Love Burned, She Rose Unscathed

Chapter 814

Roseanne turned to look behind her.

She had no idea when Owen Reynolds had shown up or how long he'd been standing there, but he was watching her now, a smile playing at the corners of his eyes.

When his gaze drifted to the pile of snow at her feet-now reduced to a heap of crumbled slush—his amusement only deepened.

"Playing in the snow again?"

Roseanne nodded, feigning nonchalance. "Yeah."

"Trying to make a snowball?"

"...Didn't work out."

"I'll show you how." Owen was already rolling up his sleeves as he spoke.

Roseanne's eyes lit up. "You know how?"

"It's all about the physics. Once you get that, it's easy."

"There's physics to this?" Roseanne asked, her curiosity piqued. "What kind of physics?"

Honestly, she'd never thought about it before.

Owen scooped up a handful of snow and pressed it firmly into a small ball.

"First, you need a compact starter like this. At the beginning, you need a little extra force to get it rolling. As the ball grows, the pressure between the snowball and the ground lowers the melting point of the snow just enough to create a thin layer of water. That water helps the snow stick to the ball as you roll it along."

the ground anymore, the pressure drops, the melting point rises, and it refreezes more snow sticks to the

process over and over, and the snowball

Roseanne blinked. "Uh... what?"

a look. "What's

just explaining it isn't very convincing." She was trying to

what do

in front of me, and I'll believe you actually know what

straightened up, all confidence. "No

Five minutes later-

keep a straight face. This

at the crumbling mess of snow

it worked last time...

innocently. "Last time? When was

seconds, brow furrowed. "...Must've been when I was ten? Or

Roseanne couldn't help herself.

want to laugh-but it was just

out

Owen stood there, defeated.

much for showing off. Instead, he'd managed to fail

Sigh.

been downstairs for over forty minutes. Not wanting to make things any more awkward for him, Roseanne pretended

she dashed off, leaving him

way back into the lab, and even as he

out fine, but the "snowball

off