* * *
We ended up going back to Jason's house after the party at school, the snow—well the forecast for ten more inches overnight put the kibosh on going out to celebrate. Like the previous night, Jason's mom was well—overly accommodating. I couldn't help feel like I was taking Jason away from her. It was funny, in a way, I think she felt like she was monopolizing his time as well.
"Mom!" Jason yelled up the stairs. "We're going to take the Rover out to play in the snow and then I'm going to take Izzy home. "Mom?" he called again when she didn't answer. He glanced at me.
"She's okay. I think she wants to talk to you."
"Great."
"Really? After all she's done for you—for us?"
"You're right. Be right back." He ran up the stairs and then came back down a few minutes later. "She just wants us to be care—"
"I know."
"Right. Well, lets go have some fun."
Jason used a push broom to clear off the windshield and then we hopped in. There was already about eight inches of snow on the ground and it was still coming down hard. "I've been waiting for this moment ever since your dad gave me the Rover."
I reached over and squeezed his thigh. "This moment?" I pulled myself across the console onto his lap and kissed him.
"Did you forget, my mom said you were in a fragile state?"
I pressed my lips against his and kissed him even more passionately, if that was possible. His heart was racing. "Who's fragile?" I teased.
"Can we please play in the snow?"
I laughed and slid back over on my side. "Boys and their toys. Show me what you've got."
The Rover was pretty amazing in the snow and Jason was quite adept at driving—he said he learned from driving dune buggies in the desert sand and video games. We'd been out for several hours—well after midnight when he lost it on a tight turn on Moser Road. I lunged toward him to help, but we were already going down the embankment when I got hold of the steering wheel. It was still a good thing, I managed to miss two trees before we came to an abrupt stop. Jason was a good sport about it and took my help in stride.
"Well," he said, "now what? I don't think even the Rover can climb out of this ravine."
"We could make out."
"I'm serious."
"Don't you know where we are?"
Jason looked toward the in-dash GPS, but I covered the screen with my hand. "No cheating."
Jason looked around, but it was hard to see much through the icy windows and almost whiteout conditions outside. "Near your house."
"Yes, but you're guessing. The name Moser Road mean anything to you?"
He smiled. "Are you sure?"
"Absolutely."
Jason peered out the windshield, up our tracks toward the road above. "This is where Derrick ran you off the road." He grimaced. "And I got poison ivy."
"It was a storm, just like tonight, but a thunderstorm, not snow." I said.
"Did you hear that?" A roll of thunder echoed through the valley. "Of course you did. Can it really thunder snow?"
"I guess so." I said and scooted up on the console. "I'm not a fan of the console."
"Your Malibu was down here, so can I assume you can get us out?"
"You can."
Jason pulled me down and kissed me.
"Finally."