My Cold Winter Ended With Him

Summary

Everyone in Atlanta knew how much I loved Garrett Cross.

When he ditched class, I sat in the lecture hall and took meticulous notes for him. When he broke his arm in a motorcycle accident, I spent three sleepless nights sitting by his hospital bed. When he said he didn’t want to go to college up north, I secretly changed my own enrollment forms to match his.

My mother used to tell me, "Isla, you’re the biological daughter the Mercer family spent seventeen years looking for. Stop making yourself so small for him."

But back then, I believed that being close to him was worth any sacrifice.