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“Cute.”
“I think it’s still their favorite ornament, but don’t tell my niece that, since she’s given them the obligatory handprint or photo ornaments every year since she was a toddler.”
“My lips are sealed.” Nick mimes zipping his lips. “Let’s see about collecting this tree for Mom, eh?”
“Sure.” I take the tarp from him and approach the tree, much to the cardinal couple’s dismay. They whistle their displeasure as they take off in search of a better perch. I lay out the tarp so that the tree will hopefully land on it when we cut it down, crouching in the snow near the trunk to line it up.
“Do we just start cutting?” Nick circles the tree, grabbing one of the branches just as I lean in to figure out my angle to start cutting. The movement sways the tree enough to dislodge most of the snow, which falls on my shoulders with a heavy, wet splat. I gasp and arch away from the icy trickle down the back of my jacket.
“Oh!” I drop the saw near the trunk and jump to my feet to brush away the snow.
Nick bursts out laughing as I flail in place, trying to get the snow out of my shirt.
“It’s cold!” I protest.
To his credit, Nick tries to wipe the smile off his face and appear sympathetic. He just can’t quite pull it off even as he approaches to help me brush off the remaining snow.
I don’t think before I scoop up a handful of snow and retaliate for his laughter by stuffing my fistful of powdery snow down his collar. It’s Nick’s turn to splutter and do the snow dance. He reaches up, grabs a tree branch and before I can fully form a protest, both of us are covered in snow.
“That’s one way to clean off the branches,” I guffaw.
“I think it was rather effective,” he grins at me. “You cold?”
“Not yet. You do realize this means snow war, right?”
“Obviously.”
We both squat down to scoop up snow, shaping it into ungainly projectiles. Nick ducks behind another tree for cover, laughing. We exchange a barrage of snowballs. Most of them land off target in harmless puffs of snow, but a few thud into each of our jackets. Nick gets one lucky shot that clips my ear.
I dart closer to get him back. The two of us chase each other in circles, throwing snow and acting like giddy teenagers until my fingers start to go numb and we’re both breathless from laughter.
“How about a truce?” Nick calls across the churned snow between us.
“Not a chance!” I angle around to get a clearer line of sight to hurl my next snowball at him. It splats into the tree he’s sheltering behind, which shakes and dumps more snow on his head.
“No fair!” he lobs a few more balls back at me in rapid succession. Then he breaks from cover to chase me with his hat stuffed full of snow.
“Last chance for a truce!” Nick offers when he tackles me into the snow, menacing me with the snow-filled hat.
“Not on your life!” I wriggle under him, the cold seeping into my pants.
“Remember, you asked for it.” Nick shrugs.
Then he dumps his hatful of snow over my head and steals a quick kiss while I splutter in outrage.
“Okay, I surrender.” I brush the snow from my face.
“Victory!” Nick fist pumps theatrically, which is a little awkward with him bracing himself over me one-handed now.
Nick grins as he kisses me once more, then rolls off of me, flopping onto his back beside me. We’re both laughing and breathless, hands flung out between us so our fingers brush. Our breathing sounds harsh in the stillness, creating matching puffs of vapor.
I turn my head to examine his profile. Nick turns to face me. I can feel his body heat, foreheads nearly touching. We’re so close. A hair’s breadth from kissing in the snow.
“Thank you, Carl. I haven’t laughed that much in ages.”
Well, short of pressing our cold lips together to warm us up, I can’t think of a response to that. So I give in to the impulse to kiss him. He moans into my mouth, but he doesn’t try to roll back on top of me or make the sweet moment into something it isn’t.
Nick cups my cheek in his hand, fingers combing through my beard. We stay there kissing until the damp chill of the snow gets to be too much. We still have to finish getting our tree before we head back to the real world.
