It Snowed Again Last Night

Ryan reached for Karina as he was coming out of a sleepy haze, but she wasn't there.  He sat up and found her; bent over so her elbows sat on the window sill, her forehead pressed against the glass and her light brown hair pushed back behind her ears.



"Good morning, beautiful."



His sudden intrusion startled her out of her silent reverie. "I didn't realize you were awake!" she giggled.



"Just woke up." Ryan groaned as he stretched. "Whatchya looking at?"



Karina smiled her irresistable smile, danced a little happy dance and pulled Ryan to the window, "It snowed last night!"



Ryan wrapped his arms around his beautiful girlfriend and inhaled her sweet scent, relishing in the feel of her skin against his.  Karina hugged his arms and lay her head back against his chest.



Ryan kissed Karina's cheek and asked, "What do you say we ditch work and walk down to that little diner on the corner and have some breakfast?"



Karina turned to Ryan and kissed him on his lips, "I say let's do it!"



The couple walked hand-in-hand down the empty street, laughing about the finer points of the '24-hour bug' and salivating about what they were going to have for breakfast. After eating, they took two coffees to go and walked around the city; window-shopping and taking in the sights that they were normally too busy to notice every other day.



Karina stopped to adjust one of her boots. Ryan turned to look at her and, for the first time in a long time, he was overwhelmed by her beauty.  It had been too long since he last stopped to take her in as he was now; the way her bangs danced across her eye brows and lashes and cascaded down the side of her face, her intensely expressive chocolate brown eyes, her full lips that naturally curved up at the edges, the way she looked in his jacket... even the way the snow was landing on her was perfection of beauty that Venus herself would be envious of.



Karina noticed a change in Ryan and smiled, "Ground Control to Major Tom. Can you hear me Major Tom?"



Ryan blushed, when he realized that he had been caught staring, "I couldn't help myself. You're just so beautiful."



It was Karina's turn to blush now.



He helped her to her feet and wrapped her in a tender, loving and passionate embrace that took their breath away. They had been together for three months. Ryan knew that there was something truly special about Karina, but it wasn't until this very moment that he realized that he would never feel about another woman the way he felt about her.



"I love you."  He had said it before.  He even thought that he meant it before.  Saying it to her, in the snow, it felt like it was the first time he had ever said it.  A tear formed in his left eye and threatened to fall.



Karina had heard those words before.  She had even said them before, too.  Hearing him say those words to her, in the snow, she finally knew that they were real and not just words people throw around.



They didn't hear the plow until it was almost too late and had to dive out of the way into a very large pile of snow to avoid being squashed like bugs.

That night, Ryan and Karina sat together on the sofa watching old movies and feeding each other popcorn and ice cream.  At the end of 'The Maltese Falcon', they put their bowls in the sink and retired to the bedroom.  Karina had taken her contacts out and was wearing her cat's eyes glasses, her hair in twin braids resting on her shoulders.  She stripped down into a light pink cami and a pair of white boy shorts.  Ryan was already dressed for bed in a pair of loose-fitting flannel lounge pants and a ribbed a-shirt. They made sweet love before falling asleep, tangled in a lovers' embrace.

The next morning, Karina reached for his warmth as she grudgingly relenquished sleep's hold of her. He wasn't there.  He wasn't anywhere.  She called out to him and he responded by entering the room, bringing her breakfast in bed.



Ryan smiled as he set the tray, "It snowed again last night."