“I’m going to break my neck, aren’t I?” Kira is asking the boys when I climb into the driver’s seat.
“No way,” Brett says.
Liam pipes in with, “It’s so much fun.”
I adjust my rearview mirror, and two smiling faces stare back. I ignore the weird tug in my chest, right around the vicinity of my heart. Going sledding with the family is something I would have killed for as a kid, and this, right here, Kira in the front seat, the boys in the back, feels a little too real. My property here needs to be ready sooner rather than later because all this playing house is fucking with me.
I start the vehicle and turn up the heat as Kira shivers beside me. Snow crunches beneath my tires as I leave the driveway and hit the main road, which has already been plowed. I drive slowly, and the sun peeks out behind the cloud, lighting up the ice on the trees.
“My God, it’s beautiful,” Kira says, her eyes full of childlike wonderment. She takes her phone from her pocket and snaps a few pictures.
I catch up to Jason’s vehicle and follow him to the big hill at the edge of town. When we arrive, there are dozens and dozens of vehicles parked along the road, and at the bottom of the hill, off to one side, someone has set up a hot chocolate stand.
“I think the whole town is here,” I say.
We all hurry from the truck, and I grab the crazy carpets from the back. The sound of kids squealing, shrieking, and laughing reaches our ears, and the boys take off.
“Come on, Kira,” they say. “We’ll all go down together.”
“I’m not so sure about this,” she says as the boys run up the hill.
“You’ve got this,” I assure her, and give her a little nudge with my shoulder. She smiles up at me.
“You’re kind of an adrenaline junkie, aren’t you?”
I laugh at that. “Adrenaline junkies jump from planes and go bungee jumping off cliffs. This is sledding.”
“It’s like bungee jumping to me.” I make a move to go but get a snowball to the back of my head. I turn and find Sam and the crew laughing and running up the hill.
“Oh, it’s on,” I call out.
We walk through the patted down snow and reach the top of the hill. Kira glances around and takes in the beauty around her.
“I can’t get over how gorgeous this is. I’ve only ever been here in the summer, and I sure missed out on this.”
“Time to make up for that.” I drop the crazy carpet and go to my knees. I pull Kira down with me and gather a fistful of snow. “Pretend I’m talking to you and it’s serious, okay?”
She gives me a quizzical look, and I throw the snowball, catch Sam in the back of the head. He turns, and from my peripheral vision, I catch him looking at me. But what he sees is Kira and me in deep conversation as I point to the hill like I’m explaining how this goes down.
“You’re bad,” she says and stifles a chuckle.
“He has no idea it was me.”
Sam turns back to Cody and Jason, and I biff another snowball at him. He spins, and I continue to talk to Kira, but her shoulders are shaking as she laughs. I steal a sideways glance and catch Sam bending to grab a fistful of snow.
“He’s onto us,” I say, and jump on the sled, pulling Kira on with me, and push off. I wrap my arms around her as she shrieks, and we both go down the hill fast. The boys are in front of us, and Sam and the guys are yelling as they try to catch us. We reach the bottom, and Kira is grinning from ear to ear.
“Let’s do it again.”
“Fun, right?”
Someone tackles me from behind, and I faceplant in the snow. I roll and shove Sam off me. Jason holds a hand out and pulls me up.