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I made my way through the snow by running with high knees as much as I could. We both took opposite sides of the yard, building little forts and arming ourselves with stacks of snowballs.
After about ten minutes of preparation, the battle began. My aim was as terrible as I’d said, and Gabe’s was fantastic. He darted around the yard, his strong legs cutting through the thick snow like it was nothing as he dove to the side, dodging any decent throws I made and sending some back my way.
By the time we had worn ourselves out, and we were both sucking in the frigid air with a bit of difficulty, the sun had begun to peek out from behind the clouds, changing everything with just a hint of its rays. What had before been a sheet of dull white now sparkled like a sea of diamonds, looking like something enchanted rather than the natural disaster it had actually been.
“Wow,” Gabe said, smiling and walking toward the back of the house.
I followed him, wondering what exactly he was doing, but when I got around the side, I could see it clearly. As the snow sparkled brilliant and white, the lake reflected more of the sun’s yellow tones, but it all looked like gemstones, priceless and stunning.
“Wow,” I echoed.
Gabe grabbed my hand and turned me to face him, wrapping his gloved hands around my waist. “I’m sorry for anything I said about this place seeming cheap or not being worth it. Really. This”—he motioned toward the view— “is anything but cheap. This is incredible.”
“Thank you,” I said, the genuine humility in his words once again sending butterflies through my stomach.
He leaned in and kissed me, both of our lips cold and dry, and I laughed at the feeling of it.
“Not exactly the reaction a guy wants,” he said, but the smile on his face told me he wasn’t offended. “What do you want to do now? You want to head back inside?”
“Not yet,” I said, knowing he and I would only have so much time alone together before Dean got back, and knowing that, here in Georgia, if the sun was out, the snow would likely melt quickly, no matter how deep it was. “You know what I haven’t done since I was a kid?”
He shook his head and shrugged. “No. Tell me.”
“I haven’t built a snowman since I was like, ten,” I told him. “Can we do that? Can we build a snowman?”
Gabe broke into a huge smile. “I think that sounds like a lot of fun.”
We spent the next hour gathering up snow and rolling it into three giant balls.
“Gabe!” I laughed at one point. “If you make that any bigger, we’re going to have a snow giant, not a snowman!”
“And what’s wrong with that?” he replied, continuing to make a base that came up to his ribs.
“How do you plan to put on his head?” I asked, pointing to how high it would have to be to be proportionate.
But Gabe just smiled and said, “Like this.”
He turned his back to me and walked to the shed, which I noticed had a broken door handle. He went inside, then emerged a moment later with a ladder.
I laughed, doubling over and feeling the cold air burning my lungs. “You can’t be serious.”
“Oh, I’m very serious about making sure my snow giant has his head where it belongs.”
I didn’t even bother asking him how he would lift such a heavy ball of snow, because, after seeing those muscles up close, I had no doubt he would do just fine with that part.
Once we rolled up a second ball, this one coming as high as my forehead, Gabe lifted the damn thing with a grunt, and I knew it had to be really heavy for him to struggle. But he made it up the ladder and got the snowman’s middle in place. The head was the smallest, but we’d used so much snow that we had a hard time finding any that wasn’t full of grass.
Despite that, the snowman ended up complete, only without any features. Gabe rushed around the yard, gathering up branches that had blown from the trees. He stuck two that had the right shape into the sides to make arms, then he ran inside and came back out with a chocolate protein bar and a baby carrot from Lexi’s snack stash.
“It’s going to be an absurd little nose, but he can’t very well go on without one, can he?” He laughed as he climbed the ladder. “And his eyes will be weird rectangles, but at least he won’t be blind.”
“I don’t think he’ll be blind either way, since he’s an inanimate object, Gabe,” I said, still giggling at him.
“Shh!” Gabe said in mock offense. “He’ll hear you!”
“Without ears?” I countered.
Gabe climbed down the ladder with a smile. “Why, you…” He grabbed me and kissed me deeply, and I returned it with enthusiasm, feeling light and a little dizzy.
