Snowed in with the Firefighter (Shadow Creek, Montana #7) - Victoria James

Chapter One

It was the cutest, most cheerful-looking little cabin Melody Mayberry had ever seen.

She hated it instantly.

It was exactly the opposite of how she was feeling right now. And, okay, maybe she didn’t hate it. It was just so…happy, and she was the furthest she’d ever been from happy. Had she ever been happy? That was the question. Maybe she’d spent her life chasing someone else’s version of happiness, and when that all came crashing down, she’d been left with nothing.

Which was why she was here, staring at a cabin, with no idea what she was supposed to do with her life now that her career at the hospital, the only thing she’d prided herself on, had just gone up in flames.

She clutched the steering wheel tightly even though she wasn’t driving and the ignition was already off. Deep breaths. She needed to take deep breaths. Closing her eyes, she forced her grip to relax and counted to ten. When she opened her eyes again, it was with a determination to be positive. People were happy at Christmas, right? Or was that statistic that people were really depressed during the holidays?

Get it together, Melody.

She peered through the snowy windshield of her car again. The house in the middle-of-nowhere Montana was straight off the Country Living Instagram feed. It was just as adorable as her sister, Molly, and brother-in-law, Ben, who owned this red cabin. The front porch, with its perfectly stacked logs of wood and a stone chimney, which promised long nights with wine by a roaring fire, almost made her want to believe in the magic of a season that had lost its wonder these last few years.

Molly and Ben had probably enjoyed long nights together by the fire. Her youngest sister, Addie, and Addie’s new husband Drew and his daughter had also probably enjoyed hot chocolate and marshmallows in front of the cozy fireplace.

She, on the other hand, would not be enjoying long nights or even short nights with anyone. That was fine. She’d never wanted a relationship anyway. There wasn’t time for that. Especially not now. She was here to be away from people.

She glanced over at her phone as it vibrated on the passenger seat. Are you there yet? Text when you’re there.

Sighing out loud in the car, she picked up her phone and texted Molly back. Sitting in the driveway. This is the cutest-looking place ever. Thanks again for letting me stay here. See you soon, xo.

She loved her sister and brother-in-law. Molly and Ben were even cuter than this cabin, actually. Molly was a doctor; Ben was a firefighter. They were…the perfect couple. She was the one with the problem, not them. And no one in her family knew just how badly she was struggling right now. She was a master at hiding her emotions, even from herself. They knew what had happened at the hospital, but she had reassured everyone she was fine and just needed a vacation because she never took them. All true. Except the part about being fine.

Maybe in her short career she’d been blessed. Or lucky. Maybe that was why she’d never had anything go really wrong during a delivery. She knew the statistics. She knew this happened. She had just never counted on how losing a baby during a delivery would feel, how it would make her question every single decision she’d made that night, how it would haunt her.

Or that she would never forgive herself.

But she was going to sort herself out here…in the middle of nowhere, hours away from Shadow Creek, in blissful solitude. Then, in one month, when Christmas and New Year’s were over, she was going to go home, resign her role as an OB/GYN at the Shadow Creek Hospital, and go back to being her old self. Before her biggest screw-up and most devastating night of her career. Right.

She glanced over at her pile of comfort groceries and forced a smile. She could do this. She could take a whole month and not work. It had never been done in the history of Melody. Ever. Even as a child, she was always studying, always trying to get ahead and earn her mother’s approval. But that’s what growth was about, right?

She swallowed down the self-loathing as she remembered what an awful person she used to be. Maybe she deserved all this misery. It was the universe’s way of telling her she’d never be like her amazing sisters. Her mom was really good at reminding her