“I think I’m cold,” he said. “I’m going to go grab it, if that’s okay.”
“Sure,” she said. Was it possible he was sick? She tried to remember if he’d felt any warmer than usual, but he always felt warm to her. After a minute, he came out of the office area wearing her cream-colored cardigan, oversized on her but fitting him almost perfectly. His hair—now back to his natural brown, a little longer than it had been before—was tousled like he’d been running his hands through it, and her heart skipped a beat.
When he rejoined her, she pulled him in to kiss his cheek, and he blinked down at her. “What was that for?”
“Do I need a reason?” she said. “You’re cute.”
He barely seemed to register the compliment, though, because he had his hand on the small of her back, guiding her through the people. “Let’s check out the Snow Globe now,” he said. “I don’t want to wait.”
That was fine by Lauren. She was dying to see what he’d come up with for the Snow Globe mural—she’d seen some of his ideas when they put their presentation together, but she knew it had changed since then. And if the mural was the cause of his jittery nerves, she’d rather get it out of the way so they could enjoy the rest of the party. She already knew she’d love whatever he created.
They stepped into the enclosed space, snow crunching beneath their feet, and the minute Lauren saw it she felt like her breath had literally been snatched from her body. It covered one entire side of the curved wall, which couldn’t have been easy to manage, but it was perfect. Designed like a vintage postcard, WITH LOVE, FROM COLD WORLD printed in large block letters, it had so many details and fun Easter eggs included throughout that Lauren felt like she could’ve spent hours in there just trying to find them all. There was the hot chocolate stand in one corner, people ice skating in another, including a kid who looked a little like Eddie. There was the little penguin with the striped scarf, which made Lauren smile, and tucked away in another part of the mural was an incongruous rosebush with a fox curled up peacefully in front of it, a reference that she somehow knew instantly was for her.
“What do you think?” Asa asked from behind her. He had to know she would love it, but his voice had a slight vibration to it, an edge that told her he didn’t take her good opinion for granted.
“I love it,” she said. “I—I don’t even know what to say. Asa, this is incredible.”
She knew he’d been working on it, of course. They’d had to close down the Snow Globe for a few days, and he’d spent that time locked inside, putting on all the finishing touches. He’d come out only to take the occasional break, enjoying a prepackaged sandwich with her in the café area, sitting in her office and building chains out of paper clips that she’d find later next to an added little message with a heart doodled on her to-do list.
But the idea that all that time, he’d been making this . . . it awed her.
“I had a dream about this place the other night,” he said, and something in his voice made her turn around to face him.
“Really?”
“It involved you.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Oh.”
He laughed, running his hand through his hair. “Not that kind of dream. Not here, anyway. It doesn’t seem like it would be very . . . comfortable.”
“Fair point.”
“In this dream, we’re just two tourists, enjoying the Snow Globe. Packing snowballs to throw at each other when the kid guarding the place isn’t looking, maybe seeing how far we can push the MPAA rating depending on how comfortable the kid is with breaking it up—”
“Hey,” Lauren interrupted. “I had it handled.”
Asa grinned at her. “I know you did. Anyway, the point is that it was a nice dream. It felt cozy. Routine in the best possible way. Do you know what I mean? Like this was just our life, these random little day dates, moments we got to spend together.”
“I do know what you mean,” Lauren said, touched by the way he described it.
“Yeah?” He tilted his head, tugging one sleeve of the cardigan down over his hand, then pushing it back up. “There was more to the dream, though. It’s weird, right, the realistic details that work their way into your subconscious? I remember you were looking at the mural, and you were excited when you saw a little part I’d added just for you. So you turned around to point it out to me, and then . . . I got down on one knee to propose.”