Chapter Nineteen
“I want Sunny on my team,” Hope said, pointing to him and grinning.
He’d become her new best friend in the space of an hour, which made Grant's life all kinds of complicated. Normally, he wouldn't have chosen to introduce someone so new in his life to Hope.
But she clearly liked Sunny, and judging by the way Sunny laughed and moved to stand by her side, he liked her, too.
Hell, he’d let her paint his nails without a single complaint. Even Grant might have hesitated at that.
He could have learned a thing or two from Sunny. Sunny was a much, much freer man than he’d ever dreamed of being.
“Guess that puts you on my team,” Julia said from beside him.
Joon had stayed inside to work on things for dinner. He was a smarter man than Grant. Prettier, too.
Which was why Grant still didn't quite get what Sunny saw in him. Even out of the five people in the cabin, Grant wasn’t the best choice.
Sunny sawsomething, though. Grant couldn’t get over that.
“On the count of three?” Sunny asked, already eyeing off piles of snow.
Grant kept forgetting he was a local. He’d know what he was doing.
Grant, on the other hand, was a born and raised city boy. It was hard to have a snowball fight from an apartment.
And then he’d gotten too old for it. Like he had for a lot of things.
Except Sunny clearly didn't feel too old for this.
“One,” Hope started the countdown. “Two…”
Grant glanced around, looking for cover.
He wasn't prepared for this.
“Three!” Hope said.
Grant watched just long enough to see Sunny grab a handful of snow, turning to run in the hopes of dodging it.
The snow crunched against his shoulder as it hit him, breaking up on impact.
He was relieved that it didn't really hurt, though he was expecting to end up with a bruise or two from this.
Another handful hit him in the thigh, and he turned around to see Sunny high-fiving Hope, both of them grinning.
It was hard to feel betrayed when his two favorite people were getting along so well.
“Daddy, you have to run,” Hope called to him, even as she took a lesson from Sunny in how to form the perfect snowball.
Grant picked himself up, looking around for cover again.
The shed. He could hide behind it, in the corner, and pounce on anyone who found him.
Well, maybe. If he was fast enough. But of everyone playing, he was the least agile. He had no idea how to move through snow, and he was too old to learn.
As long as it made Hope happy, he didn’t really mind suffering through this, but he was starting to realize that snowball fights were harder than they seemed.
With a burst of energy, Grant threw a snowball wildly in Hope and Sunny’s general direction and then took off, the sanctuary of the house in his sights.
