Until the Snow Melts
Melting Point, Book 1
Dear Santa, was the one-bed blizzard trap strictly necessary?
Because now I’m snowed in with my ex… and late sister’s son.
Eight years ago, I walked in on my boyfriend Ethan and my sister. End of story, end of us, end of every dream we had.
Now, with my estranged sister gone, a freak snowstorm traps me and Ethan in her crumbling house with one bed, no heat, and a heartbroken seven-year-old who believes he doesn’t deserve Christmas.
Ethan’s richer, sharper, and infuriatingly hot. I’m determined, exhausted, and pretending I’m not watching him teach a little boy how to build a fire.
As forgotten decorations turn into Christmas magic and midnight confessions spark something we thought was gone, old secrets begin to surface.
With a little boy’s future on the line and our hearts on the edge, can we rebuild what was destroyed… or will the snow melt before we find our way back to each other?
I follow her gaze, taking in the water stains on the ceiling, and peeling wallpaper. The furniture looks like it came from a thrift store’s reject pile, its fabric worn thin and stained. Empty beer bottles line the windowsill, and there are cigarette burns on every surface.
“How could she live like this?” Cassidy’s voice is tight with anger. “She raced me to motherhood and had him living in this... this...”
“Shithole,” I finish for her, because that’s exactly what it is.
“Did you see how he just... accepted it?” Cassidy continues, her voice dropping to a whisper. “Like he expects our resentment. He asked if I hated him. What has she been telling him about me?”
“Britney was always selfish, but this... this is neglect. Pure and simple.”
“Then what about you, Ethan? Why aren’t you in his life? You should be the one raising him now that Britney is dead! I shouldn’t even be here!” Her voice rises with each word, and I can see the fire building in her dark eyes. The same passion that used to ignite between us in entirely different circumstances.
“Why am I not in his life? Why haven’t you been? It’s rich hearing you talk about neglect when you bolted eight years ago and never looked back. You want to assign blame? Let’s start with your bitch of a sister.”
“Are you fighting cause of me? Mama said I ruin everything. I’m sorry.”
The small voice cuts through the moment, and we turn to see Axel standing at the bottom of the stairs with his backpack.
“Axel,” Cassidy says, taking a step toward him. “We’re having a minor disagreement. Are you ready to go?”
The kid looks uncertainly between us, then nods his head.
I walk to the window and look out at my truck, which is rapidly becoming a white mound in the driveway. The storm has moved in faster than anyone predicted, and the road we came in on has already disappeared under a blanket of snow that’s getting deeper by the minute.
“Ethan,” Cassidy says quietly when she joins me. “We need to leave. Now.”
“We can’t,” I reply. “We’re trapped.” In this house. Together. For God knows how long. I run a hand through my hair. “Shit.”
