by Lara Swann
“You thought I was taking photos of…”
“What, it’s that impossible you might have thought my face would make the perfect picture?” I ask, teasing, then glance back at the photos he did take with a smirk. “Okay yeah, compared to the scenery around here, maybe that’s fair enough, but still—the way you set it up, asking me to pose—you can see how I might have gotten confused.”
“Huh.” He obviously can’t, seeming totally bemused instead. “You’re really not interested in…”
I follow his gaze back to the photos, feeling simultaneously amused and a little guilty that my obviously unexpected response to his photos seems to have him completely stumped. I guess award-winning photographers aren’t used to people wanting their photos for anything other than artistry. I mean, they really are stunning photos. They probably do deserve the adulation, which almost makes me feel bad for a moment, before I remember that he’s got more than enough confidence already. He definitely doesn’t need my help.
“I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m interested anyway. They’re beautiful shots of the cabin.” I say, flipping through them again. “And I’ll definitely take the copies you offered and frame them as mementos for the trip, but—oh, wait, where’s that?”
I stop flicking as an almost dreamlike landscape flashes onto the screen - nothing to do with the cabin at all - that instead shows an icy lake surrounded by snow-capped mountains with the most gorgeous pink-and-gold sunset tinging the tops of them.
Tristan leans over to peer at the screen, his arm brushing against mine in a way that sends little distracting tingles through me. God-dammit. It’s really not fair how the muscles on those arms stand out, or that he has to have such a presence about him—
“Oh, that’s the Maroon Bells area. It’s just to the south of—”
“Maroon Bells?!” I ask, looking back at the picture. “I was looking into that before I came—I wanted to visit too! I thought you couldn’t, though. Isn’t the road closed off in winter?”
“It is, but you can still get up there with a snowmobile—I hired one for the vacation, to get me to some of the more isolated sights that my truck can’t reach.”
“Daamn.” I whistle. “It looks so pretty.”
“It was pretty special.” He smiles, taking the laptop back. “I’ll give you a copy of the Maroon Bells pictures too, if you like, to make up for your obvious disappointment in the others.”
“I wasn’t disappointed—” I start, despite all my previous comments probably giving that impression, then pause as something else suddenly occurs to me. “—but actually, if you’re offering, I’ve got a better way for you to make it up to me.”
I’ve been trying to think of how to approach this since I won those tickets earlier, so if he thinks he owes me a favor, I can work with that…
“I’m not giving you a photo shoot for your next dating profile.” He says, his expression deadpan.
“I—no—that’s not what I meant.” I sputter, embarrassment heating my cheeks. “Actually, I was going to mention earlier - I won a couple of tickets while I was in town today, to the Ullr Nights festival happening up at Snowmass Village tomorrow.”
He tilts his head. “Congratulations?”
“Thanks. The tickets include a full activities pass and complimentary dinner for two people, so I was wondering if—”
“Oh. No, no thanks. Not my scene.”
“Aww, c’mon. It’s meant to be very good—everyone was saying what a highlight it is—”
“Are you sure you won these things? They weren’t just trying to find a way to give them away or something?” He looks at me, suspicious, and I laugh.
“Noo, it was the top prize! This is not the time of year for such cynicism.”
“I’d say it’s the perfect time of year for it. What was the competition?”
“Um…” I laugh again, flushing slightly. “Well okay, it was throwing snowballs into plastic snowman bodies, but still! I got them all in!”
“Very impressive.” He deadpans, his eyes sparkling with amusement, and I elbow him in annoyance.
“It was.” I make a show of huffing, before giving in and smiling again. “Okay, fine, maybe not—but the party really is meant to be a lot of fun. There’ll be bonfires and hot chocolates, and tubing, and fire dancers, and live music, and…” I trail off my list of carefully researched activities as I see his expression just becoming more set, feeling like I’m losing this battle as I finish. “Definitely a real prize, I promise. It’s a big event.”
