Snowdrop in a Storm Read online

  Amber kept them updated on the long drive back from the airport. With the new additions, the family around Daniel had grown. Surely, there would be more bumps along the way, but he felt confident they’d manage to overcome them. Together.

  After arriving in town safely, Amber made a final call so they could all wish each other a fun evening and to settle on a time for the next day. The dumplings wouldn’t make themselves after all.

  Half an hour later, though, just as they were digging into their dinner, Daniel’s phone rang.

  “Hey,” Leon said as soon as he picked up. “Do you have any idea where Nick might be? He’s not answering.”

  Daniel motioned to Jeff to lean in so he could hear the conversation. “Didn’t Amber drop you off at his place?”

  “She did, but I’ve been knocking for a while now. His phone’s been off, too. We figured he didn’t charge it. How concerned should I be? Should I…call someone?”

  Jeff was out of his seat before Leon finished speaking. Daniel handed him the phone.

  “What’s going on?” Abby asked in a small voice.

  “We don’t know yet,” Daniel told her. “No reason to worry, though, okay?” He took her hand, offering her the most reassuring smile he could. There really was no point in alarming her if it turned out to be nothing. He encouraged her to continue eating, keeping an eye on her and an ear on Jeff’s side of the conversation.

  “Okay,” Jeff was saying, “now take a left. There should be a pharmacy on the right, around the corner. Good, good, go past that. And then cross the street and go straight ahead. Yeah, that’s right, under the ivy. There’s a café there in the summer. You should see the park now. Okay, go to the left, then turn right, and then the second alley to the left again.”

  He took a longer pause, and Daniel held his gaze in support when he looked over.

  “He’s there,” Jeff said with a long breath. “Okay, call us if you need anything else.”

  He kissed the top of Abby’s head when he returned to the table, smiled with a nod. “All’s good. Uncle Nick’s gonna get more smooches tonight.”

  “IS THIS SEAT taken?”

  Nick looked up to see Leon, standing there outlined by the muted glow of the nearby streetlight, and wondered idly if hallucinations were a symptom of anything. He shifted over. Leon didn’t disappear. Instead, he dropped his backpack against the bench and sat with a groan.

  “Man, that thing’s heavy.”

  Nick poked his arm. Solid. “What are you doing here?”

  “What do you mean what I’m doing here? We had plans, remember?”

  He didn’t, actually. He would’ve. Nick rubbed at his cheek with his sleeve. “What?”

  Leon frowned, more confused than upset. “Sara and Amber arranged for us to spend the rest of our vacation here. Scope out the town before our transfer, maybe find a place to rent. And then you and me—” He stopped when Nick wiped at his other cheek. When he spoke again, his voice was quiet, too much so. “We were supposed to spend tonight together.”

  “I didn’t know that,” Nick rasped. For the span of a breath, his mind was stuck on transfer.

  With an aborted gesture and a half-bitten sound, Leon stood up. “We talked about this at the first lunch we had together. We’re going over to Daniel’s tomorrow to make dumplings.” He put a hand over his eyes, muttered, “I’m so stupid,” and Nick’s heart twisted.

  “I’m sorry, I wasn’t paying attention,” he said. It was his fault, not Leon’s.

  “What could have been more important than the plans we were making?” Leon asked, arms raised at his sides.

  Nick opened his mouth and, instead of something sensible, said, “I was looking at you.”

  It was high time this dream ended, and judging by how the vision of Leon froze there, it wouldn’t be much longer. Nick closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around himself to wait it out.

  The air shifted with the rustle of clothes. Leon’s knee was warm against Nick’s thigh, his palm even more so on the chilled skin of his cheek. His thumb brushed Nick’s eyelashes, carrying away the wetness there. Nick shuddered.

  “Take your time,” Leon whispered.

  That, more than anything, made Nick look back at him. Dreams were never that considerate. Leon’s gaze was assessing, but there was no judgment in it, only patience.

  “Well, this is embarrassing,” Nick croaked.

  “For you, maybe,” Leon countered. “Imagine how hard I’m gonna tease you about this. Our children’s children will know the story. It will be told across generations.”

  Nick’s breath stuttered at that, and he grabbed Leon’s wrist on instinct.

  “Unless you don’t want to spend New Year’s with me,” Leon added, lower that time. “Or go on the dates I want to ask you on. In which case, it would be embarrassing for me.”

  By the time he was finished, his hand was slack in Nick’s grip, and he was staring somewhere in the middle distance. Nick really wanted to smooth that crease between his eyebrows. Instead, he cradled Leon’s fingers in his palms, pressed his mouth to his knuckles.

  “For New Year’s…what did you have in mind?”

  Leon licked his lips. “Abby’s been singing your praises, so I was gonna convince you to cook. Then we’d watch the fireworks together. I’d kiss you at midnight, and then—”

  “Then?”

  “Whatever you’d let me have.”

  “Let’s spend it together, then,” Nick said. “And we’ll see about the rest.”

  Leon’s face cleared, and he gave a nod with a smile, but it was far from the mirth Nick had gotten used to seeing there. He stood, pulling at Leon’s hand.

