His First Christmas: The Lonely Billionaire - A Heart-Warming Romance Novel by Holly Rayner, Lara Hunter Page B

from the seventies?” he said, holding it up.
     
    “Keep.”
     
    Jason looked at it again. “Nah, it’s going.”
     
    Anna shook her head in response. “I’m disappointed in your decision, Jason.”
     
    A few moments later, he returned. “Another lamp that may or may not be functional?”
     
    Anna considered it. “It’s fairly ugly. I say toss it.”
     
    Two hours of deciding the fates of miscellaneous items later, Jason slumped onto the chair, exhausted. Anna brought over a pot of soup she’d prepared and a plate of freshly-baked cookies.
     
    “I’m not sure if that was cathartic. It’s more sad, you know, seeing all of my parents’ old things, stirring up old memories…”
     
    “That makes sense. But I think that confronting the sadness will help you in the long run,” she mused, while pouring herself some soup. “Once you actually get rid of those things, it’ll be like symbolically letting go of your demons.”
     
    Jason stirred his soup, pensive. “You would think I would have got rid of them by now,” he said, “but I guess I can blame my liquor cabinet for that.”
     
    “Ah, yes…alcohol to avoid dealing with your problems. You wouldn’t be the first to try it,” Anna said. “But demons aren’t so simple, Jason, as I think you know.”
     
    Jason didn’t say anything for a minute, then cleared his throat and changed the subject. “Well I’ve got to say, everything smells delicious. Is the soup your mother’s recipe as well?”
     
    “Nope, it’s my own experimental dish,” said Anna proudly.
     
    Jason tasted it, nodding as he did so. “Of course, it tastes as good as it smells.”
     
    Anna smiled. She was a sucker for compliments on her cooking.
     
    “So…next on the list is decorating this under-loved cabin with some pine cones and holly,” she announced.
     
    “I don’t get why you insist on collecting pine cones and holly when it’s freezing out,” Jason said, fog forming as he spoke.
     
    “Okay, it’s cold ,” Anna said, shivering a little, “but it’s sunny, too. You’ll get acclimated in no time,” she said, wrapping her hands around herself. “Everyone hates winter, right? You’re stuck inside all day. But if you force yourself to get out every once and a while, it’s not so bad. Plus it really is beautiful out here,” she said, picking off some pine cones from a stray branch as they walked along.
     
    “Okay, Pollyanna,” Jason laughed.
     
    “Har, har,” Anna smirked. “You know I’m right.”
     
    They walked for a few more meters, snow crunching beneath their feet.  “Hey. This is actually perfect snowman snow,” Anna said, picking up a handful.
     
    Jason looked at her, curious. “And what, exactly, is the perfect snowman snow?”
     
    “It’s either…freshly fallen snow, or snow that has been exposed to warmer temperatures. Basically, snow that will form clumps,” she explained, rolling up her handful of snow to demonstrate. “Haven’t you ever built a snowman before?” she teased.
     
    “Well actually…I haven’t,” Jason said.
     
    Anna gasped. “Seriously?” she said. “Okay. We must remedy this situation immediately. ”
     
    She handed Jason her snowball. “Start rolling this around on the ground,” she instructed.
     
    Jason blinked, looking at the snowball as if it was an alien. “Uh….”
     
    “Just do it,” she said.
     
    “Alright, alright,” he said, obliging. He gingerly placed the snowball on the ground and started rolling it. Trails of dead vegetation began to be exposed beneath the snow as he rolled the growing snowball. “Huh,” he said, after it had doubled in size. “This actually works.”
     
    “Uh huh,” Anna grinned.
     
    “Except now it looks more like a Swiss roll than a snowball.”
     
    “You have to reshape it every now and then.”
     
    “Got it.”
     
    Anna stuffed her handful of pine cones into her pockets, and got to work building the snowman’s midsection.
     
    “Is