Page 30 of Snowflakes and Sparks

“Totally,” I agreed.

Apart from the camera shutter, there wasn’t a sound to be heard. It was almost as if we were the only people on the planet. If I closed my eyes, I was sure that I would be able to pretend all of this was real. Then again, did I want this to be real? Or was it nothing but a fun fantasy to make my limited time here more interesting?

I’d gotten so swept up in my thoughts that I hardly heard Pam say we could take a break. “And you’ve also got a visitor,” she added.

I looked up to see Addy lingering near the door. She was holding a tray with coffee cups, steam circling upward through the slits in the lids.

“I thought you guys could use some caffeine.”

“Thanks,” I said, getting up and grabbing one of the cups.

“I’m going to head to the bathroom first,” Alex said. “Great to see you, Addy.”

As soon as he was out of earshot, Addy turned to me. “That looked cozy. In fact, more than cozy. I need every single copy of that calendar, plus details. Gosh, I need all of the details.”

“It was… an experience for sure,” I said.

“Are you sure there’s nothing more there? That this is all just pretending?”

I batted a hand at her. “Oh, definitely. We’re nothing more than friends.”

As I spoke the words, I knew I was lying. In this moment, we were indeed nothing more than friends, but I couldn’t deny that feeling inside of me any longer. It tugged on my insides and set my skin on fire every time I was near Alex.

“He is extremely hot though,” I told Addy.

She clapped her hands together. “You two would be perfect together. You should definitely kiss him.”

“Kiss who?” Alex had slipped back in. He took a cup of coffee from the tray Addy had put down on the counter and looked at us expectantly.

“Addy was just telling me about a group of friends staying at the inn, isn’t that right, Addy?” I asked, hoping she was quick on her feet.

She nodded her head. “Oh, yes, it’s a great story. There’s this girl who’s got the hots for one of the men. They’ve known each other since they were teenagers, but she’s too afraid to tell him how she feels. So I told her to kiss him already.”

Alex grinned. “That’s a lot of details your guests tell you.”

“So, Addy, did you get those papers I sent over?” I asked in a feeble attempt to change the subject. I felt my cheeks turn beetroot and I couldn’t bring myself to look at Alex.

“I sure did, and it all looks fine. Oh, before I forget, how did the interview go yesterday?”

“It went great,” I said. “I think it’s going to be a positive article this time. Thanks again for arranging that for me, Addy.”

“Sorry to interrupt, but we’re getting started again,” Pam said.

Addy slung her purse around her body and put her gloves back on. “I’d best get going then. I do have one thing I wanted to ask you though.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

“Well, the Snow Ball is coming up fast and I don’t have anything to wear. I lost a lot of weight the past year,” she added in a whispered voice, as if it was a crime to have had a couple of extra pounds on her. “How would you feel about going to the big city with me tonight and doing some shopping? Just us girls. They have late-night shopping during the holidays, so it wouldn’t interfere with the store’s operating hours. If it’s not too much trouble of course.”

I smiled at her. “Not at all. It’s been ages since I went on a girls’ shopping trip.”

Her face lit up like a Christmas tree. “Great. I’ll pick you up at seven.” Her curly hair peeked from under her pink wool hat and danced around her face as she left the store with a spring in her step.

“How about we open this bottle of champagne to use for the cover photo?” Pam asked. She put two crystal champagne glasses on the counter and Alex took the chilled bottle from her. He popped the cork and filled the glasses with sparkling liquid.

“To our dedication for doing this photo shoot,” he said.

“To us,” I answered and downed the entire glass in one take.

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