It's no day for a snow day

Ice cold wind turned her cheeks bright red between parking her car in the lot and the front door of her office building. Snow drifts were knee deep in some places, forcing her to lift her feet a touch higher than she would have liked on the slippery pavement. But it was either that, or deal with soggy socks for the rest of the morning. This felt like a never-ending winter. The snow started early this year, a white Thanksgiving and Christmas. And now it looked like they would be having a white Easter too. Summer couldn't come fast enough. Then she would have some vacation time to take. She had visions of gardens and flowers. Beaches and sand and sun. Instead, it was the blast of forced hot air as she walked in the building.

Her wet boots squeaked on the freshly waxed floors as she walked down the hall towards her office. Somewhere along the way she must have lost a glove.

"Good morning, Kelsie!" she heard a co-worker call from behind.

Turning around she tried to decide if it was Stacy from accounting or Mara from personnel. It was so hard to see when the person was in a hat and scarf .

"Good morning to you, you look look like the abominable snowman! Did you fall in a snowbank?" Kelsie called back.

"Ha ha ha. No, the snow is just really picking up out there. Speaking of picking up. I picked up something that belongs to you, I think. Is this your glove?"

It was Mara. "Thanks Mara! You are a life saver! I am forever losing things," Kelsie said as she stopped at her office door.

"No problem. See you for lunch!" Mara called out as she left a slushy wet trail behind.

Kelsie set down her brown bag on her desk and saddlebag on the carpeted floor. She booted up her computer. Some day she will have a high speed computer. This one gets slower every day, she swears. She could paint and dry her nails by the time this one starts up in the morning. Especially on a Monday. Come on you lazy box of wires. You had two days of rest. Once the dinosaur came to life she began sorting through the dozens of emails that had come in over the weekend she was able to quickly delete the junk "Spring into new fashion!" or "You've been waiting for this..." She noted a meeting that she needed to attend later today. And then an email caught her attention. It was from her boss and the subject line said, "Friend from your past".

He wrote:

Kelsie,

This email was sent to me. I wasn't certain if I should send it on to you or not. Ultimately, the decision isn't mine to make if you respond or not. I am simply forwarding the message to you.

-Russell

Dear Kelsie,

You are probably surprised to find this email. I found your name on the internet in a search. And then I sent this email to, according to the web, your employer. I am hoping this finds you as I have felt guilty for years. I know I ended things terribly with you. I want you to know that I cared deeply for you and that I just couldn't bring myself to share those feelings with you. So I ran away. I was a coward. You deserved more. You don't need to respond. I will understand.

-Archie

Kelsie stared at her computer monitor. She reread both emails several times before closing out the window. This was crazy! Who does this? Fifteen years had gone by and this boy, now man, is feeling the need to apologize to her? Even now, she only smiles to think of him. He was her high school sweet heart. He was the boy who walked the halls between classes with her, holding hands and laughing. They spent late nights at the park swinging on the swings and talking about nothing and everything. There conversations ranged from college dreams to fears about growing up to friendships and hardships to foods they like to eat. They discussed politics and religion and who they would vote for if they were old enough to vote. They shared buckets of popcorn and boxes of junior mints at movies that they went to together. These were all happy memories. When he asked her to the prom, she was ecstatic. When he left for the Army, it was rough. He left without saying good-bye, but she knew it was hard. She understood...now. He had to say good-bye to his family too. This was absolutely not something she was upset about...anymore. She wasn't the type to hold a grudge. She had loved him too much to hold this against him.

Once he left, they wrote letters and spoke on the phone. He was stationed in Texas or Arkansas or some place down south. She couldn’t really remember where. After a while their relationship had just sort of petered out, as long distance relationships usually do in high school. Perhaps if they had tried harder or were better at telling one another how they really felt, things would have worked out differently. But everything happens for a reason. They drifted. They saw one another a few more times when he was home on leave, and then they lost touch. 

From time to time she would run into his mom at the grocery store or just around town. The conversation was almost always the same each time. Archie was doing well. He hadn’t met any nice young lady yet; no one could take the place of Kelsie. He was thinking about getting out of the service and finding a job in the civilian world. And, would she like to see a picture of him? His mom would chuckle at her own joke because she didn’t have a picture of him with her. She didn’t travel down south to visit him and he didn’t make it home very often. So she would smile and say, she wished she could see a picture of him too. Now that she thought about it, she hadn’t seen his mom around in a long time. She hoped she was okay; she always found his mom to be a sweet lady who cared deeply about people. She always made sure to ask about her parents and her job. She took an interest in people and remembered the little details that made everyone feel special. The last time she saw Archie’s mom she remembered her saying something about him moving to North Carolina to start working for an IT company and that she might go visit him, or move there? She thinks she was joking about moving there with her son. But really, that is the last she heard from or about Archie.

Until the email. She stared out the window, watching the snow flurries. There was another storm expected for tonight. The weatherman was predicting 10-12 inches by morning.

****

“I’m so glad you answered my email that day!” Archie raises his champagne glass to his beautiful bride.

“To unexpected surprises!” Kelsie clinks her glass to his. “Cheers!”

They are seated on a deck overlooking the deep blue ocean. The roar and crashing sound of waves against the shore in the distant background. Seagulls called mine, mine, mine. 

“And I was able to tear you away from your winter wonderland!” he teased.

“Oh, please! I’ll take North Carolina and a beach any day! I love the beach and the sun!” Kelsie sipped her champagne and sighed dreamily. 

****

“Kelsey? Did you finish that report? It’s time for the meeting with Mr. Russell to start.” a voice startles her out of her daydream. “We need to move the meeting up before the snowstorm hits so we can get out of here early. It’s going to be a doozy.”