Page 45 of Cole

"He was offered a job on the East Coast and wanted me to come along. Easiest decision I’ve ever made… my answer was no. He moved to the East Coast, and honestly, I felt relieved." She gave a small, self-deprecating laugh. "That's probably a sign, right? When your boyfriend moves across the country, and your main emotion is relief at being able to just be alone for a while?"

"Yeah, that's a pretty clear sign." Cole waited a moment, thinking through what he wanted to ask, then finally just jumped in. “Do you want to stay in Washington and work at your parents' clinic when this is all done?"

Janice's voice grew softer. "As close as I am to my parents, my answer to that is going to be a vague 'Not really.' My parents have a large practice, and other vets work there. My dad teaches some classes at the university, and Mom never felt like I needed to take over their work."

She shifted, pulling the blanket higher. "If I met someone, I have no problem moving because I can always find work. If not, then I can stay in Washington. But you see, it's not really about where I am. It's about doing a job I love."

Cole felt something shift inside him at those words. She wasn't tied to a specific place. She could go anywhere, work anywhere, as long as the work mattered to her. That kind of freedom, that kind of flexibility mirrored his own journey in a way he hadn't expected.

"And being with the right person, if they come along," he ventured quietly.

Janice faced him fully, and their eyes locked. The air between them grew thick with unspoken possibility.

"Yes," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "Absolutely."

They held each other's gaze for a long moment, and Cole felt his heart hammering against his ribs. He wanted to close the distance between them and see if her lips were as soft as they looked.

But he also knew they were in a pressure cooker situation. After all, Logan had warned him about this. Isolated, in danger, and dependent on each other. The intensity of what they were feeling could be situational, adrenaline-fueled, not real in the way that lasted beyond the immediate crisis.

Though tell that to Logan and Vivian. Or Sisco and Lenore. Or any of the other Keepers who'd found their soulmates in exactly this kind of situation.

Cole cleared his throat, breaking the moment before he did something he couldn't take back. "You, uh, mentioned your mom specializes in wildlife. Does she still do rehabilitation work?"

Janice blinked, seeming to come back to herself. "Yeah. She's got a whole setup now, with proper facilities and partnerships with the state wildlife department. Last I heard, she was working with a golden eagle that some idiot hunter had shot."

"People are idiots," Cole agreed, grateful for the safer topic even as part of him regretted pulling back.

"The worst kind of idiots," Janice said with feeling. "Who shoots an eagle? They're protected, they're magnificent, and they're completely harmless to humans. But some people see something beautiful and wild, and their first instinct is to destroy it."

The passion in her voice, the fury on behalf of creatures who couldn't always defend themselves, made Cole's chest ache with something that felt dangerously close to what he'd been trying to avoid acknowledging. He felt something for her that was stronger than what he could have imagined after knowing her for such a short time. But giving in to the feeling, he knew he wanted to know more.

They stared at each other, and Cole wanted to say all the things that had been building inside him since he'd first seen her on that snowmobile. But Janice had just told him about a relationship that ended because there was no spark. He wasn't about to push her into something she didn't want.

She licked her lips and then hesitated for a moment before finally saying, “I should fix something for us to eat.”

“We’ll do it together.”

Her smile was like a reward. They fixed a simple dinner together, heating chili and serving it with crackers. While they worked, Cole noticed that the snow had finally stopped falling. The storm that had trapped them here was moving on, leaving behind a world transformed by white.

"Look," he said, nodding toward the window.

Janice moved beside him, and they stood together watching the clouds break apart to reveal stars scattered across the black sky. The moon emerged, nearly full, casting silver light across the snow-covered landscape.

"It's beautiful," Janice breathed.

"Yeah," Cole agreed, but he was looking at her profile in the moonlight, not the view outside.

She turned to face him, and something passed between them at that moment. Definitely attraction laced with possibility. All the things they'd been dancing around finally surfaced.

"Cole—" But before she could finish, his phone buzzed. Cole cursed under his breath and pulled it out, seeing Sadie's name.

"I need to take this," he said apologetically.

"Of course."

He answered, moving away to the kitchen area. "What's up?"

"Just wanted to give you an update," Sadie said. "The miners are still at the hotel in town. No movement toward the cabin area. You should be clear for the night."