Page 18 of Snowflakes and Sparks

The sink was so squeaky clean I wouldn’t have minded if Alex suggested I eat my breakfast from it. There wasn’t a smear of toothpaste on the faucet or a lost strand of hair in sight. Neat freak it was then. I made a mental note not to let Alex enter my bathroom, ever. He’d get a heart attack just from opening the door.

I stepped into the walk-in shower and let the warm water run over my body. I lathered my skin with Alex’s minty bodywash. After a couple of minutes, I started to feel lessI almost drowned in icy waters, and more like a normal human being.

After towel-drying my hair, I looked around for a hairdryer. I opened both drawers, but no luck. Another possibility was that Alex didn’t have a hairdryer. Who knew how he got that thick hair of his to look so good?

I rummaged around in the cabinet opposite the shelving unit and my gaze was drawn to a box that could only contain something small, like a ring or a paperclip or a Cheeto. Who was I kidding? Why on earth would someone keep a Cheeto in a jewelry box, unless said person had a Cheetos fetish?

I closed the cabinet. I shouldn’t look. It was none of my business what was in that box. Did I even want to find out the answer?

Heck, I did. It was all I could think about. I grabbed the box and opened it, gasping at what I saw.

Inside was a stunning ring with a giant glittering diamond. It looked like an engagement ring, but that couldn’t possibly be it, could it? Alex had never talked about being in a relationship that was so serious he kept an engagement ring in his bathroom cabinet. He’d specifically told me that all of his previous relationships were in the past.Emphasis on past, to use his exact words.

I took the ring out of the box and twirled it around between my fingers. A small inscription readForever thine. I shoved the ring back in the box and slammed the cabinet shut as if it was on fire.

Had Alex been engaged? Or had he planned on marrying someone, but never gotten around to popping the question? Maybe he was a Ross Geller, you know, the kind of guy who wanted to marry everyone he dated?

If only there’d been a Cheeto inside that box. Granted, that would’ve been way weirder, but also less awkward for me. Now that I knew about the ring, there was no way to unknow it.

After some internal back and forth talk, I decided never to bring it up. If I did, I’d have to admit I snooped through Alex’s drawers and shelves, even though I was only looking for a hairdryer. Honest mistake, right?

I shook my head. There was no use speculating over this ring. If anything, it showed that I didn’t know him at all. How would I? We shared a hamburger and fries once, and he rescued me from dying in the forest. Sure, I had almost kissed him ten years ago, but that was hardly enough for us to start spilling our deepest secrets to each other.

Still, I had a lingering feeling of unease that I couldn’t seem to shake off.

Without drying my hair, I got dressed and traipsed downstairs, slapping on my bestI didn’t just find out you keep an engagement ring in your bathroomlook.

“Just in time,” Alex said, looking over his shoulder and flipping a pancake in the air like one of those fancy tv chefs.

I took in the food that was spread out on the table. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think I’d ended up at a five-star hotel instead of right next door,” I said.

“What? The guy next door can’t be a lifesaver and a chef?”

“Apparently he can. I need to change my perspective on life,” I answered jokingly.

I sat down at the table. There was a big bowl of fresh-looking fruit salad placed between our plates, together with oven-baked bread rolls and a pitcher of fruit juice. A percolator stood steaming on the counter, next to a plate of fresh eggs; sunny side upandBenedict. Wow. No one had ever made me a breakfast like this before. EvenIdidn’t make myself breakfast like this.

“This is… wow,” was all I managed to say. “Thank you.”

Alex shrugged and threw me a smile. “What can I say? I like to cook. Plus, I was sure you could use a good breakfast after your adventure last night. Which, by the way, was completely risky and dumb. I advise you to never do that again.”

“Yes, sir,” I said, making a saluting gesture.

Alex turned off the stove and slid the pancakes onto a big plate. After putting all the food on the table, he took a seat.

“Dig in,” he said.

I scooped some eggs onto my plate and buttered one of the bread rolls. The food tasted divine. I’d never realized something as simple as an egg could taste so good.

“You should become a chef,” I said in between bites.

Alex grinned. “I know, that’s why I’m saving up money to pay for my studies as a chef, remember?”

“Right. Only six more months to go before you can start.”

“Yup.”

“So, how’s it going with the Snow Ball preparations?” I asked.

---