Page 29 of Once Upon a Winter
As they pulled into her driveway, Cooper started to get out of the truck to walk her to her door, but Laura stopped him. “That’s okay. Don’t get out. Thanks for dinner.” Cooper’s mouth hung open as she turned and got out of the truck. Cooper dutifully waited until she was safely inside before leaving. As if he could hear her, she waited until he was gone before she muttered sarcastically, “Great. An ex-girlfriend. I hope they’ll be happy.” She gasped and turned to the snow globe. “Not really!”
Laura, look at yourself! It’s a round piece of glass!She wrinkled her face.But so are crystal balls.“Which are not magic, either! They only have as much power as you give them.”Her shoulders slumped as she sighed. The problem was that since moving in, she could trace every significant thing that had happened back to that snow globe. She walked over, turned it upside down and back, then watched the snow fly and settle gently down. “What’s your deal?” she mused aloud, only to dismiss her thoughts, reminding herself that she’d been obsessed with the snow globe long enough. It was time to put that to an end. She would test it, it would fail, and it would all be over.
She took the globe and peered at it intently. “Do you want to know what I wish? I wish Cooper would come back here and tell me the truth about how he feels about me. No more Christmas magic. Just the truth.”
Nothing happened. With a satisfied nod, she sank into her favorite chair.Enough.It didn’t matter whether the magic was real or imagined. She didn’t want to live like that anymore.
With a snort, Laura abruptly awoke and sat upright in her chair. A glance at the clock told her she’d dozed off for about twenty minutes. Headlights from the driveway shone through the window. Cooper’s truck. She’d heard it too many times in the past couple of weeks not to recognize the sound. Her eyes darted to the snow globe. “What did you do?”
Still feeling unsettled about how she’d left things with Cooper, she got up, took a deep breath, and went to the door. She stood waiting for him to knock, yet when he did, she flinched. After a few calming breaths, she opened the door.
“Can we talk?” he asked, his expression unreadable.
Laura nodded, gesturing for him to come in.
They sat on the sofa in silence for a few moments before Cooper spoke. “I’m sorry about earlier.”
“No, I’m sorry. You have nothing to apologize for. I was… uncomfortable, but I was rude to leave you so abruptly.”
Cooper sighed, running his hands through his hair. “It was an awkward situation.”
Disagreeing might have helped, but she couldn’t. “It reminded me we’re only beginning to know each other, and there might be unfinished business.”
Cooper bristled. “Oh, it’s finished!” He softened his tone. “But you’re right. Maybe we rushed into this.”
Laura’s chest tightened. That was not what she meant, but she stopped short of protesting for fear of seeming overeager. Sensing he had more to say, she remained silent but dreaded what might come next.
“I care about you, Laura. A lot.”
She didn’t realize her jaw had dropped until he asked, “What is it?”
Without thinking of what she was saying, she said, “The snow globe.”
His face went through a couple of confusion-induced contortions. “What?”
She hesitated, knowing how she would sound—the same way people had sounded for decades when they told people they’d had UFO sightings or abductions. Then the government rebranded them into UAPs, said they were real, and everyone seemed okay with it.
Laura took a deep breath and exhaled. “Okay. So, I’ll just give you the facts.” Her eyes flitted toward him, but she couldn’t look him in the eye. “I was a little disconcerted after you dropped me off. I came inside, and I…” She paused, reconsidered, then blurted it out. “I said I wished you’d come back here and tell me how you really feel. And you knocked at the door.” She braced for his response.
He didn’t laugh or recoil in horror. Worse, he looked at her seriously. “So that’s why I’m here? The snow globe made me do it.”
She thought she detected a hint of sarcasm. “I’m just stating the facts. You can draw your own conclusion.”
Cooper got up and started slowly pacing.
That can’t be good.
What he said next confirmed it. “You’re describing coincidences. Come on, Laura. You’re a logical person. Follow the logic.”
“I know. I get it. But at some point, you just have to admit there’s something going on here, and it’s not logical. It’s…”
The look he gave her made her inwardly shudder. “Magic?” He exhaled and looked away. “I love Jessica. She’s a charming town institution. She’s one piece of the puzzle that makes Mistletoe so appealing at holiday time. But she didn’t just sell you a snow globe. She sold you a fantasy.”
Laura nodded. “That’s what I thought, but then things—coincidences—started happening.”
Cooper slowly shook his head. “You know, one of the things I loved about you the first time I met you was your quirky obsession with organization. All the boxes were neatly stacked and clearly labeled with color-coded stickers. Meanwhile, the sky was literally falling. It was adorable.” His eyes sparkled with amusement.
Laura couldn’t share his amusement. He called it adorable. A therapist had once called it obsessive-compulsive. A disorder. She stared down and mumbled, “That’s not what this is.”
