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Ada was setting down the supplies when she felt a cold wet ball crash into the top of her hair. She looked over to Brooklyn who had one hand covering her mouth and the other pointing to Arlo.
“It wasn’t me, I promise!” Arlo said with his hands up.
Ada narrowed her eyes on him, trying to determine if he was innocent or guilty. Balling up some snow, she chucked it toward Arlo—just to be safe, not because it felt good to let out some pent-up frustration.
The snowball hit him square on the chest. He looked down at where he’d been hit, stunned. Clearly, he wasn’t expecting her to retaliate.
Brooklyn suddenly burst out laughing—an admission of guilt.
“Oh you better watch it missy!” Arlo grabbed a fistful of powder and threw it at the instigating culprit.
“Payback girly!” Ada said, doing the same.
After pelting a few Brooklyn’s way, they were all laughing and covered in snow.
Suddenly, the mega phone man hollered, “Five minutes remain!”
“Oh no, we gotta finish!” Brooklyn yelled.
“You put the clothes on, Brooklyn. When Arlo finishes her head, I’ll make her face.” Ada grabbed the seashells and began designing a smile.
She was adjusting the sunglasses one last time when the buzzer rang.
“We did it!” Brooklyn pulled Arlo and Ada into an embrace.
“She looks great,” Arlo said. “They’ll announce the winner in thirty minutes. Should we size up our competition?”
Brooklyn nodded, so the three of them walked through the park admiring the other nine snow creations.
When thirty minutes had passed, everyone gathered in front of the park gazebo.
“Thank you all for participating. We hope you had as much fun as we did! Now on to the winners. Third place goes to…” He looked down at a notecard, “Silly Snow Gnome!” Everyone clapped politely. He continued, “Second place goes to: Wish-it-Was-Summer Snowwoman!”
“Yeah! We got second!” Brooklyn beamed. The man continued, but Ada was caught up in the joy she felt. She couldn’t remember a time when she had so much fun.
“Here’s our prize!” Brooklyn held up an envelope. “Twenty dollars to The Sweet Tooth candy store! Can we go right now?”
Arlo gazed at his watch. “We should probably grab dinner first. Then we can stop by the candy place on our way to Chase’s concert.”
“Okay,” Brooklyn resigned, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “One question though.” She turned toward Ada. “Do you forgive Uncle Arlo? It seems like you do because we were all having fun together.”
Ada inhaled sharply, caught off guard by Brooklyn’s directness. Then her mouth turned into a smile. “I might be starting too, but it’ll take a lot more groveling for him to get a clean slate.”
Brooklyn grinned back before elbowing Arlo. “Did you hear that? You gotta grovel.”
“I heard it loud and clear. Groveling you will get, Miss Ada James.” He winked in her direction and she felt her chest tighten.
Dang this man and the effect he has on me. I need to put some distance between us so that I can regain my grip on reality.And the reality is—Arlo is just another guy who says the right things but disappoints you in the end.
That night, Ada climbed into bed exhausted. Who knew snowman building was the equivalent of a full contact sport? On top of that, she spent the rest of the night constantly positioning herself away from Arlo.
At Chase’s Christmas concert, she intentionally stood on the edge of the group—always on the opposite end of him. It was mentally draining, but she had to do it. A neon sign seemed to live above his head blinking, “Hottie!”
On top of that, his exquisite eyes drilled into whoever he was talking to, and his smirk drew you in with its warmth. His good looks plus his sweet demeanor around Brooklyn was messing with her resolve.
Get some sleep. You’re just tired.
She was about to put in her AirPods when someone knocked.
