AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He squeezes my thigh. “You made my little girl’s first snow pretty magical. Thank you.”
“No need to thank me. The excitement and happiness on Skye’s face when she saw snow for the first time was thanks enough.”
“Tell me about your dad.”
“He was wonderful.” I sigh. “The best dad in the world. Present company excepted.”
He snorts. “I’m not winning the award for best dad anytime soon.”
“Are you serious? You’re wonderful with Skye.”
“I didn’t know she existed until a few months ago. She lived the first years of her life thinking her daddy didn’t care about her.”
“Stop,” I order. “It’s not your fault you didn’t know she existed.”
“I should have known.”
“Do you think you should have sensed she existed somewhere in the universe? You’re not a comic book hero no matter how much you may resemble one.”
He smirks. “You think I resemble a comic book hero?”
I tap my chin and feign studying him. “Maybe The Thing. A massive, orange rock man.”
“I’ll show you orange rock man,” he grumbles before tickling my ribs.
“Stop!” I hold my mug in the air where it’s safe. “The hot cocoa will spill.”
He stills. “I wouldn’t want to waste chocolate.”
I nod. “Exactly. Spilling chocolate is akin to murder.”
He chuckles. “I’ll have to ask Peace to add ‘spilling chocolate’ to the list of crimes in Winter Falls.”
“Don’t joke. The people of Winter Falls have a penchant for criminalizing the weirdest things.”
“Give me an example. And not any of the weird environmental rules either.”
“Weird environmental rules?” I widen my eyes. “You better hope the gossip gals are tucked up in their beds fast asleep and not aiming their binoculars at us now.”
“Why? What are they going to do? Tar and feather me?”
“Shush. Don’t give them any ideas. They actually made a request to the Chief of Police for town pitchforks because you can’t quote ‘run someone out of town without a pitchfork’.”
“Those little old ladies would never run anyone out of town.”
I sigh. “Oh, how naïve the newcomers can be. Those little old ladies are a force of nature. They do yoga several times a week to stay in shape in case they ever need to chase a suitor again.”
“Chase a suitor? Again? One of their suitors?”
“Have your brothers not explained how things in Winter Falls work to you? I thought all of you were close.”
“We are close. We’re also brothers.”
“You need to explain. This only child doesn’t understand.”
“Did you wish you had siblings?” he asks instead of explaining.
A sibling who would stand by me and believe me when the whole town didn’t? Hell yeah. A sibling who could shoulder some of the hate my step-witch threw at me? You know it. A sibling to mourn my dad with? To remember my dad together with?
