Chapter 31: Chapter 31

“Huh? Oh, yeah.” She shook her head, pulling her thoughts away from where they’d drifted to, the fact that her grandma wasn’t there with the rest of the family, and then turned to consider where she should start rolling the bottom so that it would end up where she wanted it to. With a decent plan, she dug in, gathering as much snow as she could into her arms and then working it into a ball, though it was wider than it was tall. She worked it around the ground in their area, noticing Dak had moved away a bit to start on the middle so they wouldn’t be needing the same snow. In the back of her mind, she noted he’d called her Mem, something no one had ever done before. It was odd—but she sort of liked it, kind of like when her dad called her Ree.

Memory rolled up what she thought was enough snow for the bottom and then backed up a minute to look at it. She glanced at Dak and saw he had the middle and was working on the head. “We’ll want to make sure we leave enough snow around it so that it doesn’t look bare,” she said, observing the area. “We might need some more.”

“Okay—do you just go scoop it up and bring it back?”

“We should’ve brought a bucket.” Memory put her hands on her hips. “I knew I was forgetting something.”

“It’s all right. I’ll just use a bag.”

Memory raised an eyebrow at him, thinking that would be harder, but she didn’t comment. He emptied the plushes out of the bag and then headed off to an area no one was using. She pulled her eyes away from him long enough to survey the body she’d made.

It was squatty, but it needed some more fine tuning. Kneeling down in front of the snowman, she scooped up some loose snow off of the ground and began to shape it into what she’d found ended up being what most judges preferred. Not too round and not too flat, but easy enough to set the middle section and still keep his snowman shape.

Dak was back, the plastic bag he was carrying starting to rip from the weight of the snow. He set it down next to her and shook snowflakes off of his black leather gloves. “This enough or do we need more?”

Thinking the bag wouldn’t survive another trip, she decided it would have to do. “I think that will work. How does the base look?”

He stood back with his hands on his hips, and Memory got up out of his way, standing off to the side, awaiting his verdict. Dak held his hands out in front of himself like he was an artist, making a frame. “Do you want my professional opinion?” he asked.

“Yes, please.”

“I think it looks... squatty.”

Giggling, Memory took a moment to regain her composure before she asked, “Are you sure?”

“Very.” Dak grinned at her. “I think it looks great. Should we put the middle on?”

“Yeah.” Memory agreed that was the next step, so long as the bottom was as good as she could get it. She tried not to look at what anyone else was doing because it never helped to compare her work to others. She stepped over to where Dak had left the middle. “This is probably the trickiest part.”

“Clearly, you’ve never tried to wrangle five dogs with just sticks for arms.”

“No, no I haven’t,” Memory admitted. She thought the shape would need a little work once they got it on, but the bottom seemed flat enough. “You ready?”

“Didn’t you learn your lesson asking me that earlier?” He snickered, and she tried not to laugh while she was lifting. They both bent down on either side of the snowman’s middle and lifted it, carefully carrying it the few feet to the waiting base. Memory set her side down first, cautiously sliding her arms out, and then Dak did the same. “Phew—it didn’t crumble.”

“No, it’s good,” she agreed, stepping back to take a look. “I’ll just do a little bit of shaping, and then we’ll see if we can get the shirt to fit.”

“Great. What should I do?”

Memory glanced around, trying to think of what should happen next. “Open the kit and get the face out?”

“I think I can do that.” He smiled at her, and she turned back to her project. In a few minutes, she had it looking pretty good and made sure the two pieces were well connected so that the head wouldn’t throw anything off balance. “Ready for the shirt?”

“Yep!” When she turned back, he already had it out, the bottom opened wide so they could slide it over the top. Memory took one side and slipped it over, glad that he’d thought to get the biggest size Teri had available in her printing shop. It fit great, and the logo was big enough for people to clearly read. “Nice! Now, he just needs a head.”

“Got it.” Dak scooped up the head he had made and plunked it on top. The snowman was taller than Memory now, but she could reach the top on her tiptoes. She sculpted the head into the body, making sure she didn’t blend so much that it looked like he had no neck or shoulders but keeping the connection firm as well.

Satisfied, Memory took another step back and looked the whole snowman over, checking it was as symmetrical as possible. “Hmmm. The left is a little bigger on the bottom than the right.”

“So? He’s walking. That foot is out in front.”

She let the grin take over her face as she considered it from that perspective. “Maybe I should trim some off of that side.”

