Page 61 of Falling Like Snow

“Yeah, yeah,” I yell back. “Mind your own business, you busybody!”

Sudden pounding on the outside of the barn door captures everyone’s attention. Hannah rushes over to open it.

“The party has arrived,” Asher announces as he walks in, his arms loaded with bags full of supplies. Hannah hurries to close the door behind him, and I skip over to help deposit the bags onto the ground without breaking any of the pre-made gingerbread pieces.

Mom makes her way over and grabs a couple of bags. “Seriously, Asher, thank you for doing the shopping,” she says as she carries them to a table and unpacks their contents.

“Took you long enough, though,” I mutter.

“You’re feisty today,” Ellis says, glancing at me.

Asher’s eyes lock on mine as he speaks to Ellis. “She’s feisty every day.”

“You’re right,” Ellis says, closing her computer. “Good luck with that. I’m going to go print these flyers, then start passing them out.”

“Okay. Chloe and Parker,” I call, “can you go with Ellis to help distribute the flyers around town?”

“Sure,” Chloe says. Parker nods and follows them out.

Once they’ve left, Mom puts Hannah, Sterling, and Preeti to work sorting and organizing the gingerbread-house supplies into containers.

“Thank you,” I say, returning to Asher after I’ve emptied the last bag on the table. “For shopping, but also for waking up with the sun to help me.”

“You don’t have to thank me,” he says. “You call, I answer.”

“Right.” I bite my lip. “You’ll answer, but you might not tell me everything.”

“Sloane—”

I hold up my hand. “No, it’s fine. Friends sometimes grow apart. It’s part of life. I didn’t think it would be part of our lives, but…” I shrug.

I know I’m being a jerk after he’s been helping me all day. But it hurts that our promise that we’d always be us ended up broken. It hurts that he’s keeping secrets. And it hurts that I don’t know why he feels like he can’t tell me things.

Asher sighs, frustrated. “Come on. Let’s go help your mom.”

And with that, he turns his back to me and walks away.

We’re nearly out of gingerbread in the first hour of the event. The problem is that Asher already bought out every shop in town that sells them. I’m grabbing my keys, ready to cross city lines to buy more, when Asher stops me.

“Cooper’s on it,” he says.

“Seriously? I thought he had to work,” I say, relieved. Today has become way more successful than I anticipated. Which is a good problem to have, but a problem nonetheless when we’re running out of stuff.

Asher takes my keys. “He’s adjusting his schedule. He said he’ll have the first batch here within the hour.”

“I don’t think that’ll be soon enough.”

“It has to be. There isn’t a faster option. It’ll take you just as long to get to Elm Grove and back as it will for him to whip some up,” he says. Then he puts his hands on my shoulders. “Hey, it’s going to be fine.”

I stare into his eyes. They’re soft and reassuring, and they make me believe he’s right. Maybe things are changing and there are things he’d rather not tell me, but he’s always there for me.

“Are we okay?” I ask, my voice barely loud enough to hear over the chaos.

He drops his arms to his sides. “I don’t know, are we? You’re the one mad at me.”

“Yeah, but I hate it,” I say. “Plus, it turns out I don’t sleep well when I’m mad at you.”

He grins. “Oh really?”