She reluctantly let go of Maddie’s hands and started climbing the stairs to the front door of the hotel.

“Hey, Ryann?” Maddie called.

She spun back. “Yes?”

“Are you going to tell Stuart?” She seemed worried, face pinched.

“No. Are you going to tell Jai?”

Maddie’s shoulders sagged, clearly relieved. “No.”

“Okay, then. Good-bye.”

“Bye.”

She watched Maddie walk away through the falling snow. While Maddie was still visible, she would occasionally turn around, waving, and she would return the gesture. When Maddie finally disappeared due to distance and the storm, she was still strangely light and loose, as if something had been settled in her heart.

Chapter Fourteen

Ryann ended up napping the rest of the afternoon and early evening, watching an old movie on the TV from bed, and eventually ordering a pizza. At eight, she decided to rest her eyes and slept the rest of the night. She woke somewhat late the next morning. Stuart had texted her that, with all the other venue appointments canceled, she had the day to herself.

It was Sunday, so she could do only so much on her computer. While some of her employees had weekend work, especially now, she never expected them to do it at the office, and she didn’t expect them to be on call. Even Ted was MIA when she tried to reach him, so she answered some emails and went over the numbers again, playing with the projections and trying to think of a way to convince London to budge, if even by a few days. Even the last day of February was better than the first of March—that would settle basically everything. She spent the rest of the morning and afternoon glued to her laptop. The hours bled away without much notice.

Still, when she stopped to stretch, she would occasionally think back on the kiss with Maddie, flush with heat, try to shake it off, and then get back to work. This happened all day. When she started to get some real work done, she’d get distracted again and have to try harder to calm down. It helped to think about what Maddie had said, and how she’d reacted, and not just yesterday. She’d said something similar at the barn, after all. She was reluctant to start anything with Ryann, and with good cause. What on earth could the two of them offer each other?

Maddie’s life was here—a good life, from what little she’d seen of it. Maddie had a great job, she was a talented, respected artist, and she had a wide range of different interests and friends. She was clearly happy with herself and everything she’d built here. She’d chosen to stay in this small town, after all.