Before the snowflakes arrive

 When Valentina saw Dan with his friend Jory, she was a little peeved with him. What was he doing? Out drinking at sunset.

"Oh, you made it," he'd said with a playful grin. Maybe it was best he was a little tipsy. "I thought you two had other plans."

"Well, we've been making the rounds," she shrugged about their Thanksgiving. She said she couldn't eat another thing.

"I know what you mean," he nodded and shook Matty's hand as if after all that was Valentina's man. 

"Do you have a lot of time off for Thanksgiving?" He'd asked.

"Not really," she sighed. "Can we talk?"

"Of course." He was even lipped as he nodded and Matty went on in with Jory.

"I think you've been avoiding me," she'd said.

"I probably have." He kept nodding. "You know, we just can't catch a break lately at the hospital. And you know how it is." He shrugged. "I should have called, but you know... you're busy with your first semester."

Now she found herself nodding.

"I have been thinking about you," he told her. "You know, how you're doing. If you're staying well."

"I wish..." she couldn't even tell him what she wished. "I want us to have Christmas together." A slow tear slid down her cheek. She hadn't meant to cry. She said something got in her eye.

"It was probably the wind," Dan clarified about the eye matter. "I'd like that." He said about Christmas. He put his arm around her to shield her from the cold. "I know it's a long time coming."