Counting Fireflies

COUNTING FIREFLIES ANNA KATMORE COUNTING FIREFLIES On Thin Ice, book 1 Copyright © 2023 by Anna Katmore Cover Art by Anna Katmore Cover design © 2023 by Anna Katmore All rights reserved www.annakatmore.com Table of contents Prolog 1. A new beginning 2. North 3. Sugar cubes 4. Ice hockey on his bed 5. About the right signals 6. Confusing pics and monologs 7. What’s the right question? 8. A singing Christmas tree 9. When it rains, it pours 10. The insidious dessert 11. Hot chocolate and cold truths 12. He’s the target 13. A special drawing 14. In the silent snowfall 15. The magic of a Christmas drink 16. Short moments and eternity 17. Canada or him? 18. Home is… 19. Free fall 20. New ways 21. Don’t you dare! 22. Canadian blood 23. Afterglow About the author The ON THIN ICE series shares a sweet connection with the heartwarming young adult novel SEVENTEEN BUTTERFLIES. Adrian’s tale makes a cameo there, but don’t worry, you won’t miss a beat diving straight into this book. Love has a strange way of sneaking up on you, catching you off guard in the most unexpected places. Like, say, Canada. On a cozy little farm. Surrounded by a blanket of snow. Prolog “Just how can I help you, my little baby?” my mother asks, her voice cracking with emotion, tears shimmering in her eyes. At six feet one, I’m far from little, and I’m definitely not a baby anymore. My nineteenth birthday is in two weeks, and for the first time, I’ll be celebrating on my own. Well, not entirely alone, I suppose. The elderly woman with the horses, who I’ll be living with and working for this winter, will likely offer me birthday wishes at some point during the day. Gently removing my mother’s hands from my face, I hold them firmly. “Let me go, Mom. Please.” That’s all I want from her. As she sinks onto our white leather couch in the living room, I kneel before her on the plush, blue-patterned Angora carpet. She looks worn out. So am I. It’s been a difficult year for both of us. The arguments with my stepfather about whether I should attend college or not 1. A new beginning On this frosty morning, the biting cold seems capable of freezing a beaver’s tail solid. After a mere two minutes outside collecting firewood for the stove, my fingers are numb. Despite the chill, I pause on the farmhouse porch and glance around. Moonbreak Falls slumbers beneath a tranquil blanket of December snow, glittering like a field of diamonds in the rising sun. Serenity pervades the air. Fridays are the only days Ruth Beckett allows herself the luxury of sleeping in—which, for her, means lingering in bed until seven-thirty, leisurely flipping through her beloved cookbook for the perfect weekend cake recipe. Ruth has captured my heart. The moment the seventy-four-year-old, her gray bun a constant fixture, collected me from the train station four weeks ago, she’s shown me nothing but kindness. Though we were strangers, she welcomed me into her home and immediately made me feel like family. Her own family has dwindled, with her only son and his wife passing