“What’s the plan for today?” Lindsey asks the room.
We fill her in on our ideas, and she gets a big smile on her face.
“Kasey, do you remember all the snowmen we used to build with Dad? We would have a whole family put together in a matter of an hour or so.”
“Yeah.” Kasey laughs. “I remember the pipe we found to put on our daddy snowman. Mom asked where we got it from, and when we said Dad’s office, she was so pissed he had a pipe.” Both of them laugh with tears in their eyes.
It’s nice to see them remembering their dad. They lost him at such a young age. For a long time, Lindsey was afraid to love another man because she was scared to lose him like she had lost her dad. Then Aiden came along and broke down all her defenses. Now my honorary little sister is happier than I’ve ever seen her.
“All right, Sunshine, bring your coffee upstairs, and we’ll get you all bundled up and ready to go out in the cold,” Aiden tells Lindsey, then kisses her on the top of her head. She giggles and grabs her coffee before they make their way back into the room.
“Come on, beautiful, let’s get you ready for the day, too,” Donovan tells Kasey. She gives him a questioning look before a knowing smile stretches across her face.
“Sure, yeah… I need to finish getting ready,” she replies a little too quickly. Kasey grabs Donovan’s hand, and they make their way back upstairs.
I look at Jackson and let out a sigh. “It looks like it’s going to be a while before we leave the cabin.”
Jackson shrugs. “Well, they say if you can’t beat them, join them, Red.” He shoots me a sinful smile, and I roll my eyes.
“Dream on, Prince.”
My estimation is correct, and it’s about two hours before we all head outside. We decide to make it into a competition between the guys and girls who can build the best snowman. Kasey insists that we girls have this in the bag, considering all the snowmen she and her sister built growing up.
“And who will be judging this contest?” Aidan asks suspiciously.
“We’ll put it to a vote,” Lindsey suggests.
“I don’t think that’s fair. You’ll just vote for your own snowman,” Aiden replies, eyeing the work she’s started on her snowman.
“It’s cute that you think you have a chance to begin with. We’re totally going to kick your asses.” Lindsey winks and gets back to building the base of her snowman.
She isn’t wrong. Our snowman, or rather snowlady, is fabulous. The boys do a decent job, but ours totally Blows theirs out of the water—or snow. We even went so far as to find a stick that could hold a wine glass, and I donated my Chanel scarf and a pair of gorgeous earrings to complete her look. She’s wearing one of my wrap cardigans. I brought plenty, so getting one wet is no big deal. The boys barely have the globes of snow on straight, and all they found was a carrot for his nose and a couple of small rocks for his eyes.
The girls and I take a step back and admire our work when suddenly, a cold ball of snow hits me in the back. When it explodes, some of it goes into my jacket, and it’s freezing against my neck. I turn around on a screech and catch a proud smile on Jackson’s face.
“What’s wrong, She-Devil? Afraid you’re going to melt from a little water?” Jackson quips.
“Oh, you’re in for it now, Prince.” Reaching down, I grab a hand full of snow and quickly pack it into a loose ball. When I throw it at him, it goes wide and hits Aiden square in the chest. He looks over at a laughing Lindsey, and a smile lifts the corner of his lips.
“Do you think that’s funny, Sunshine?” Aidan bends down and picks up more snow. “You know what this means, right?” he asks menacingly.
Lindsey backs away from him with wide eyes and a warning in her expression.
“This means war!” Aiden takes it off after Lindsey’s retreating form.
Just then, a snowball comes flying and hits Kasey in the stomach. When she looks down, a pile of snow smacks her right in the face, the remnants sliding into her jacket. She shakes it out and screeches, “Donovan!”
“All is fair in love and war, Beautiful.”
“Not feeling the love right now, Babe.” Quickly bending down to pick up a handful of snow, she throws it, and the ball glances off his arm.
I laugh as snow flies between Donovan and Kasey. Neither of them takes the time to form a proper ball, so they’re falling apart mid-flight. Lindsey is still running from Aiden, trying to bend down and pick up as much snow as she can to throw back at him as he chases her.
Looking around, I notice Jackson has disappeared. Oh, that sneaky bastard. There aren’t a lot of places to hide, but I spot an outbuilding not too far from where we built our snow people. Acting as though I’m going back into the house, I bypass the stairs to the porch and make a wide loop toward the back of the outbuilding. When no snow comes flying at me, I hazard a guess that Jackson is on the other side, watching the melee unfold.
Walking quietly through snow isn’t as easy as you would think. It looks so fluffy and soft, but every time I take a step, it crunches beneath my feet. The outbuilding is surrounded by icy pavement, but at least it’s not as noisy to walk on. Carefully making my way to the back of the building, I spot Jackson peeking his head around the corner opposite me. Molding a ball of snow in my hand, I sneak up behind him. He’s getting it down the back of his shirt. I’m right behind him, but when I move to yank his shirt back, I lose my footing and fall backward. I’m about to eat shit on the icy pavement, and it’s going to hurt like a bitch. Before a yelp has time to leave my lips, Jackson turns around and grabs me around the waist, flipping us so when we fall, his back hits the snow, and I land on top of him.
“Oh my God, are you okay?” I exclaim as I try to scramble off of him. His arms band tighter around me as his bright blue eyes look up at me, laughter dancing in them.