AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I grinned. “I’m more than ready.”
Aiden snagged my shovel from my hands and put his and mine on the porch. The lights on the tree and the wreaths were lit since gray clouds covered the sky.
Aiden rolled a big ball that we packed tight. We placed it on the bottom.
“When we’re done, we can take a picture for the website,” I suggested.
“That would look nice,” Aiden said as we got to work on a second ball and then a third for the head. When all three balls of snow were smoothed over and packed tightly, we stacked them on top of each other.
“Now we just need—”
Aiden pulled a carrot and a hat out of his pocket. “I came prepared.”
“Once a Boy Scout, always one,” I mumbled.
“I wasn’t a Boy Scout.”
I knew that his upbringing was a source of shame for him. But I said, “You were in the military. I’m sure that taught you to be prepared.”
“The military taught me about a lot of good things in life, but not everything.”
“Oh, what’s that?” I asked. He handed me the carrot, and I placed it in the middle of the snowman’s face.
“My commanding officers and fellow soldiers taught me about discipline, loyalty, and hard work. But they didn’t teach me about love.”
My breath caught in my throat. “Where did you learn about it then?”
He moved in front of me, touching my face with his gloved hand. “From my sister, my grandmother, and you.”
He kissed me, his lips cool from the air, the snow coming down stinging my face. When he pulled back, he nodded toward the snowman. “He needs a hat.”
He fit the knit hat on top, and we searched on the ground, digging through the snow for smaller rocks for his eyes, mouth, and shirt buttons. When we were done, we stood back and snapped a few pictures for the website.
“Don’t you think the owner should be in the pictures?” I asked him.
“I’m just a co-owner.”
“Same thing. Get in front.”
He moved reluctantly next to the snowman. “Don’t you think the picture would look better if you were in it? You’re helping me renovate.”
“You’re right. We can use this picture in our marketing. Rehabbers take a snow break.” I moved next to him, and his arm came around me. He took my phone and held it up so that he could snap a picture of us with the inn in the background.
The building itself looked regal in the snow with the columns wrapped in garland and lights, each window sporting a wreath. “This place is beautiful. Your grandmother would be so proud of you.”
“I’d like to think so,” Aiden said as he pulled off his glove so he could thumb through the pictures. When he got to the last one, he forwarded it to his phone.”
“Are you sending it to Marley?”
“I wanted one for myself.”
The entire day, I felt like we were a couple.
“Let’s go sledding,” Aiden said, sounding light and carefree as we searched the garage for sleds. We finally found one and took it to the nearest hill.
He got on first, then gestured for me to sit between his legs. I climbed on without any hesitation. I was committed to enjoying this day to its fullest. For one day, I didn’t have to worry about the real world because everything was shut down.
We didn’t have anywhere to be or anything to do. We probably should have been working on the basement, but neither of us was in a hurry for that.
