Page 54 of A Bright Winter Season

Jacob turned to Trevor and gave him a look. Trevor held up his hands, laughing.

“Hey, I’m just pointing out the obvious here.”

After giving Trevor another look, Jacob glanced at Hazel again, feeling torn. He did want to speak with her again before she left, and he wanted to make sure she didn’t go home sad. He’d left their conversation somewhat abruptly earlier, and he worried that she was feeling pained by that.

“Okay, you win. I’ll go talk to her.”

Trevor grinned gleefully and thumped Jacob on the back.

“Go get ’em, Tiger.”

“It’s not—oh, never mind.” Jacob realized that it wasn’t fair to protest that he wasn’t going to talk to Hazel for romantic reasons when he’d asked her out for the second time earlier in the evening. “See you later, Trevor.”

“You better come back and try some of that chocolate pie with me. This is the kind of night where eating more than is good for us is the right thing to do.”

Jacob saluted Trevor, grinning. “You’re so right about that. I’ll come back for that pie.”

As soon as Jacob stepped away from Trevor and his other friends, however, he forgot entirely about pie. He could see Hazel through the windows, and he grabbed his coat hurriedly off the hook that it was hanging on by the front door. He stepped outside, and the frosty air brushed against his face. He took a few hesitant steps toward Hazel, but she didn’t seem to realize he was there.

“Nice night.”

She turned to him, looking surprised. “Hey, Jacob.” She smiled at him, and this time her smile looked shy instead of forced. “It is a nice night.”

“Cold, though. I wanted to come out here and make sure you’re all right.” He nestled his hands inside his pockets and came to stand beside her. In the distance, they could hear the sound of the ocean splashing against the frozen shore. The faint sound of windchimes being played by the breeze made Jacob think of sleigh bells.

She offered him a small smile, looking up at him with a sweet expression. “I am all right. Thank you for asking.”

For a few moments, they were both quiet. It had stopped snowing, and the stars glittered like frosty jewels in the velvety black sky. Jacob felt a surge of contentment, standing there beside her.

Even if I never get to go out with her,he thought.This would be enough. It would be enough for me to get to spend time with her as friends.

He glanced at her and saw that she was looking at him. She looked away bashfully when he turned toward her, but he’d seen in that brief instant that there was a look in her eyes that hadn’t been there earlier in the evening. It was a tender, almost hopeful look, and it made his heart beat faster.

“The event went really well,” he said. “It was an amazing party.”

She nodded. “Mmhmm.”

“Now that it’s over,” he said slowly, “do you think there’s space for you to think about us?”

She cleared her throat gently, and the sound was so high-pitched that he couldn’t help chuckling. “I have been thinking about—well, I was just talking to my mom, and she…” Hazel’s voice trailed off. She looked uncomfortable, and he realized that she was trying so hard to act a certain way around him that she was tangling herself up in knots over it.

“Hey,” he said gently. “It’s just me, Hazel. There’s no pressure here.”

A happy expression spread across her face like a sunrise. She let out a relieved exhale and smiled at him.

“Okay. You’re right. Thank you. I have been thinking about us. My mom talked with me inside, and she reminded me that the event is essentially over. I mean, now it is pretty much over because most people have left, but before when she talked to me theplanningwas over, and that’s what she was talking about. So she said that I should just relax and talk to my friends, and she didn’t say it then, but I know she was implying that I should let myself think about you romantically again, and that’s why I came out here. I’ve been thinking about you and me and everything that we’ve said and what I’m feeling.”

Her words spilled out of her in a breathless rush, like a flock of birds all breaking out of a cage at once.

Jacob laughed, charmed by how freely she was confessing her thoughts and feelings to him. The fact that she’d been thinking about the two of them made him feel aglow with hope.

“Sorry,” she said. “There are so many thoughts in my brain right now, I didn’t know which ones to let out first. Whenthat happens, I just end up talking really fast and kind of unintelligibly.”

“Don’t you apologize. It’s cute.”

She laughed, and her eyes lit up. She glanced down at her shoes shyly.

“So, what have you been thinking about out here?” he asked her, shuffling a couple of inches closer to her. “About us, I mean?”

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