Read Online Snowflake Wishes by Maggie McGinnis - Free Book Online Page A

crinkled the corners of his eyes so perfectly. And all she could think of in that moment was kissing him again. Her eyes locked on his lips, and his on hers, and for a long, long moment, neither of them moved.
    â€œYou want some breakfast?” Darla appeared at the end of the table, startling them both. “Looks like the bridge’ll be open in an hour or so. Probably safe to head out then, if we’re shoveled out. What can I get you?”
    â€œUm, I—” Piper fumbled for the laminated menu, hoping thoughts of pancakes and bacon would replace the ones of wishing they were stranded at a B and B with a huge bed and a claw-foot tub.
    Noah cleared his throat. “I’ll have the number three. With bacon.” He flipped the menu. “And home fries.”
    Piper looked up at the waitress. “I’ll have the same.”
    Half an hour later, Piper pushed away her plate, stuffed. “You may have to roll me to the truck. I’m not going to need to eat again till next weekend.”
    â€œRight. This is you we’re talking about.”
    â€œOkay, fine. Till at least two o’clock, then.” She wrinkled her nose as she looked out the window at the massive piles of snow. No one seemed very anxious yet to pay off their coffee with labor. “Should we go help shovel?”
    â€œYou ready to get back?”
    His question was innocent, but they both heard the undertone. The sooner they got back, the sooner they’d have to face the reality that her life was still in Echo Lake, and his was—somewhere else.
    She sighed. “I suppose we have to at some point, right?”
    He shrugged, holding up his cup. “Good coffee here. I’m in no rush.”
    â€œOkay.” She shifted awkwardly in the booth, searching for the words she’d been trying to formulate since they’d woken up, but so far, all she had was a jumbled mess of thoughts. However, time was getting short, and she needed some answers before they got back to Echo Lake.
    â€œSo … when you headed up here from Boston on Friday, what did you hope things would look like … today?”
    Noah studied her over the rim of his cup. Then he set it down. “Piper, you know I’d never lie to you, right?”
    â€œI think so.”
    â€œI wouldn’t. I never did.” His eyes held hers, and she couldn’t look away. “Being with you this weekend feels like I hit a time warp on the interstate and jumped back seven years. You’ve changed so much, but at the core, you haven’t changed a bit.”
    He reached for her hand. “I knew … I still loved you—but I loved the you I remembered. And I knew you couldn’t possibly still be that same person.”
    â€œOh.” Ouch. Did that mean he didn’t think he could love the person she was now? Was she really all that different?
    Her eggs emitted little tiny death-bleats.
    He squeezed her fingers. “You’re not the same person—you shouldn’t be, can’t be. The problem is, I’m supposed to fly out in a week, but I don’t even want to go back to Boston tonight. I’m not ready for the weekend to end, because I feel like I just found you again.”
    â€œOh.” The bleats subsided a little.
    Noah chuckled. “Your vocabulary’s diminishing rapidly.”
    â€œI know. Sorry.” She blew out a breath. “It’s all just—so much to take in. I thought you were gone forever, and now? You’re—here. Sort of. But you’re leaving.”
    â€œI know.”
    â€œThen … what are we doing, really?”
    â€œI don’t know.”
    She frowned. “Now your vocabulary’s diminishing.”
    â€œI know.” He cringed. “Sorry. I think—there’s a lot to think about. Forty-eight hours ago, I thought you were probably married with six kids, and you assumed I was probably dead.”
    â€œI