91.72 Chapter 8 Every Christmas , like clockwork , she'd make me one . There was a letter underneath . Her handwriting was a mess - shaky , blotted with what were obviously tears . It went on forever . Thousands of words . Twenty - six years of friendship spilled out on paper , every memory , every stupid moment we'd shared . Longer than that breakup novel she wrote to Landon . She said she was sorry . That she got what she deserved . That she had no right to face me ever again. That her only hope was that I'd ind happiness . By the end , my throat was tight . My eyes stung . folded it up and threw it in the trash on my way downstairs . The scarf ? I handed it to a little girl playing outside . Her face lit up . Some people crash into your life and change everything . Then they're gone . We had something real once . That's all I need to remember . The beach was freezing , wind whipping off the ocean . Liam slipped his coat around my shoulders without a word . Snowflakes swirled down around us . In the distance , fireworks burst across the sky in brilliant colors . Fireworks over the ocean in the snow . My Christmas wish , right there . I turned to him , grinning through the cold . " Okay . You can have your Christmas wish now . " He smirked . " I was hoping you'd say that . " His hand closed around mine - warm , solid , real . f I had to do it all over again ? I'd still choose to love . Still choose to risk it . Because that's who I am .