Chapter Nine

Melody opened her eyes, startled by the fact that she felt…good. Safe. Happy. Warm. She blinked a few times and realized she was lying on the couch, half on top of Finn, who was still sleeping. It was still dark out, and the wind was still whistling. The fire had burned out, but she was nice and toasty next to him.

For the first time in as long as she could remember, she didn’t check the time on her phone. She didn’t hop out of bed. Instead, she put her head back down on Finn’s chest, holding onto him, holding onto the feeling that everything was right or could be right. Nothing had been right in her world in so long…or maybe forever. But she had opened up to Finn, and instead of running away from her, he’d held on tighter. She didn’t ever want him to let go. She closed her eyes, and as she drifted off to sleep, Finn’s hand wrapped around hers.

Melody woke what must have been a few hours later, this time alone on the couch, the aroma of freshly brewed coffee filling the air. She sat up groggily, pushing the hair from her eyes. The fire was roaring, and suddenly Finn was standing in front of her, holding two mugs of coffee and a smile that made her want to keep him forever.

He sat down beside her, giving her a quick kiss and coffee. He’d already showered, and she smiled at him before taking a sip of coffee. “Thank you. What time is it?”

“Ten.”

She gasped. “What?”

He laughed. “I know. We’re wasting our last day of peace sleeping.”

She scrambled to her feet and looked down at his handsome face. “I’m going to shower, and then we’re going to make the most of this day.”

“You know, when you declared that we were going to make the most of this day together, I naively thought we were on the same page,” Finn grumbled. “Standing on a ladder and stringing Christmas lights is not my idea of making the most of today.”

Melody swallowed her laugh and handed him the rest of the lights. Snow flurries trickled down, and the storm had passed. The roads were still closed, but the sun had come out and made the air not feel quite so cold. Or maybe it was Finn. Despite his complaints, she knew he was having fun. These days with him had been the best days of her life. There was this thrilling freedom in being with him. She had never felt so much like herself. “We’re almost done. Think how excited Isabella will be to see all the lights. Seriously. Then all we have left to do is make a snowman.”

Finn swore under his breath. “A snowman? Shouldn’t she be doing that? We’re adults—we don’t have to build snowmen.”

Melody stared up at him and shrugged. He paused, something flickering over his eyes as he turned to look down at her. She should tell him. She took a deep breath and leaned into that feeling of trust that was growing with him. “I’ve never really…built a snowman. No time. Addie would. Every time there was a fresh snowfall, she’d be out there in the front yard, building some adorable snowman. And every time, when she would come back inside, instead of receiving a nice cup of hot chocolate and praise, our mom would ridicule her. She told her that she was wasting her time on stupidities and she should try and be more like me and Molly.”

Finn finished attaching the last light, his expression stony before climbing down the ladder. Her heart was racing because she felt silly telling him all this stuff that shouldn’t matter as a grown-up. Instead, he stood in front of her and then leaned forward and kissed the spot just below her ear, and she grabbed onto his forearms. His mouth lingered there, and her knees were wobbly as he whispered against her neck, his lips brushing against her skin. “Then let’s build the best damn snowman ever. Lucky for you, I’m an expert. But that means you’ll have to take orders. From me.”

She was laughing when he kissed her and forgot all about telling him she didn’t take orders very well.

An hour later, she was rolling her eyes as Finn lectured her on the importance of mastering the size of the second boulder. “Hey,” he said, hands on his lean hips, his eyes sparkling. “No sass for the teacher, please.”

She gave him a salute and continued rolling the boulder, coming up with a plan that was so unlike her, unlike anything she’d ever done before, that she knew she had to do it. “Maybe if my teacher wasn’t such a know-it-all, I wouldn’t have to. You really need to work on your teaching skills. Less bark,” she said, keeping her head down so he wouldn’t catch her smile.

“I’ll try harder,” he said with a laugh.

