“No. Not yet. I’m talking about the kids at my school. I teach second grade in town,” Molly explained. She smiled at him again and his heart decided to do the beat-skipping thing again.
“What made you want to teach?” he asked, forcing his feet to move so they could keep walking.
“When I was in college, I would sometimes volunteer to tutor kids between my classes and...I don’t know. There was just something about working with them. It made me so happy.” She smiled at the memory, her eyes bright and distant. “Seeing their faces light up when they finally figured something out. I felt like it was something I was good at. It made me happy.”
“I’m glad you found something that makes you so happy.” Nicholas gave Molly a genuine smile. “Hopefully, I’ll get that part figured out, someday—”
Nicholas’ was interrupted by a snowball hitting him right in the face.
“Nicholas!” Molly yelled, as she brought her hands to Nicholas’ face to clear the snow from his skin. Her fingers were warm against the cold. “What was that?”
Another snowball splatted on Molly's chest.
Molly and Nicholas both turned to face the source of the snowballs.
It was Liam, standing a few feet away from them with an evil grin on his face. “Sorry, Mr. Kerstman. I was aiming for Ms. Carmichael.”
“And why would you be aiming for Ms. Molly?” Nicholas wiped at his snow-covered face with his leather gloves.
“Because he’s a sore loser,” Molly replied. She leaned over and began to gather snow into her hands. “I told you last year, kiddo- you can’t beat the champ!”
“Watch me!” Liam lifted his arms in premature victory once before running down the sidewalk.
“We have to get him,” Molly announced, putting a snowball into Nicholas’ hand. “Cover me!”
Nicholas stared down at the snowball and frowned. “Wait, what’s happening right now?”
“Nicholas! There’s no time! Make more snowballs and cover me!” Molly reached down for more snow, expertly shaping it into a snowball. “I’ve got a reputation to uphold!”
He stared at her for a moment before following her down the street to the center of town, snowball in hand. They both ducked low against a retaining wall near to the big Christmas tree.
Nicholas glanced around the well-populated town square. Not one soul seemed to find it strange that the trio were engaged in such a peculiar “battle.” Apparently, snowball fights weren't strange occurrences around here. Once again, he thought this had to be the strangest town.
“He’s climbing the old Pipkin building!” Molly said, pointing to an old brick building to their left. He could just see Liam climbing up a sturdy fire escape towards the top of the building.
“I’m not climbing that thing.” Nicholas shook his head as a no before Molly could even ask. “Looks like it’s time for us to admit defeat?”
“Hard work gets rewarded,” Molly said, lowering her voice to match Nicholas’ masculine tone. “Isn’t that what you just said?”
He gave her an annoyed look. “Yes, but I mean hard work in the real world, not—” Nicholas found his sentence once again cut short by a snowball straight to his face. “Oh, come on!”
“I’m not sure there’s anything more real than a snowball hitting you in the face,” Molly informed him. She pulled him along behind her as the looked for a better position. They were now crouching behind a perforated bench that was seated directly across from the Pipkin building.
“Okay, business guy, what’s your plan here?” Molly kept her voice low as she whispered to Nicholas. “We’ve got a kid on the roof. He has the high ground, but we're smarter than he is. How do we win this thing?”
“Uhh...” Nicholas stalled for time, his brain earnestly trying to come up with a plan for winning a snowball fight. He wanted to laugh at the situation, but he kept a straight face. “Well, the roof is closer to the sun, right? So, our biggest advantage is that we have more snow. I’m guessing, even in this weather, snow doesn’t last so long so high up...”
Molly nodded along, but then shook her head. “Are you saying we should just wait him out?”
“I’m saying we should make him use up his snow. He'll run out pretty quick,” Nicholas explained. He grinned at her as he came up with a plan. “Come on. I’ll be your human shield.”
“You’d really protect me like that?” Molly's cheeks pinked slightly.
“Ms. Molly, I’d take a million sno
wballs to the face if it meant that you’d remain undefeated,” he replied. Nicholas adjusted the lapels on his coat. “You can’t beat the champ.”
Molly laughed, and Nicholas’ heart skipped a beat once more.