Just for Christmas - Emily Harvale Page 0,35

at this.’

‘I remember from our snowball fights of old. You always pummelled me and Terry. But don’t you need to be gentle for this?’

‘I can be gentle, Chance. Believe me.’

And yet another unwanted image popped into Chance’s head. He coughed to clear his throat, turned to take a pie from Maud, and took up his position opposite Molly.

‘Don’t let your balls fall out,’ one of the spectators shouted to the teams, and everyone cheered and whooped with laughter.

‘Are you ready, teams?’ Rupert shouted. ‘You can pick up your first snowball when I ring my Christmas bells and you must stop as soon as I ring them again after two minutes. On your marks. Get set. Go!’

He rang the bunch of silver bells he was holding and the crowd roared with shouts of encouragement.

Molly was like a machine. She bent down and picked up two snowballs at once and threw them towards Chance. They landed in the pie with a soft splat, but they didn’t fall apart.

Chance was impressed, until one snowball bounced off his nose. Although miraculously, that remained intact too and landed in the pie. He glanced at Sarah who stood close by. Her pie wasn’t as full as his and Terry definitely wasn’t as good at throwing snowballs as Molly. None of the competitors’ pies were as full. They might actually win this thing. He was surprised at how much he wanted to. He hadn’t realised he was that competitive.

Or did the prospect of a dinner for two have something to do with his sudden eagerness to win?

‘Come on, Molly,’ he yelled, beaming at her.

It wasn’t long before they heard the bells, and those who continued throwing were disqualified. That accounted for three teams, and some of the crowd good-naturedly pounded the losers with snowballs.

‘Wait until we’ve declared the winners,’ Rupert scolded them, but with a broad grin on his red face.

He and Maud inspected all the remaining pies and to Chance’s delight, he and Molly were pronounced the ‘Supreme Snowball Pie Makers of the Year’.

Molly ran to Chance and he caught her in his arms, spinning her around for a moment before letting her slide down the length of his body until her feet were set on the snowy ground. Their eyes were locked and their mouths were inches apart and Chance had to fight back the urge to kiss her. Thankfully for him, Terry came and slapped him on the back.

‘The drinks are on you, mate. Well done, sis. We’ll get your crowns from you next year.’

The crowns were paper hats and Molly and Chance were crowned and handed their keyrings with the fluffy snowmen attached.

‘Who’s going to look after the voucher for the romantic dinner?’ Maud asked, winking at them.

Molly shot a look at Chance. ‘Oh. Er. Why don’t you take that? You can use it when your girlfriend arrives.’

Maud gave Chance a surprised look as she handed it to him, and although he took it, he shook his head.

‘No way, Molly. You earned this. Couldn’t we have dinner together? As friends, of course. It doesn’t have to be romantic.’

‘I … I suppose we could. Yes. That would be nice. Thank you.’

‘No. Thank you. I had a really good time. And now I’ve got a crown, a keyring that may one day be a collector’s item, a fluffy snowman and the prospect of a lovely dinner to look forward to. Not to mention that I’ve done my small bit to add to the coffers of a worthy charity. Does life get any better than this?’

Molly was giving him an odd look, as if she wasn’t sure what to make of his comments.

‘Are you being sarcastic again?’

‘No. I’m serious. Although maybe I was being a little sarcastic about the keyring becoming a collector’s item.’

She smiled at him now. ‘You might be surprised. Come on. Let’s go and buy my loser of a brother and his loser of a girlfriend some drinks. There’s Christmas punch or mulled wine if you fancy either of those.’

‘Be still my beating heart,’ he said. ‘And yes. That was sarcastic. I need a pint of beer.’

Nineteen

The snow finally stopped falling and by Wednesday morning, sunshine poured down from a bright, blue sky.

Another weather front was moving in, according to the forecasts, and was likely to bring more snow with blizzard conditions once again, probably by Christmas Eve, so it was definitely going to be a white Christmas.

But when the snow began to melt on Wednesday, Chance was relieved to say the least.