Mia Winters Novels & Stories

I paused to take a drink of water, “I used to live in northern Michigan. Indy winters don’t compare.” Tristan smiled. Oh, shit, my heart. It fluttered every time he flashed those pearly whites. “How so, chica?” “Uh.” I was suddenly nervous as I looked into his deep chocolate eyes. “Way more snow. The winters start sooner and last longer. And it’s not unusual to have days and days of temps in the negatives.” Tristan chuckled as he pushed rice around his plate. “Why would anyone want to live there?” “Trust me.” I leaned forward. “I asked myself that many times. Indy’s nowhere near as bad. I mean, it can get bitter cold, but the temperature averages in the thirties and high twenties.”

Noah If you favoured Minnesota in the winter, the beautiful snow covered scape and curling up in front of a fire place with a hot whipped coffee, then you'd definitely find Miami offensive as fuck. It was less than a week to Christmas and the sun was out. It wasn’t even noon and it was already making a damn spectacle of itself, glaring down on my windshield like I owed it money. I had the AC blasting, sunglasses on, and I was still squinting like a mole dragged out of his burrow.

We had never used the house in Florida so I knew that would be the last place, whoever had attacked us, would look. “Aerian, hey, are you okay?” Tarryn asked. “Yes, sorry I was lost in thought there for second. Something tells me this is just the start of being busier than fuck for the next few months. This is insane.” I groaned. “That is a fact. It will not slow down until next March or April, basically when the snow stops falling and melts for good. We did warn you that winter here would be insane.” He replied. “The only thing that will slow us down will be the weather itself meaning a severe storm that shuts down the city.” Tarryn added.

Breathless, Ronan said, "I couldn’t leave the game earlier, so I had security send you to the hospital. How are you? Are you and the baby okay?" So playing basketball with Brynn mattered more to him than our child. I said nothing. Suddenly, Brynn's voice came through the phone. "Good boy, what are you standing there for? Hurry back. It’s your turn. "Calista just fainted because pregnancy makes her sleepy. You know she can fall asleep anywhere. If you ruin the mood again like last time, I won’t play with you anymore." He quickly ended the call. "Calista, since you’re awake, you must be fine. I’ll finish the game first and come to the hospital later."

December Aria December arrived and the city dressed itself in lights. Minnesota in December was a commitment not the halfhearted seasonal gestures of warmer places but a full, deliberate, we-know-what-we’re-doing relationship with winter. The cold was real and the dark came early and the lights went up everywhere in response, the specific defiance of a city that had decided if it was going to be dark it was going to be luminous about it. I’d never spent a December in Minneapolis before.

CHAPTER 8 “How’d you sleep?” Emma watched her father’s hopeful smile wilt under a well-aimed glare. Clearing his throat, he turned his attention back to the eggs cooking on the stove. Emma took a sip from the cup of coffee waiting for her on the table. Her mouth puckered at the drink’s bitterness, but she ignored the sugar and creamer at her elbow. “That stupid wind kept me up all night.” Her father reached for the bag of bread on the counter and pushed two slices into the toaster. “Winters around here are usually pretty harsh. It should start calming down in a couple months, though.”

I tell her gently as I pause with Cole. Without a word she opens both doors allowing the inner door to swing in while standing against the screen to keep it open. Micayla walks in first with Madilyn, Cole and I follow slowly behind with Madisyn bringing up the rear, closing the doors without being reminded. Everyone is shivering and it’s only as the heat of the house hits me that I realize how nasty this storm truly is. Ordinarily we don’t have to worry about hypothermia at the end of May but this storm seems to have brought some air down from Canada with it.

I swear the thunderstorm chased me. Autumn fast approached, and I could tell by the hint of coldness in the air or maybe it was because I was soaking wet. At least it wasn’t a blizzard. Which reminded me of Winter. I hadn’t even asked how he got his name or his brother’s. Lord knows Las Vegas probably never even saw snow. Whereas here in Minnesota, we had ice and snow practically ten months a year. A howl sounded a few feet from me, and I stilled. My heart pounded in my chest as another wolf answered, then another. How many of them were out here? I crouched behind a cedar tree. Had they seen me?

To visit your cousin? I live in Wasilla which is about an hour drive north of Anchorage. It’s mother effing cold right now haha and even worse, it's winter so we get barely any sunlight with daylight coming around ten fifteen am and darkness coming around three forty-five pm…short days for sure… I have a decent, but boring job working in an office. Mostly, I research Alaska Native languages/dialects and prepare what will someday become dictionaries for traditional language teaching.