“I will be ready one day.” Mason twisted his ball cap around on his head so it rested backward against his sweaty hair. Why was that kid always sweaty? “That reminds me, we gotta see Santa soon. I never got to tell him I want a new basketball for Christmas.”
Olivia shot Ryan a wide-eyed look over Mason’s head. Ryan shrugged. Then she looked at Mom and Dad, who slowly shook their heads. Olivia sighed and patted Mason’s back. “Okay. We’ll get to the mall before next weekend.”
“Yay, Santa!” Janie, who had clearly recovered from her self-inflicted fall, bounced again. “I want that cool doll that throws up.”
Dad winced. “Pretty sure the North Pole ran out of those, kid.”
As Janie protested, I sidestepped past Lydia and Kat, closer to Nick. Perfect. A visit to Santa would be a great addition to Operation: Naughty List. Nick would hate it.
I would, too, but that wasn’t the point.
I edged into place behind my unsuspecting prey, who stood with his arms crossed, waiting for the impromptu family meeting to end so we could get on with the tree picking. Nick had survived decorating roughly one and a half trees back at the house, and now he had to stand around in the cold, waiting for us to pick another one for the living room. In fact, we’d already been out here half an hour, and the Sinclair Great Tree Debate hadn’t even started yet.
He didn’t look nearly miserable enough, but this would help.
I reared my arm back and threw as hard as I could. My packed snowball sailed in a perfect arch, up, up…and way over Nick’s head. It landed square on the back of Dad’s neck.
He turned slowly, ice dripping off his shirt. I covered my mouth with my hands. Everyone seemed to freeze, and not in the way Dad probably was now.
I grimaced. “Oh my gosh. I’mso—”
“Snowball fight!” Axel let out a war-cry whoop and immediately knelt to gather snow. Before anyone else could react, he’d formed a flawless ball and let it lob, nailing Ryan straight in the chest.
Ryan sucked in his breath. “That kid is going down.”
This time Lydia didn’t object, just graciously moved out of the way as Ryan knelt and began gathering ice and twigs with full arm scoops. The grandkids rushed to help him.
Chloe squealed and darted across the trail as Axel chased her with more ammunition. “Don’t even think about it! I just washed my hair!”
Mom and Olivia ducked behind nearby pines. I rushed to do the same when—SPLAT.
Ice slithered and dripped down the collar of my coat, beneath my long-sleeve thermal and past my cami into my pants. I squealed and danced sideways, the biting cold trailing down my calf. “Who—”
Nick’s head popped out from behind a pine. Dark hair dipped over his forehead, and his flushed cheeks and devious grin made him look closer to Axel’s age than Ryan’s.
My heart stammered in my chest—probably trying to regain rhythm from the shock of the snowball. Definitely not because Nick had that Chevy truck commercial vibe going again.
I shook my leg but only succeeded in sending the melting water into my sock. Great. “You realize this means war.”
“You wouldn’t dare start a war at Christmas, would you?” Nick tsked and shook his head, his body still hidden behind the tree. “Not very festive of you.”
I packed another ball, ducking just in time for Ryan’s rogue shot to miss me and hit the trunk where Olivia hid. Snow ready, I stood back up and took aim. “Feels pretty festive to me.”
Nick was gone.
I blinked. What was he, a magician?
I turned a slow, full circle. He wasn’t hiding off the path in the bushes laden with tiny red berries. And he wasn’t sneaking past Olivia and her kids, who chased her in a wide circle with miniature snowballs, or over by Kat, Mom, and Chloe, who had apparently each taken sides and were cheering on Ryan, Dad, and Axel. I frowned, pausing my search. Odd Kat wasn’t playing too. Normally, her competitive self would be right in the middle of it all.
SLAM.Another snowball hit me in the back. Without stopping to look or think about how close range that shot had been, I turned and charged.
Straight into Nick.
I ricocheted off his broad chest, stumbling backward until something caught me midair.
His hands. Gripping my waist.
I wasn’t nearly tiny enough to apply for the role of a Disney Princess, but Nick’s strong hands wrapped around my middle gave me enoughBeauty and the Beastvibes to swoon. But I couldn’t. This wasNick.This was the enemy.
