Page 33 of Cookie

“Oh, we’re going sledding,” he said and handed me a saucer as he walked by me.

“Where?” I hurried to catch up as he stepped outside and had to hold the door when the wind caught it, which was impressive since he was still carrying a few saucers and pulling the sled.

“The park or the street. Whichever works.”

“Is it okay to do that?” The normally busy street was deserted, so I took his word for it and hoped it really was okay.

“No one will want to work today. Mom and Dad would have a hard time getting here, and there won’t be any customers. It’s best to just stay home and ride it out. The work will always be there. But the bookstore is unique. I wasn’t kidding when I said they’d be looking for entertainment. So even if we’re only open for a few hours, you’ll get some customers if they can get out of their house.”

“I’m so confused. Are we sledding or working?” We were still standing outside his shop when a big truck drove slowly down the street, plowing tracks through the heavy snow.

“Both. We’re going to take a quick sled run since we’re already dressed. Then we’ll open the store for a few hours. Sound good?” he asked with a big grin.

“Sounds good,” I said and both of us stomped through the snow until we stood above the small slope at the end of the park.

“Now we’re going to need to prepare it first. If we just try to go, we won’t get far. We’ll have to pack the snow down a little. Get in the saucer and I’ll pull you along.”

I looked at the saucer and looked at Charlie. “You’re kidding.”

“You’re skinny, you can fit,” he said and waited for me to get on it. I sat and immediately sunk into the snow, making him laugh while I tried to fold my legs up enough to put my whole body on the saucer that was more kid-sized than for an adult.

“I don’t think I can get on it any better than I am,” I said and pulled my knees up a little more.

“Okay then, hold on.” He grabbed the towrope and pulled me along like I weighed nothing, and he wasn’t dragging me through over a foot of snow. We got to the bottom, and he held his hand out for me. “One more time.”

I jumped up and the two of us stomped back up the hill on the same path I’d just slid down. This time, when he pulled me along, the saucer moved much easier, and I was right on his heels. “Okay, that should do it.” He helped me up again, and again we hurried back to the top.

“You go first,” I said, but he handed me another saucer.

“Get right behind me and we’ll both go,” he said with that big grin. He somehow managed to fold himself perfectly onto that saucer and held himself in place while I once again tried to bend my legs in ways they were not meant to. After nearly knocking him down the hill a few times, I was finally in place.

“Okay, I think I’m ready.” I gripped the handles on both sides while he took the towrope for mine and tucked it under him.

“Hold on, baby,” he yelled before using his hands to push us forward and back onto the now smooth snow. Before I had time to think about what he was doing, we were off.

“Holy shit!” I yelled as I gripped the handles tighter and hoped I didn’t run over him. He laughed all the way and when we hit the bottom, going too fast for the unpacked snow, both of us went flying before landing in an explosion of fresh snow. “Oh my god, that was so fun.” I shuffled up to my knees and watched as Charlie extricated himself from a snowdrift.

“That was awesome!” a group of kids yelled as they all hurried over to where we were still picking ourselves up. “Can we try it?”

“That’s why we brought extra saucers. We’re going to go warm up at the bookstore. If you finish before we come back, just bring the saucers and sled over to us,” Charlie said.

“Thanks, Charlie,” a few of them said and grabbed everything and headed up the hill.

“Come on, let’s go get warmed up,” he said and slung his arm around my shoulders before kissing my cheek. “That was fun.”

“It was, and I think I want to do it again later.”

“Let them pack it down. It’ll be a lot better later,” Charlie said, and we walked through the snow that was getting steadily deeper. The walkway in front of the store was now completely covered again with the steady snow that had fallen the whole time we’d been gone. “Looks like I’ll be shoveling.”

“I can help,” I said.

“Babe, you go inside. It won’t take me long and I really love doing it.”

“You love shoveling snow?”

“Yeah, I mean anything for a snow day.” He shrugged and picked up the snow shovel he’d used earlier.

“Are you open?” a man asked as he walked up to the door.

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