“Well, I hope you have a wonderful time.”
“I’m sure I will. With you.” I grin at him as enticingly as I can, and he just shakes his head. “I mean, you did say you owed me…”
“I’m pretty sure I didn’t.” He retorts, then sighs. “Sorry, Lauren, that sort of thing just isn’t me. I’m sure you’ll have a great time anyway, though.”
“Mm, I don’t think I can go alone.” I say dubiously, my nose wrinkling at the thought.
“Of course you can—I’ve spent most of my life going to events like that alone for work.”
“Yeah, that’s for work, though. Turning up alone to a nice dinner and activities for two?” I shake my head. “It would just be weird.”
Not to mention, it will probably be full of families and close-knit groups there...not exactly something I want to be surrounded by while I’m all alone.
I don’t point that out to him, though.
“C’mon, Tristan, please?” I ask, looking up at him with as much appeal as I can muster.
“I thought you wanted to get away from Christmas this year.” He says. “All that family time you’re so glad you don’t have to deal with?”
“It’s not Christmas I wanted to get away from.” I retort, feeling a stab of guilt at his words anyway. “I love Christmas.”
Is that really how I come across? Well, I guess it’s true enough…I am avoiding my family this year. Which I’ve decided to stop feeling guilty about, too, however hard that is to stick to.
“Well, I don’t, and I did come all the way out here to get away from superficial celebrations like that, so as I said - no thanks.” He says firmly, and the feeling behind it takes me by surprise, even as he softens it with a slight smile. Why is he so anti-Christmas?
“It’s not a Christmas celebration, though, just a winter one.” I point out, though I’m starting to wonder whether I might be taking this too far, even as my mind seizes on something he said earlier. “You sure you don’t want to come along, even to take some photographs? Document all those people enjoying a typical winter festival, dancing around a bonfire, eating s’mores…I mean, I can’t guarantee there’ll be any fox-mask people there, but wasn’t this exactly the sort of thing you wanted to do over the holidays?”
He pauses at that, leveling me with a look that threatens to shrivel me up from the inside…but I can see the first hint of hesitation there, too.
Finally. I actually found some way to appeal to him. Maybe.
“Damn it, woman, you’re like a bulldog with a bone.” He growls, then glances over toward the kitchen. “And I should really be getting back to that chili.”
“But you’ll think about it?” I ask with a grin, looking up hopefully as he rises from the couch and turns toward the kitchen. I feel guilty all over again at the reminder that he’s spent this evening cooking us both dinner and offering me some very impressive photos, and I’ve returned the favor by trying to coerce him into coming with me tomorrow…but I seem to be getting pretty good at ignoring my guilt. And I’m sure we’d have a great time if he’d just give it a chance.
He exhales loudly, looking back at me with something between exasperation and amusement - the same kind of look that Brandon always used to give me growing up, now that I think about it - as he pauses.
“If I agree, will it get me a moment of peace?”
“Yes.” I say immediately.
“Okay, fine. I’ll go—to take photos and for a free di
nner, nothing more.”
I jump up, barely saving the laptop at his panicked glance in that direction, resettling it on the couch before throwing my arms around him in a hug.
“Yess! Thank you Tristan!”
He looks totally startled, and it takes a moment for my impulsive response to catch up with me…and for the firmly muscled chest pressed right against me to become obvious. My face flushes bright red again, but I try to laugh it off as I take a step back.
“Ah…sorry.” I say, smiling ruefully and not quite meeting his eyes. I can still feel the heat of his body against mine. Double damn it. “Guess I just couldn’t control the enthusiasm.”
I have no idea when I moved from feeling like a stranger was imposing on my vacation to impulsively hugging the guy, but…ugh, Lauren, can’t you just be normal for once?!
“That’s okay.” He says, rubbing the back of his neck and giving me a slightly strange look. I’m not sure whether he’s talking about the hug or coming with me tomorrow, but I guess it doesn’t really matter. “I’ll…go and finish dinner then.”
