Chapter Eleven
Caitlin had assembled the snow girl and dressed her by the time Taylor returned with her requested items.
“Whoa,” he said, dumping the limbs and vines by her creation. “That’s amazing.”
It was, really, and it felt amazing to have him confirm it. She’d formed a typical three-tier body, but had placed pine needles in an even sheet between the bottom and second layer, forming a perfect evergreen hula skirt. She’d even braided needles to form straps for the snow girl’s pinecone bra. The two pinecones jutted out, making her a snow boy’s dream. Caitlin had named her Dolly in honor of Dolly Parton. “If you could make a face for her out of the rocks and berries, that would be great,” she said, picking up some wispy vines that were perfect for the hair.
“You did this really fast,” he said, getting on his knees beside her to work on it. His eyes traveled to Rock and Bethany, who were wrestling with a halo made of vines and twigs.
“It’s kind of small, but I did it to scale to make the pine needles right for the hula skirt and the pine cones right for her…” Her voice trailed off when she realized he wasn’t looking at the snow girl, but at her. “Plus, we’re limited on time. I figure we can do one of those false perspective photos where she’s in the foreground with us well behind, making her look bigger? The camera on my phone has a timer.”
He sat back on his heels and stared at her. “You’re pretty amazing, Caitlin Ramos,” he said. “You know that, right?”
She fluffed Dolly’s “hair” and jabbed a stick into the right place to depict an arm. This guy really screwed with her head. On one hand, she reveled in his compliments, warmed and practically thrilled at them, but on the other hand, she wasn’t used to it and thought it might be a ploy of some kind, but for the life of her she couldn’t figure out why. He’d agreed to her terms. Giving false compliments didn’t gain him anything he couldn’t get by simply being nice, which was his go-to mode anyway. The whole family was nice. Maybe the compliments were legit. She glanced over at him to find him still studying her. “Is there a time limit on this?” She picked another stick that was bent like an elbow, and shoved it in the other side.
“Not really, but the more time we spend on this, the less time we have for the second half of the contest, which happens when we get back to the house. It’s okay that they’re ahead of us.” He selected two round pebbles and stuck them in the packed snow where eyes would go. “Berries for the mouth?”
“Yeah.”
While she gave Dolly pine needle eyelashes, he picked up a holly berry and rolled it between his thumb and forefinger, staring at Caitlin’s lips, which of course made her body go all crackly like fireworks. She had to get a little distance between them. Kneeling side-by-side in front of her undersized snow girl wasn’t going to work. Not when all she had to do to kiss him was turn her head and lean in. Only, he leaned in first, the movement causing his trash bag to rustle as his breath fanned across her cheek. All she had to do was turn her head.
His phone dinged in his pocket. With a muttered curse, he pulled it out and stared at the phone, then laughed. He flashed the screen toward Caitlin.
Uncle Rock says your balls are a little small there bro xoxo –b
Caitlin’s throat tightened. xoxo -b! The girl who said she loved him was Bethany, not some woman he was playing around on.
He shouted over to them, “Yours are really big, over there, Uncle Rock. I’d venture to say it’s overcompensation.”
Rock saluted him with his beer as Bethany laughed and packed some snow between her mittens.
“We’d better take cover,” Taylor warned. “And let’s get clear of your masterpiece before it gets caught in the crossfire.”
Beau barked as Taylor scooped up a handful of snow in one hand and then wrapped his arm around Caitlin’s waist, heading for cover behind a clump of bushes. He hurled his snowball blindly as they fell laughing behind cover. Immediately he began mashing snow into ammo. He popped up to lob one, but before he could get a shot off, a snowball nailed him in the side of the head with a thwack.
“She’s a mean shot,” Taylor said with a grin. “Taught by the best.”
Caitlin laughed. “You, of course.”
He fired off another snowball. “No. Grams. Don’t let my grandmother’s docile demeanor fool you. She has a fierce throwing arm and deadly aim.”
And he clearly adored her as well as his mother and sister. She’d read somewhere that you could tell how a man would treat a woman based on his interactions with the women in his family. This man. This man was…
Thwack. Another snowball hit him in the head.
