HELENA POV
Outside the kindergarten, even though it was freezing cold—just two days from Christmas in Seattle—I was burning. The sun was still nowhere to be seen, snow covered almost everything, and yet my skin felt too tight, too warm. Maybe it was just me. Everything felt heightened lately, like my nerves had been stripped raw and every sensation landed too hard.
The parking lot buzzed with parents, children, teachers—noise, life, chaos.
Sebastian and Stephan were practically glowing.
They walked between Trish and Silas like tiny celebrities, grinning at every compliment tossed their way, nodding solemnly when someone praised their singing, their costumes, their “stage presence,” as if they had just completed a Broadway debut instead of a chaotic Grinch recital where one of them forg
