Chapter 16 #2
“The cars are fine, started right up,” Nick reported. “Once it’s daylight, we’ll go out again. Maybe hike down the road a bit and see how it looks.”
“There’s another set of cabins about a mile down the road,” Brooke said. “Then, after another five or six miles, there’s a warming hut and vault toilets used for the cross-country ski trails. Worst case, we take our exit in segments.”
“That’s a long way between shelter,” Joe said, shaking his head. “I’d hate to have to spend a night in the truck.”
“We could do it,” Nick suggested. “Especially if we get the springlike weather back.”
Gina shrugged. “Maybe. But for now, we wait and see what the daylight brings.”
“We wait,” Nick agreed.
He sank back down beside Gina, her presence steadying him in a way nothing else could. The future was uncertain, with Kelsey, the law, everything, but with her there, it felt possible to endure it all. That alone mattered.
The others had gradually settled into an uneasy sleep.
Joe’s pen had finally stopped scratching across paper, his notebook closed beside him.
Brooke had cocooned herself in her blanket, looking smaller and more vulnerable than Nick had ever seen her.
Kelsey had rezipped the tent, crying for a while, but now she was silent.
Nick and Gina remained awake, sitting side by side, leaning against each other in the darkness.
“You should try to sleep,” Gina said quietly, her voice barely above a whisper.
“So should you.”
“Can’t.” She shifted slightly, and Nick caught a whiff of her shampoo. The coconut scent was still there even after everything they’d gone through. “Every time I close my eyes, I see that tree falling. See George’s face. See you tackling me out of the way.”
“Same.” Nick turned his head to look at her profile in the dim moonlight filtering through the gaps in the boards. “Except in my version, I’m not fast enough. The tree hits you, and I’m too late, and— ” He stopped, surprised by the tightness in his throat.
Gina turned to face him fully. “But you weren’t too late.”
“This time.”
“Nick— ”
“Wait. Give me a minute.” He needed to say this before he lost his nerve. “When George grabbed you, when that tree was falling, all I could think was that I couldn’t lose you.” He paused, forcing himself to hold her gaze.
“Not because we’d known each other for a day or because the situation made everything feel intense. But because losing you would’ve meant losing something I didn’t even know I’d been looking for.”
Gina’s breath caught. She looked away, staring at her hands. “That’s a lot to put on someone you just met.”
“I know. And maybe, when we get back to real life, you’ll realize I’m just a guy with nothing to offer.” His voice dropped. “But when you said you didn’t know me, back there with George, you were wrong.”
“Was I?”
“You know the things that matter. You know I show up when it counts. You know I don’t make promises I can’t keep.” He watched her face. “You know that when things get hard, I don’t run.”
“What about Sara? You ran after the breakup.”
“Yeah. I did.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “So maybe you’re right not to trust that.”
“Stop.” Gina’s hand found his in the darkness, her fingers cold but her grip firm. “I can understand why you did. You’d lost your girl. Your job.” She sighed. “I’d probably run too. But earlier, it wasn’t that I was wrong or right about you. I was scared. There’s a difference.”
“Scared of what?”
She was quiet for a long moment, and Nick thought maybe she wouldn’t answer. Then she spoke, her voice so soft he had to lean closer to hear.
“Scared of needing you.” The words came out in a rush. “My mother needed my father like oxygen. When he left, she couldn’t function, couldn’t breathe on her own. I spent six years watching her drown, and I swore I’d never need anyone that way.”
Her thumb traced circles on the back of his hand. “But when George had me, when I thought he was going to kill us all, I instantly regretted not telling you. Not telling you that the kiss was real, that what I felt was real, that you were— ”
She stopped, pulling her hand away. “See? This is exactly what I can’t do. We’ve known each other for one day, Nick. One day. And I’m already acting like you’re essential instead of optional.”
Nick caught her hand before she could retreat completely and pulled it back to rest between both of his. “What if I want to be essential?”
“You don’t know what you’re asking for.”
“Don’t I? You think I don’t understand what it means to need someone? I spent three years with Sara. Three years building a life, a future, thinking we were solid. Then she looked at me one day and said she needed someone who knew where they were going.”
His voice roughened. “Turns out I wasn’t essential. I was just convenient until something better came along.”
“I’m not Sara.”
“I know. You’re nothing like her.” He lifted her hand and pressed it against his chest, where his heart was hammering.
“This is what you do to me. Not the situation, not adrenaline, not some crisis-induced fantasy. You. The way you think three moves ahead. The way you take care of people without making it about you. The way you look at me like maybe I’m more than my circumstances. ”
Gina’s hand flexed against his chest, fingers spreading as if she could map his heartbeat through the layers of clothing. “Nick— ”
“Before, in my car . . . things felt right between us. I think you felt it too.”
“I felt it.” She moved closer, eliminating the last few inches between them. “I’m terrified, but I felt it.”
“Good.” Nick lifted his free hand and let his fingers trace the curve of her jaw. “Because I’m terrified too. And I think maybe that’s how you know it’s real.”
The space between them felt charged. Nick could see Gina’s eyes tracking to his mouth, could feel the way her breathing had changed. It would be so easy to close the distance, to kiss her the way he’d wanted to since that interrupted moment earlier.
He hovered there, close enough to feel her breath on his skin, every instinct screaming to give in.
But he stopped himself. They were surrounded by sleeping people. And Gina needed to be the one to choose this, needed to feel like she had control over what happened next.
Besides, they had time now. George was gone. The storm was passing. They’d make it down the mountain.
“We should try to sleep,” he said, though every instinct screamed to pull her closer. “It’s going to be a long day tomorrow.”
“Yeah.” But Gina didn’t move away. Instead, she settled against his shoulder in a way that felt both natural and momentous. “Nick?”
“Hmm?”
“When we’re not in survival mode anymore . . . ” She tilted her head up to look at him. “I want to go on a real date with you. See if this works when nobody’s trying to kill us.”
Nick felt something warm settle in his chest. “We can do that.”
“I want to see if you’re still the person I think you are when there’s no crisis bringing out your best qualities.”
“What if I’m not?”
“Then we’ll figure that out too.” She settled back against him. “But I don’t think that’s what we’ll find.”
Nick wrapped his arm around her and held her close as her breathing gradually evened out. Around them, the old building settled and creaked, but the sounds were peaceful now instead of threatening.
He pressed a kiss to the top of her head, letting himself believe he’d found the place he was supposed to land.