Page 53 of Stuck With Mr. Frosty

It only seems to get worse the longer I stand there with him.

“Come on, Mia, talk to me for a minute.” His hand hovers close to mine like he’s thinking about reaching out and touching me, but he doesn’t. That’s probably a good thing. If he did, I don’t know if I’d be able to withstand the urge to melt back into his arms and pretend that everything was fine. To put off talking about all the things that went wrong between us.

At least if I leave now, I don’t have to talk about any of those things.

“Mia, please. Just talk to me.”

I cross my arms in an attempt to hold myself together. “How many times did I ask you to talk to me? How many times did I try to get you to tell me what was bothering you? And you just threw it back in my face. You dismissed me like I was nothing. Like the weeks we were together meant nothing to you. I think we’re done talking.”

“That’s it?” he asks, his voice breaking. “You’re just going to run away? Don’t you ever get tired of running? You do mean something to me, and I don’t want us to end like this.”

I bark out a bitter laugh and brush by him. “You could have figured that out earlier. I don’t have time for this right now. I need to go finish packing my things, and then I need to get the hell outta here.”

He doesn’t try to stop me, not that I want him to. I’m done. I can’t keep holding on and hoping that things are going to changeor that I’m going to find out why he even distanced himself from me in the first place.

It hurts too much to keep holding out hope for us when I know I shouldn’t.

I should’ve known from the beginning that I was only going to break my own heart. That he was never going to get attached to me the way I grew attached to him. I knew it from the beginning, but I still hoped that, in time, there would be something more to us.

Maybe he was right about me when we met. Maybe I do spend too much time with my head in the clouds.

But somehow, as I leave the mess hall, I can’t bring myself to regret falling in love with him.

CHAPTER 22

AIDEN

Igive the door about three seconds to close behind her before I chase after her. “No, Mia. We’re not doing this. You don’t get to walk out on me. Not this time. I’m not gonna let you. I’m not gonna keep being the idiot that watches you walk out the door and doesn’t chase you down.”

She stiffens and spins around. “You’re not going to let me? Why do you think it’s a matter of letting me? After everything you’ve done to us, after the way you destroyed us, why do you think it’s a matter of letting me?”

I approach her like she’s a wounded animal in the woods, taking my time, careful not to spook her as I get closer. “I love you.”

“You don’t get to use ‘I love you’ as a bandage when you screw up.” Mia’s voice breaks, tears gathering in her eyes. She reaches up to wipe them away, but she’s not quick enough. One of the tears rolls down her cheek, dripping off her jaw.

I draw closer to her, still keeping a bit of distance between us. “I’m not using it as a bandage. I know that it’s going to take a lot more than telling you I love you to fix the damage I’ve done.But I wanted you to know even if this is about to end between us. Even if you’re about to tell me to go get lost after I tell you what I have to say. I still want you to know that I love you.”

She swallows hard, her lips pressing into a thin line. She doesn’t run away, but she doesn’t say anything either. I’m not going to pressure her to say anything. Not right now. Not when there’s so much I have to apologize for.

Instead, I put my hands in my pockets to keep myself from reaching for her. “I’m an idiot. I’m an idiot with abandonment issues that run deep. And one day, when I was in our room, I saw the letter from Southwood Elementary. They accepted you as a kindergarten teacher. Congratulations, by the way. That’s what I should have said when I found out about it.”

Her eyebrows pull together. “Is that why you’ve been acting like this? Because you saw the letter? A letter that you didn’t even know if I was going to accept. A job offer that I didn’t tell you about because I didn’t know what I wanted. And I didn’t know if I was what you wanted.”

I take another step closer to her, the distance between us less than a foot now. “You’ve been what I wanted since you walked into my life. We couldn’t be more opposite. But I think that’s for the best. You bring out a part of me that I didn’t know I was missing. It’s a part that I probably should have tried looking for a long time ago, but nothing in my life made sense until you came along. I was happy just moving from mountain to mountain and working on search and rescue crews.”

“You had no business going through my things, you know that?” Even though she looks angry, there’s a softening in her eyes. I can work with that.

“I know. I had no right looking at any of that. I should have told you the moment I found it.”

“So then ask me what you want to ask me.”

“I don’t need to ask. I would follow you to the ends of the earth if that’s what it took. If you took that job, then I’m right there with you. I’ll get an apartment in the city wherever Southwood Elementary is, and we can make a real go at this relationship. And if that’s not where you want, then I’ll keep following you. You decide where you want to go, and Honey and I will be there.”

“I didn’t take the job.” The corner of my mouth twitches. “I called the school this morning and told him that I was taking some time to travel the world. I thanked them for the offer, but at this point, it doesn’t make sense to accept it.”

“And why not?”

“Because while I was here, I learned that I should follow my heart. Mom wouldn’t want me doing a job I don’t love in a place that makes me sad. And I don’t want that for me either. I like teaching skiing to children. I want to get into snowboarding. I want to spend endless hours going on snowmobile trips. And one day, I do want to teach kindergarten, but that can wait.”

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