LOGINI'm a talker, while my boyfriend's a workaholic. He tells me I'm annoying, deletes me from his contacts, and blocks my number. If I want to reach him, I have to submit a request three hours in advance, and once it's approved, I get five minutes of his time. This is my 99th request to go see the Northern Lights. I'm just waiting for him to reject it so I can finally let this relationship go. But instead, the approval comes through. I spend an entire week putting together an itinerary and only ask him to book our flights. When I get to the airport, I receive a notification telling me to book my own ticket. I make excuses for him, tell myself he's busy with work. But after I land, I find him sitting with my best friend Becca Holloway, posing for one of those couple's portraits that takes a full hour to finish. He sees me and frowns. "So I didn't get your ticket. What's the big deal? "There were only two first-class seats left, and Becca has a bad back. She had to sit there." He says it like it's the most obvious thing in the world, then pushes the luggage beside him toward me. "Grab these, will you? Becca hurt her wrist, so she can't lift anything." The moment he finishes talking, he reaches up and takes out his hearing aid with practiced ease, cutting me off before I can say a word. Something in me just gives out. I take the sticky notes from my pocket and toss them in the trash. I plan to write down everything I want to say on them, so I won't waste his time. Now I don't need them anymore.
View MoreNolan stared at the phone screen, his grip on Becca's arm tightening inch by inch."Nolan, that hurts!"This time, Becca's tears were real. He flung her off and she hit the ground, scraping the skin off her palms."Becca, I thought I treated you well. Why would you lie to me like this?" His face was ashen, and the way he looked at her had gone ice cold."Why?"Becca tried to argue. "Nolan, it's not what you think...""Talk."The single word cut through the air like a whip, and her sobbing stopped dead. Between his fury and the stares closing in from every direction, something in her snapped. She picked herself up off the ground and dropped the act entirely."Fine. I did it on purpose. So what?"I was jealous of Fiona. Her mom was dead and her dad wanted nothing to do with her. I thought I'd get to watch her fall apart. I never expected you to actually make it."The soft, innocent mask she'd worn for so long shattered, and underneath it was nothing but raw, undiluted spite.N
The snow came down harder and harder. Nolan was on his knees, digging through it with bare hands, his fingers already raw and red from the cold."It fell right here. How can I not find it?"By morning, he was gone. I assumed he'd given up and left on his own. But the moment I went downstairs, I heard that a man had been found passed out in the snow earlier that morning and rushed to the hospital."Feeling sorry for him?"I met Eli's eyes and shook my head.After that, I thought I'd finally get a few peaceful days. Instead, Becca tracked me down.Her nose was red and her eyes were puffy, like she'd been crying. "Fiona, how could you just leave without telling us? We were so worried about you."I didn't want to deal with her. I turned to walk away, but she grabbed my sleeve."Fiona, there's nothing going on between Nolan and me. Nothing happened. You can't just jump to conclusions like that."She sniffled, putting on the most innocent face I'd ever seen. People around us started
I stepped out from behind Eli. "Home? Is that place really still ours?"Snowflakes settled on my lashes. One blink, and they melted into tears at the corners of my eyes."Of course it is, Fiona. We built that place together, piece by piece. Don't you remember?"Of course I remembered. I wasn't the one who had forgotten.I thought back on all the ways Becca had crept into our lives. First it was a pair of pink slippers in the spot where mine used to be, then throw pillows on the couch and a set of sheets picked out just for her. She took up more and more space, and my things got pushed into the corners.I brought it up to Nolan once, quietly. He gave me a look like I was wasting his time."Becca is your best friend. After everything she's done for you, you could wait on her hand and foot and it still wouldn't be enough."He always said the same thing. Becca was his assistant, and her back problems and stomach issues were his fault. I needed to stop keeping score.But he never se
A chill ran through Nolan's entire body. He hadn't gone with me to see the Northern Lights. So who was the man beside me?It was probably a stranger. That was what he told himself. But the dread gnawing at him was almost more than he could take.He called his friend immediately. "Screenshot every one of Fiona's posts and send them to me."His friend was confused, but Nolan's tone left no room for questions, so he sent everything over at once.Nolan swiped through them one by one, his face darkening with every photo. That same figure appeared in all of them. In one, the man was standing just out of frame, tying my scarf back in place after the wind had blown it loose.His friend messaged again, this time with a screenshot of Becca's feed, filled with the wedding photos. Even Nolan could put it together now. And she'd hidden the post from him.He had his friend take a screenshot of the rest of Becca's feed. It wasn't just this one time. She'd been hiding things from him all along.












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