  “Come on, I have a dinner to cook.”

  THERE WEREN’T ENOUGH ingredients at home to create a meal from scratch, but Nick had bought a roast which only needed heating; he could stir-fry veggies for a side dish. Some salad with tomatoes and cucumbers was easy to put together, too.

  As he worked, Leon watched from one of the chairs at the kitchen table. It felt good to have company, and Nick allowed a fantasy of future food preparation to unfold. They’d be sweaty in the summer, fighting mosquitoes and trying to eat their weight in ice cream. It would smell like pumpkin in autumn. Maybe.

  “Do you like pumpkin?” he asked Leon.

  “Huh? Oh, yeah. I guess pumpkin pie is nice.”

  “Good.”

  It was quiet again, for a bit, the pan sizzling, the knife falling intermittently onto the cutting board. When he turned off the stove, Leon helped set the table.

  And then it got too quiet.

  “Why were you crying, back in the park?”

  Nick’s throat clicked audibly as he swallowed. For a fleeting moment, he considered denying it, but he’d been going into this—whatever it was—with Leon headfirst, no safety net, since the moment Leon walked out of that bathroom in only a towel. Nick squared his shoulders and turned to him.

  “Because I was lonely, and because I was under the impression you thought of us as a brief fling.”

  Leon huffed, looking to the side. “Nick,” he said, gripping Nick’s hand over the table corner. “I don’t run through the snow after just anybody. I don’t abandon my sister and my kids for a fling. I genuinely like you, and I think we might have a chance at something.”

  Nick’s heart was in his throat; he didn’t remember his face being that hot. Ever.

  “Hell,” he managed to choke out. “Warn a guy, would you?”

  Leon smirked, but it started to slide off the longer Nick stared at him, helpless. Nick turned his hand and weaved his fingers through Leon’s. Most times, words failed him if he wasn’t writing them for other people, but right then, in that quiet moment, he knew what to say.

  “You make me feel like a snowdrop.”

  The corners of Leon’s lips quirked upward, half-wary.

  “Safe and warm under the snow,” Nick continued. “Guiding me out. And even then, after I’m back in the light, I know you’ll ho
ld me tight, keeping me upright. Until I’m ready to stand on my own.”

  “Snowdrop, huh?” Leon was smiling. “And if I’m the snow in this scenario, what happens when I melt?”

  Nick smiled back. “You’re not the snow. You are the spring.”

  “I’m gonna kiss you now. Just to shut you up.” Leon shook his head. “It’s just not fair—”

  “Okay.”

  Leon moved, as if with single-minded focus, to press hot and hungry lips on Nick’s.

  THERE WERE NO parties in Nick’s building, thankfully. People had gone into the streets for the midnight countdown, and fireworks banged about noisily for a while. He and Leon sat on the balcony to watch them together.

  They met the first moment of the year sharing a breath.

  Nick rolled his head onto the backrest of the chair, running a thumb over Leon’s where their hands were still clutched tight. Occasionally, voices carried up from the street, but it was peaceful, overall, much like it had been at the park. Wait.

  “You said transfer, before.”

  Leon laughed. “You missed that, too.”

  “What,” Nick defended. “You were distracting me with your ridiculous flirting and your smile and your eyes and—”

  “Okay, okay. I get it; I’m mesmerizing. But yes,” he said, growing serious. “Sara and Amber are aiming for the long run, and when a position opened over here, she snatched it. Convinced me to follow, not that it was hard. I usually go where she goes.”

  “Where will you work?”

  “Sara’s at the middle school, and I’m at the high school. Not looking forward to dealing with hormonal teenagers, but it’s the best I could find on such short notice, at least until a spot opens up at the elementary. I like working with that age group better.”

  “Good luck with that,” Nick said sympathetically. “What subject will you teach?”

  “Me and Sara, we’re both math.”

  “Wow.”

  Leon chuckled. “You thought I was just a pretty face?”

  “No,” Nick hurried to say. “I saw you with the kids, and during the tournament, teaching them chess, you were really good at strategy—” He closed his mouth and pressed his lips together. So much for being smooth.

  But Leon ducked his head, and Nick felt his ramblings were well received anyway.

  He leaned down and in for a kiss.

  And another.

  Nick yawned.

  “Lightweight,” Leon teased. “Let’s get you to bed. Do you mind if I wash up first?”

  THEY ENDED UP taking turns in the shower, and as Nick pulled his pajamas on, Leon rummaged through his backpack. In only a towel. It was a thing with him, it seemed. When he finally found what he’d been looking for, he handed it over to Nick.

  A blank journal. Nice, velvety covers, a pen tucked inside the spine.

  “If you’re ever in the mood to write about yourself, or original stories, or whatever. Actually, wait.” Leon plucked it right back. He opened it, pulled the pen out, and scribbled something on the first page. “Here.”

  To Snowdrop. Kisses, Spring.

  Nick hugged it to his chest. “Do you ever stop?”

  “Do you want me to?”

  “No, definitely not.” His cheeks hurt from smiling. “Thank you. I don’t have a present for you, sorry.”

