““Shut up.” She put her finger to his lips, and his voice choked off. She said slowly, “I’ve learned I can live without you.” Kasimir’s heart cracked inside his chest. He’d lost her. She was going to send him away, back into the bleak winter. “But I’ve also learned,” Josie whispered, “that I don’t want to.” Her brown eyes were suddenly warm, like the sky after a sudden spring storm. “I tried to stop loving you. But once I love someone, I love for life.” Her lips lifted in a trembling smile. “I’m stubborn that way.””