“Ten more minutes!” Mayor Charles shouted through the megaphone.

“Or not,” Dak replied in response to her statement. “It looks great, Mem. Come on. Let’s get the hat and the dogs. Oh—and the arms.”

“All right.” She wasn’t completely satisfied, but she knew he was right. There were other things that needed to come first. She took the hat, which had the same logo for the humane society, and put it on top, melding the edges into his head so it would stay put so long as a huge wind gust didn’t come along--like the one the other day that had caught her off guard.

Dak had the faux twig arms inserted. “Is that deep enough?” he asked, scrutinizing his work.

“I think so. This one needs to go in a little bit more because it’ll be holding the leashes.” Memory gave the snowman’s right arm a few more twists. “All right—did you get collars, or just leashes?”

“Good question. I was going to just get leashes, but then, Wendy at the pet store asked what they were for, and when I told her, she reminded me we’d need collars. I hope they fit.”

Memory knew Wendy from church. She was pretty and single. The idea of Dak talking to the other woman made her stomach twist into a knot, but she had to ignore it. “Smart. I’m sure we can make it work.” She set down on the ground next to the loose dogs, Dak across from her, and started to pull the tags off of the collars.

Dak reached into one of the other bags and handed her a pair of scissors. “For the plastic pieces.”

“You thought of everything!” Smiling, she took the scissors and got through the rest of the leashes quickly while Dak worked on the collars. When he was done, she cut off a few plastic tags.

The stuffed dogs were all shapes and sizes, but their necks were squishy enough they could all fit in a collar with no trouble. It would just take a few minutes to get them on. Memory wished she knew how much time they had left. They’d have to make sure the snowman could hold the leashes and clean up the area in front of their build.

“So... Ellie was telling me that every church in town has a different night for caroling next week?”

“Uh, yeah,” Memory replied, buckling a collar around what she believed was a black lab. The idea of caroling also had her stomach tying in knots but for a different reason.

“What night is your church?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Liar.”

“Ha!” The laugh escaped her lips before she could bite it back. “Thursday. But I don’t sing, so it doesn’t matter.”

“Oh, you’ve got to go caroling. It’s Christmas.”

“I don’t gotta do nothin’,” she said, knowing she sounded like Lorelei.

“Sure you do. And then the parade’s next Friday, right? Snowball fight on Saturday?”

“Yes, I’m definitely going to the parade, but I’m not sure about the snowball fight. I’d have to close up the shop a little early to get there on time, and after Kirsten’s threats....”

“You can’t back down from her threats, Mem. She’ll eat you alive.”

Memory stared at him for a moment, knowing he was right, even though he was kidding. “Are you going to all of those things?”

“Of course. It’s why I’m here. Ellie asked me to take her to church tomorrow, too. I hope you don’t mind.”

Her eyes widened for a second before she was able to pull them away and focus on the chihuahua she had in her hands. “No, that’s, uh. Good. That’s good.”

“And skating Sunday after next, in the afternoon, over there?” He pointed at the town lake where the skating party was held every year. Skating there was only allowed during the Christmas Falls Christmas Skate, when the fire department and other officials came and checked the ice was thick enough, and emergency crews were standing by, just in case. Not that anyone had ever fallen through the ice. Fallen down—but not through....

Memory’s eyes focused on the lake for a few moments. “I haven’t been to that in years, not since high school. I used to come with my friends, but they all moved away. I’m not a very good skater.” Her mind went to the journal she’d bought for her grandma, the one that was in her purse now. She’d bought that the last time she’d gone skating, at the mall, in Carmel.

“You don’t sing. You don’t skate. What do you do, Memory?” He was grinning at her, and his tone was teasing, but she thought it was a serious question.

“I work. A lot,” she said with a shrug, sliding the last collar on as Dak started to hook up the leashes. “I wish I didn’t have to, but right now, that’s how it is.”

He was quiet for a second, and when she glanced in his direction, she could see his eyes moving while he decided what to say. “I’m sorry you don’t have someone full-time to help you with the shop any more. It’s had to be a rough year.”

“Thanks.” She knew if she tried to say more, she’d start crying, so she bit it back. The truth was, she’d worked just as much before Grandma Helen died; she’d just been doing different things. Now, she spent so much time stocking the store and interacting with customers that the parts she loved most—working on the website and acquiring new products—always took a back seat.