Chapter forty-eight Melody
Chapter forty-eight
Melody
After a tear-filled night with several unanswered text messages to Dylan, I rise with a new vigor. I refuse to wallow during my vacation. I’ve become a pro at learning to let things go, and my fiancé‘s back and forth isn’t going to bring me down.
I hope he’s having a fucking blast in California.
I tug on my fleece-lined pants and a thick long-sleeve shirt before grabbing my snow jacket and gloves. I’m chipper as I take the steps, strapping the velcro over my wrist before I stop at the sight in front of me.
Kaden is waiting, his gloved hands tucked into his jeans and his thick black jacket making him look bigger and more imposing. “Ready?”
I blink. “What?”
He motions to the terrace doors. “Snowmen. We’re going to build them.”
I stare at him like he just suggested we break into song and summon woodland creatures. “Snowmen,” I repeat, my lips twitching.
“Plural,” he confirms, nodding once. “I don’t half-ass seasonal whimsy.”
A laugh slips out of me before I can stop it. “You’re serious?”
“Deadly,” he pulls the terrace doors open, letting the cold wind whip inside. “After you. The weather waits for no woman.”
I bounce forward, the cold hitting my cheeks with a sharp sting. It doesn’t dampen my smile as mountains of fresh white stretch as far as the eye can see. It sparkles against the sun, making excitement rush through me.
Kaden claps his gloved hands together loudly. “Ground rules—”
“Oh, my god,” I groan, resting my head back against my shoulders.
“We’re building aggressively happy snowmen,” he continues pointedly.
I turn to him with a frown. “Aggressively happy?”
“Yup,” he rocks back on his heels. “These snowmen have ambitions and goals.”
I snort. “Oh, yeah? All I know is that mine is going to be far better than anything you can come up with.”
He gasps playfully, sliding a hand over his heart. “Competition? You’re on. The winner picks the movie while the loser makes hot chocolate.”
I smile despite everything that happened last night. It’s a distant memory now as this new path is laid out before me. “It’s a deal.”
There’s a pause between us before we both break out in a mad dash for the yard. Kaden jumps over the terrace’s railing, flinging himself to the ground like a superhero on steroids.
“Keep up!” He calls mockingly before he crouches down and begins to shape a pile of snow.
I roll my eyes as I take my time, careful not to slip off the steps before I hop down and start small.
I’m not in a rush like he is, as he wildly rolls and ends up crumbling half his work.
I tuck my lips in to keep my laughter contained as I finish the big base of my first one and pat it to smooth the surface.
Kaden is still trying to get his base under control when I plop the midsection onto mine.
“Having troubles?” I croon.
He shoots me a playful glare. “I will trample that thing if you don’t keep your comments to yourself.”
I giggle as I form the head of my snowman son. “Man, that hot chocolate and rom-com sure are sounding nice right now.”
“In your fucking dreams,” Kaden laughs.
I’ve finished my first snowman when I turn to begin the next. I start with a little ball of dusted white again, shaping it in my hands, when movement catches my eye. Kaden is standing beside my erect masterpiece, his gaze flickering to me as he lifts a hand to the head.
“Don’t you dare!” I shout.
He shoves it off, making it slap onto the ground as it crumples. My mouth falls open before I rear my elbow back and smack him in the face with my snowball. It shatters across him, getting caught in his lashes as he sputters and swipes a hand to dust himself off.
His head tilts as his lips tug upward wickedly. “That’s your ass!”
“No!” I yelp as he scoops up the entire base of his failed project and trudges towards me.
Running is hard when every step is swallowed whole by the thick weather blanketing the ground. My cheeks are flushed as I give a breathless laugh at my efforts to escape. I’m not getting anywhere, but the footsteps behind me are closer than I’m comfortable with.
He weighs a ton! How is he moving so quickly?!
A shadow falls over me, and everything stops. I slowly look up, my mouth opening on a scream before Kaden releases the snow, and I’m covered. My vision goes dark as an arctic blast pinches my skin. Some gets in my mouth, and I hack as I lean forward and shake it off.
“YOU—” I cough, wiping snow from my eyelashes. “You absolute traitor!”
Kaden is doubled over, his hands on his knees as his shoulders shake with laughter. “Your snowman was a sacrifice I was willing to make. He died doing what he loved.”
“What?” I sputter, pushing closer to him. “Assault?!”
He casually brushes the debris off his jacket. “It was a strategic collapse of your too-quickly rising empire.”
I cross my arms smugly. “You were jealous I was whipping your ass.”
He scoffs, the sound strained. “What? No, I wasn’t—”
“Kaden doesn’t know how to build a snowman!” I chant loud enough for the whole neighborhood to hear. “He sucks, and he can’t admit it!”
He points a finger at me with a faux stern expression. “First of all, fuck you. Second,” he leans over, scooping my perfectly rounded snow abdomen into his arms, “I have the high ground.”
I hold my hands up, nearly tripping back. “Wait, can’t we talk about this?”
“There is no talking during war,” his eyes widen as he gets a deranged gleam in them. “There is only victory.”
He lunges, and I can’t get away fast enough as my snowman son’s body explodes against me. Snow dances across my vision, making me choke for a second time as I frantically bat it away. I ball what I have left over in my gloves before rearing back and decking him right across the face with it.
That starts a snowball fight, both of us laughing as our skin pricks with the cold and our breath blows out in thick clouds. I get a few hits on him, celebrating before he comes back with vengeance.
As we pant, our chests heaving, I fall to the snow on my back, spreading my arms out as the flakes from the sky land on me. Kaden does the same, plopping down beside me as our fingers brush.
“I win,” he gasps.
“You…” I suck in air, filling my lungs. “Didn’t win shit.”
He chuckles, staring up at the sky. “Someone has to win.”
“Then it’s me,” I say with a smile. “Now, go make my hot chocolate.”
“Bossy,” he gets up, dusting off his pants before holding out a hand for me. I take it, wrapping my fingers around his as he hauls me up.
He walks ahead, but I’m stuck where I stand, the events of today replaying in my head. We had so much fun…
Far more fun than I would have had with Dylan. He usually gets too cold after a solid ten minutes in and then decides it’s time to retire inside for the rest of the day. Where has that spark gone? We used to do this for hours, our cheeks red and our hands heavy with the cold.
What happened to us…
“You coming?” Kaden calls, snapping me back to reality.
I swallow past the thick emotion in my throat before following him inside.