“I take it you don’t want a relationship.” As though I hadn’t already figured that out by watching him over the years.
He shrugged. “I don’t see what’s the big deal about committing to someone while we’re young. We’re not going to meet our soul mates right now, so why not have a good time?”
“Some might call being in a relationship a good time.”
“Fine. We’re at an impasse.” His gaze roamed away from me, settling on the French doors. “Want to go outside?”
I looked at him, startled. “It’s freezing out.”
“It’s twenty-seven degrees. Warmer than yesterday.”
“Technically, twenty-seven is still freezing.”
“We’ll wear thick socks.” His eyes shone with an almost childlike delight. “Come on, it’ll be fun.”
I looked at him. Really looked at him. He radiated excitement about frolicking in the snow, with me of all people. He wasn’t trying to charm me. He just wanted to play in the snow.
So we bundled up. Hat low, gloves on, boots tight. “Okay. Here goes.” I slid the French doors open and we stepped outside.
The air hit the exposed bits of my face, cold and bracing, but not biting. After temperatures in the low teens yesterday, twenty-seven really did feel practically balmy. Or, at least, my chin didn’t feel like it was being burned with frozen fire.
We waded out. A thin crust of crystal had formed on the snow’s surface, and each step sent our feet plunging through. I moved carefully, testing the safety of my boots and snow pants, watching how deep my legs went into each drift. Tyler, however, tromped gleefully toward the edge of the lawn, where a hedgeseparated the yard from the gardens. “What’s through here?”
“I’ll give you the tour.”
Crossing under an arch in the hedge and entering the garden always had reminded me of passing through the wardrobe into Narnia, and never more so than today, with the winter wonderland spread out before us. On either side of a narrow path, fir trees and junipers rose high, crowding out the sky. Ice coated the needles of the evergreens, encasing each in a thin, glass-like layer. Snow weighed down the branches. Nearby, a wind chime sounded, its bell-like melody cutting through the air.
“You’d never know we were so close to the sea,” Tyler said.
“You can see it if you continue down the path to the cliffs.” I placed my hand on the trunk of an evergreen. “Or I used to climb this when I was little, and there’s a spectacular view. Bet I still could.”
“Not with the snow everywhere.”
“Could too.” I hadn’t climbed the tree in years, and the branches appeared more spindly than they used to. Still. Placing one foot on a thick branch close to the trunk, I hoisted myself up.
“Shira, I wasn’t daring you—”
“Chicken?” I tossed down, taking a step upward. It came back to me, the slow, steady climb, testing my weight against each branch before stepping onto it, keeping one hand anchored around a secure limb at every moment. How to climb with your legs, not pull with your arms.
“What if you break your neck?” Tyler hollered.
I grinned down at him. “Then you’ll be arrested for my murder!”
He sucked in a laugh, then placed his foot on the first branch. We climbed two stories, then paused in a gap between the branches. We could see the gardens, the gazebo, the dunes, the sea. I sat on one of the sturdier branches, hooking my arm around another, and sighed contently.
“Shira Barbanel.” Tyler shook his head, white puffs of breath coming from his mouth, his head a foot lower than mine as he stood on another branch. “Who knew?”
“Knew what?”
“That you’re a daredevil.”
No one had ever called me that before. I wasn’t used to thinking of myself as someone who took risks. But I wanted to be, didn’t I? I wanted to win over Isaac, even if it meant putting myself out there. Like Tyler did.
A slow, insidious idea began to work its way into my thoughts as we climbed back down and headed inside, then pulled off our coats and boots and hats. The electricity, to my relief, had returned, so I started heating up hot water for cocoa.
Tyler was so easygoing, so confident and relaxed. He knew how to make people feel warm and comfortable and special—all the reasons I’d fallen for him in the first place. I wasn’t in danger of falling for him again. He liked casual hooking up, while Icraved an actual relationship. But he knew how to get people to like him. He knew how to flirt.
I had no idea how to flirt, but maybe I could learn if I approached it the same way I’d approached skating and piano and any school subject I did poorly in: with study, discipline, and training. By hiring an expert as my teacher.
