Free Snow in Love by Claire Ray Page A

said.
    “Thanks, Mrs. Whitman. Will’s here so I can get his measurements for his tuxedo.”
    My mother turned to me. “Okay, well, I’m right downstairs if you need anything.”
    Will piped up, “This is delicious hot chocolate, ma’am.”
    My mother looked at him evenly, muttered, “Um-hmm,” and then squinted at me before walking out of the room, quite deliberately leaving the door open.
    I shook my head. “Great. Ten bucks says my brother is being paid right now to spy on us.”
    Will walked to where Abby was sitting, holding a tape measure. “No worries. He’s a good kid.”
    I hated when people who didn’t have little brothers referred to Brian as a “good kid.” He wasn’t a good kid. He was a rambunctious filth machine, who I didn’t let into my room.
    I stretched out on my bed and sipped my hot chocolate. I’d wager that about thirty girls in my school would have given their skis to have Will Parker in their house. And here he was in my room, standing in front of my mirror, letting Abby wrap his arms and legs in a tape measure. I had to admit, it was a little thrilling. I wished we could record this moment and email it to Sabrina.
    Abby must have been as awed by Will’s presence as I was, because she caught Erin’s and my eyes behind Will’s back and dropped her jaw wide in shock that Will was there and cooperating.
    Erin shook her head. I closed my eyes and leaned my head against the wall.
    “The tux won’t look like that, will it?” He gestured toward the heap of taffeta and netting lying on the floor.
    Erin said, “God, I hope not.”
    “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”
    Three pairs of eyes turned on me.
    “What? I’m just saying.”
    “He’s going, and I don’t want to hear about it again,” Erin said, finally lifting the book from her lap and moving over to where the two of them stood in front of the mirror.
    Will caught my eye and winked. “No worries. I like giving Abby a reason to put her hands all over me.” Abby turned bright red. “Did you tell ’em how good an actor I am?”
    Will stared at me in the mirror and I lowered my head. I think I was blushing. “No, I didn’t.”
    “Erin, sign me up for an Oscar. We made that Jake kid totally jealous in the lodge, right, Whitman?”
    “Er, right.” I wanted to sink into my covers. Erin stared at me as if I had six heads.
    “Really,” she said, contemplating. “How interesting.”
    “So you didn’t, um, talk ?” Abby asked me, while wrapping some of the taffeta around Will’s legs.
    “Um, no. We didn’t.”
    Erin cleared her throat and asked Will, “Have you ever accidentally kissed a girl?”
    I officially wanted to die.
    Will caught Erin’s eye in the mirror and answered with a raised eyebrow, “Accidentally? No.” He held out his arms so that Abby could measure them. “Have you girls been having kissing ‘accidents’?”
    Abby said, “Jessie might have.”
    Will feigned a look of hurt and clutched at his heart. “You’re going out with me and kissing other guys?” I threw a pillow at him. Abby was shocked at my boldness and I have to admit that I was too. Will had a way of bringing things out in people, things that they didn’t know they had in them.
    He caught the pillow with ease, and then, without a trace of a smile or a hint of laughter in his voice, said, “Jessie, if I kissed you it wouldn’t be by accident. Trust me.”
    I don’t know if he meant to phrase it that way, but I had never felt so red-faced in my whole life—maybe because he’d used my first name. Abby dropped the tape measure. Erin smirked like an idiot.
    I took a deep breath and told myself to get a grip. He was talking about boys in general, and in that respect, I really wanted to believe him. But if that were true, if Jake had kissed me on purpose, because he wanted to, then why had he been so cold to me in the ski lodge? Why’d his family think he’d broken up with me? Did you just go around kissing