Page 30 of Falling Like Snow

He rolls his eyes at me. “You’re going to get the full surprise, you big baby. But only because I worked so hard on it. So consider yourself lucky.”

A grin creeps across my face. “And spoiled?”

“Obviously,” he says. “Come on.”

When we reach the porch, I wave to Asher’s mom. “Hi, Mrs. Yoshida.”

“How are you, Sloane?” she asks, not bothering to tell me for the thousandth time to call her Sarah.

“Starving, but otherwise good. You?”

“I’m excellent. But also tired. We’re in the homestretch at the inn, so it’s been busy. But we’ll be ready for the grand opening next month.” She hands Asher a zipped-up thermal bag with a cute Christmas tree pattern on it. “Here. You two have fun.” She walks inside and closes the door behind her.

“Wait,” I say, turning to Asher, “we’re not going inside?”

“Nope,” Asher says. He wraps his fingers around my forearm and tugs me down the steps, through his yard, and around the side of the house.

“What are we doing?” I ask quietly.

“Why are you whispering?”

“I don’t know,” I say, continuing in a hushed voice. “Just sort of feels like something you do when you’re lurking in shadows.”

“We aren’t lurking in shadows,” he argues. “We’re walking to the backyard.”

“Why?”

“You’ll see,” he says.

We turn the corner to the back lawn, where a dome-shaped mound of snow sits in the middle of the yard.

“What’s that?” I ask, nodding at it.

“Your surprise.”

“More snow?”

Asher groans and grabs my hand. “Just come on.”

I follow him deeper into the yard and around the giant mound—only to discover an entrance.

It’s not just a pile of snow. In fact, it isn’t a pile of snow at all.

I duck to look inside the dark space. “It’s a freaking igloo…”

“It is.” He gets on his knees and crawls inside, beckoning me to follow. “Hold on a second…,” he says, audibly fumbling with something in the dark. Then fairy lights spring to life all around the inside perimeter.

I gasp. “What’s going on? What is all this?”

“Well, you said you wanted to eat dinner in one of those New York City igloo things. Turns out, those cost hundreds of dollars, which I don’t have. But when the snow started sticking, I realized I could probably pull this off. So, welcome to a night in New York City… in Bramble Falls.” He unzips the thermal bag and pulls out a reusable plastic container. “I was going to get something from the diner or Cheesylicious, but Mom insisted on making your favorite grilled banana and peanut butter sandwiches.”

“Asher…” I sit stunned. Speechless. He quickly snaps a picture of my reaction, only to realize my eyes are welling.

“Nooo, you weren’t supposed to cry!” he says, tossing his phone, panicked. “We can get out and kick it down if it’ll make you feel better. Sorry. I thought—”

“Shut up.” I wipe my eyes with my wet gloves. “I don’t know what to say. This has to be the nicest thing anyone’s ever done. Like, for anyone. Ever.”

He relaxes. “You’re not upset, then?”