Page 41 of A Thousand Broken Pieces

Savannah closed her eyes and quickly composed herself. When she opened her eyes again, she forced a reassuring smile on her face, and I knew she was trying her hardest to push away her sudden rush of sadness.

“Okay?” I whispered, checking in. The others turned away to walk down the street, oblivious to us trying to battle our shadows away.

“Yes,” she rasped, shyly tucking her head into my chest. I dropped a kissto the top of her pink beanie, wishing more than anything that it was her lips I was meeting. Savannah pulled back and cast me a shy glance under her eyelashes.

She was perfect.

“Cael! Sav!” Travis called from down the street. “You coming?” As Savannah and I walked hand in hand, the snow crunched under our feet. When we met up with the group at the end of the street, we came to a patch of land. Savannah crouched down and slipped off her glove. She freed her hand from mine, and I felt the instant loss. With her now bare hands, Savannah picked up the snow that must have fallen before we arrived.

A pearl of laughter sailed from her throat as her hands sank down to her elbows. I’d never heard anything so perfect. I couldn’t help but smile too when she looked up at me, dimples deep, and she laughed again. My Georgia peach who was so used to the southern sun and heat was absolutely captivated by a couple of feet of snow.

She was teaching me more on this trip than anyone ever had. She was teaching me that happiness didn’t have to be big gestures and life-changing moments. It could be justthis. Witnessing someone seeing snow for the first time. Hearing someone laugh, true and honest. I didn’t know something so simple could hit me so hard. Since Cillian, nothing, not one single thing, had brought me happiness.

Until her.

It was almost painful to feel it. And yet so fucking sad that it ripped me open. To go as long as I had without feeling the smallest flicker of joy, happiness, or contentment.

Looking at Savannah pressing both hands into the snow, another light laugh slipping from her lips, made me want to bottle up the sound and keep it for the days I couldn’t get out of bed. This girl … she made me want to be more than the shell of a person I’d been for the past year.

“Ow!” Dylan yelled from somewhere behind us. I turned, just in time to see Travis pelt a snowball at Dylan’s back.

Dylan turned his head to Travis. “You don’t know what you’ve just started, Trav.” Dylan scooped up a handful of snow and fired it back at Travis.Joining in, Jade and Lili began gathering snow, launching it at anything and anyone in sight.

I bent down and pulled Savannah to her feet, throwing her behind me just in time for a snowball to land right on my chest. She grabbed on to the back of my coat, using me as a shield. But I caught the tinkling of her light laughter.

Dylan began to run when I saw he was the one who’d thrown it. Bending down, I grabbed snow and formed it into a tight ball. I launched it at Dylan as he ran toward Travis, hitting him in the back.

“Cael!” he shouted, only for Travis to aim for me too, a flash of protectiveness for Dylan apparent behind his thick-framed glasses. Shaking off any negative feelings, any harbored hard memories and thoughts the snow brought, I threw myself into the moment, Savannah staying behind me the entire time. Jade and Lili screamed as Travis pushed them both down in the thick snow. Dylan and Travis laughed, the united sound of us all momentarily forgetting it all to just have some fun.

The patch of snow-covered grass we were on was long and wide with a sloping hill. Dylan and Travis began running after one another, trying to tackle one another to the ground, Lili and Jade following close behind. Everyone was covered head to toe in white. I turned to find Savannah, but as I did, a snowball hit my chest again. I looked up in shock, only to see Savannah’s gloves packed with snow and an air of playfulness in her stance.

“Peaches …” I warned, feeling a new kind of warmth enter my chest. She looked so carefree in this moment, so unburdened. She lookedstunning. With a playful glint in her eye, she threw the second snowball and began to run from me.

She moved quickly—but I was faster.

The others ran after one another, over a hill and out of sight, leaving Savannah and me alone. Savannah slipped and struggled to run through the heavily packed snow. I gained on her inch by inch. She looked back, seeing me close in, and squealed in nervous anticipation at being caught. I didn’t give her the chance to run any farther. Wrapping my arms around her waist, I brought us crashing down to the snow, our shared momentum rolling us over three times until we came to a stop. She lay beneath me, my body bracedabove hers. I edged to the side, just to stop from crushing her. But I left my hands on her waist, remaining as close as I could.

Savannah was laughing so hard she had to wrap her arms around her stomach. I was laughing too but stopped, completely mesmerized by seeing her this way. Crinkles webbed at the sides of her eyes. Tears of joy spilled down her cheeks, and her dimples caved deeply as she shook with hysterics.

My face hovered above hers, catching the white mist the freezing air created as she exhaled her warm breath. All I could see in this moment was the happiness radiating from Savannah’s wide smile. All I could feel was her in my arms, her body pressed against mine.

Savannah stared back at me, and her laughter waned as the tension between us rose. I roved my gaze over every part of her face. Her peach-colored skin, the spatter of freckles that dusted over her nose. The dimples that I’d grown obsessed with, the small gold studs in her ears, and the way her long fair eyelashes hit her cheeks when she blinked. But most of all, I couldn’t take my attention off her lips.

Reaching up, I brushed a long strand of her fallen hair from her face. Savannah leaned into my palm as it did, and it felt like the whole world fell away. The snow, and lights all around us, made it appear like we were in our very own snow globe, one where pain and sadness and loss couldn’t break through.

Savannah swallowed, and I felt the tremor that passed through her body as my fingertip ran over the bridge of her nose and over the Cupid’s bow of her lips. “You’re so beautiful,” I rasped, and Savannah’s eyes widened at my confession. I didn’t speak those things easily.

“Cael …” she murmured and inhaled a stuttered breath. I could see she was nervous. I didn’t know if she’d ever been kissed. If she hadn’t, I wanted to be her first. I’d never wanted anything more. She didn’t know, but hockey had consumed my whole life. I’d never had time for girlfriends; between Junior Hockey and Team USA, all I’d had time for was school and sleep. This moment was as monumental to me as it was to her.

“You’re beautiful too,” she said, that well-known blush bursting on her cheeks. Her softly spoken, shaky words destroyed me. I knew what that must have cost her shy nature to admit.

I lifted her hand and pulled off her glove. I kissed her fingertips; I kissed down her fingers and laid kiss after kiss on her palm, the back of her hand. As I leaned down, Savannah’s eyes drifted closed as I pressed my lips to her forehead. The scent of almond and cherry engulfed me. I held her tighter, my arm around her waist pulling her closer to me. My chest was laid flat against hers—I could feel her heart racing.

I ran my lips down to her temple, Savannah’s hands gripped on to my hand so tightly I thought it might leave a mark. I moved my lips down to her cheek and kissed one of her dimples that I loved so much. Savannah sucked in a quick breath. I pulled back and met her eyes. I needed to know she wanted this. I needed to know she felt the same about me as I felt about her.

We wanted this time in Norway to be about seizing the moment and embracing the happiness that had been lost to us for so long. I couldn’t think of anything more euphoric than having her kisses.

Savannah placed her hand on my cheek and began guiding her lips to mine—a clear invitation. I moved closer and closer still, my pulse racing as hard as hers. Then, just as my top lip brushed against hers, a million goose bumps running over my skin, the sound of our friends rushing back down the hill toward us crashed through the cocoon we’d hidden ourselves within.

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