  “Are you kidding me? You compared me to spring. My heart will never recover from that gift, and I’ll never let you live it down, either. You did this to yourself, pretty boy.”

  Nick wanted to poke him in the side, face hot, but instead, he ended up splaying his fingers on the expanse of skin. His breath caught on an inhale.

  “I’m glad you’re here,” Nick whispered.

  “Me too. So, what do we do now?”

  “We cuddle.”

  They got under the covers and lay there like before, Nick on his back, Leon snuggled against him. The only thing Nick could think of, though, was the layers of cotton between them. Such a shame Leon had put a T-shirt on. His fingers tingled with the need to touch. He wanted to feel that warmth uninterrupted against his own.

  “Your heart’s beating really fast,” Leon said. He pushed himself up, leaning over Nick. “Out with it.”

  Nick took a deep breath. “Can we be naked?”

  “Sweaty naked or—?”

  “No, just like this,” he explained as he ran his hand down Leon’s back, “but without clothes.”

  Leon paused, considering, and in the end shook his head with a huff. “The things I do… Okay, off.”

  Neither of them was very elegant as they squirmed out of their clothing underneath the blankets, but it didn’t matter. They pressed close, holding each other as tightly as they could. Brightness settled over Nick, unmistakable even with his eyes closed.

  JEFF’S HOUSE STOOD in the middle of a clearing, at the edge of where the forest blended into their town at the foot of the mountains. Nick had been hearing of plans for it since childhood, how many stories it would have, what color the roof shingles would be… But it never failed to make his stomach flip every time he saw it. Jeff had built it after Nick had disappeared from his life, and being allowed inside, into this monument of what Jeff had accomplished on his own, was humbling. A warning—to not take the good in his life for granted, ever again.

  “Are you all right?” Leon asked, standing next to him.

  It had been snowing since midday, and now, with the lowering light of the winter afternoon, with the windows glowing in an orange hue, the home in front of him seemed taken out of a fairy tale. The image—its meaning—unspooled the tight knot of yearning hiding away at the back of his mind. For once, he wasn’t as afraid of it as he’d been.

  “Yes,” he said. “I just realized how much I still want a family.”

  The snow crunched under Leon’s feet. “It’s okay to want that.” He wrapped an arm around Nick’s waist and pulled his head down with the other to place a kiss on his forehead.

  “But do I want to tempt fate again?”

  Leon shrugged. “I guess you’ll have to see when the time comes. Or, you know, adopt.”

  The softness within him expanded. “I really like you, you know that?”

  Leon hummed, said, “Maybe you should provide some proof to that effect,” and Nick pulled him closer by the front of his jacket.

  The kiss was short, sweet.

  “One day, I’m going to get my hands on you,” Leon promised, something exquisitely filthy in his voice, “and then I’ll prove how much I like you.”

  Nick couldn’t help himself. He grinned. “Sure, we can try that next year.”

  “You,” Leon gasped, “must be a glutton for punishment because that definitely would kill me.”

  Nick huffed, but as soon as the sound was out, it grew again in his chest until it turned into laughter. Leon dragged him forward, and he was still shaking with it when the door opened.

  Light from inside spilled over them, encompassing, inviting.

  Nick stepped through.

  Being there, surrounded by this family on the first day of the year… Nick recognized it for what it was. A stepping-stone. He wasn’t going to delude himself that the mistakes of the past no longer had effects on their lives, but it felt like their damage was being repaired, bit by tiny bit, into something new. Something whole.

  “Okay, who wants to fold the first one?” Daniel asked.

  We should all do it together, Lauren’s voice whispered on the trail of a memory, and Nick repeated it out loud.

  “We should all do it together.”

  His fingers were busy, the combined joy of their gathering rising in the air when he let himself imagine her there with them. Maybe perched on the armrest of the sofa, hands extended toward the fire.

  “Look,” Abby said. “You have to do it like this.”

  “Show me again?” he asked.

  Abby demonstrated, and Nick let the vision go.

  He turned his attention to the present, to the people around
him. To the press of Leon against his side, Jeff’s contentment, Abby’s laughter.

  To life.

  About the Author

  Ava Kelly is an engineer with a deep passion for stories. Whether reading, watching, or writing them, Ava has always been surrounded by tales of all genres. Their goal is to bring more stories to life, especially those of friendship and compassion, those dedicated to trope subversion, those that give the void a voice, and those that spawn worlds of their own.

  Facebook: www.facebook.com/ava.kelly.9887

  Twitter: @ThunderEternal

  Website: www.avakellyfiction.com

  Instagram: thunder.eternal

  Patreon: www.patreon.com/join/avakelly

  Other books by this author

  Snow Globes

  Home in a Snowstorm

  Family in a Snowstorm

  “It Started Before Noon” within Into the Mystic, Volume Three

  Also Available from NineStar Press

  Connect with NineStar Press

  Website: NineStarPress.com

  Facebook: NineStarPress

  Facebook Reader Group: NineStarNiche

  Twitter: @ninestarpress

  Tumblr: NineStarPress