Page 38 of Once Upon a Winter
Cooper stared, too stunned to speak for a moment. When he did, he made no effort to hide his sarcasm. “I’m fine, Enzo. Good to see you too.”
Enzo’s eyes lit up with amusement. “Roof trouble, car trouble. What else could come next except love?”
“I’ve known her for ten minutes.”
Enzo leaned forward. “That’s how you know it’s real.”
Cooper frowned. “No, that’s how I know that it’s too soon to tell.”
Enzo shook his head. “Oh, come on, man. I’ve known you forever, which means, ten minutes or not, you like her.”
Cooper shrugged and flagged down a server so he could order his coffee. “Likeis a fair assessment of the situation.”
“You ought to try lines like that on your girlfriend.”
“She’s not—never mind.” He had fallen right into Enzo’s trap.
Enzo leaned back, looking satisfied as he folded his arms. “Seriously, I’m glad you found someone.”
Cooper had to correct him. “Mayhave found someone. There are… issues.”
Enzo nodded knowingly. “What, snoring? Flatulence?”
“No!” Cooper glanced around uneasily. “What made me think I could even talk to you about this?”
Enzo lifted his shoulders. “I don’t know. Maybe thirty years of friendship?”
“Maybe. But so far, you’re making it worse.”
Enzo smiled warmly. “Sorry. You’d think I’d be better at old-married-guy advice by now. But I’m still as clueless as ever. Ask my wife.”
“I wouldn’t think of burdening her with my problems. She’s got enough grief in her life with you.”
“Yeah, lucky lady.” They shared a laugh, then Enzo grew serious. “So, what’s going on?”
Cooper sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. “It’s this snow globe.”
“Snow globe?”
“Yeah. She bought it when she moved into town, and…” He hesitated, dreading Enzo’s reaction. “It does weird things.”
Enzo stared blankly. “Weird things? Like what? Tap dance? Dice vegetables?”
Cooper narrowed his eyes. “Look, I know this sounds crazy, but it seems to grant wishes.”
Enzo raised his eyebrows and made little effort to suppress his amusement. “Where is it, ’cause I have a wish. I wish you made sense, but you don’t.”
Cooper shut his eyes and exhaled. He couldn’t blame Enzo. “There’s been a series of, well, let’s just call them coincidences. For starters, she kind of wished me into her life.” He braced for Enzo’s reaction.
Enzo was surprisingly serious. He nodded, clearly reflecting. “So she wished for a nut job to come into her life.”
Cooper’s patience was waning. “Hey, I’m the sane one. Not that she isn’t. That didn’t come out right.” He winced. “What I’m trying to say is that stuff happens. And I’m fine if she wants to credit the snow globe. But the thing is, I like her. If it weren’t for the snow globe situation, everything would be perfect.”
Enzo looked at his friend sincerely. “Perfectis a pretty strong word.”
Cooper nodded.
“I haven’t heard you use that in this context, like, ever.”
