The Trouble With Snowmen by Dorlana Vann

much they missed them and to see if they would beg them back?
    She poured shampoo into her hands. “Don’t think about,” she told herself as she washed her hair. She had her fill of snowmen. She didn’t even think she would be able to look at real snow the same way. No more Christmas movies for her.
    After picking at her breakfast, she went to Maximilian’s apartment, entering without knocking. When Haley had first moved in, a little over a year earlier, she locked her apartment door, of course. A week later, Maximilian had frantically knocked at her door in the middle of the night. He’d been so upset, explaining that all he wanted to do was watch Catwalk Wars , which he, unbeknownst to her, had recorded on her TiVo. Not only was it his favorite show, but also the reality show he had been trying to get on for over two years.
    She let him stay and fell asleep on the couch that night and then woke up the next day with a horrible stiff neck to an empty apartment. After doing this every Wednesday for a month, and finding out the main front door stayed heavily bolted and Maximilian and Regina never locked their doors—“Please don’t knock, sweetie, we’re family”—and everyone’s bedroom locks were respected, she left her door unlocked.
    It had taken Haley a little time to get used to Regina, Maximilian, and the way of the house, but now she adored them all.
    “Love the new ‘do,” Haley told Maximilian after she went inside. He had darkened his hair since the last time she seen him. Today he wore it in little spikes.
    “Thanks. What happened to you? After the séance I couldn’t find you. One more day, and I would have called 911. You okay?”
    She shrugged a shoulder and pressed her lips together.
    “Well? Where have you been?” He picked through a racks of clothes.
    Maximilian didn’t have an actual living room. It was a studio with two long, tall tables, five dress forms, wheeled clothes racks, and two sewing machines. The only thing missing was a runway.
    “I did it,” Haley said with a sigh, wishing she could have said it like “I did it!”
    Maximilian seemed satisfied with a draped black and white evening gown. “Did what?” He put the garment up against Haley.
    She knew the drill. She removed the robe she wore over her underclothes and slipped on the dress. Haley had become Maximilian’s model almost immediately after she’d moved into the multiplex. His very first sentence to her had been “How tall are you?” She had never thought about being a model. She might have been tall but she was not skin and bone. Maximilian told her he liked her curves; he designed for real women.
    “You look amazing,” he sang, “if I do say so myself. Walk for me.”
    Once she made it across the room, she stopped at the mirror and watched for Maximilian’s expression through the glass. “I snowmanned someone.”
    Maximilian’s face went from all business to “Shut the eff up.”
    “You didn’t!” He brought her a pair of black lace up booties. “Well, spill. Spillspillspill!”
    She held on to Maximilian with one hand while she slipped on the boots.
    “Who? Who was it?”
    “Well, you know him. I met him at your séance even though I don’t remember much about it.”
    “Really! Who? What guy did you meet there? That night was so freaking awful, I barely remember anything.”
    “I want to forget the whole thing.” She stood in the boots, her feet a little sore from wearing the uncomfortable high heels all weekend.
    “Oh no you don’t. Deets now! I want all the details!”
    “Not much to tell. I had sex with him and left my shoes, like you told me to, and now I feel like dirt.”
    “Wait, wait, wait. Back up. I don’t remember telling you to act like some Cinderella ho. I told you to make someone fall for you. I never said the word intercourse . Not once did I say ‘Haley, go out and bang the first person you see.’ I said, ‘Make someone fall for you,’ which for you, honey, would