Page 27 of Cabin Fever With My First Flame

“God and me,” Mia corrects. Bailey glares at Mia, and Mia glares back. “What? Are you upset because I beat you to it?”

Bailey sighs and smirks. “A little.”

Bailey looks away as she folds the paper for Ava, and Ava shouts, “You’re messing up my prayer! Now, it’s all crooked!”

Bailey slides the paper over to Ava, who gladly takes it back and then folds it nearly a thousand times until it’s a tiny square instead of the trifold the rest of us have done. Her little nugget of paper is going to take until Christmas to unfold. She drops it in the envelope and seals it shut.

For the next few hours, Bailey and the kids have a ton of fun as they finish decorating the rest of the cookies. I sit on the couch and watch how they all interact. Isaac and Jonah are hanging on Bailey’s every word, but Micah is leaning on the counter, watching them just as I am. He winks at me and gives me a thumbs-up behind Bailey’s back.

Ella walks over to the window and says absentmindedly, “The snow has stopped falling.”

That’s my cue to get up and start shoveling. “Micah, I need you to help me dig a path to the shed and the garage. We need to get the ATVs and snowmobiles free and clear, ready to use.”

Ava frowns and starts to sniffle. “Is it already time for us to leave? I like it here.”

Bailey consoles her daughter. “Pops and Nana are waiting for us. All your Christmas presents are under their tree.”

“I don’t care about the presents. I want to stay here and play Pictionary,” Ava wails. “Jonah is so bad at drawing; I can actually win!”

Jonah’s eyebrows furrow. “I’m the next Picasso, Ava. My art just needs to be understood.”

I start laughing and then notice Ella and Micah sneak away into the dining room. Bailey is too busy wrangling the kids to see what’s happening, so I get up and approach the teens stealthily and hide behind the French doors.

“You know what you have to do, Micah,” Ella says with a conspiratorial tone.

“I’ll do what I can if I get the chance. You can count on me,” Micah replies. “We don’t have much time. Did you find what you were looking for?”

Ella huffs. “Not exactly, but it will do in a pinch.”

An hour later, Micah and I are wearing snowshoes so we can traverse the ten feet of snow that has fallen. I plant my shovel in the snow and stand with my hands on my hips, scanning the area. “The shed has got to be around here somewhere. We have to be getting close since the garage is right there,” I say, pointing to the structure to our two o’clock position.

Micah laughs. “It’s only the top five feet of the garage. There’s so much snow that the shed has completely disappeared! Finn, I know you don’t want to hear it, but you might have to concede defeat.”

“I can’t do that, Micah. Christmas is two days away, and we need to get Bailey and the girls to their family.” I pick up my shovel and start pile-driving it into the snow, hoping at some point I’ll make contact with the roof of the shed. Two minutes later, I hit pay dirt. “Here it is!”

It takes Micah and me nearly two hours to dig our way to the door. We create a “snow” ramp on the side of the shed so we can get the snowblower out. Although it’s nearly freezing outside, I’m dripping with sweat from the exertion. “At least the hard part is done. Now comes the fun part!”

“You really need to get out more if you think shoveling anything is fun,” Micah retorts.

“It’s character building. And if manual labor isn’t your thing, then you can consider it exercise. We didn’t get gym time this morning, and now we can count this as our full-body workout!”

“I have enough character,” he says. “Let’s see how much we can get done. I’m missing out on decorating the last of the cookies. I take my job as ‘Quality Control Specialist’ very seriously.”

I laugh and fire up the motor. “At least you takesomethingseriously.”

Six hours and two breaks later, we’ve accomplished the task of digging a path to the garage that’s wide enough to drive the ATVs outside and park them under the balcony on the back side of the house. There’s about six feet between the top of the snow and the bottom of the deck. We finish just as the sun makes its final descent.

Micah pulls off his hat, and his head is soaking wet. “I need a hot shower and some dry clothes.”

“You and me, both.” I slide open the window and allow Micah to crawl through first before I follow. As we sit on the floor and take off our snowshoes, I say, “We don’t have much time to take the girls into town. Another storm is heading our way, and I don’t know how long it will be before it gets here.”

Micah heads into the attached bathroom to remove the snowsuit so that he doesn’t make a mess on the carpet. I do the same. As he sits on the edge of the bathtub to remove his boots, he says, “It’s too late to take them tonight. We should wait until tomorrow—for safety’s sake.”

“You just want them to stay. Micah. I know that having them here has been fun, but it’s not going to be the last we’re ever going to see of them.”

“Does that mean that you and Bailey are a couple now?” he asks, his tone hopeful and his eyes shimmering with joy.

“We decided to be friends for now, and I’m honestly surprised she’s willing to do that after how I treated her years ago.” I gather up our snowsuits and head downstairs.

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