* * *
Jason's mom took the news about Clemson in stride although it was obvious she'd hoped he was going to stay close. They'd talked about her moving south, but she wasn't ready to move again so soon—they left it as a possibility for later. Most surprisingly, she was truly glad I was going with him.
All along I hadn't given much thought to what would happen after high school, but now, Jason and I had a future and that glow inside—the one that happened when he was with me—a part of that was always there now.
It hadn't snowed since the big storm, but there were flurries in the forecast and according to Jason's mom, when the weatherman predicted flurries you'd better batten down the hatches—especially in December. We'd just finished our Saturday night board game with Jason's mom. She got up for her predictable trip to the sink.
"Oh look," she said, peering out the window, "it's starting to snow."
Jason ran over and flipped on the floodlights and then we joined her at the window.
"Wow, that was fast, it's already covered the grass." Jason said.
Jason's mom went to turn on the television to see what the weatherman had to say, which was kind of weird because she already said he was always wrong.
"Want to go for a walk?" Jason said. "What's wrong?" he whispered when he noticed my mood change.
"The snow makes hunting much more difficult."
"I always thought it made it easier—you know to track the game. Ah, footprints."
"Exactly. We already have to travel a long way to find suitable hunting grounds—the other side of the Potomac."
"Really, that far." He looked closely at my eyes.
"I'm fine, we hunted yesterday. How about downtown, they put the Christmas decorations up last week. I bet they're beautiful in the snow. Maybe you could take some pictures—something your mom could use for Christmas cards."
"Yeah, that's a great idea." He turned toward the family room. "Mom, we're going to go into town to see the decorations in the snow. I'll take some pictures."
"Oh that would be wonderful, I could use one for our Christmas card."
"That's what Izzy thought. Be right back." Jason ran upstairs to get his camera.
A few minutes later, he came stumbling down the stairs.
"In a hurry much?" I said.
"See you, Mom!"
"Be careful, the weatherman still thinks this is flurries."