Page 13 of The Christmas Accomplice

Welton got his legs to move again and approached.

“I’ve got the head.”

Reece straightened up and smiled. “Wow, that’s a great head. I mean, you made a great head.”

They looked at each other in shock a moment, Welton’s face feeling as red as Reece’s looked. Welton managed to tear his gaze from Reece and carefully place the snowball on top.

“That looks great.” Reece’s voice cracked on the last word, and he cleared his throat and stammered, “Great. It-it looks great.”

“Thanks. So, let’s get him dressed.” Welton hung his head. “Oh, God.”

“How about we say decorate instead?” Reece suggested in a quiet voice.

“That sounds a lot better.”

They chose a straw boater, a pipe, and a big pair of sunglasses from the trunk. At the last minute, Reece grabbed a vest with a red and green pattern straight out of a 90s music video. As Welton situated the hat, pipe, and sunglasses, Reece tried to get the vest to stay in place, but he wasn’t having much luck.

“You have five minutes to finish up your snow people,” Edward announced.

“Dammit,” Reece muttered. He stood and looked at what the other participants were building. “I really want those cheese sticks.”

Before Welton could say anything, Reece took off for the wall of pine trees Welton had crashed through and right into this crazy situation.

Is he panicking and running off the way I came in?

In a moment, Reece was back with a small branch in each hand.

“Hold the vest around his middle,” Reece said.

Welton quickly complied, and Reece jabbed a branch into either side for arms. They moved back and stood side by side to look over their work. Welton tipped his head to the side and felt something brush against his cheek. He pulled back when he realized he’d rested his head on Reece’s shoulder.

“Sorry. His arms look a little uneven.”

“Oh, I can fix that.”

Reece started for the snowman but stopped when Edward called, “Time’s up!”

Many groans and more than a few laughs from all of the participants. Welton and Reece stood to either side of their snowman and watched as Edward walked around and inspected each of the creations.

“We’re going to win,” Reece said.

“No, that mother and daughter over there will win it,” Welton said. “They’ve got an apron and bonnet on theirs.”

“Ours has a vest.”

“And sticks for arms.” Welton shook his head. “They’ll win for consistency with the props.”

Edward saved their snowman for last. He circled it, nodding and muttering to himself. When he’d finished his inspection, he moved to the center of the group.

“Well, all of you did an excellent job. So much so, I can’t decide on just one winner. Everyone’s a winner today! Come get your coupon for a free appetizer.”

Reece smiled over the top of the snowman, and Welton’s knees almost buckled at the sexiness of it.

“I told you we’d get a free appetizer.”

“You work here,” Welton said. “You knew he was going to do that from the start.”

“Maybe I did, and maybe I didn’t.” Reece looked at their snowman head on. “But either way, we built an awesome snow dude.”