I said no to being someone's problem to manage then three of them showed up anyway.
Callum brings me hot chocolate on days he pretends are ordinary. Desmond notices what I don't say out loud and never makes me explain it. Rhys tells the whole town I'm the best thing that's happened to Raven Ridge since the ice rink, loud enough for my ex to hear.
I built this bakery out of the wreckage of a marriage that taught me I was too much to love easily. I swore I'd never need anyone again.
I didn't plan on needing three.
My ex has a seat on the Christmas Market committee now, and he's decided my happiness is a conflict of interest worth voting on. The whole town's watching to see if I'll shrink back down the way I always used to.
But I've learned the difference between a hold and a trap.
And when the storm hits and the four of us end up snowed in together with nowhere else to go, I stop asking whether I'm allowed to want this much.
I start asking how I ever convinced myself I didn't deserve it.