Chapter Thirty
Kenna
“Mommy, I’m bored.”
I set aside the last of the clean breakfast dishes and cross my arms. “You’re always bored. We can play cards in a minute.”
Carter puts away the orange juice and cracks a smile. I know what he’s thinking. Slapjack. I’m not sure either of us will ever look at the simple game the same way again.
“I’m tired of being inside,” she whines.
“What are you talking about? We were outside every day last week.”
“But today is today.”
I have no idea what that means, but she’s four. To her, everything is about what we’re doing right now.
Carter scoops her up, twirls her around with some dance moves, then puts her down. “I know it is wet and the sun is not sunny, but we can have lots of good fun that is funny.”
Amelia’s giggle echoes in the room. She, too, loves it when he quotes Dr. Seuss. And based on Carter’s reactive smile, the sound may have just melted all the snow in a ten-mile radius of his heart. It makes me both happy and sad at the same time.
“Carter,” Amelia says. “Will you build another Frosty with me?”
“It would be my pleasure.” He glances outside. “How about this? We’ll play cards and board games this morning. I’ll make soup for lunch, and once we’re all nice and warm, we’ll head outside. By then there might even be enough snow to build two Frostys.”
She squeals and runs off to the living room, presumably to get her favorite games.
Christian announces that he’s going back to bed but will join in the snowman-making later.
“You don’t have to entertain my child,” I tell Carter.
“It’s a snow day, Kenna.”
“Yeah, so?”
“Haven’t you ever had a real snow day before?” His head shakes as if he’s having to explain something to a toddler. “That’s what you do. Play games. Eat soup. Build snowmen. And”—he glances around to make sure we’re alone—“participate in nocturnal activities.”
I point my finger at him. “You’re incorrigible.”
He shrugs. “What if the power goes out? We’ll have to do something to keep us warm.”
My eyes widen. “You think the power will go out?”
“Probably not,” he says with a sigh, as if he’s sad about it. “They buried all the power lines in my neighborhood two years ago. It has barely even flickered since then.”
Amelia returns with a huge grin splitting her face. Her arms are piled with Candy Land, Hungry Hippos, and Connect 4.
I top off my coffee and sit across the table from Carter, who helps Amelia set up the first game, a peaceful, satisfied grin on his face the entire time.
~ ~ ~
“I’ll bet two more inches have fallen since this morning,” Bug says, bringing over a snowman head that will complete our fourth and largest snowman.
We’ve been outside for an hour, building one after the other.
“Should we do another one?” I ask. There are, after all, five of us here.
Bug stands back, admiring the quartet of Frostys. “Nah, I think this is perfect.”
Glances are shared between everyone except Amelia, who’s blissfully happy in her little snow baby bubble.
To everyone else, though, it’s no mystery what these four silly, sloshy, discombobulated mounds of snow represent.
There are two larger ones, a medium-sized one, and a small one.
It doesn’t take a genius to understand it.
I wasn’t even aware until now that we were building a… family.
Carter gets the tape measure out of his pocket and leans down, sticking it into the snow. He catches my gaze and his lips twitch into a grin. “Just under six.”
“The daddy Frosty needs arms,” Amelia declares. She looks from the largest snowman to Carter. “Can you be my daddy?”
While I’m mortified she asked, Carter looks like he’s never been more honored in his life.
He finds me frozen in place, unsure of what to say, and conveys a look that says I got this, then he falls to his knees and smiles.
“Wow, pumpkin. That’s a really special thing to ask.
It makes me feel good in here.” He puts a hand over his heart.
“And I sure do care a lot about you, too. But becoming a dad to anyone is complicated. Can we be friends? You know, just for now? Maybe even best friends.”
Amelia scrunches her nose and thinks on it. She shakes her head. “But Bug is my best friend.”
Carter chuckles. “I’ll let you in on a little secret. You can have more than one best friend.”
“I can?”
“Sure.”
“So Christian can be my best friend too? And you too?”
“Absolutely.”
Her face lights up and she hugs him, eyes squeezed tightly.
Emotions overwhelm me, and I need to move. Fast. “I’m… gonna go look for arm sticks.”
I beeline for the trees along his back property line.
My chest is tight. My throat practically closing.
I can’t breathe. It’s too much to process.
My daughter just asked the man I may be in love with to be her father.
And the way he handled it… He didn’t push her off on me.
Didn’t freak out and get all weird. Didn’t upset her by saying it’s not possible.
He approached it with the same grace and charm he’s displayed since the day we met.
“You okay?”
I spin to see Carter coming up behind me, and nod.
“Sorry about that,” he says, glancing back at Amelia. “I hope I handled it okay.”
I snort. “Better than I would have.”
“What would you have said?”
I shrug and tell the truth. “Probably that she shouldn’t get too attached since we’ll be leaving soon.”
He cocks a brow. “Is that really what you’d tell Amelia? Or is it what you’ve been telling yourself?”
“Mommy! We need more sticks!”
I’ve definitely been saved by the yell. “I’d better…” I sweep my gaze across the ground and pick up two branches that seem suitable as snowman arms, then turn and retreat just as quickly as I got here.
Bug does the honors, impaling the sides of the ‘Daddy’ Frosty with the sticks I found. “Awesome,” she says.
Carter starts snapping pictures on his phone.
Bug holds out her arm. “Let me take one of all of you and the snowmen. Go stand behind ‘em.”
Everyone moves but me.
Bug rolls her eyes. “Oh, come on, Kenna. Don’t be a party pooper.”
I amble over, taking my place behind the ‘Mommy’ Frosty.
“Great. Smiles, everyone,” Bug says.
And while she continues to shoot frame after frame—ensuring I’ll have one hell of a memory to look back on after I’m gone—a strong gloved hand grips mine, squeezes, and doesn’t release me until the very end of the photo session.
I stand here and let myself live in the fairy tale for just a moment.
Because I’m not sure there has ever been a more perfect day.
“I’m freezing,” Amelia says, slogging slowly toward the house.
“Feel like a nap?” I ask.
She nods. Amelia has never been one to fight naps, even at her age. She’s gone a day here or there without taking one, but like me, she loves her sleep.
“Thank you,” I say to Carter.
He just lifts his chin and smiles. He doesn’t need to ask for what. He knows I’m thanking him for everything.
Our stare holds until Amelia backtracks and grabs my arm.
Inside, we strip off our wet coats, clothes, and shoes, and crawl into my bed, Amelia toting three books with her. All Dr. Seuss of course. They are the only books she’s wanted to read these past few weeks.
I don’t even make it through the first one before she’s out. I slink my way off the bed, pick up our wet outfits, and head to the washing machine. I look up at the ceiling. They must have wet clothes too. When I go upstairs to collect them, I find Carter putting something in the oven.
“What’s that?”
“Dinner. Thought I’d make short ribs. They have to cook for a while.”
“Sounds divine. I can’t remember the last time I had short ribs.”
“You’ll join us then?”
“Of course.”
He looks out the window. “I bet there’ll be another three inches on the ground by then.”
I follow his gaze. “How long do you think the snow will last?”
“Not nearly long enough.” His words and subsequent stare burn into me. “But it looks like you’re stuck with me for at least another day.”
“Yeah. Damn snow.”
Carter comes close, knowing good and well I didn’t mean it. “How long will she be down?”
“It’s hard to say. She’s transitioning away from naps, but I think we wore her out today, so maybe an hour?”
“Christian is at Bug’s.” He stares me down until I catch the full meaning behind his words.
Pulling his phone from his pocket, I watch him set his timer for forty-five minutes. Then… then he pulls me toward his bedroom.
And my already best day is about to get even better.