by Keary Taylor
CHAPTER SIX
Morning dawned with an oddly bright hue. As I peered out my bedroom window, I was surprised to see several feet of fluffy-looking snow on the ground. One more thing about Washington in the winter; it can rain buckets and dump large amounts of precipitation in a short time, but if the temperature drops below freezing it makes for a lot of snow. Lake Samish was located in a bit of a pass and the roads were difficult to keep clear in snow storms. I knew what the conditions were going to be like. Smart people would be staying home today.
I had just poured a large amount of cereal into a bowl when I heard the door crack open.
“Jessica?” his voice was surprisingly quiet and hesitant. It seemed unnatural for him.
“Yes?” I said as I felt slightly frantic that I was getting caught yet again in my pajamas.
He rounded the corner and I was slightly surprised at his appearance when he came into view. He was wearing a threadbare white tee-shirt that seemed several sizes too small, with the mascot from some high school in southern California. His bottom half was covered in red and black checkered pajama pants.
“Would you care to join me for breakfast?” he said, that smile playing on his lips again. “You know I had to try out the new goods.”
I glanced at my bowl of still dry cereal and nodded my head.
“Great,” he said, a dazzling smile breaking on his face. “It’s all ready.”
I considered putting something more covering on but after a moment decided there really wasn’t much point. He’d already seen me as I was, several times.
I followed him up the stairs and my mouth started to water as the scent of bacon filled my nose. My stomach instantly growled, in an embarrassingly loud manner. Surprising, considering how infrequently I did eat; I didn’t think I was actually hungry.
Alex chuckled as we came to the main floor. “Just in time it sounds like.”
Shock spread on my face as I took a look at the table. He must have been up for much longer than I had realized. The table was filled with piles of bacon, sausage, eggs, and pancakes. The new look of the kitchen was surprising. Everything had a new bright gleam as the light danced across all the sterling silver surfaces.
“Hope you’re hungry,” he said as he walked to the table and pulled a chair out for me. “I got a little carried away this morning.”
I took the seat he offered and noticed as my cheeks flushed red that the pancakes were pink and shaped into hearts.
Alex took the seat next to me and started dishing food onto his plate. “Happy Valentine’s Day,” he said as he glanced up at me for a moment.
I stiffened for a moment. The pancakes and the big breakfast instantly made sense. I had almost forgotten that this day was upon us. It took me only a moment to calm down by reminding myself that I didn’t have to face the hypocritical novelties of the holiday as long as I didn’t go out. The white fluffy stuff on the ground was certainly going to prevent that.
“And to you as well,” I finally managed to squeak out.
“How’d you sleep last night?” he asked after swallowing a huge bite of eggs.
I nearly choked on my orange juice as it went down. I coughed violently for a second before I could speak. “Fine,” I lied as I put the glass back down, before I could accidently spill it.
“You okay?” he asked. I couldn’t tell if his tone was sincere or slightly amused.
“Yeah,” I said as I dabbed a napkin at my mouth to make sure there was nothing embarrassing there. “How do you like your new fancy stove?” I asked, trying to very quickly change the subject before I had to lie any more.
This instantly brought a smile to his face. “It’s awesome,” he said with that huge grin on his face. “And I even had all six burners on this morning. Though I may not have actually been using them all,” he added a little more quietly.
Food threatened to spray across the table as a laugh burst from my lips. Embarrassment washed over me immediately and I tried to cover it by shoveling another forkful into my mouth. I savored every bite as it went down. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had a hot breakfast, much less one that was this good.
“So what are your plans for the day?” he asked.
I swallowed a large bite of bacon before I spoke. “Don’t really have any. I certainly won’t be going anywhere,” I said as I looked out the window.
“There’s no lucky man on his way to take you out for a romantic Valentines?” he said with a wry smile.
I felt myself blush again under his gaze. “Nope, can’t say there is,” I said. “What about you? Is there some woman you’re going to rush off to later to pick up?”
He gave a slight laugh. “Relationships have been pretty hard to maintain for me. It’s a little difficult to have them when you’re running all over the world. And I learned very quickly that long distance relationships just don’t work out.”
What he said made sense, but part of me was shocked that this gorgeous specimen before me could possibly be single.
“At least we’ve got each other today,” he said as he looked back into his plate. I wasn’t sure how he had meant for me to interpret this. His tone was innocent and did not imply anything. I tried to ignore how my heart gave a faint flutter before bursting into a throbbing race.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen snow,” he continued casually. “I was thinking it might be fun to venture out into it for a while today. You want to come?”
