His breath hung in the air like smoke, its weight minimal. Almost transparent. In an instant it was gone. He smiled at her and pulled his scarf tighter against his neck, his eyes a flash of blue that burned into her mind. Its imprint keeping her warm on this cold day.

They had bumped into each other in the library, where Susannah was buying coffee on the first floor, and they fell into conversation the way snow drifts down to ground. That casual. That deliberate. And now he was walking with her to class.

How long had she carried this feather of a hope inside her heart? She couldn’t remember. It was as if the time before didn’t matter, ceased to exist. That old expression, walking on air, well, she felt she really understood it now.

Suddenly a slender, long-haired blond came up and wrapped herself around him. He turned away from Susannah and kissed the blond girl on the mouth.

Susannah felt her heart stop for just a moment before it resumed beating. A little out of rhythm maybe, but still beating.