Let it Snow!

❄Twenty-Two❄

Nora unlocked the door and switched on the light, then the two followed her inside.

She took her shoes and coat off, smiling at seeing Martin helping Daniel to do the same, as she passed him the smallest pair of guest slippers she found.

"How about we wash our hands first?" she asked, leading Daniel towards the small bathroom under the staircase, switching more lights on along the way.

"I'll make the fire, shall I?" Martin proposed, already carrying the wood-filled basket towards the sitting room.

"Sure, thanks," Nora said simply. It was obvious that Martin knew his way around her house, he had done this before.

When Daniel joined his father by the fireplace, Nora ran upstairs, into her room.

Where did she put that book... she mused as she switched on the light, spotting it immediately. She took it off the mantelpiece and carried it downstairs.

"Here, Daniel. Look at this."

As the boy took the book from her curiously, she grabbed a couple of cushions from the sofa, improvising a seat for him by the hearth. Thanks to Martin, a lively fire was already dancing around twigs and logs, consuming them with the sound of dry roses crumbled in a fist.

"Wow..." Daniel said dreamily as he sat down and separated a couple of pages, a three-dimensional world of The Little Prince, complete with the volcanoes and baobabs, his beloved rose and the migratory birds, and all the planets with their curious inhabitants, popping up in his hands. "It's beautiful! Is there the fox, too?"

"There is, but I don't recall where exactly. Why don't you find it while I make your hot chocolate, hmm?" Nora suggested, walking towards the kitchen.

Martin followed her, then vanished into the bathroom while she searched the cupboards for utensils and ingredients. Three mugs, teaspoons, a tray, a pot to boil, and a glass container to measure out the milk, a bowl, a wooden spoon, a balloon whisk, sugar, cornstarch, cocoa powder... and of course some cream and marshmallows... She checked the things off her mental list as she laid them on the table, so lost in what she was doing that she jumped at hearing Martin's voice.

"That looks more like alchemy, or potion making, than preparing hot chocolate," he said as he approached her, stopping a little too close.

Not that she didn't like it... but it wasn't easy to focus on what she needed to do like this. Nora shook her head, taking a step away from him as she said, "Well, that's because hot chocolate is a kind of magic." Why did her voice have to shake?! Did he notice? She didn't want him to know that she wasn't quite immune to his closeness.

"True," he said, a smile playing on his lips. His arm disappeared somewhere behind her, brushing against her hip and making her heart skip a beat or two before it restarted at double speed-- he was so close!-- then reappearing, the balloon whisk closed in his fist like a sword. "And I'm here to help."

She laughed. "Fine! You chose your arm-- whipped cream it is for you to make. Here," she turned around, moving the bowl and the small carton of whipping cream within his reach. "You empty that into the bowl, add a little sugar, and whisk until it turns all fluffy."

He nodded, already following her instructions while she measured out the hot chocolate ingredients, mixed them up, and carried the pot to the cooker.

"I've never done whipped cream this way. We always buy it in spray," Martin said after a long while filled with the swift swish of the whish sweeping the sides of the metal bowl, and the chocolate simmering softly as Nora stirred it continuously with the wooden spoon.