I looked out the window again. The snow would easily come above my knees. “I guess,” I said with a hesitant grin as I continued to look out the window, trying not to think about how cold it had to be outside.
A boyish grin spread on his face as he turned his full attention back to his plate. He began shoveling his food down at an impressive speed.
“Whoa!” I laughed as I watched him. “Slow down, you’re going to choke! A little excited, are we?”
“Not going to waste any time,” he said through a mouthful of food.
His enthusiasm was contagious and I couldn’t help but be swept up in it as I too scarfed down the rest of the food on my plate. It was too bad; I would have liked to have taken my time to enjoy it. But more than my desire to savor every bite, I wanted to go and have some fun with this pretty amazing man next to me.
As soon as we were both finished, we sprang from our seats and raced down the stairs, neither of us bothering to even clear our dishes from the table or put any of the extra food away. As soon as I reached my door I froze.
“I don’t have any snow stuff,” I called to Alex who was already in his room. “What should I wear?”
“I don’t either,” he said with a laugh. “I’m just going to put on as many layers as I can.”
I gave a shrug before going into my room and following his advice. A minute or so later Alex entered the apartment and I couldn’t help but laugh at his appearance. His legs were bulging and looked oddly swollen due to the multiple layers of pants. I could tell he had on several sweaters under his rain coat and he had a scarf wrapped around his neck and covering half his face. All this was topped with an orange wool hunting hat.
“How do I look?” he said using a dramatic Spanish accent as he struck a manly pose.
“Amazing,” I said with a stupid giggle, not being completely sarcastic. I suddenly felt like a fourteen-year-old girl.
“You don’t look so bad yourself,” he said with a wink as he looked at me.
I was dressed similarly, with so many layers of clothing it was difficult to move.
“Shall we?” he said as he indicated the door.
“Let’s go.”
As I expected, as soon as the door was opened, a large pile of snow dumped itself onto my floor. After a few moments we had both scooped it up and plowed our way through the wall.
I had never seen any place more beautiful in the winter tha
n Washington. It did not snow more than a dozen times in the winter but when it did, the effect was enchanting. The way the snow left a soft dusting on the towering evergreens never ceased to stop me in my tracks for a moment and take in its beauty. It was breathtaking.
The property the house was set on was a fairly steep hill, dropping quickly from the road above down to the lake, the house clinging to the sloping side. One wrong step and it wouldn’t be too difficult to slide all the way from the top toward the frigid waters.
“This is why I love Washington,” Alex said as he paused on the deck to overlook the view before us. “Southern California is nice in its own way but it doesn’t have half the beauty this place does.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” I said, watching the stream curl from my mouth, drift upward, then disappear.
Alex glanced over at me and that sly smile threatened to break through. Just as I caught the mischievous gleam in his eye, I knew it was already too late.
“Gotch’ ya!” he bellowed just as he dumped a handful of snow on my head.
By the time I screamed and wiped the snow off he was already half way up the hill, running toward the road. I bent down and picked up a handful of the powder and formed it into a ball. My aim was surprisingly accurate considering the many cumbering layers I wore and the snowball landed square on the back of his head.
I couldn’t remember the last time I had felt so lighthearted and care free as we chased each other around the yard, throwing snowballs as fast as we could. There weren’t many times when I had allowed myself to be so relaxed around anyone, parents and friends included. It seemed so easy for Alex to bring out a side of me that I didn’t think existed, a part of me that just wanted to be me and felt free to be just me.
“I don’t think that’s the best spot to lie down,” I said with a chuckle as I watched Alex lay right in the middle of the road.
He sat back up and looked to his left then to his right before looking back up at me with a smirk. “I really don’t think anyone’s going to be driving on this road for quite a while.”
I had to admit he was probably right. Even though it was nearly ten, there weren’t any tire tracks on the road yet. We were pretty well snowed in.
With a blissful sounding sigh, he tilted his head back until he fell perfectly flat on the snowy road. I chuckled at him and shook my head. I looked across the road to the hill that rose up from it, wondering if we would be able to find a straight enough path to sled between the trees.
“Come make a snow angel with me, Jessica!” Alex said in innocent delight.
As I looked down, I was fairly sure my heart stopped beating for a moment. Flashbacks from my nightmares filled my head as I beheld the perfectly beautiful man with piercing blue eyes and brilliant wings newly formed at his side.
“I…I…” I stammered, frozen in terror. My hands started shaking and I felt slightly weak in the knees. My ears started ringing and I couldn’t concentrate on any other sound. My breath came in sharp, painful bursts. The scar on the back of my neck prickled and started to burn.
“Jessica?” a voice called but it sounded muffled and very far away.
And then darkness swallowed me whole.