Delayed

Chapter 2

It was snowing.  Seriously?  This wasn't in the forecast at all.  The coffee pot dripped beside me and the scent of it started to fill the room.  I was the first one up and just stood staring at the unexpected flakes falling fast towards the ground.  A cozy mountain cabin in the snow; this was the stuff movies were made of, right?  The knot of tension that had been threatening me the whole trip settled into the space just under the tip of my right shoulder blade.  What was that movie with Kathy Bates and the writer guy?  Based on something by Stephen King, I think.  I reached my hand back to rub at the knot.

"Morning." I jumped at Ben's voice.  "Didn't mean to sneak up on you.  What's all this?" He nodded toward the window.

"What was that movie with the crazed woman who wanted to murder the writer?"

He looked confused.

"You know, the one with the cabin and the snow?"

"Misery?"

"That's it."

He laughed good-naturedly.  "That's your first thought about a cabin in the snow?"

I shrugged and grabbed two mugs from the cabinet above the coffee pot. "We can't all be hopeless romantics."

"Call me crazy, but I think there's a step or two between hopeless romance and murder."

"You'd prefer a witty romantic comedy, huh?" I teased.

He shrugged and sipped his coffee. "If it wasn't a documentary about an artist, an architect, green building trends, or the decline of cities, I probably haven't seen it."

"Is it weird to be done with school?  Not to be in the middle of some project?" I asked, referencing the fact that he had just graduated a few weeks ago.

"It just feels like the normal winter holiday, to be honest."

We sipped our coffee in silence.

"Are you going to miss being in school?"

"Not so much."

I wasn't even really sure why I asked.  Clearly there were things he would miss far more than school.  He and Kate were staying here for two weeks to soak up as much time with each other as they could before he moved.

"What's with the nostalgia?" he asked.

"Huh?" 

"You're all old movies and missing things and staring out windows this morning."

"Whatever," I deflected.  The thing is I did feel nostalgic, but I hadn't the slightest idea why.

"What the hell?" Dave said, rubbing his eyes and staring out the window as he emerged from the bedroom into the common living space.

"I know," I surprised myself at the level of whine in my voice.

Dave was now closer to the window, leaning in toward it to look up at the sky like a little boy.

"You have to admit this is pretty cool," he said in my direction as he poured himself a mug of coffee.  It was unclear whether he missed my tone or was purposefully ignoring it.  My guess was the latter.

"I'm supposed to leave for that conference in Philly in the morning," I tried to make my voice level, matter-of-fact, but the whine was still there.

"Weren't you just saying you wished you didn't have to go?" Dave asked.

"So this is all your doing?" Ben chimed in.

"I mean sure, I wasn't crazy about flying out the day after New Year's, but now it's just going to be this crazy back and forth: Is my flight leaving?  Is it not? Can I even get to my flight?  What is the latest I can leave and still make the presentation?" My face was getting hot.