of her boots. She was so cute, it physically hurt. “Why do you always want to hang out in the middle of the night?”

“We live in a crowded hotel with my nosy family,” Miriam pointed out. “The middle of the night is the only time we can be alone.”

Noelle harrumphed. “I hope you know which of these has a full tank of gas, because if we get stranded in the snow, it’s not going to be cute for Insta.”

“Are you always like this in the middle of the night?” Miriam asked, amused, as she climbed onto the back of the snowmobile and gestured for Noelle to sit in front of her.

“You’ll just have to hang out with me more in the middle of the night and find out,” Noelle told her and then mentally kicked herself. She was supposed to be treading cautiously, not flirting lasciviously.

Miriam grinned back before saying, “I’m glad you came.”

They rode out in silence, neither willing to shout over the engine. Noelle drove, and Miriam held on to her back, their closeness sending jolts of electricity through Noelle. By the time they laced up their skates, she wanted to strip off all of Miriam’s layers to get to her skin.

“What are we doing out here, Blum?” Noelle finally asked, after they’d skated a few circles around the ice.

“Have you ever seen Moonstruck?” Miriam said instead of answering. She grabbed Noelle’s hands and pulled her along, skating backwards. Their fingers entwined.

“Obviously. It’s a masterpiece. Why?”

“I watched it a lot as a kid because Cher’s hair looked like mine. It’s my comfort movie.”

“That’s a weird movie to let a kid watch,” Noelle observed.

“It was the early nineties—people let their kids watch whatever was on cable. And my parents, specifically, were not concerned about my healthy emotional growth. Anyway. I was watching it tonight, trying to sleep. Do you remember what Nicolas Cage says? When he’s talking about how the stars and snowflakes are perfect?”

Noelle shook her head. “Tell me.” She loved trying to follow the fascinating trails of Miriam’s thoughts.

Miriam stopped, pulled her hands away, and gestured around them to the stars and snowflakes. “He says, ‘We’re not here to make things perfect. That we’re here to ruin ourselves, love the wrong people, break our hearts.’ And I thought, I’ve been hiding from making a mess and breaking myself for so long. I don’t want to, anymore. Nicolas Cage was right. I’m ready to ruin myself if I get to do it with you.”