Twenty-seven. That was the number of texts Memory had gotten between 6:00 AM and 3:30 PM when she closed the shop and headed across town to the fairgrounds where the annual snowball fight was held. She didn’t want to go. In fact, the list of things she’d rather do than compete in the snowball fight included medical procedures, trekking through raw sewage, and/or scaling steep inclines lined with banana peels. But her sister’s dares and threats were inescapable. Memory had to go. She had to participate. And she had to win.With any luck, she’d be on the same side as Kirsten, and then it wouldn’t matter.Memory found a parking spot and dropped her keys in her pocket. She left her phone hidden under her car seat, along with her handbag, because she didn’t want it to get smashed or wet. The forts were already up, and she could see kids practicing, running around throwing snowballs at each other. It must b

The other woman leaned back slightly, and Memory hid a smile. It wasn’t like her to shock other people, but sometimes people changed. Her sister had to lose this battle, and if that meant Memory had to throw some snowballs, so be it.Mayor Charles gave the signal, and a flurry of snow kicked up on both sides of the field as both teams began to form snowballs as quickly as they could. Memory did her best to scoop handfuls of snow and round them off quickly while still watching what was going on. Dak only had two snowballs in his hand when he took off for the other team’s fort, two other men on each side and the kids leading the way.Snowballs started flying almost immediately. Dak was the closest and biggest target, so he was bombarded quickly. Many of them missed the mark as he ducked and dodged, but several hit, and Memory found herself praying none of them hit him in the face. He was inching his way closer to the enemy for

Talking and skating was hard at first, but after Memory made it around the lake once, she felt fairly sure that she wasn’t about to fall and bust her backside. Dak carefully let go of her arm for a second so that he could turn around the other way, and she was relieved when she could latch on to him again. By then, more people were arriving, and even though the area of the lake roped off for skating was fairly large, it would be more difficult to navigate with extra people sailing by. Dak was good at steering around obstacles though, so Memory decided to try to relax and let him take charge.“I’ve been meaning to ask,” Dak said, watching where they were going and avoiding areas of congestion. “Why is the town called Christmas Falls?”“What do you mean?” Memory asked, praying she could talk and skate at the same time.“Well, there’s no river, no falls. Why Chri

“What’s that?” He twerked an eyebrow at her, staring into her eyes.A reply on the tip of her tongue, Memory almost blurted out she knew where he could find a space that would work. But Lorelei shouting, “Aunt Memory! Uncle Dak!” had her head whirling around.Her niece was skating at her full-force. Memory turned, letting go of Dak, her hands out, hoping Lorelei knew how to slow down before it was too late. Apparently, she didn’t. The little girl skidded, her skates turning sideways as she tried to stop herself, but she didn’t do it in time. She collided with Memory, knocking her backward, and sweeping her legs out from under her.Memory’s arms went flying up, her feet shooting into the air, and the sky loomed overhead. She braced herself for the sting of ice connecting with her backside, but strong arms wrapped around her, swooping around her and catching her right befor

The bell that hung over the door had been ringing non-stop all morning, so much so that Ellie commented, “If it’s true that every time a bell rings an angel gets its wings, we’ve outfitted the Lord’s army today!”Memory agreed, but at least the constant stream of customers had kept her busy so that she couldn’t think about what she was going to say to Dak when they visited her grandma’s house. He might not even like it. None of the other properties he’d looked at in the past two weeks would work. Maybe her house wouldn’t either.A couple walked out carrying several bags worth of merchandise and leaving her and Ellie alone at last. Memory brushed her hair off of her forehead, happy to have a chance to breathe. It seemed odd she’d spent so much time worrying about Dak finding out about the house and wanting to buy it, and now she was going to offer it to him.&l