Chapter 18
The enormous Christmas tree sent gentle, colorful shadows across the whole bazaar, with snow glinting gold and green and red by turns.
Pete and Shanti were nearly first in line for the cider, which was as good as it smelled, and they wandered through the market afterward, sipping their hot drinks and looking at the booths that were open.
People jostled around cheerfully, chatting and examining the wares.
A few really serious shoppers were already buying things, though in some cases the wood carving or pottery set was left in place for display, since the market would be going on for two weeks.
It was a nearly perfect evening that left them both smiling as they parted ways. Shanti, standing on her toes for another kiss, murmured, “Would you like to come over tomorrow evening to decorate the tree?”
A zing of curious arousal shot through him and he said, “I’d love to,” even as he tried to decide whether ‘decorate the tree’ was a euphemism. It probably wasn’t, but he was startled at how completely the idea took his breath away.
Something of his thoughts must have shown in his face, because she said, “Oh,” faintly, and clapped her hands over her cheeks. “Oh, I just meant…I actually meant decorate the tree.”
Pete dipped his head toward her, smiling. “I figured. Sorry, my inner innuendo got the better of me for a second there.”
“I thought you had an inner bear,” she whispered. “No, sorry, I just…I said I was slow.”
“Shanti.” Pete took her hands and lifted the mittened knuckles to his mouth. “There’s no rush for anything. According to fate, we’ve got a whole lifetime together ahead of us. Why speed run the start?”
She smiled, visibly relieved, then looked around and made a little face. “This is a weird conversation to be having on a snowy street corner, isn’t it?”
Pete chuckled. “Probably, but I’ve never noticed that important conversations wait for the right moment.”
“I don’t suppose they do, no.” She looked back up at him, a curious little frown between her eyebrows.
“I know you’ve literally just said we have a lifetime, so that answers the question I want to ask, but also, why are you so…
good? So perfect? I’ve only had a couple of boyfriends, and they have noooot been like you at all. ”
“Well.” Pete tipped his head to the side, studying her in turn.
“I could say it’s fate, because it is. I wouldn’t be right for you if I was pushy.
But also…we have a lifetime,” he repeated more softly.
“If fate is real, and I think it is, then…there really isn’t any rush.
Not for us. We can let things unfold at the right speed for us, and the right speed for us is the right speed for you.
For the record, I’d love to go home with you and wrap up on the couch or in the bed and just be there.
Making sure you’re safe, that you’re happy, that you’re comfortable.
But I don’t need to ask for more if you’re not ready for it yet, because I believe it’ll work out in just the right way for us, when it’s time. ”
Shanti’s big beautiful eyes were bright with tears, but he thought they were happy ones. “That does sound wonderful. The snuggling up, I mean.”
“Unfortunately I have to be at work sixty miles away at five in the morning,” Pete said, making a face, and Shanti laughed.
“Maybe Saturday night, then?”
“I live for Saturday night,” Pete said theatrically, then remembered they’d just made a date for Friday and added, “Uh, and for decorating the tree on Friday.”
Shanti laughed again, stood on her toes for another kiss, and left him with a smile.
He went back to his truck whistling, and work the next day flew by despite snowfall starting early in the morning.
It had picked up considerably by evening, and the roads were thick with it, but he drove slowly and was at Shanti’s house only a little late.
Only then did he realize they hadn’t arranged dinner, and he was about to ask if he should go out for something when somebody knocked on the door and two startlingly large pizzas were delivered.
“I didn’t know what you liked,” Shanti said, opening the boxes, “so I got half of everything.”
“Oh my God, you really did. What is this, half meat-lovers, half…Canadian bacon and pineapple? Bold choice. Are you a pineapple on pizza girl?”
She eyed him warily. “Is fate able to withstand me saying yes?”
“Fate can stand up to anything,” he promised. “As long as you don’t make me eat it.”
“Pineapple in general, or on pizza?” She took a slice of the offending pizza herself and let him open the other box, which had a vegetable-heavy half and a simple pepperoni half.
“On pizza. The tomato and pineapple combination just—” Pete actually shuddered, which he hadn’t meant to. “I thought you mostly didn’t eat meat?”
“Cananian nagon ihh ahhn egghepshun,” she said around an obviously too-hot mouthful of pizza.
Pete laughed. “Canadian bacon is an exception?” At her nod, he asked, “In general, or on pizza?”
She gave him a squinty-eyed ‘I see what you did there’ look for echoing her, and when she’d managed to finish the bite and hiss a few cooling breaths in, finally said, “On pizza. I don’t actually like it otherwise.”
“And where do you stand on pineapple in general?”
