Page 57 of Snowballed

“You have such good manners.” Her tone implies that I should be less of a gentleman.

To avoid any awkwardness, I pull Helen in for a hug. “Thank you for bidding on me. It’s for a great cause, and I hope you had a good time tonight.”

Helen frowns. “Is that it? What happened here? Are you seeing someone else?”

“No.”

By any official definition, I’m not seeing Zoe yet, but perhaps I owe Helen an apology. Because this whole evening, I’ve been comparing her to Zoe and wishing that I was with Zoe instead.

19

Zoe

I’m snuggled under a blanket on the couch watching videos when Noah finally gets home from his date. He looks intact, so hopefully Helen didn’t get her claws into him. Right away, I feel an atmospheric difference. Being with Martin is easy, comfortable, and safe. But being with Noah is as scary as teetering on a cliff edge—he already matters so much.

“Hey.” Noah smiles and in the warm lamp light, he’s so handsome that my insecurity bubbles up. How can he possibly like me?

He sits beside me.

“How was your date?” I ask.

“Fine. We went to the Biscuit. A few guys from the team were there.”

I wait, but he says nothing else. That’s typical Noah, except for that few minutes in the barn, he never talks about girlfriends—past, present, or future.

“How did your date go?” he asks.

“It was fine. Martin toured the farm, but I don’t think he was impressed. His farm is bigger.”

“You can’t judge a guy by the size of his farm.” Noah is straight-faced, but I giggle in response. I love his dry sense of humor.

“Oh, one thing I found out is that Martin is friends with Matthew Rose from your hockey team. They went to the same high school.” Which explains why Martin was at the hockey party in the first place. “They’re kind of an odd couple, right?”

“How so?” Noah asks.

“Matthew is such a pretty boy and Martin… isn’t. Like Rocky and me.”

Noah frowns. “Why would you say something like that?”

I backtrack immediately. If Noah hasn’t noticed my flaws, why do I keep bringing them to his attention? “Never mind. Want to watch a video with me?”

He looks at my laptop. “What are you watching?”

“BBC Earth. This show is about animal mating rituals.”

“So, this is what you do when you’re alone. Watch animal porn.” Noah shakes his head in mock disapproval.

“No, of course not,” I say, but I can’t help giggling.

He’s close enough that I can smell whatever expensive soap or body wash he uses. He smells like the salty ocean and smoky campfires. Of course, he smells better than Pancake, and I’m beginning to understand why the does like a scented buck.

“Want to share my blanket?” I offer, and Noah slides in right next to me.

Now I can feel the heat and firmness of his amazing body right next to mine. My hand shakes a little as I start the video. We watch this insane little bowerbird painstakingly build a nest, decorate it, and then wait for a possible mate. When one arrives, he does a crazy mating dance to seduce her.

“He’s setting the bar pretty high,” Noah says.

“What are you talking about?”

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