AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yeah, that sounds pretty fun to me. How long do you think it’ll take us?”
“With the three of us, we could potentially be done before the sun goes down,” Anna answered. A small smile appeared on her lips as they agreed to her idea. “Breaks are a good idea too. Before we head back outside, we’ll want a tape measurer to figure out how big our igloo will be, a long string attached to a pole or something similar to that for measuring, two handsaws, or anything that can cut snow efficiently, and the shovels.”
“I’ll see what I can scrounge up,” Tess said, smiling and heading upstairs. Which left him and Anna to obtain the snow shovels they’d left out front.
As they went to retrieve them, Liam decided to push away the silence. “Would you and Avril be doing this if you were over at your apartment with her?”
Anna shook her head. “Most likely not. Anna can’t stand the cold. She’d be more likely to watch from our window and wave with a warm drink in hand while I built the igloo on my own.”
“Yeah, I could see that,” he said, chuckling. “Good thing you’re with us for the next few days, huh?”
Anna smiled and politely nodded, and Tess soon returned with two of the items Anna had requested. The first was a tape measurer, precisely as requested, while the second was a pairing of a ball of yarn and some scissors. Once it was confirmed that both would work, she headed to her garage in search of some snow-cutting implements, and Anna used the tape measurer to measure a little over nine feet of yarn. Snipping it with the scissors, she then tied the yarn through the scissors’ handles. Tess again returned, this time with a handsaw and a trowel, which Anna also confirmed would work just fine, and the three of them renewed their cold-resistant armor before heading into her backyard.
The snow had packed high against her screen door, and they tromped over it into a place Liam didn’t have many memories of visiting. They’d usually met in front of her home, and the fences cordoning off the neighborhood’s backyards had kept him from seeing much of it growing up.
Not that there was much to make of it now, forced into uniformity by the snow that had turned everyone’s backyard into a tundra. Something they planned to change with their endeavor.
“We have everything we need, so this should turn out well,” Anna said, anticipation curving her lips into a slender smile as she looked over their build site.
“We’ll follow your lead, Anna,” Tess said, also smiling.
Yesterday had been his day to show off his know-how and skill. Today, as it turned out, was Anna’s.
Stepping forward into the middle of the backyard with the makeshift device of yarn and scissors she’d constructed, she used it to build a nine-foot diameter circle at the spot she’d selected for their igloo. On her knees, she dragged her finger through the snow behind her measurement, creating the very slight outline of what would eventually become a full-blown igloo. After completing that circle, she used the tape measurer to find the exact focus point of the circle, stuck the scissors into that point, and then beckoned them over.
“We’ll want to make a big pile of snow, but not with the less compacted snow on the top layer. The firmer, more packed snow underneath is the kind we want. Once we do that, we can pour some water over the pile and then take a break while it all hardens. After that, we can start sawing off blocks—I can do that—and building the igloo.”
“Let’s get to it,” Liam said.
While not a driveway’s worth of snow, Liam knew he’d be grimacing to himself out of soreness when he woke up the next day. For over an hour, with a five-minute break intermixed at its center, they scooped up pound after pound of firmly packed snow.
“This is quite the workout,” Tess admitted during the second half of their task. She paused long enough to massage her biceps and triceps, shaking them as their work’s fatigue settled in.
“Just think if it was only one of us out here,” Liam said, feeling a similar soreness working its way through him. Between this and the time spent shoveling snow out front, they were all getting a full-body workout.
“I’m sorry if this isn’t very enjoyable,” Anna quickly said, sounding unusually self-conscious again. “We don’t have to do this if it’s not fun for you.”
“I’m enjoying myself plenty,” Tess said with a smile. “This isn’t something I’ve ever done, so I’m excited to be able to say I’ve officially built an igloo.”
“Yeah, me too,” Liam added. “This is going to be completely worth the effort.”
“Okay,” Anna said quietly, dipping her chin and choosing to dig out an area that allowed her to head her face from them both. However, there was enough time for them both to see the flush on her face.
He and Tess met gazes. The latter shook her head, and any further questioning over Anna’s conscientiousness was left for later.
Because there were three of them, later arrived fairly quickly. At the very least, they completed their task before anyone was too sore to lift their arms. With Anna’s prescience, they’d soon piled enough snow together that she was confident they’d created a big enough mound for their igloo. Liam sure hoped so; it was nearly as tall as he was. Requesting a watering can or pitcher—the hose was almost certainly frozen, even if they did unbury it—to freeze the outer layer of snow, Tess headed inside to grab and fill one.
Once she’d disappeared back inside and begun stomping the snow off her boots on some towels she’d laid down at her back door, Liam glanced at Anna. Staring at the snow they’d piled up, Anna pulled her mouth to one side. Worrying thatshewas worrying dictated that he speak up.
“Thisisa lot of fun,” he said, walking up beside her. “Really.”
“Are you sure?” she asked, glancing at him while she rubbed her gloved hands together at her waist, which seemed due to nervousness more so than the cold.
“Yeah, of course. We wouldn’t lie about it if we weren’t having a good time.”
“You could just be being polite. People do that all the time. Polite lies are often better received than the blunt truth.”
A telling statement about her upbringing. “While that might be true,” he told her, “that’s not what’s happening here. I’m with Tess; itwillbe cool to be able to say I’ve built an igloo. And I’m curious about how warm it will end up being inside.”
