At No Time || Bruno Mars

67

Trystan was no stranger to snow. Growing up in New York, she had seen plenty of it, blanketing the silver and beige world about her until it was pushed against curbs and its white was turned into a muddy brown and silty black. At least she thought she was no stranger, but Aspen proved her personal experiences with it held very little against its climate.

When Peter had called and told her about Ron's offering, she was notably apprehensive. Speaking with Peter's boss and the company's image consultants over the phone had been the least of her worries, their overall pleasantness and concern for she and Peter's situation genuine. It was just that the last time she and Peter had spent somewhere disclosed, things did not end well. She was not very superstitious, but something in her gut kept gnawing at her about everything that could possibly be negative about the trip.

Snow buried the land beneath its crystals, and more was still falling as Trystan drove her rental truck down the carefully-salted road to Ron's residence. She rode passed town centers weighed down with Christmas decorations. It was two days before Christmas Eve, and last-minute buyers piled into the stores hoping to nab that one gift they had forgotten to get. The newest toys sat in the windows of some stores, and Trystan was silently grateful that Raina was asleep in her car seat so she would not plead to go inside "just to look" and promise not to beg for a new doll.

The small girl had gotten very little sleep on the plane, aggravated from the popping in her ears and slight turbulence that always made her nervous and cling to her mother's arm. Even though Yvonne preferred flying, she would make the thirteen hour-drive to Savannah whenever she would pick up Raina just so she would not have to get on a plane. "I just make a road trip out of it," she mused with a appreciative tap on the rental car she used. Neither she nor Trystan knew if the little girl fancied long car rides either—she always fell asleep thirty minutes into them, the drone of the vehicle lulling her right into slumber. 

But what came down would come back up, because Raina awakened once Trystan passed through the town and was going uphill on winding roads dusted with snow and  illuminated by street lights.

"Mommy, look at those big mountains!" Raina pointed sleepily at the gargantuan hills coated in layers of snow. She rubbed her eyes so her vision could clear. She had never seen mountains before and was thoroughly amazed. "Can we go touch them?"

Trystan chuckled in the driver's seat and looked at her daughter through the rear-view. "Not tonight, honey, but maybe later. We're gonna be here for a while, so I'll make sure you have plenty to do."

Raina nodded, content with that answer, and enamored herself with the snowy mountains and imagined what it would be like to ski down them as she had seen people do on commercials.

Evening was nearing as the sun hid behind the mountains and left behind an azure blue sky by the time they arrived to the home that was so large and its exterior so impeccably designed that it could be mistaken for a ski lodge.

"Mommy, whose big house is this?" Raina questioned as she tried to peer out her window to get a better look.

"This is where we'll be staying for the week. Isn't it nice?" Trystan asked as she grabbed her coat from the passenger seat and put it on.

"It's even more bigger than our house!" the little girl exclaimed as Trystan stepped out into the nippy Coloradan air and pulled open her door to help her out her seat.

Trystan laughed as she lifted her out of the car and set her on the ground. "It sure is, isn't it?"

"It's more colder here, too," Raina concluded and pressed against her mother's jean-clad leg for warmth.