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cold, wet snow.
    Aiden leaned around the fort and motioned for her to join him on his side, where he’d piled a stack of snowballs. He held up three fingers and counted down.
    She nodded, poised and ready with a snowball in each hand.
    “Attack!” he yelled as the two popped up and pummeled their unsuspecting victims with their pre-made snowballs.
    The giggling and squealing boys ran in different directions away from the fort and their attackers as snowballs continued to fly in all directions.
    Molly couldn’t remember laughing so hard as she dodged an eight-year-old, throwing snowballs. He cornered her at the end of the fenced yard, and she put her arms up in defeat. “Okay, I give up.” Tears of laughter streamed down her flushed face.
    “So you’ll join our team?” he asked, snowball poised in the air.
    “Yes.” Molly gasped for a breath.
    “Okay, you go that way and hide behind those hedges near the side of the house. Jake and I will corner him and force him to retreat. Make lots of snowballs!” he commanded as he moved toward the other boy, who was hiding from flying snowballs inside the fort.
    Molly did as he instructed, stacking snowballs along the hedge, waiting to attack. She could hear the boys’ laughter as they chased Aiden around the yard.
    “Molly! Help!” Aiden called out.
    She hid her laughter behind her hand as he neared the hedge. Within seconds, the two boys were on either side of her. They grabbed snowballs and hurled them over the hedge, where the unsuspecting Aiden could do nothing but duck and weave out of the way.
    “Come on, Molly,” Jake said, tugging on the sleeve of her jacket.
    She popped up to join the fight.
    Aiden’s look of surprise made her laugh even harder, and her throwing attempts were weakened.
    “Traitor!” he yelled, shaking his head.
    “Jake! Kyle!” a woman’s voice in the distance called.
    “Uh oh, that’s Mom. Gotta go. Come on, Jake.” Kyle dashed in the opposite direction of the backyard.
    “You’re on your own. You can use the fort if you want.” Jake ran after his brother and the two disappeared inside a house across the street.
    “Haha. What are you going to do without your little helpers?” Aiden ran after Molly as she escaped the confinement of the hedges.
    “Truce?” she called over her shoulder as she ran through the deep snow.
    “Too late.” Aiden reached her with little effort. One strong arm circled her tiny waist, and she landed in the snow-bank bordering the edge of the lawn and the sidewalk. He rolled her over, and his weight landed on top of her.
    She struggled to breathe from his sudden weight and her laughter. “No…fair.”
    “What about this relationship so far has been fair?”
    He had a point. She shook her head laughing. “You’re right.” She looked up into the lightest set of blue eyes she’d ever seen. Crystals, framed by long dark eyelashes. Breathing was difficult under his intense gaze, as he brushed a stray hair from her cheek. “I can’t breathe.” She pushed against his chest.
    “Sorry.” He rolled off of her and lay on the snow-bank next to her. “So how about a truce? No more meddling in each other’s lives.”
    “Probably for the best,” she agreed. She looked up at the stars. Away from the city lights, they shone like diamonds in the clear sky. Aware of his hand on the snow touching hers, heat radiated through her body, despite the chill from the snow beneath them. “I should go.” She sat up and shook the snow from her hair.
    He stood and stretched an arm out to help her.
    She pretended not to see it as she pushed herself up from the ground.
    He put his hand in his pocket and shuffled his feet on the snow. “So, you’re okay from here?”
    “Yes.”
    “Are you sure? I could tag along…in case there are any more flying snowballs…” He surveyed the neighborhood. All was quiet and peaceful.
    Molly smiled. “I’m sure I’ll be fine. Goodnight, Aiden.” She waved and turned the corner