Let it Snow!

❄Eighteen❄

Nora found a text from Martin, in which he wished her a good night and reminded her to call whenever, should she need anything, after she took a shower and got ready for bed.

She entered the new number in her phone, typed and sent a short reply, then fell asleep thinking about the veterinarian. It seemed to her that the more she found out about him, the more there was to learn. Not only was he an energetic, competent, and caring man, he was a father of a wonderful boy too, and he had brought his son up alone... She couldn't think of many men who had done that.

It was late when Nora woke up the following morning; the few days of her new life had been more eventful and tiring than she had expected. She only had a couple of hours to cook, tidy up, and get ready for a long afternoon that would be composed of first the reading group in Clelia's shop, then helping her godmother in the market in the evening. There was no point in coming back home in between.

She could only hope that Clelia wouldn't keep her too long, and she would be back home early enough for a late dinner by the fireplace. It felt like she hadn't really enjoyed her new home properly yet.

When Nora walked out into the early afternoon, she found the world covered under a thick blanket of fresh snow. It wasn't snowing at the moment, but the grey clouds spanning across the sky, low and restless, were promising more snow.

For the first time, she did not sigh at the sight of the heaps of snow-- she remembered what Martin had told her about it. She smiled at seeing the path cleared for her again; apparently, he remembered what she had said, too. Thanks, Martin, Nora thought, admitting that the snow really made the world more beautiful for a while.

When she reached the book shop, a handful of children were already around, walking curiously among the bookshelves, but Daniel wasn't there yet. A very busy Clelia, who was trying to serve several customers at the same time, asked her to present herself to the children's parents and companions, remind them to come back in a couple of hours at the latest and let them go, then gather her charges under the Christmas tree and keep an eye on them.

Nora nodded, took her coat off and left it behind the till along with her handbag, inhaled deeply to steady her nerves and did what she was told-- she walked from one person she had never met to another, smiling and shaking hands.

Once all the adults were gone, she looked from one little face sitting around her in a semi-circle on the blanket prepared by Clelia, observing her curiously, to the next, thinking where to start. Nora pulled her phone from the pocket of her jeans and seeing there were still ten minutes left before the official start, and she didn't want Daniel to miss anything, she proposed, "Why don't you all go and grab a book you'd like me to read? We will talk about them and choose one."

Five little heads nodded eagerly, and the kids vanished in the children's section at the back, leaving Nora alone, looking out of the window through the decorated branches of the fake tree. It was starting to snow, she noticed, even as Daniel, followed closely by Martin, appeared in her field of vision.

"Hi, you two!" she called, scrambling to her feet from her place on the blanket the moment they were through the door.

"Hi," they both said in unison.

"Why don't you give me your coat and join the others? They are choosing a book we'll read today," she told Daniel.

He agreed instantly, shrugged out of his coat, scarf and gloves, and then rushed across the shop away from them. Judging by the following excited greetings, it was obvious that the kids knew each other, and they had all been hoping that Daniel would turn up today.

Nora smiled, then looked up at Martin. "He seems to be quite popular."

"Hmm, definitely much more popular than I was, at his age."