A Snowflake Wish

“Doesn’t matter. Just dress warmly.”

January worried that Samantha was going to drag her to the Pineville Solstice Celebration Festival downtown tonight through her entire shower. As she pulled on her jeans and knee-high boots, she even considered making up an excuse to keep from going out. But she knew Samantha wasn’t going to fall for any of it. When her friend was determined to do something, there was no backing out of it.

Of course, January felt that she owed it to Samantha after the sound piece of advice she had given her not too long ago.

“Keep the past in the past,” January reminded herself as she shook her hair free of its twist, letting it fall in soft waves around her shoulders. Through her reflection January looked over herself, loving the way the blood-red sweater set off her peach skin tone and the blonde highlights in her hair.

Satisfied with her appearance, she made her way to her coat closet and grabbed an ivory scarf and hat. While she had sat on the couch, she noticed how heavily the snow had begun to fall. It was actually surprising to have Samantha venture out to her house with the storm the way it was, but in Pineville, everyone knew how to maneuver in the slushy mess.

“Samantha!” she called out. “Can you give me a hint about where we’re going? Am I dressed okay?” Too busy expertly knotting the scarf around her neck, January walked into the living room and looked up in alarm when she didn’t receive an answer.

She had been expecting to find Samantha playing on her phone, ignoring the world around her. What January didn’t expect to find was Deckard standing beside her Christmas tree, holding her coat in his hand.

“What? How?” she stuttered as she tried to figure out why Deckard would be standing in her kitchen looking so devilishly handsome, when he should be with his family.

“I want to take you somewhere,” Deckard said softly as he held open her coat for her to slip into.

“Deckard, I’m sorry, I. . .” she tried to explain, but couldn’t quite get past the lump in her throat. January hadn’t ever heard Deckard sound this way. He was almost. . .sad. And her first thought was that she upset him by ditching him and his family today, and now he was going back to Atlanta early.

Served her right, she thought.

The assurance she was waiting and hoping for didn’t come, but the soft squeeze of Deckard’s hand in hers as he guided her from her house was more than she could have asked for.

Silently he helped her into his truck and backed out of her driveway heading away from town. January knew better than to ask where they were going. For all she knew, he was going to drag her to his grandparents’ house just to spite her.

January wouldn’t blame him.

The silence was beginning to crush her as the world darkened around them. Their surroundings changed from homes and sidewalk-lined streets to fields and trees.

It was all too much.

“I’m sorry for bailing today. I’m just feeling a bit overwhelmed and guilty and I think it got the best of me. I didn’t mean to upset your family.”

She wanted a reply, needed one to ease her conscious, but Deckard took the hand that had been resting on the center console and gently clasped hers.

“Don’t you have something to say? Anything? Like, are you mad? I can’t read you right now and it’s freaking me out.”

The truck effortlessly maneuvered around a bend in the road, then Deckard took a quick glance at her, grinning warmly, but he still remained silent.

Her agitation was starting to rise and January wanted nothing more than to lash out at Deckard, but in the back of her mind she felt that maybe she deserved his reservations. She was the one to back out of their plans.

The beautiful blue glow from the moon illuminated on the profile of his face and January felt an ache ping in her chest. She was going to miss him, this beautiful and stubborn man that didn’t give up when she rejected him the first time, this man that undoubtedly believed her tale of wishing away Christmas, this man that wanted nothing more than to spend what little time he had in Pineville with her.

She couldn’t take it anymore and with a final plea, January’s voice cracked. “Deckard, please.”

“We’re here,” he revealed as he put the truck in park and cut the engine. January turned to look out the window and found a beautiful barn illuminated by outdoor Edison lights. Horses were standing in their stalls, their heads just peeking out through the doorway.

“What’s this?” she turned back to ask him, but Deckard was already jumping down from the vehicle, his reply a slamming of his door. His pace was quick as he trudged around the truck and opened her door, holding out a hand to help her down.

“Before you say anything, I already had this planned out, but when you bailed this morning, I had to call in reinforcements,” he explained as he escorted her toward the barn that looked like something from a Christmas card.

Someone had taken the time to shovel a path from the entrance on the road up to the barn and January was grateful since the snow had continuously fallen for the last three days creating almost a foot of snow on the ground.

“Samantha,” she whispered. Squeezing his hand to get his attention, she waited for Deckard to turn his face toward her before she continued. “Deckard, I really am sorry. I was just not thinking straight.”

He stopped walking and used their conjoined hands to pull her closer. She could feel the heat radiating off of his body, even in the chilled temperature. “I know and I get it. I won’t lie and say I wasn’t upset that you canceled this morning, but I understood.”

“So, you’re not mad?”