Page 108 of Falling Like Snow

Me: ???

Me: Right. Well, come tomorrow. I’ll leave you alone if you want, but don’t miss the fun because you’re avoiding me.

Me: And Ash, I love you.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

The clear sky is a vibrant blue for the Falling Snow Festival on Saturday. It’s a brisk but tolerable thirty-eight degrees, with the sun bathing the town in its warmth, and the festival is bustling. Games and activities are planned for every hour of the event. Vendors who had leftover product from the holiday market have set up their tents again, and Betty Lynn from the Caffeinated Cat is pushing around a cart loaded with coffee and hot chocolate.

Mom and I spent yesterday here, setting up a holiday photo booth, getting supplies for nutcracker-painting, and arranging a space for holiday story time for kids. I created a Christmas-movie trivia game and a two-person sled-pulling race, and I organized the holiday cookie swap booth. Mom prepared a winter scavenger hunt, picked up the trophy for the holiday light display contest winner, and is excited to finally have the snowman-building contest.

Mrs. Yoshida stopped by for an hour to help, but she didn’t mention Asher. I was dying to ask what he was doing, how he was, if he’d said anything about me. But honestly, I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. If he was hanging out with Daphne while wanting space from me, it was probably better to stay in the dark and pretend he was just as sad as I was about how things were between us.

Except I don’t want him to be sad. So it’s a lose-lose situation.

Today I spent the morning feeling like a husk of a human, constantly checking my phone for a text from Asher and finding nothing.

Hoping it’d keep me distracted, I volunteered to run Christmas karaoke this afternoon. And so far, it’s worked. I’ve stayed too busy to wallow, and theater kids have taken over the tent, leaving me surrounded by friends.

Still, I know everyone’s heard by now about what happened between me and Micah, so when I’m onstage, trying to keep the crowd entertained while Forrest fixes whatever’s wrong with the karaoke machine after a rowdy performer fell into it, it’s hard to stand there, pretending I’m not humiliated.

“What do you get when you cross a snowman and a vampire?” I ask with a huge fake smile. “Frostbite!”

The crowd chuckles politely.

“What do you call a reindeer ghost?” I continue.

“What?” my friends call from the audience.

“A cari-boo,” I say, like I’m jumping out to scare them.

A few people in the audience start talking to each other, not at all enthralled by my comedic abilities.

I glance at Forrest smacking the karaoke machine. “Okay, why do reindeer love Beyoncé?” I pause. “Because she sleighs!”

This one gets a few real laughs—including from Micah as he enters the tent with Scarlett Silverman and two of her elderly friends from Zumba. Blood rushes to my face, though I don’t know if it’s due to anger, embarrassment, or a combination of the two.

I can’t believe he has the audacity to show up here. To come anywhere near me.

“Are you almost done?” I hiss to Forrest.

“I’m going to try a new cord. If it doesn’t work, we’ll have to scrap karaoke.”

I sigh and turn back to the crowd, trying to ignore the hockey player in the back.

“What kind of music do elves like?”

“Coun-tree?” Micah shouts from the back.

“No. That’s not even a good guess,” I snap, making a few people in the audience snicker. “The answer is wrap music!”

“We’re good!” Forrest says as the machine lights up.

“Oh, thank god,” I mutter. “All right, our short intermission is over. Thank you for your patience. Parker, you’re up!”

Parker hops onstage, and I head to the computer to start the song. A minute later, Scarlett holds on to Micah’s elbow, followed by her two friends, as they slowly make their way to my DJ booth, where books of available karaoke songs are listed.

“Sloane! How are you?” Scarlett exclaims, excited to see me working here.