“Yeah, thanks. Again.”
I watch him walk away, shaking my head before collapsing back to the couch, not-quite colliding into his laptop.
“Idiot.” I set it aside, muttering under my breath. “Idiot, idiot, idiot!”
Still, he didn’t rescind his agreement to come tomorrow, soo…I kind of won? And I’m sure we’ll have forgotten all about that hug by then, ready to enjoy all the wonders of the Aspen-famous Ullr Nights festival. God knows, I’ll have probably done another half-dozen semi-awkward things by then to distract us.
Chapter Six
Tristan
“I can’t believe I agreed to this.” I say, shaking my head in resignation as I look at the people ahead of us, all queuing for the gondola up to Elk Camp in Snowmass mountain - and the Ullr Nights festival that waits there.
Almost all of them are families with kids - despite it being well into the evening and dark out now - with just a couple of groups of teenagers excitedly chattering among themselves to break it up.
Exactly what I’d expected. A decidedly average family-fun Christmas event.
I’m not sure what made Lauren think it would be anything else, given the types of people that Aspen attracts at this time of year, but we’re here now…and from the way her eyes are shining as she looks up at the gondola, she doesn’t seem to mind.
“It’ll be great.” She reassures me, turning toward me in a motion that almost swings the backpack she’s carrying into my tripod. I shift it out of her way just in time, before taking a step further back. Her enthusiasm might be endearing, but her sense of spatial awareness makes me wince sometimes. “Just think of all the photos you can take on the ride…and from all the way up there! You said you wanted to experience a proper winter Christmas—you’ll definitely get that up there.”
“Well…I guess that’s true.” I say, smiling reluctantly as I admit she has a point. It’s hard not to let myself be convinced - at least a little bit - as my gaze lingers on how happy she looks, wrapped up in a scarf and hat that make the glimpse of rosy-red cheeks and bright eyes on display even sweeter.
And in truth, it’s not like the events I was supposed to photograph in Japan would have a very different crowd. I don’t even have anything against families or children - they don’t usually annoy me at all - but there’s just something about seeing them at Christmas…
“Ooh, we’re up!” Lauren says, echoing the call from the man operating the gondola in front of us, as the queue starts moving forward. She adjusts the backpack on her shoulders and strides forward, while I follow with the rest of my gear, my camera slung around my shoulder, along with a couple of padded bags with different lenses and the tripod strapped to my back.
She insisted on helping me carry something and eventually I relented to let her take the backpack filled with my usual excursion supplies and a few…less fragile…pieces of equipment. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that I’d be far too on edge letting someone else handle my camera or lenses.
We somehow manage to fit it all - and ourselves - into the gondola, and then Lauren presses up against the window, looking out. She shoots me a sidelong glance.
“You’re going to want this open, huh?”
“You guessed it.” I grin as she shivers for effect, but a moment later she’s rooting around in the bag, as the gondola starts its shaky movement upward. “Wait—a blanket?! When did that get in there?”
“We’re going to the top of a mountain to sit around a fire—and no doubt you’re going to want to stand still instead of running around or dancing. Obviously, I’m bringing a blanket.”
Dancing? Is that part of this too, or just something she feels like doing around a bonfire?
It’s impossible to tell with her.
“Oooh!” Lauren drags my attention back to the window as she wraps the blanket around her shoulders, tugging it open for me as I get my camera out. “That view…”
“You don’t mind the cold?” I ask, though most of my attention is on the town below, with warm lights sparkling as we slowly make our way up the mountain. I flick through the settings on my camera, trying to find an exposure that will work in the dark with this amount of jerky movement, before bringing it up to my face, trying to frame what I want to take.
“Nah, it’s better without the condensation getting in the way anyway.” She says, her eyes riveted on the sight below as well. I’m suddenly grateful for all my gear providing a counterweight on the other side of the gondola car.
