Page 40 of A Thousand Broken Pieces

The daylight was already fading; Tromsø’s hours of sunlight were limited in the winter. But from what everyone had said, this city thrived in the darkness.

“We’ll head to our accommodation now,” Leo said and pointed behind him. A large wooden hotel was dressed from ground to top in days old snow. In fact, every part of the city was covered in the remnants of snow. The roofs of the buildings and the mountains. The only things that weren’t were the fjords that dominated the view. Coming from Massachusetts, I was used to snow. But to see Savannah’s reaction to this place, all wide-eyed and awestruck, made the muscles on my chest pull tight.

She’d never seen fresh falling snow.

I hoped that we’d see it before we left. I couldn’t imagine never knowing what it was like to feel flakes hit your face, to feel the bites of ice snowflakes brought to your skin.

We carried our bags into the hotel, a large roaring fire in the reception. Savannah stilled, looking at a picture on the wall. It was a blown-up photograph taking up a large percentage of the decor.

“Aurora borealis,” she murmured, and her hand tightened in mine. She swung her head to me. “It’s always been a dream of mine to see it.”

“The visibility is poor tonight,” the man on the reception said, catching Savannah’s wide-eyed gaze on the picture. “But you’ll be able to see it in a couple of days.”

The smile that graced her face nearly knocked me down. Savannah was the most beautiful person I’d ever seen in my life. Her smile and those damn dimples floored me. She’d swept into my living hell and cast me an unexpected lifeline. I’d dreaded this trip, fought it with all I had.

That was before I knew Savannah Litchfield waited on the other side.

I nudged Savannah’s shoulder. “Look at you with all that knowledge.” She blushed. I wanted to run my fingers over her red cheeks. So, I did. I caught her breathing hitch under my touch, and her blush deepened and appeared down the side of her neck.

“I like science,” she said, as if it was a throwaway comment, not that important. I’d noticed that about her. She diminished anything unique and special about her. It was apparent she was some kind of genius but shunned and ran from any form of praise.

She’d already told me that she was going to Harvard. I didn’t know what she was going to study, but just getting accepted told me how smart she was. She was always reading, silently absorbing the world around her like it was her own personal science project. I wanted to ask her what she was going to study, but I felt a pain in my chest when I tried to. It always held me off. Harvard made me think of Cill. Now, on top of that, was the fact that I wouldn’t be going either.

A gutting, sharp pain twisted my gut when I realized that if Cill hadn’t died, I’d have gone there as planned, and Savannah would have eventually been there too. We might have met when we weren’t so broken. What would that have been like? Would we still have had this connection? Or were we only bound by grief?

Two tight squeezes hurtled me back from my inner thoughts. Savannah moved in front of me, guiding me to meet her eyes. “Okay?” she said, understanding I had slipped back into the shadows.

I pushed them aside and took a long, deep breath. “Yeah,” I said and pressed my forehead to hers. “I’m here.”I’m back. I’m still wanting to keep our deal.

“So,” Dylan said, as he came to stand between us. There was humor in his face. “You two want to share anything with the group?” I shook my head. Whatever this was was ours alone. Truth was, I had no idea what Savannah and Iwereto each other. I thought of her constantly, fell asleep with her shy smile in my mind. We both held hands and held each other up.

Iwantedus to be more. But I didn’t know if she was in a place to accept that. Didn’t know if I had anything left inside of me to give her. Didn’t know if my darkness was fading for good or it would rise and eventually destroy what I had with her like it had done with my parents and best friend. Right now, it was my biggest fear. But with Savannah, telling her about Cillian, about hockey, opening up … it seemed to have taken away its power.

Mia came over and gave us our room keys. She gathered us around the fireplace. “Tonight is yours. But tomorrow …” She smiled widely. “I don’t want to spoil things, but what you will see while we’re here is …” She shrugged smugly, leaving us dangling. “You’ll see.”

“Shall we check out the town?” Travis said to the group. We all nodded. “Meet back here in twenty?”

I reluctantly let go of Savannah’s hand and dumped my case in my room. I went back downstairs after only a few minutes. Being in my room alone would only take me back to a dark place. Dylan already sat beside the fire. He was flicking through pictures on his phone. I sat down on the seat next to him, catching a picture of him with a dark-haired guy. He quickly put it in his pocket.

“Hey,” he said and pointed to the clock on the wall. “You didn’t want to hang around your room either?” I shook my head. I stared at the stairs, waiting for Savannah. My leg bounced as the minutes ticked by. This place … being around so much ice and snow. It was full of triggers for me. That was the worst thing—my favorite things, since Cill, had become personal land mines.

“So, you and Savannah?” Dylan said, taking me from inside my head.

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Is that a problem for you?” I asked and heard the bite of jealousy in my tone.

Dylan held up his palms and clearly found humor in my question. “Not from me,” he said, then nudged my shoulder. “I think you look goodtogether.” I knew he and Savannah had grown close. She seemed to be able to speak to him easily. I knew how rare that was for her.

“You don’t like her as more than a friend?”

Dylan quickly sobered up, and something I couldn’t name haunted his amber eyes. “Trust me,” he said quietly. “I’m no threat.” He let that hang in the air between us, heavy and laced with meaning. His eyes implored me to understand something about him, something he didn’t—orcouldn’t—say out loud. I didn’t push him. Whatever he was insinuating was his truth to share, if and when he felt the need.

“Cool,” I said and saw his shoulders relax, a relieved sigh falling from his lips. Just then, I heard the sound of feet on stairs, and Jade, Lili, and Travis came toward us. Savannah was only a few seconds behind them. I jumped to my feet and immediately held out my hand to hers. She didn’t hesitate to take it, and instantly, I could breathe easier.

I didn’t know how she did it, but her presence, her touch, her quiet nature were a damn tonic to my soul. Travis led the way from the hotel and we all stopped dead, just feet from the hotel’s exit. Darkness had fallen since we’d gone inside. Tromsø, without the sun, looked like something pulled straight from a fairy tale.

“The stars …” Savannah said and looked up at the sky, which looked like a painting. I’d never seen so many stars before. Didn’t know that many even existed.

Savannah tensed, and I sensed the sudden change in her mood. I looked down at her, and she dipped her head, eyes meeting the ground. Like I’d done before, I placed a finger from my free hand under her chin and guided her head up. Her blue eyes were glistening with unshed tears. I didn’t know the trigger, but it obviously wasn’t good. Making sure she kept my gaze, I squeezed her hand twice.

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