Page 15 of With Love, from Cold World
He had his arms crossed over his chest, and Lauren couldn’t help but notice one tattoo that she’d wondered about before—a tree, ripped out at its roots, which dangled down Asa’s forearm as the rest of the tree stretched up and disappeared under the short sleeve of his shirt. She wanted to see the whole thing, wanted to know the story behind it.
She realized the longer she sat there, just blinking at him, the more she played into this running joke that she was some kind of cyborg. She scowled at him instead.
“Stay out of my office,” she said. “Don’t write stuff on my to-do list, don’t lurk in my doorway. Just don’t.”
“Sorry. Guess I’m being a real ass.”
Lauren was taken aback by his apology, until she saw that his eyes were glittering. The refrigerator note. She’d almost forgotten about that.
“Why are you here?”
“Dolores told me you agreed to work the Snow Globe this afternoon,” he said. “I thought I’d come by to make sure you didn’t forget.”
“Well, I didn’t.”
“Okay,” he said. “In that case, let’s go.”
He explained the rules of the Snow Globe as they headedover, and she almost interrupted him twice, saying shehadworked here for a couple years, thank you very much. But the truth was, as much as she hated to admit it, some of this informationwasnew to her. Like how to tell if a snowball fight was escalating. That the limit was no more than twenty guests total inside at any given time. The time that someone had decided to test the whole “yellow snow” thing.
“Ew,” Lauren said. “That’s disgusting.”
“You have no idea. And it was actually more like orange snow, which was very concerning from a hydration standpoint. Before I kicked him off the premises, I sold the guy a couple bottled waters from the gift shop.”
Asa was walking ahead, which had to be the only reason why he held the door open for her to pass through into the Snow Globe. There was an unexpected chivalry to the gesture that surprised her, and she wasn’t even someone who noticed that kind of thing. Just like she wasn’t normally the type to obsess over the way a personsmelled, but there she was, taking in such a big breath as she walked by Asa that she ended up coughing from the impact of the cold air hitting her sinuses.
“You good?”
She gave a thumbs-up, wishing the ground could open up and swallow her whole. Luckily, he seemed oblivious to her embarrassment, telling the kid on duty that he could take his break or see if help was needed in another section, that they had this for a bit. Lauren hadn’t thought she’d be working directlywithAsa. She’d assumed he’d drop her off and then head back to whatever else it was that he was doing today.
“What is it youdohere exactly?”
“Jack-of-all-trades,” he said, rubbing his hands together. It seemed to be more an affectation of cold than an actualexpression of it. She didn’t understand how he was still in only his shirtsleeves.
“Master of none?”
It came out sounding a lot nastier than she’d meant it. This was why she hated spending time with Asa—he brought out the worst in her. They’d be going along, conversing normally, maybe almost with something approaching friendliness, and then she’d take a jab, or he’d make one of his teasing comments and ruin it.
“Why aren’t you in management by now?” she asked, suddenly curious. He’d been there so long. Clearly Dolores thought highly of him, or she wouldn’t have included him as one of her chosen three to make a presentation about how to make over Cold World. And yet he still spent his days doing relatively entry-level tasks. Pumping frothed milk into spiced lattes. Helping a kid tie his skate laces tighter. Changing lightbulbs.
“Because I don’t want to be in management.”
“You’d make more money.”
“Oh, man,” he said. “My financial advisor really fucked me over on that one.”
Lauren glanced around, automatically nervous about profanity when they were on the clock, working in a contained space with children around. But Asa’s voice had been low, and no one seemed to be paying attention to them. The one family in the Snow Globe with young children were busy trying to all cram together to take a selfie in front of a drooping snowman they’d tried to build.
“It looks like they need help with their photo,” Lauren said.
Asa followed her gaze, shaking his head. “It’s a trap. They all want to do selfies now. If you offer to take the picture for them, they look at you like you’re definitely, one hundred percent planning to steal their phone.”
“But I work here.”
“You’re not wearing an official Cold World shirt or a name tag.”
She could point out that this whole thing had beenhisidea, so if she wasn’t dressed appropriately with her usual office attire, that was on him. She could also point out that hewaswearing a Cold World T-shirt and a name tag, so he could go over himself and offer to help. The mom’s arm was shaking from trying to hold up the phone for so long, and the kids’ smiles were starting to look rictus and unnatural.
Throwing Asa an exasperated glance, Lauren crunched through the snow to approach the family. “Excuse me,” she said. “Would you like me to take a picture for you?”
