Qylar held him tight for a few seconds before drawing away. He cupped Kenji’s cheek and smiled. Those smiles made Kenji’s heart speed up every time he saw them. Qylar stole a kiss and glanced outside. His brow soon furrowed.
Kenji looked over his shoulder and saw dark storm clouds far in the distance.
Qylar sighed. “I’m going to go unload the truck before it ends up under a foot of snow.”
“Do you really think it’ll snow?” Kenji asked, smiling broadly.
“They’re calling for it tomorrow morning.” Qylar sat up on the side of the bed and looked outside again. “Unless those clouds are rolling insuperslow, I’d say it’s coming tonight.”
“Good.I’ve been unimpressed with the lack of it driving here. I want to see snow.”
“You haven’t really seen it before, have you?”
Kenji scoffed. “I grew up in San Francisco, so what do you think?”
In the thirty-two years he’d lived in the Bay Area, he’d seen a few freak flurries, but zero accumulation. The closest he’d ever gotten was art, television, and movies.
“Well from the sounds of the storm that’s coming, you’ll see it very soon.” Qylar’s frown deepened. “You know, change of plans. I’m going to check the garage and see if there’s an empty bay in there. If it is, we can pull in and unload in the morning.”
“Yay,” Kenji said. He really wanted to investigate Aspen. They’d driven through a section that was all decorated for the holiday, and he wanted to see more.
“I brought a box Alex had already packed with staples like flour, sugar, and spices, but there’s not really anything we can eat in there. If there’s a chance we might get substantial snow tonightand can’t get out for a few days, we should probably get to a grocery store and stock up.”
“Oh shit,” Kenji said, jumping from the bed and bending for his briefs. “I hadn’t even thought about food.” He tugged them on. “I’m not used to being snowbound.”
“There’s a couple of grocers we passed on the way here. I should’ve stopped then—but I was too excited to show you the house,” Qylar said.
“The mansion,” Kenji corrected.
“Whatever. I don’t own it, so…”
Kenji shook his head, tugging on his shirt.
“Before we leave, we need to raid Alex’s closet and find you a sweater to layer over that. The temperature might drop before we get back and…”
Kenji lifted his gaze, curious why Qylar stopped talking.
“Give better…cover… for other things,” Qylar finally said, dragging his gaze from Kenji.
Kenji glanced down and back up to Qylar. “I think the shirt covers for the most part.”
“For the most part,” Qylar repeated. “Certain ways you turn it’s not covering so well.”
“Ah,” Kenji said. He got the last of his clothes on and found Qylar still working to get his last few things on. “Come on, slowpoke.”
After pulling his pickup into the garage and borrowing the keys to the Range Rover SUV inside it, they headed into town. Qylar smiled as he peeked at Kenji from the corner of his eye. They drove through the heart of Aspen, and Kenji was playing more of a tourist here than he had on an alien planet. Maybe it was all of the Christmas decorations and lights. Even he, a complete outsider, had come to believe there was something magical about the season.
That likely had more to do with Alex and the kids. Seeing Christmas through their eyes had given him a new perspective of it.
It was also his bottomless stomach. Holiday meals, snacks, and desserts, especially those through from November to January, were some of the best food he’d eaten on Earth.
He pulled in near one of the grocers, the one Cryss swore had the best food. “This place up here is a little bougie, but they’ve got a lot of premade or ready to cook stuff, which given my lack of cooking skill might save us from a few terrible meals.”
“I can cook a little,” Kenji said. “Not a lot, but a little.”
“Between the two of us, we just might survive.” He unhooked his belt and laughed. “I’ve never missed Cryss more than I do right now. His food more than him, of course, but don’t tell him that.”
Kenji chuckled.
