Yeah, well, turns out I'm better at business than I am at passion. You loved art. I did. So, what happened? She stood pacing to the window.
After we ended things, I needed something to focus on. Something that didn't remind me of She stopped. My mother had connections in tech, got me an internship. I was good at it, really good. Strategy, negotiation, all the corporate stuff.
I climbed fast. Five years later, I was CFO. Two years after that, CEO. That's impressive. It's empty.
The words came out flat. I run a company worth billions. I have more money than I could spend in 10 lifetimes, and none of it matters. Lucas didn't know what to say to that. Victoria turned to face him.
You asked if I'm happy. Earlier, your mom asked you the same thing. You didn't answer, so I'll ask again. Are you happy, Lucas? He thought about lying, about giving her the same non-answer he'd given his mother.
But he was tired, so tired of pretending. No, he said. I'm not. Victoria's eyes glistened. Me, neither.
They stared at each other across the room. Seven years of silence, of distance, of carefully constructed lives that didn't fit right. All of it hanging there between them. We really screwed this up, didn't we? Victoria's voice was barely a whisper.
Lucas nodded. Yeah. We did. She crossed back to the bed and sat down. Close enough that he could feel the warmth of her, close enough to touch.
But neither of them moved. I don't know how to do this, Victoria said. Be in the same room as you and pretend I don't She stopped herself. Don't what? She shook her head.
Nothing. Forget it. Victoria. I should go to sleep. It's late.
It was barely 8:00, but Lucas didn't argue. They got ready for bed in awkward silence. Changed in the bathroom separately. Built up the pillow wall again. Turned off the lights.
Lucas lay there in the dark listening to her breathe and knew sleep wasn't coming anytime soon. Lucas? Yeah? Do you ever think about it? What we could have been?
His chest tightened. Every day. He heard her breath catch, then softer. Me, too. And that was it.
No more words. Just the two of them lying in the dark mourning a future they'd killed before it had a chance to live. The next morning brought more snow and a new problem. Lucas woke to the sound of voices downstairs, loud voices arguing. He pulled on jeans and a shirt and headed down to find his father and Eleanor in the main room, clearly in the middle of a disagreement.
Can't just ignore it, Richard. I'm not ignoring anything. I'm saying we need to be realistic. Margaret stood off to the side, arms crossed, looking uncomfortable. Victoria was on the stairs behind Lucas, also watching.
What's going on? Lucas asked. Richard turned. The generator's out. We're running on battery backup, but that won't last more than a few hours.
Can't you fix it? The part we need isn't here, and with the roads like this, we're not getting it anytime soon. Eleanor threw up her hands. Which means we're trapped here with no heat, no power, and no way to cook. This is exactly what I was worried about.
We have the fireplace, Margaret said calmly. And plenty of food. We'll manage. For how long? The forecast says this storm could last another 3 days.
Lucas looked at Victoria. She met his eyes, and he saw his own concern reflected back. We should ration, Victoria said. Food, firewood, everything. Make it last as long as possible.
Richard nodded. Good thinking. We'll need to stay in the main room as much as possible, too. Keep the heat concentrated. What about sleeping?
Margaret asked. Same thing. We all sleep down here, near the fire. Lucas's stomach sank. Great.
Now they'd have even less privacy. They spent the next hour rearranging furniture, pushing couches together, dragging mattresses downstairs, setting up a makeshift camp around the fireplace. It was cramped and chaotic, and nothing like the comfortable weekend his mother had planned. Mia thought it was an adventure. She helped gather blankets and pillows, chattering excitedly about camping indoors.
By midday, they'd settled into a routine. Richard kept the fire going. Margaret and Eleanor organized meals, cold sandwiches, canned soup heated over the fire. Lucas played games with Mia. Victoria stayed on the periphery, reading a book, staying out of the way.
But as the day wore on, the cold crept in. The fire could only do so much against a storm this fierce. Lucas watched Mia shiver and pulled her closer, wrapping a blanket around both of them. "Dad, I'm cold." "I know, sweetheart.
Come here." She burrowed against him. He rubbed her arms trying to warm her up. Across the room, Victoria watched them. Her expression was soft, almost sad.
Night fell early, the sky outside a swirling mass of white and gray. They ate dinner huddled around the fire, soup and bread, simple but warm. Mia fell asleep halfway through, her head on Lucas's shoulder. He carried her to one of the makeshift beds and tucked her in. When he turned around, Victoria was standing there.
"She's lucky," Victoria said quietly, "to have you." "I'm the lucky one." "You really believe that?" "Yeah, I do." Victoria nodded.
"Then maybe you did get something right after all." Before he could respond, she walked away. They slept in shifts that night. Someone had to keep the fire going, make sure it didn't die out. Richard took the first shift, Eleanor the second, Lucas volunteered for third.
He sat by the fire at 2:00 in the morning, feeding logs into the flames, watching shadows dance across the walls. Everyone else was asleep or pretending to be. The cabin creaked and groaned under the weight of the storm. "Can't sleep either?" Lucas looked up.
Victoria stood in the doorway, wrapped in a blanket. "I'm on fire duty. Mind if I join you?" "It's a free country." She sat down beside him, close enough that their shoulders almost touched.