Page 43 of Once Upon a Winter
“I’m surprised you noticed, what with half of the ceiling tangled in my hair.”
His eyes sparkled. “One piece of drywall.”
Laura chuckled. “A very large piece!”
“But you wore it with panache.”
The warmth in his eyes nearly convinced her that everything would be all right. Then her gaze would fall to the snow globe, and the knot in her stomach would tighten.
Apparently seeing her eyes fixed on the snow globe, Cooper said, “We could pack it away in a lead box.”
Laura laughed. “I guess that could work—for Superman. Since this isn’t kryptonite, I’m not sure how effective that would be.”
“Oh, I don’t know. You haven’t seen me in a blue spandex bodysuit and red cape.”
“No, that’s true.” Laura took a moment to imagine it. “Moving on. What if we… buried it in the backyard?”
He narrowed his eyes. “Like a dead body?”
Laura shrugged. “In a tiny round coffin.”
Cooper shook his head.
Laura bit her lip. “We could go deep-sea fishing and drop it into the ocean.”
Cooper lifted his eyebrows. “Too bad it’s the offseason.” He stared at the snow globe. “This is going to sound a little crazy, but why not just return it?”
“Again? I’ve already returned it once. I can’t do that to Jessica.”
Cooper shook his head. “Fine, then the charity shop.”
Laura nodded, approving. “That would work. Okay. The charity shop, it is.”
Cooper lifted the snow globe. “Until then, let’s just move this out of sight.” He set it down on the sofa table behind them. “There. It feels better already, doesn’t it?”
Laura wrinkled her face. “Sort of.”
“It’s a start.”
Laura couldn’t let it go. “I still can’t believe it. That my mother of all people should give that to me. It’s so out of character. Ornaments, yes. She’s obsessed with them. In fact, until I opened it, I was sure that’s what was in the box. We get an ornament every Christmas Eve, which is lovely. My sister and I have these collections of beautiful ornaments.”
Cooper said, “So why would she suddenly depart from tradition?”
“Exactly!” A surge of frustration came out in a broad, sweeping gesture. The back of her hand struck the snow globe. Time seemed to slow as it tumbled through the air, snow swirling, and struck the hardwood floor with a crash. The delicate pieces scattered like stars across a dark sky, as if their fractured reflections could mirror the fragile state of her relationship with Cooper. The strange, otherworldly aura that had once radiated from the globe was gone, leaving a sense of loss in its place.
Laura leapt to her feet and stood staring.
“Are you okay?” Cooper rushed to her side, his eyes wide with concern.
“Oh my gosh!” she whispered, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. “I didn’t mean to—”
“Hey, it’s just a snow globe,” he tried to reassure her, but his words felt hollow when shards of enchantment lay at their feet.
Laura stared at the broken remnants. “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”
Cooper eyed her doubtfully. “Okay, laws of motion. Got it. But if we’re going to talk Newton, maybe his law of gravity might be more fitting.”
How can he joke at a time like this?“Don’t you get it? I broke the snow globe, and there will be consequences!”
