“In your dreams. C’mon. Imma beat you in Battleship.”
He got up. And prayed that the storm might never end.
10
IT MIGHT HAVEbeen a perfect day.
The kind of day that she never wanted to end.
In fact, Keely could stay at Woodcrest forever. Even if she had to do the dishes.
“These are amazing, Keely.”
She looked up from where Nance stood in the kitchen holding one of Keely’s after-dinner sugar cookies.
“They’re about a thousand calories each, but oh, so worth it. My mom used to make them every time it snowed. She called them snowballs.”
“I call them addictive.” This from River, who had stacked the cookies on a tray, where a few kids came up to the counter for seconds.
Keely hadn’t noticed Wren in the bunch, but maybe she’d missed her. Still. “Has Wren been up and around?”
“No. Her dad made her stay in bed after her fall. Says she’s banged up,” Nance said.
“She hit the tree pretty hard.” Keely finished scrubbing the baking tray and set it on a rack.
“I checked on her earlier,” River said. “She has some tendernessin her chest—I think she might have a bruised rib. Her breathing seemed okay. How areyoudoing?”
Keely grabbed a towel. “Me? I’m fine.”
“Mm-hmm,” River said.
Keely frowned at her even as she dried the tray.
“I saw you and Dawson playing Battleship. It looked epic. There might have been some dancing.”
“I beat him.” She handed Nance the tray. Then she swung the towel over her shoulder.
“He didn’t look too broken up about it.” River’s voice was low, almost conspiratorial. “He’s very hot with that beard, wearing all that flannel.”
Keely gave River a look, then matched her voice to hers. “Yes. Very. But ... he didn’t realize that...” She glanced at Nance, who had stepped into a closet where they kept the baking sheets and supplies. “He didn’t know who I was.”
“Really? How could he not recognize—?”
“Please. Not the entire world knows—”
“People in Nome were singing ‘Chasing Forever’ for karaoke night. I think the entire world knows,” Nance said.
“I’m usually wearing glitter.”
River pointed at Keely. “True.”
Nance picked up the tray of cookies and walked out into the main room.
Keely sighed and stuck her hands back into the bubbly water. “There was definitely a change.”
River sidled up next to her. “A change? A change from what?” She reached for the next clean tray and grabbed Keely’s towel off her shoulder. Raised an eyebrow.
“A change from when he kissed me.”
