'Sleigh bells ring are you listening? In the lane snow is glistening. A beautiful sight, we're happy tonight, walking in a winter wonderland.' The song came on in the car as I was battling traffic in the actual snow falling all around my car. Glistening? No, just another drabby day in Bangor, and this lane was coming to an end, my exit finally in sight.
I sighed, only three more days and winter break begins. I get to escape the cold and snow, at least for 10 days, to the sunny sands of Hawaii. I haven't had a real vacation since I accepted the position of health/PE teacher for the small private school. I mostly taught freshmen, but a few were sophomores. It wasn't the most glamorous job in the world for a 26-year-old single woman, but it was rewarding.
Not only do I get to shape the minds of our future, but also the bodies. Several of the students were athletes, some were serious scholars, but there were always a few that just thought that I was an easy passing grade. However, all of them seemed to enjoy coming to my classes. I tried to make it fun, even though it's hard to have fun in a gym full of teenage hormones at times.
I took my exit as Amy Grant sang, 'The plans that we made, walking in a winter wonderland', and slowly came to a stop at the top of the ramp. Not a car in sight. I slowly started my turn and made it onto the road to the school. The trucks had not reached here yet and I felt my little Honda Civic begin to act like a snowplow itself. Luckily, I only had to go 2 blocks.
As I parked in the faculty parking lot and got out of the car, I heard a voice call out, "Good morning, Miss Clarke." I looked up and saw Steven who waved when he saw me see him. Steven was one of those boys where the teenage hormones were in overdrive.
I smiled and said, "Good morning Mr. Miller, did you get your assignment finished on heart rate?"
"Yes Miss Clarke, I have it right here." He said holding up his book bag. His first period was my health class, so he walked with me to the classroom just chatting away. I blocked most of it out except for the small reply here and there, all the while thinking about sun, sand, and some kind of drink inside a hollowed-out pineapple.
Steven opened the door to my classroom for me to enter and I gave him a, "Thank you kind sir."
He grinned ear to ear and I regretted saying it. I wasn't flirting with you, I wanted to shout at him. There was no way that I would ever flirt with a student, ever. I was not attracted to young men, and especially a boy of only 14. My tastes went to older men, much older in fact. My dream guy would be someone in his mid 40s, I've always liked older men and I think 20 years older than myself would be perfect.
My thoughts drifted back to sandy beaches, and I wondered if Jason Momoa was still single.
~~~~
The airplane ride that took me from Bangor to Honolulu, was a long 20-hour trip. I had stops in Philadelphia and LA. I walked out of the airport and into the warm evening air. I took a taxi to my hotel and after dropping off my bags in my room I walked the half block to the beach. My sandals came off so that I could feel my toes in the sand. This would be my first Christmas without the cold, and without the snow. I shifted my feet back and forth to bury them in the warm sand.
"Oh god this is so much better than the snow," I said out loud.
"I'm glad you're enjoying it."
"What!" I was startled by the man's voice behind me and dropped my sandals as I quickly turned.
"Oh, I'm so sorry to have startled you," he said as he bent down to pick up the sandals. As he stood, I saw he was tall, but not much else because the streetlights were behind him. He handed me back my sandals and said, "My name is Sabastian by the way." His accent was British? Maybe French? I wasn't sure, but it sounded like beautiful music to my ears.
"Thank you, Sabastian," I said taking back the sandals. "I usually don't get startled easily like that; it must be the long flight to get here."
"I too have only been here a few hours. It was a long flight for me also. I was just going down to walk along the edge of the water for a bit when I heard you. I am also from a place that the cold, and snow is always the norm this time of year."
The more he talked the more I fell into a sense of harmony. "I'm sure you hear this all the time, but I love your accent. Where are you from? If I may ask."
"I am from the tiny county of Andorra. It is up in the mountains between France and Spain." He then walked into the sand and said, "Come, walk with me and we can tell each other about our lives in the snow, and how it feels to have feet in warm sand at Christmas instead of turning blue inside of boots while we shovel our walks."
I laughed and turned with him to walk down to the water's edge and then walk down the beach. Diamond Head had the moon behind it, so the outline was in full view. "Tell me about Andorra," I said to him as we walked.
Sabastian looked down at me and smiled, "It's small. There are about 80,000 people who live there, but tourist number over 10 million each year. Grandvalira and Vallnord are big ski resort areas. There are so many people this time of year, that is why I choose to take my vacations around Christmas. The Pyrenees mountains are beautiful however, and I live in the capital, Andorra la Vella. It sits in a valley with the tall mountains surrounding it. It is full of shops in very modern buildings."
"I'm from Main," I said sullenly. "We have lobsters and Steven King."
Sabastian laughed and I found myself liking the sound. "Well, I happen to enjoy a good steak and lobster dinner now and then. Thank you for supplying the lobster for me. I will admit however, I have never read a Steven King novel."
I was still watching him in the moonlight, and I was liking what I saw. Taller than I was for sure, maybe around 6' his face and skin tone reminded me of photos and movies I've seen of Antonio Banderas. He had what looked like salt and pepper colored hair that was curly and about a medium length for a man, it was barely touching the collar of his dress shirt he wore. He also had short facial hair that he kept trimmed, more than the 5 o'clock shadow, kind of like a 3-day growth.
I let my head move down and then over to the ocean, it was just a ruse. I let my gaze fall along his body to sneak a look. He was toned by what I could see, not overweight, not thin. He kept in shape, and I found myself admiring the shape. I stopped and turned toward the water. I didn't want him to know I had been checking him out. I sighed, "I just wanted to escape the snow for Christmas. I don't have any family to spend the Holidays with, so this year I wanted something different than just sitting home alone."
He was behind me. I found myself wondering, is he checking me out like I was him? Then I heard him say, "I'm usually alone also. My wife died a few years ago, and our son has his own family now. They live in Barcelona and usually spend most Holidays with is wife's family. They are a large Spanish family and I tend to shy away from such a large gathering."
"I'm sorry to hear about your wife," I told him as I half-turned and looked up at him. "You do not seem too old so you must have lost her young."
He smiled down at me and I found myself lost in the site of it, "She was 42, we married and had Stepheno too young, but we were happy. She developed a fast-growing brain tumor that took her quickly. She had a headache one day and after three days we went to the hospital. The scan showed it to be inoperable, and we had only a few days left together before she died."
