AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The winter chill strikes me when I step outside.“I thought you guys might like a carrot for his nose,” I call out.
“Cool, Mom.Thanks,” Nicholas replies, sheer delight shining bright in his eyes.
It makes me happy to see it.I often wish he had brothers or sisters to do things like build snowmen with, especially since his friends all would rather build fake things on Minecraft than something real.
This—this might do him some good.
“And I thought the snowman might need a scarf and hat, too,” I add innocently as I approach.
“Cool.But Harris said he’s got a Navy hat to put on him.”
Harris.I feel like a bad neighbor that I had to find out this man’s name through my son.
“It seemed appropriate in Annapolis,” Harris explains.
“You’re right,Harris,” I tack on, almost as though I’m trying out the name on my lips to see if it sounds even nearly as sexy as he looks.“I’m Ava, by the way.I’m kind of embarrassed that I never came over to introduce myself before.It’s just that—”
“Please, I’m barely even here.Besides, you’re a mom.You’re juggling enough so that you don’t need any excuse other than that.”
I find myself grinning.I like that he gets it.
“For the nose,” I say, handing him a carrot.His gloveless hands are freezing, and yet I swear when his skin touches mine for that brief moment, a heat surges through me from the sensation.
“Hey, Mom!”Nicholas calls out.
When I turn to face him, I’m rewarded with a face full of snow.
A smile spreading across my face, I shake my head.“Oh, I’m not going to let you get away with that,” I warn.
He runs as I bend to scoop enough snow to form a ball, but Harris beats me to it, plastering one right on my kid’s back.
Nicholas turns, mouth gaping.“Two against one.No fair.”
“All’s fair in snowball fights, kid,” Harris says as he makes another snowball just as I toss one toward my son.
Nicholas darts behind the hedge that divides our yards.Harris and I, armed with snow, run toward it.
“Ambush!”Harris calls, but when we look behind the hedge, my son is not there.
“Fooled you!”we hear behind us, and turn to see that my son somehow crawled along the back of the hedge and was able to pull off a sneak attack.
“Firing missiles!”Nicholas cries out with glee—so much unchecked delight and vitality in his voice that I can’t help swelling with gratitude for this moment.
As my son tosses snowballs at us, I suddenly feel Harris’s hands on my shoulders as he lunges in front of me saying, “Save yourself, Ava!”just as he takes two hits of snow against his back, protecting me.
But as he moves me, I stumble in the thick snow and feel myself falling with Harris’s hands still holding my shoulders, bringing him down right along with me.
He lands smack on top of me.
Oh.
Oh my.
So… this is awkward and delectable at the same time.
For the record, this is the first time a man’s been on top of me since before I got divorced four years ago.Which—also for the record—I never actually realized would be a result of getting divorced.I kind of figured that after I recovered from Bryant’s unexpected departure from my life that I’d date again.
Not a lot.Not even often.But occasionally.
