Page 59 of All I Want For Christmas

“Yeah,” she whispered. “I’m sure. But thank you for offering. I do really appreciate it.”

He just nodded. Then he picked up her ball and settled it on the bigger one. Another five minutes they had the head on, with mulch from the flower box hidden under the motel awning as eyes and a nose.

“Wait.” Christian went into the car and emerged with the half empty bottle of tequila. “I think he needs it more than we do.” He settled it at the snowman’s feet.

“Good call. What should we name him?”

“Bob.”

“Dick.”

“Jane.”

“Herman.”

“Parson Brown.”

“BJ.”

“BJ?” Christian raised an eyebrow. “You dirty girl.”

Blue laughed. “I never claimed to be as pure as the driven snow.”

He grinned. “For which I’m grateful.”

“Hold on.” Blue pulled her phone out of her purse. She took a few pics of the snowman. The motel. Dashing back into the lobby, she snapped a shot of a grinning Roy.

And then Christian. She took a picture of Christian, his arm around the snowman. Then pretending to steal the liquor bottle back from Bob, the snowman. Maybe they hadn’t officially named him but she liked Bob.

“Come here,” Christian said. “Get in the picture.”

“How are we going to do that? Bob is on the wide side.” But she handed him her phone when he reached for it.

“Not on that side,” he told her with a head shake when she tried to pose on the opposite side of Bob from Christian. “On this side.”

Seeing where he was going with this, she let him. She put her arm around Christian and smiled as he held the camera out and took their picture. It was a moment she wanted to capture. Happiness.

But after Christian took three shots, she told him. “Alright, that’s enough. Let’s go.”

With each picture she shifted from joy to regret, like she had been all morning, and it was time to leave.

Christian glanced over to see Blue waking up as he pulled into the airport. She had slept the nearly two-hour drive to Lexington, which had been a disappointment. He had wanted to have every minute with her, to savor their time together. Then again, she had been in a weird mood when they’d left the motel and he didn’t think the conversation would have been comfortable anyway.

She had asked him to take her to the airport before she’d fallen asleep so here they were. Blue rubbed her eyes and yawned. “Are we here? That was fast.”

“For you, sleeping beauty.”

“Sorry. How was the drive?”

“Not too bad. Could have been better, could have been worse.”

Christian swung into short-term parking.

“You don’t have to park. You can just drop me off.”

“If I was a jackass,” he told her. “You don’t even have a flight. I’m going to walk you in.” And he didn’t want an argument. She was going to take his company and his concern whether she liked it or not.

She sighed, like he had suggested something really burdensome for her. “That’s really not?—”

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