... He Loves Me (COMPLETED)

•Chapter Twenty-Two•

•Chapter Twenty-Two: Waiting for a Snowflake•

•Elsa•

A giant gust of wind forces the door open, but it's hot and sticky, just bringing a few red and yellow leaves in. It's been an unusually hot day for the beginning of fall, but the news did say something about a major storm later this evening. It's Jamie's last day here and his parents insisted on spending it with me and Anna. For the last three hours, we've been walking around downtown and showing them the few sights Ostersund has to offer. Their flight is leaving tomorrow at noon.

"Have you heard about the big storm coming in?" The salesman has had his eyes glued to a mini tv since we've been in here. "They say it's going to be one of the biggest storms we've ever had in August; I'm surprised people are still out here."

"Maybe we should head home..." Jamie says, looking outside.

"Oh, Jamie, it'll be fine! We're not going to spend our last day with your cousins sitting at home!" My Aunt Clara says. She's been trying to be extra cheery all day to thank us for taking care of Jamie for the summer. It's been great seeing them, but I'm tired of finding activities for us.

"Well, make sure y'all are careful. They're not sure how bad the storm is going to be, so you'd best be at home when it hits."

"Thank you, sir, but I'm sure it's not a big deal." Uncle Clark starts to usher us out of the store.

It has gotten noticeably cloudy since this morning, but it's still as hot as ever. We've barely even gotten rain for the past week, let alone snow or a blizzard or whatever the forecast is. I know everyone wanted to go shopping in celebration of Punzie's engagement, so I hope they're okay.

"How about we head to the library now?" Anna suggests. "That way you'll at least have seen the best of Ostersund before we need to head home!"

"What a great idea, Anna!" Aunt Clara agrees.

Ostersund is a pretty small town, in a pretty small state. There's no attractions around except our great amusement parks and greater festivals that are always going on. The best thing we do have is the country's 7th largest library since 1906; something I make sure to use often. Today they're having a little presentation about writing or something. Since Uncle Clark is an author, we thought he'd like to hear it.

It only takes about 15 minutes to get to the library, so we're kind of early. I take that as an opportunity to look around for a good book. I inhale deeply, taking in the scent of old and new books, combined with something kind of like walnut. It's my favorite scent because it brings back millions of memories from my childhood, which I usually spent locked in my room reading.

A white cover on one of the top bookshelves catches my eye. It's titled Waiting for a Snowflake in fancy blue cursive. I reach up, but the top shelf is just barely too high.

"Need a hand?" Someone whispers behind me. The voice is so familiar, I can practically hear them smirking.

I turn around in surprise. "Oh, sure. Thanks, Jack."

He grins and reaches up effortlessly for the book. "So what are you doing here?"

"It's Jamie's last day, so we're trying to find things to do with my aunt and uncle." I try not to sound as bored as I am.

"Oh." Jack runs his hand through his hair, sounding disappointed.

"But what about you? I thought you didn't even like to read." I ask with a small smirk.

"It's not that I don't like to read, it's just that I don't find myself in the presence of a good book very often." Jack reads the back of Waiting for a Snowflake before adding, "kind of like dark chocolate, I guess," with a wink.