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“Felicity?”
She hadn’t heard him. With great reluctance, she lifted her gaze to his — through a haze of … tears?
“I don’t think I can do this,” she whispered, the words scraping on the way out.
Ronan approached cautiously, like one would a wounded animal. “Do what?”
“Be” — she swallowed — “your friend.”
He didn’t move any closer. “We’ll keep it simple, remember?” His voice stayed easy. “You show up. We do stuff. No expectations.”
She stared at her feet. Keep it simple. No expectations.
“For today,” he added, just as easy, “you help me liberate the bathroom from those awful tiles.”
She managed a weak laugh, glancing up at him. “They are pretty awful.”
He held out a pair of gloves and goggles. “Stay,” he said quietly.
She stayed, taking out her frustration on the stubborn tiles.
They hardly spoke — just two laborers going about their task. Classic rock pumped through a portable speaker, giving rhythm to the swing of hammers and the crack of falling ceramic.
They took a break a couple of hours later, sitting on the landing floor, munching on the breakfast buns he’d ordered, sipping coffee, watching the snow drift past the tall windows lining the stairwell.
“I seem to have a soft spot for you, Marine,” she said at last.
He watched her for a moment. “Yeah?”
She didn’t look at him. “Don’t make a thing of it,” she muttered.
A beat stretched between them. Not awkward. Just … there.
She exhaled, pushing herself to her feet. “Okay — this is getting too close to kumbaya shit. Let’s annihilate the enemy.”
They kept at it until every offending speck of pink was gone — ripped out, swept up, and hauled to the dumpster.
By the end of it, she was coated in dust, grit clinging to her skin, her clothes, her hair. He offered his shower.
She declined, drawing the line at getting naked under the same roof as him.
“Yeah, probably not my best idea today,” he muttered.
And when she drove home, snow crunching beneath the tires, the clouds had cleared to a hard, brilliant blue sky. Sunlight flashed off the snow, blinding in its purity.
The world looked clean. Untouched. A fairy tale.
But every fairy tale had its dark side.
And the dark was waiting.
And soon … she’d step into it.
When she did, there’d be no happy ending for her.
And the people who called her friend now … they would turn away.
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