“Could use some backup, here, Ramos,” he said, grabbing another pair of snowballs which he fired in rapid succession.
He must have hit his target, because a second later, Bethany shrieked. “You’re toast, Taylor.”
Giggling, Caitlin formed snowballs of her own, then popped up and pitched one in Rock’s and Bethany’s direction. They’d taken cover behind their huge snowman.
“Truce, truce!” Bethany called. “We’re gonna damage Frosty Fred. He’s worked really hard to earn his wings.”
“Don’t fall for it,” Taylor said, peeking over the top of the bushes. “Oldest move in her playbook. We’ll go at this armed.” He crouched and grabbed several snowballs. “We rush Fred on three.”
Caitlin giggled. “Poor Fred.” She gathered up some ammo.
He peeked over the top of the bushes. “Collateral damage. They should have protected their asset. Grams taught her better than that.”
Rolling up the edge of her garbage bag shirt like a pouch, she loaded it with all of his remaining snowballs and her own. Heart pounding, she grinned over at him, and he winked. As her heart stuttered, she realized she couldn’t recall having this much fun in her adult life, and suddenly, instead of looking forward to the weekend being over, she was wishing she had more time. Time to enjoy this group of people and time to learn more about this man.
“On three,” he leaned over to whisper in her ear. Behind them, Beau spun in a circle and barked. Caitlin covered her mouth to keep her laughter in.
“One, two, three!” Taylor shouted before leaping over the bushes. Caitlin sprinted after him. As snowballs pelted them from around Fred’s wings, they dodged behind a cluster of tree trunks. Taylor flattened against one and Caitlin hid behind the other. Snowballs whizzed past on both sides, while Beauregard jumped and zagged to catch them like tennis balls.
“Surrender, and we’ll show mercy,” Rock shouted, brandishing a snowball in one hand and a beer in the other.
Barking and wagging like crazy, Beau banked off the huge snowman angel to catch a snowball Caitlin had thrown.
“Fred!” Bethany wailed as one of the wings collapsed from the impact.
Taylor lobbed a volley of three balls, then reached over into Caitlin’s pouch for more. “Surrender and we’ll call the dog off.”
“Never!” Bethany cried.
“Hey, Beau!” Taylor shouted, launching the next three balls. “Fetch!”
And Beau did. He caught all of the snowballs Taylor threw over the top of Fred’s head by using the snowman as a launch pad, reducing it to shapeless blob except for the head, which had tumbled off and landed on its side, halo still in place.
“Snowman down!” Taylor shouted through his cupped hands as he peeked around the tree. “Call medevac!”
Bethany’s outraged shriek was cut off by her bout of laughter as Uncle Rock plunged the mouth of his empty beer bottle into decapitated Fred’s lopsided grin.
“Paradise!” Rock proclaimed. “Top that, rookies.”
Taylor shot Caitlin a conspiratorial smile that made her toes curl. “I believe we have.” He gestured to Dolly, standing unharmed twenty feet away. “Behold the glory of Caitlin’s masterpiece, and the winner of this round.”
“Wow, that’s cool,” Bethany said strolling over for a better look. “You would have won anyway.”
“Yeah, it’s probably a good thing Fred was put out of his misery,” Uncle Rock said, popping the top of another beer and saluting Fred’s remains.
“Don’t fret, little sis. There’s always the mistletoe round,” Taylor taunted.
“Laugh now, Taylor, but don’t forget I have a secret weapon this year.”
While Bethany and Rock packed up their supplies, Taylor took Caitlin’s phone and looked at the screen, instructing Caitlin how far back they needed to stand to make Dolly look like a normal sized snow girl. She was still proud of her photo-perspective solution to avoid having to build a life-sized snowman.
Once they had it all planned out and Taylor had propped the phone against the backpack and set the timer to take the photo, he ran and slid to get in place next to her about ten feet behind the snow girl with time to spare. Excited by the movement, Beau bounded through the snow to join them by taking the direct path—right through Dolly.
Crash.
Click.
Woof!