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Kids, maybe. I don’t know. But when I let myself picture it, I picture kids too. I remember the way Mik, even through his panic, lit up when he met Kay. I’ve never let myself picture that life, but now, standing in front of a jewelry store window in Manhattan, it’s happening.

I could do it.

With Griffin, I could.

I stand there for a while longer, then I take a breath, tuck my scarf tighter around my neck, and start walking back toward the hotel.

I pull my phone out of my pocket as I walk.

It’s after midnight, so he’ll be asleep. I open the message thread and look at the last thing he sent me: a photo of Emmett with a pencil behind each ear and one in his mouth, captioned, He’s using himself as a pincushion at this point.

I close the app and put the phone away.

I’ll see him in two days.

The hotel comes back into view. The doorman gives me the same small nod on the way in that he gave me on the way out. I take the elevator up to my floor and let myself into my room.

I toss my coat over the chair and sit on the edge of the bed for a minute in the dim light of the bedside lamp.

I’m going to fight for this.

Two days.

Then I’m going home.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

FINN

The festival site is finally starting to look like a festival.

The main stall row is fully staked, and the tree lot is marked off with rope and orange flags.

Meredith and her team somehow got every single one of the vendor booths delivered on time, which I still don’t believe is real. There’s a crew from the town’s maintenance department running lighting cables along the pathway toward what will be the main stage, and the wooden sign that says WELCOME TO THE WINTERBERRY CHRISTMAS FESTIVAL in gold letters is about to be hung.

It’s beautiful.

“Griffin.”

I look up from checking another item off my list to see Taylen walking across the field toward me, hands in the pockets of his coat, breath misting in the cold air.

“Hey, so…” He stops in front of me.

“Everything okay? You need me to deal with a problem?”

He shakes his head. “Nope. Just need you to put your tablet down and come with me.”

“What?”

“Come on, let’s go.”

“Taylen, I can’t just⁠—”

He looks around at the various tasks getting done. “Are you the one lifting the stalls?”

“No, but⁠—”

“Are you the one laying the power cables?”