| |
Saturday dawned bright and early, as Amy shuffled downstairs already dressed for the day. After dinner last night, Ray had decided to stay in town so they might spend today together. She had tossed and turned all night in anticipation of spending more time together. Ray had been a total gentleman as they spoke for hours over an Italian dinner last night. Today was an extension of that time, and she was looking forward to the hike they had planned. It had been so long since she had the time on the weekend to just unwind in nature.
With caffeine running through her veins, she checked her layers to ensure the cold would not affect their day together. Packing a few supplies, she recalled her snowshoes being laid out the night before and mentally checked everything else off her list. As she sat happily with her preparations on such short notice, she glanced at the clock and realized it was nearly time.
A knock two minutes later set her heart racing. She took a couple of steadying breaths and opened the door.
“Good Morning,” Ray said, “I thought we might want to try sledding, so I picked one up at the hardware downtown.”
“You don’t think we are a bit too old for that?”
“Never,” Ray said with a huge smile. “When I get too old for sledding, I think it is over.”
“Agreed,” she said, grabbing her backpack leaning against the wall by the doorway.
“I see you are ready.”
“Absolutely, I’m looking forward to the fresh air and sledding.”
“Lead the way,” Ray said, extending his arm in front of him.
They chatted the entire way to the McClinton Sand Dune, which was the entryway for the best hiking trail around. In the distance, they could hear the chatter of kids and knew the dune was probably littered with bodies having been thrown on the snow slick slopes.
They headed into the woods, and easily kept the conversation going with each step into the crunchy snow. They attached snowshoes as the depth of the banks impeded their progress.
It was easy to keep up with Ray, both in progress and conversation, as Amy felt all the stress of the past few weeks melt from her shoulders. Rabbits skittered in front of them, and she giggled. Deer came into view, and they discussed how hunting had been in the region this year. They found no shortage of topics to discuss while they spent time in nature. When finally, the dune came into earshot again, the voices of children rang out to greet them.
“You ready for this?” Ray asked as they cleared the woods into view of the bustling slope.
“I can’t wait,” she said, moving forward toward where they had parked. They put the snowshoes away and grabbed the round sled that Ray had bought.
Once they were back on the dune, they were greeted by Avery with Jayne in tow.
“Amy, so good to see you,” Avery greeted. “I had to show Jayne her first snow. She appears to love sledding even though I think this is a bit much for her still,” she said, about her nearly year-old daughter whose ruby red cheeks and clapping hands let Amy know just how much fun she was having.
“She appears to be loving it,” she agreed. “This is the first time on a sled for me, in nearly a decade.”
“Have fun,” Avery said, as her eyes wandered to Ray.
“Oh, this is Ray, an old high school friend,” she said, not sure how to introduce him, so going with the innocuous description.
“Nice to meet you,” Avery said, holding out a mitten hand in greeting.
“You also,” he replied.
Without more hesitation, he and Amy started in unison toward the dune. The morning hike caused her legs to feel the burn as they climbed to the top. As they waited for a place in the two lines that had formed, Ray bumped her shoulder. “I’ve had so much fun today.”
“Me too.”
“Good, remember that when we go down, as I recall from high school, you had tended to be a bit of a scaredy-cat when it came to going too fast down the runs,” he said teasingly.
“I was sixteen, and you were reckless, showing off for your buddies,” she poked her finger into his chest. “I’m older and wiser now, so see if you can keep up,” she said, grabbing the saucer sled from him and putting it on the ground.
As she sat in the scooped center, she raised her eyes, daring him to get behind her. As he folded his legs around her, she focused on making sure he got ditched in that beautiful snowbank at the bottom; she had her eye on. Then they might be even for that sledding incident from high school.
Kicking off with his booted foot, they took off like the wind. Hair blowing around under her cap, she felt free and laughing as they passed others on their way down. She prepped for the final landing, and as the snowbank loomed, she rolled off the sled to the left. Ray didn’t see it coming and ended up face-first in the bank. She rose and went to stand beside him.
“Now we are even,” she giggled.
“Not quite,” he said, flipping over and flinging the snowball he had formed at her.
“Oh, challenge accepted,” she laughed, stepping back to scoop up snow to form a ball, as she let her arm drop back, Ray stood with a ball in his again.
“You better think about this,” he warned.
She flung the ball a half-second before he returned fire.
