Let it Snow!

❄Twenty-Six❄

It was half past five and perfectly dark outside, save for the whiteness of the snow bestowing an eerie, bluish glow to the night, when Martin finally appeared in the doorway, hair dripping wet, a large, square, thermal bag with the name of the Italian restaurant he had taken Nora to, printed in red letters on the silvery material under his arm.

Nora had been feeling increasingly anxious for the last half an hour, hoping that nothing serious had happened to cause his delay, so she took a deep, liberating breath and smiled at him from the dining table, where she was drawing with Daniel, even as the boy skipped happily to his father, pulled him down by his scarf and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

"Lino saw me pass by and made me take some pizzas. Now you must stay for dinner," Martin announced, smiling at Nora across the room. "Then I'll walk home with you. It's too dark for you to go alone."

Nora opened her mouth to politely refuse, but... how could she? Both Martin and Daniel looked excited about the idea, and, honestly, so was she. They were making her feel as if she belonged with them.

"Fine. Thank you," she agreed, removing her glasses and walking towards Martin to take the pizzas so he could remove his shoes and jacket. "I'll set the table, you go dry your hair before you catch a cold."

Her hand, on its own volition, found its way to his hair-- her fingertips feeling the cold strands so infused with water that they looked dark blue under the soft lights made her breath catch, and a blush suffuse her cheeks-- before she realised what she had done and dropped her hand to her side fast.

His eyes crinkled at the corners with another smile as he handed her the bag before following her instructions. She saw him run up the wooden spiral stairs to what was most likely his bedroom as she removed hers and Daniel's drawings. While she set the table with the boy's help, moved the still warm pizzas from the bag and boxes onto the plates, she could hear a hairdryer coming on, then off, and soon after Martin's footsteps clapped on the wooden stairs again.

As she leaned on her tiptoes to get glasses for all of them from a cupboard placed a little too high, Martin pushed past her, so unnecessarily close that it made her smile and shake her head-- he wasn't making it easy for her to think of him as a friend only. He produced a bottle of red wine and a box of apple juice from a nearby cupboard, then turned to look at her.

Not only had he dried his hair, but he had also changed his trousers-- he wore a pair of loosely fitting, comfortable-looking grey pants instead of the jeans-- she noticed as he offered her his arm to escort her to the table.

"So, how was your first day together?" Martin asked once they started eating, his fork paused halfway to his mouth, his eyes flickering between Daniel and Nora.

Nora wiped her lips and took a sip of her wine, observing Martin watching his son, who started with a rather detailed description of his morning at school, followed by the afternoon with Nora. She couldn't tear her eyes off his face, she was mesmerized by the display of emotions changing his features continually as he listened to Daniel with great attention, only interrupting his speech to remind him to keep eating as the pizza was getting cold. Martin was a rather gorgeous man, she decided, and a wonderful father... Nora tried to drop her eyes when he turned to her and found her watching him over the rim of her glass, but couldn't, it was so easy to get lost in those green orbs.

"Are you listening, Daddy?" Daniel's insistent voice broke the spell between them, and as she forced herself to tune the world back in, she heard the boy say, "I said that Uncle Eric called."

She didn't drop her eyes fast enough to miss the change in Martin's look. What seemed so close to admiration, maybe reverence, or a beginning of something she refused to name, was hidden behind a curtain spun of surprise and an infinity of unasked questions.