***
A couple of months later, Jake sat in his office, looking over some photo catalogs, when Kate entered the room holding up two calendars in hand. “Icy Wonders,” the calendar to her left, consisted of family-friendly nature stills complete with icebergs and snowfields, while “Greenland’s Fury,” the calendar to her right, was slightly less orthodox, consisting of rampaging animals and defiled landscapes. She set “Icy Wonders” down gently onto the desk, brushing away a couple of dust motes in the process, then slapped “Greenland’s Fury” down harshly, as if she tried swatting a mosquito. Her entire face lit up as she smiled.
“Remember our bet?” she asked cheerfully. “The one we made on the tour boat?”
He tried to forget about that. In fact, he tried to forget about Greenland entirely.
“Yeah…”
“Flip the calendars over.”
Jake flipped the calendars to see profit margins listed for each one. According to the charts, Kate’s calendar sold three times as many as his did. But, after all the disappointments he had had in that last day, and in many of the days preceding it, he really didn’t expect anything less. He had spent the entire trip convincing himself that he had the stronger idea, but in the end, Kate was always right. This just proved it.
He decided to open it to see the contents inside. With all the harsh comments he had made during the production of her calendar, he figured that he owed it to Kate to check out the fruits of her labor. The January picture was of the image of the underground river flowing through the giant blue ice walls of the icehole. It actually looked pretty good.
“I guess this means I lost,” he said finally.
He looked up to see her nodding. He couldn’t remember the last time he had seen so much of her teeth at one time.
“So, how are you going to humiliate me?”
Kate removed the calendars from the desk and placed them under her arm.
“Just tell me my methods were good and I’ll give you your peace,” she said.
Jake smiled at her compassion for his failure.
“I’d say three times my sales power makes your methods incredible.”
He wasn’t sure he really believed that line, but her smile made it worth saying.
“Thanks, Jake,” she said. “If it’s any consolation, I’m glad we made the trip together. I’d do it again if the opportunity ever presents itself.”
Kate hugged him before walking out of his office. A part of him was glad, too. Maybe even more than just one part—but he didn’t really want to acknowledge that just yet. The question now, though, was whether or not he would ever consider doing it again. He put his feet on his desk as he gave it some thought.
Then she came back into the office. Without a word, she walked across the floor, took his hand into hers, and kissed him on the lips. It lasted for only a second, but it was enough to send his feet hovering an inch off the desk. As soon as she parted faces with him, she leaned back, smiled at him, and ran her hand through his hair, probably messing it up. Then she patted his cheek.
“I figured you’d like a better consolation prize than just my appreciation,” she said.
Then she left again.
“Yep, that sounds about right,” he said.
As he closed his eyes, he found the darkness turning into a kingdom of colors that he had seen only once before falling from the sky. As he stood out in a field, miles away from a castle, the beautiful princess ran to him and embraced him. She softly whispered into his ear that he had won.
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