Unwrapped by Erin McCarthy, Donna Kauffman, Kate Angell

snowman. He was suddenly understanding her earlier sense of urgency. If this was it, it almost seemed better to walk away now, before it got worse. He was afraid the more time he spent with her, the more he was going to argue with her about why she should spend the night with him.
    “We should go.”
    “I’ve never made a snowman before,” she said, looking back even as she started following him to the car.
    Shit. “Never?”
    “No.”
    Christian fell just a little bit harder for this beautiful badass woman who had never gotten presents and had never made a snowman.
    “Then let’s make a snowman. But first . . .” Christian reached into his car and pulled out some gloves. “Put these on. Your hands are beet red. Then we’ll make a killer snowman.”
    Blue was constantly amazed at Christian, how thoughtful, kind, easy to be with he was. She had expected he would ignore her request, given that she had been rushing him out before, but he just gave her one of those searching looks then agreed. Just like that. Even dredging up gloves for her. Maybe it wasn’t that big of deal, but it more than anyone had done for her before.
    As she followed his lead as he rolled a ball of snow across the parking lot, accumulating more snow with each roll, she blew her hair out of her eyes and promised herself she would just enjoy the moment, not feel sorry for the future. Right now, she just wanted to feel the snow on her face, and appreciate what Christian had done for her, that she hadn’t spent the night alone.
    “By the way,” she told him. “Thank you.”
    “For what?” He brought his ball to a stop. “Here, roll yours over. It’s about the right size.”
    As she struggled to maneuver the ball of snow three feet, her shoes slipping, she told him, “For everything. For not leaving me on the side of the road. For driving me to Lexington.”
    “You’re welcome.”
    Her ball of snow reached his. She stopped and looked up at him from her awkward half-bent position. “And for last night.”
    But he shook his head. “You don’t need to thank me for that. It was definitely my pleasure.” He worked his jaw, glancing out at the road. “Blue, are you sure you don’t want to come to dinner?”
    She wasn’t sure at all of anything, really. But she knew it wasn’t fair to him to pretend that they could be something they weren’t. It wouldn’t be fair to disrupt his Christmas with his family, and God knew, she didn’t want to feel like the holiday orphan everyone felt sorry for.
    “Yeah,” she whispered. “I’m sure. But thank you for offering.”
    He just nodded. Then he picked up her ball and settled it on the bigger one. Another five minutes they had the head on, with mulch from the flower box hidden under the motel awning as eyes and a nose.
    “Wait.” Christian went into the car and emerged with the half empty bottle of tequila. “I think he needs it more than we do.” He settled it at the snowman’s feet.
    “Good call. What should we name him?”
    “Bob.”
    “Dick.”
    “Jane.”
    “Herman.”
    “Parson Brown.”
    “Beaver.”
    “Beaver?” Christian raised an eyebrow. “You dirty girl.”
    Blue laughed. “I never claimed to be as pure as the driven snow.”
    He grinned. “For which I’m grateful.”
    “Hold on.” Running over to the car, Blue pulled her camera out of her purse. She’d had it at the ready for the cruise, but now she took a few shots of the snowman. The motel. Dashing back into the lobby, she snapped a shot of a grinning Roy.
    And then Christian. She took a picture of Christian, his arm around the snowman. Then pretending to steal the liquor bottle back from Bob, the snowman. Maybe they hadn’t officially named him, but she liked Bob.
    “Come here,” Christian said. “Get in the picture.”
    “How are we going to do that?” But she handed him the camera when he reached for it.
    “Not on that side,” he told her with a headshake when she tried to pose on the opposite