“And what about the hat? The nose? All that stuff,” she said, rolling the boulder with more effort now that it had accumulated so much snow. Perfect. She had to stifle her giggle of excitement and then almost paused. She didn’t think she’d ever been this giddy in her entire life. Or had ever plotted something so funny. Who was she?

“Amateur. We figure that stuff later.”

The smile in his voice made her smile, and as she rolled the boulder to his feet, she stood, dusting the snow off her gloves and looking up at him as innocently as possible. “Is this big enough?”

He glanced at the large boulder they’d made for the base in the center of the front yard and then back to the boulder she’d rolled over. “I guess it’ll do for beginners. Not perfect, but it’ll do.”

She smiled. “I’m so glad. So now what?”

“I’ll kneel down and position it. Just be careful as you lift it up. You don’t want it to fall apart. It’s actually quite a delicate job.”

“Yes, definitely. I have no idea how someone like me can manage such a delicate procedure,” she said, placing her hands on either side of the perfect boulder.

“Just try your best, sweetheart,” he said.

She knew he was baiting her, and that was fine, because she planned on continuing the fun. He stared at her expectantly. “Sure, Finn. Whatever you say, Finn.” She picked up the boulder, trying desperately not to give herself away, and at the last moment, instead of placing it on the base of the snowman, she dumped it on Finn’s head.

His roar of surprise should have made her run in the opposite direction. But she was laughing too hard at the sight of him covered in snow. The giant boulder of snow had collapsed all over his head, and he looked like he should be in an animated movie. She was going to tell him he reminded her of Olaf, but she kept her mouth shut as he rose slowly to his feet, the gleam in his eyes making her take a step back.

“Melody…”

She swallowed hard and stood her ground. She gave him her sweetest smile. “Yes, Finn?”

“Run.”

“Run?” she repeated blankly.

He nodded slowly, taking another step closer to her, his mouth twitching.

She swore under her breath and spun around. She started running as it dawned on her that he was planning on retaliation. She let out a peal of laughter as his hand grazed her jacket before she took off at top speed. “I was the fastest runner in my class,” she yelled, heading for the trees, hoping to lose him in that maze.

She sprinted as fast as she could through the deep snow, laughing and huffing as she tried to outrun him. Not hearing him behind her at all after a minute of running, she took a second to glance over her shoulder and slowed down.

She screamed as Finn appeared from one of the trees in front of her and tackled her into one of the giant mounds of fluffy snow. They were both laughing as they landed. He cushioned her fall, and she landed on top of him.

“Let the records show that even with a messed-up leg, I outran you.”

She dropped her head and laughed against his neck. “This was payback for Monopoly, wasn’t it?”

“No, that’ll be later. That was payback for you dumping a pile of snow all over me.”

She lifted her head so that she could look into his gorgeous eyes. He cupped her face, icy snow on her cheeks making her yelp. But she forgot all of that as he reached up to kiss her. Soon she was lost in him, in the way he made her feel, in the woman she was with him.

“Finn…what are we going to do tomorrow?”

He rested his forehead against hers and groaned, as though he already knew what she was going to say. “I spent the last hour wondering if it would be really rude to invent some kind of excuse so they wouldn’t be able to come. Maybe we have the flu?”

She laughed. “Seriously, though. What are we going to do? Are we still going to go through with our plan?”

He sighed. “Seems kind of stupid now…considering.”

Her heart raced. “Considering?”

He shrugged, his blue eyes steady on hers. “Considering I’m no longer interested in having to fake some kind of breakup, I feel like now, we should do the opposite and pretend we’re not together, just to piss them off and make them think their plan didn’t work.”

Melody burst out laughing, a flood of relief and lightness washing over her. “So, what do we do? Pretend like none of this ever happened and they really don’t know us at all?”

Finn grinned. “Exactly. All we have to do is pretend for three days. I’m sure we’ll have an opportunity to sneak off alone at some point. Three days is a small price to pay so we don’t have to watch them gloat. Then, after they’ve waved good-bye and are out of sight, I’ll slam the door shut, and we can get back to this,” he said, kissing her.