though Jak left his new scarf on. He hadn’t taken it off since he’d received it. Harper loved how much he valued the gift. She was sure he’d keep it on indefinitely.
Harper watched as he looked around, moving from the small tree with twinkle lights in front of the window, to her bed, made up with an antique, handmade quilt she’d bought at an estate sale on the last day when prices for the remaining items had been slashed, to the thrifted furniture items she’d picked up for pennies and painted. He ran a hand over the high pile of books on her nightstand and then he peeked into the tiny kitchen and then the bathroom. She watched him, his eyes moving everywhere with interest. He looked . . . impressed, and she couldn’t help the smile that tilted her lips.
Jak walked to the window that featured a very small false balcony and opened the latch. There was a portico above the window that kept the snow from coming inside, and so although the wind whipped the curtain, the snow fell just beyond them.
“Don’t step onto that balcony,” she warned, coming up beside him. “It isn’t safe.”
He looked over at her and smiled, and then back out to the snow, watching as it swirled and tumbled, the lights of the town twinkling beyond, giving everything a dreamy glow. “It’s so beautiful here,” he said, a note of awe in his voice.
She laughed, wrapping her arms around his bicep and pulling him close, resting her head on his shoulder and looking into the twinkling white. She’d tried to make her small home pretty, despite having little money to spend on pretty things. But she had never considered it beautiful. Homey, yes. Hers, yes. As good as she could do with what little she had. But now, standing there as the lights and the snow blurred in front of her, the wind cold, but the warmth and comfort of home a few footfalls away, she realized it was beautiful. She had everything she needed. She’d done her best, and she was proud that she’d never stopped trying.
“It is, isn’t it?” she whispered, a small hitch in her voice at the emotion the whole night had elicited. She wanted to show him other things, experience everything that, for him, would be brand new—pie in diners at midnight, picnics in sunny parks, late-night movies, and a thousand other things people took for granted. She wanted to watch his face as he took it in, to see the delight in his eyes, the confusion, the understanding. She wanted to watch as he worked things out in that quick mind of his. And yet another part of her wanted him just the way he was, always—innocent, beautiful, untouched, hers.
He shut the window against the cold and turned to her, bringing his hands to her face and looking at her as if she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. “You make me see beauty where I didn’t see it before, Jak,” she said, turning her face and closing her eyes as she kissed his palm. “You make everything new. Even me.”
He tilted his head, and in the dim light of the room, shadows played over the lines of his face, his light eyes burning into hers, the only fire she needed to keep her warm. “Is that good?” he asked. “That I make you new?”
“Yes, it’s very, very good.” She was transforming, she realized, and she still wasn’t certain about all the ways he was helping her to grow, but it felt good. It felt right. Since he’d come into her life, more questions had arisen, and yet, it finally felt like she was figuring out her life when before she had been flailing. Maybe part of it was the deep gratitude he’d opened up in her. Maybe it was her perspective on her own life and the struggles she’d endured. She wasn’t entirely sure yet, but it had everything to do with him. She felt like a blooming flower, gently opening, her petals reaching for the sunlight she hadn’t even realized was there because she’d been curled up so tightly, a bud protecting herself from the very thing she needed to blossom.
“Did you enjoy tonight?” she whispered, her finger moving along the wool of his new scarf.
He nodded. “Yes. Very much.” He looked thoughtful for a moment. “When you were in the kitchen, Agent Gallagher told me about the woman who raised me. He