Page 61 of Snow

But he couldn’t. The worst part was that she was just eating ice cream. Something that was a normal human activity that happened roughly a billion times a day across the planet, and he was sitting there as if he had never seen a woman eat it before.

Jocelyn was still talking. Something about glow sticks, and giraffes. But Snow’s brain wasn’t absorbing anything.

You’re a grown man. You’ve been shot at. You’ve jumped out of planes. You once spent eleven hours in a freezing duck blind with Bear eating cold beanie-weenies, and you maintained your dignity. Get it together.

Snow’s hand tightened on the phone hard enough that he heard the case creak.

“Hey. You still there?” Jocelyn asked.

“Yeah,” he said, too fast.

“You look distracted.”

“I’m not.”

“Mm-hmm.”

Nova glanced at him, that damn spoon back in her mouth. She looked back at her phone. The corner of her mouth twitched.

Fuck…he was so busted.

A small voice cut through from somewhere off-screen. He turned his attention back to the phone.

“Mommy, mommy, mommy, is that Uncle Snow?”

Jocelyn laughed. “Yeah, baby, hold on.”

“Snow, is it okay if Amira says hi real quick?”

“Do I even have a choice?” He joked, knowing that the tiny tornado was going to say hello whether he approved or not.

Jocelyn grinned. “You really don’t.”

“Alright, put her on.”

Jocelyn turned the phone, and suddenly the screen filled with a small face pressed so close to the camera that all Snow could see was a pair of huge brown eyes and the inside of Amira’s nose.

“Hey, squirt!”

“Uncle Snow!” Her voice was so loud he had to pull the phone back an inch. “I lost a tooth! Look!” she squealed, moving the phone and then proudly showing off the new gap in her smile.

“Wow! You better make sure you put it under your pillow for the Tooth Fairy.”

“Do you think Uncle Nails knows the Tooth Fairy, like he knows the Easter Bunny?”

Snow chuckled. “I don’t think so. The Tooth Fairy keeps her identity classified. Last I heard, Uncle Nails only had clearance for bunny business.”

“Oh! How does he get clearance?”

“I don’t think he can.”

“Why not?”

“Because from what I hear, once the Tooth Fairy approves someone’s clearance, everything they own sparkles forever because she loves glitter. And Uncle Nails isn’t sure he’s ready for that kind of commitment.”

A snort of laughter came from beside him.

Snow glanced over to find Nova covering her smile with her hand.