CHAPTER14
Jacob’s alarm went off, and he groaned, not wanting to face Christmas for the first time in his life. His attitude shifted instantly as the image of Lauren putting a face on his snowman filled his mind.
She was single as a jingle.
He threw off the warm covers and scrambled to get dressed. Humming as he shaved, he scoffed at the effort he put into his appearance. “It’s not like I have a date.” But he did. Sort of. The anticipation inside of him was enough to make him skip breakfast.
It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmasplayed on the radio as he drove through the familiar streets of Moos Hallow. Funny, the month leading up to Christmas hadn’t felt much like Christmas, despite helping his mom with every activity in town. This new hope inside of him was what the holiday should be about. Goodwill to all men and women and all that. He waved at Old Man Morris as he rounded the corner. The old codger was shoveling his walkway and glaring at the sky as if daring it to drop one single snowflake.
The song ended, and the DJ came on. “Looks like it’s a white Christmas on the west coast. They’re reporting record snowfall even in L.A. Jack Frost came out of hiding this year. We got a few inches, but the skies are blue this morning. We hope you’ll have a Merry Christmas and enjoy this rendition of Silver Bells by Elvis Presley, recorded in 1971.”
Maybe a white Christmas would cheer his mom up. He slouched under the pressure lying on his shoulders to get this holiday right for her. If his baby sister, Charlotte, were here, she’d know what to do. That girl was so full of Christmas that she kept her tree up all year long.
For an average person, that would be embarrassing, but since she ran the Christmas store on Main Street, where you could find Moose Hollow ornaments on the 4th of July, no one batted an eye.
As he pulled into Mom’s driveway, he noted the lights around the tree stump, and the snowman he’d made yesterday was still there, complete with the red lifesaver's smile. “Huh. I thought they’d disappear.” Unsure what that meant or how the lights stayed up when everything else reset, he got out of the truck and surveyed the fallen snow.
For him, a blanket of snow was a blank canvas. Grinning, he got to work rolling the bottom layer of another snowman. He pushed and rolled, being careful to do so in straight lines. When he had the middle piece ready, he glanced behind him and nodded with satisfaction. The snow looked like a freshly plowed cornfield. He was lifting the center ball onto the bottom one when the Hall’s front door squeaked open.
He paused, the heavy weight barely registering as Lauren stepped onto the porch wearing snow gear. She smiled cautiously at him and then trotted over, seeming happier than she had last night. Her eyes were brighter, and she didn’t seem weighed down by what happened at the sing-along. Good thing her memory wiped, though he was grateful his hadn’t.
Jacob set the ball and turned to greet her. “Look who came home for Christmas.” He couldn’t stop the grin that spread across his face as quickly as warm caramel across the counter. A friendly Lauren was a gift he wouldn’t turn down.
Lauren smiled, too. “Hey, stranger.” She glanced quickly away, as if maintaining eye contact was hard.
It wasn’t hard for him. He could stare into her deep brown eyes forever and never get tired of counting the black dots. Her dark hair spilled out from under a beanie with a huge, fuzzy pompom on top. She looked adorable. “I saw you out here.” She pointed to her window that looked over his mom’s yard. “Do you want some help?”
He cocked his head. Though he wasn’t going to turn her away, he was cautious. His rule about going after married or engaged women was still enforced. “Didn’t you come with someone?” She blinked, and too late, he realized he wasn’t supposed to know she was practically engaged. He couched into his mitten. “Or did you get a new car?” He pointed to the sporty little thing in the driveway.
She looked down and kicked the snow. “He’s leaving today.”
Not one to toss away an opportunity, he patted the half-formed snowman. “He’s not going to build himself, so if you want to help, I’m good.”
Lauren smiled widely. She scooped up a handful of snow and began rolling it–in an arc through pristine snow. He groaned and tipped his head up to the sky. Lauren laughed. “What? Am I messing up your lines?”
He motioned to where he’d rolled the other two balls. “It’s supposed to look like a cornfield.”
She giggled. “I thought it was supposed to look like a snowman.”
“No.” He groaned again. “The… snow… ugh!” He tossed his hands into the air and returned to his truck for an ice scraper. While Lauren made a disaster of the yard, he scraped and shaped the bottom two sections to be perfect spheres.
“Nice,” she complimented him as she placed the lopsided head on top, showering loose snow on his completed work.
He brushed it away. “I enjoy working with snow. It’s soothing to shape it. You try.” She went to work, making the face flat. She had no skill, but he’d take her help over doing this alone any day. Heck, he’d take her help over anyone else’s help.
Their eyes connected, and the two of them stopped and just breathed. Their breath mixed in a haze that floated away. The air charged with an awareness they’d never shared. He’d been aware of her plenty of times–and apparently, she’d been aware of him in ways he’d never recognized. This was the first time the two of them were in that place together, and it was like jumping into a hot bath–at first, the heat doesn’t register, but when it does, you scramble.
And scramble they did. He ducked and scraped half the bottom smooth–again, and she dug in her pockets for eyes and a nose.
“Have you ever tried carving something more challenging?” she asked.
“Like what?” He turned toward the blanket of snow.
“Like…” She stopped and put her hands on her hips, contemplating the untouched white carpet. “An elephant.”
He burst out laughing. Her whole life, she’d asked her dad to carve an elephant into the front hedge because she’d seen one like that at Disney. “Let’s give it a try.”
“Really?” She clapped her hands together.
