Page 3 of Stuck With Mr. Frosty

Though, the downside to that is having to be alone with the thoughts that have plagued me for the last year.

Mom, I don’t think this was the right thing to do.

Maybe I should just go home. Try to find another way to connect with her. To find those pieces of myself that have seemed like they’re missing since she died.

She wouldn’t want that, though. She would want me to keep pushing. To make the best out of what seems like a bad situation.

The only reason I’m staying is for her.

CHAPTER 2

AIDEN

Istop on the other side of the room, glancing at the woman with the hot-pink bags and the auburn hair.Who the hell does she think she is?

Without so much as a second thought, Mia came over to introduce herself. That wide smile and her desire to look like a flamingo were almost more than I could handle. And now she’s sitting down and staring at her bags like she’s lost.

Not my problem.

You can’t fix broken people.

And I know broken people.

I glance down at Honey, and she gives me those big puppy-dog eyes. The corner of my mouth twitches as I turn and head out of the main lodge, scooping up my bags where they were left by the front door.

Fat snowflakes fall lazily from the sky, dusting more of the pine trees towering tall around the lodge. I step onto the path that leads to the worker’s cabins, boots stomping against the stones.

Honey darts ahead, dashing through the snow that is already high enough to come halfway up her legs, forming little snowballs in her coat that I will have to brush out once we find our cabin.

“There you are!” Carter grins, appearing on the path ahead of me with a cigarette hanging from his lips. “I’ve been waiting for you. Thought you were going to be here earlier.”

“Those things are going to kill you one day,” I say, hoisting the bag higher on my shoulder.

Honey sees Carter and flies through the snow, her tail wagging a mile a minute as she jumps up onto him with all the faith in the world that he’ll catch her. Thankfully, he does, though he stumbles back a step.

“You know, one of these days she’s going to do that to the wrong person, and they’re both going to end up in the snow and unhappy.” Carter spits the cigarette to the ground before Honey has the chance to snag it in her kissing attack.

She licks him until he’s laughing and struggling to hold onto her before setting her down. As she takes off after a squirrel, he picks up the cigarette, butting it out and tossing the end into one of the trash cans.

“What cabin are you in?”

He takes the bag with Honey’s supplies from me, slinging it over his back. “Four. I’m rooming with June and two newbies.”

“Which means I get to room with people I don’t like for the entire season, perfect.” I scrub a hand over the stubble on my jaw. “Think Steph arranged it that way on purpose?”

“Probably. You know she wasn’t happy last season when you barely bothered spending time with anyone else.”

“They’re all too peppy.” I whistle for Honey, and she rounds back to me before jogging ahead down the path.

The first little log cabin appears to my right, hidden behind the trees, another path leading up to the front porch. More cabins appear, obscured from view by the trees.

“You’re in seven,” Carter says as we arrive at the center of the worker village.

Thankfully.

The circular area is centered around a massive fire pit, perfect for bonfires at the end of a long week. Benches made of pine line the area, and at the far end there’s a noticeboard. People gather around it, stumbling into each other, bags and gear for the slopes going in every direction.

“Any idea who I’m going to be with?”

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