The Morning After Denial

Pale, silvery dawn light filtered through the frosted floor-to-ceiling windows of Chalet Seven, casting long, ethereal shadows across the two-story cathedral living room. The polar vortex had finally exhausted its primary fury, leaving behind a pristine, untouched world of white silence. Outside, four feet of fresh powder blanketed the pine forests and jagged granite ridges of the Rockies, glittering like crushed diamonds under the rising sun. Sierra Hayes slowly opened…