I continue to take photos as we ascend, kneeling on the seat and moving around to capture the town from different angles before turning and getting the dark shadow of the mountain ahead of us against the night sky.
“Okay…I still don’t know about the event at the top, but the gondola ride was a good idea, at least.” I admit as I turn back to her, settling onto the seat opposite.
She laughs at me, tearing her gaze away from the view below for a brief moment - and I’m in exactly the right position to take a photo of that too.
“Hey—I thought you were too good for giving me a personalized photo shoot.”
“I am.” I say smugly. “So you can thank me for my immense generosity later.”
She hmphs at me, but her eyes are still laughing, and in truth I just can’t resist it. I’ve never been able to turn down the chance for a good photo and the way Lauren looks right now…well, I find myself wanting to give her a few mementos of this evening.
And if I can get it just right, with her breath misting out in front of her, it will look like she’s in some kind of magical fairytale…she’d like that, I think.
Even if all she uses them for are simple dating profile pics.
I stay behind my camera for the entire ride, only noticing we’ve reached the top when the gondola swings as it slows down for us to step out. Lauren has already packed away the blanket and exits before me, then looks back and offers me a hand with a gallant flourish that makes me want to roll my eyes and smile all at the same time. I only indulge her because I am carrying a lot of expensive camera equipment.
“Oh wow, look at this place!” Lauren exclaims, as we walk past the gondola and see the Elk Camp restaurant and Ullr Nights festival laid out in front of us.
There are people running around, shrieking and laughing, with Christmas lights everywhere and music drifting over to us from the fields of snow out in front of the restaurant. There are bonfires over there with people gathered all around, roasting marshmallows, while kids race around on snowbikes and people queue for the elaborate tubing courses. I’m just about to get my camera set up again when Lauren takes my arm and tugs me forward.
“C’mon, can we at least get to the main event before you start with all that?” She asks, looking up at me imploringly, and I have to laugh.
“Okay, okay. I guess I can always come back and take photos from this spot later if I need to. Let’s find some activity to occup
y you first.”
“I’m not a kid, I don’t need to be occupied!” She protests with a laugh.
“Could’ve fooled me.” I say with a smirk, and she gives me an exasperated look as we trek forward, ready to explore everything on offer.
And…I have to admit, it does look pretty impressive up here. The snow-covered fields are a gorgeous backdrop and there are just enough people gathered around to create a festive buzz of activity, without it feeling oppressive or overwhelming. It might not be the sophisticated event that Lauren described, but it is nice, and it has that cozy winter atmosphere down perfectly.
All in all, exactly the kind of place that makes me itch to capture the feel of it.
Lauren heads straight for the tubing queues, leaving the backpack with me as I start setting up and taking photos. I take a few of her having fun, just because of the way she shrieks and grins as she plummets down the course, before turning to the mountain itself, as well as the backdrop of Snowmass Village and the opposite view of Aspen down below. It’s a fun thing to work on with the backdrop of families amusing themselves with the activities on offer behind me and children skidding past on tubes and snow-bikes.
As I attempt a few arty close-ups of the bonfires and decorative sights around me, I even find myself enjoying all the little things that would usually irritate me - the families far too preoccupied with themselves, the repetitive Christmas music, the cheap souvenirs - as part of the warm atmosphere all around me. Sure, maybe it’s an appreciation from the outside, where I can observe without getting overly involved myself, but it’s a far more positive response than I was expecting.
After a while, Lauren returns from her explorations and we grab the free food her voucher promised her, chatting and laughing over the ridiculous selfies she tried to take of herself tubing, while I attempt to give her a few pointers. My first - get someone else to take the photo - and my second - don’t use a phone - go down about as well as I expect. The food is better than I expect too, though it’s more of a casual affair as we sit out on wooden benches and observe the rest of the festival than a full sit-down meal.