“I try not to stand on pineapple,” Shanti said brightly. “It’s either pokey or squishy.”
"Oh, God, you didn't." Pete waggled his fingers, threatening to tickle her, and Shanti squeaked with appropriate alarm, which was to say, not much at all.
Between them, they devoured a considerable amount of pizza, and the rest went into the fridge while Pete took the tree out of the box.
He was standing there with it in his hands when Shanti returned from the kitchen, and he raised his eyebrows at her.
"You needed a lot of help decorating this, huh? "
It was one of those little three-foot tall trees with its own silver and gold ornaments already attached, and a very pretty little star to add to the top resting gently in the bottom of the box.
Shanti tried very hard to look innocent, but the sparkle in her eyes got the best of her and she dissolved into giggles.
"I thought your expression would be funny. I was right. That was worth it."
Pete held the tree up and turned in different directions around the room, pretending he was searching for the perfect place to put it.
Shanti swept some envelopes and folders off a sideboard unit and did a game-show-hostess presentation motion, indicating he could put the tree on top of it.
With as much pomp and ceremony as he could manage, Pete walked the tree over, placed it carefully on the sideboard, and found the power cord hidden in the branches so he could plug it in and bring the tiny white lights to life.
"Well," he said, stepping back and regarding their handiwork proudly, "I think we've done a good job with it this year. "
"It took hours," Shanti agreed solemnly. "But it's perfect. Good job."
They both started snickering, then retreated to the couch for a movie dimly lit by the glow of the little tree's lights. This is good, Pete's bear thought sleepily. This is like a den. Warm. Cozy. We should sleep until March.
"Can't go to Shkalnik that way," Peter murmured aloud.
Shanti half sat up, blinking at him. "What? We can't?"
"Oh. No, not you. Yes, we can. My bear thought we should sleep in our warm den here until March and I was arguing with it."
Shanti's eyes widened. "Can you really sleep that long? In your human form, I mean?"
"I don't think so, not really. Not exactly.
Bear shifters are great sleepers, especially in the winter, but I'd probably have to spend all summer fattening up as a bear to be able to sleep through most of the winter, and even then I'd probably have to do it mostly as a bear.
But I can sleep most of a week without much effort, anyway. "
"I. Wow." Shanti sank back down against his side, making thoughtful noises. "That sounds both wonderful and awful. I'm afraid if I could sleep like that I'd just use it as an excuse to stop human-ing at all, and I'm pretty sure it's called 'clinical depression' when people do that."
Pete turned his head to chuckle into her hair.
"That's true. Maybe it's for the best that even bear shifters can't sleep all winter easily.
Besides, you'd want your mate to be another bear if you were going to do that, because unless you could hibernate together, you'd be missing out on months of their life and that would suck. "
"Oh, yes. I hadn't thought of that. Where do your clothes go?"
Pete's eyebrows rose and he swore he could hear a blush in Shanti's voice. "Sorry, I know that was out of the blue, but I started thinking about it a couple of days ago and I couldn't figure it out. Does the magic think clothes are like fur?"
"Kind of, yes," he answered, amused. "We have to learn to shift with our clothes, but it's like potty training, it was so long ago nobody remembers having to learn.
Anything we're carrying will shift with us, as long as it's not alive.
You wouldn't become a bear along with me if I shifted right now. "
"What about a…a cactus?"
"…I've never tried shifting with one. But it's alive, so it wouldn't change with me. A plant pot would, though. Maybe," he said dubiously. "A backpack will, so if a pot was in a backpack it would, but if I was just holding it in my hands I feel like it wouldn't."
"So the magic is finicky," Shanti murmured. "Opinionated."
"Maybe a little! Or maybe it's just that it wouldn't shift with me because I feel like it wouldn't. It might for somebody else."
"That's finicky," she announced. "Do you celebrate Christmas at home?"
"Yeah," he said fondly. "Nothing like the show Virtue puts on, but there's the New Year's fireworks that are always good."
"Fireworks? Really? Well, that seems like a good way to bring in the new year, now that I'm thinking about it."
"Well, there's no point in fireworks in Alaska on the Fourth of July."
"There's not?"
Pete grinned. "The sun doesn't go down. You can't see them."
"Oh. Oh! Oh, wow, really?" Shanti sat up, eyes wide.
"Really. Okay, I'm exaggerating a little for Shkalnik, because it does technically set there," he admitted, "but it never gets darker than twilight, so we basically don't do fireworks until midnight because you really can't see them before that.
Anywhere much north of us and there's really no point.
It doesn't stop people from shooting them off, of course, but you're mostly in it for the noise at that point. "
"I can't really imagine. I thought the sun set late here!"
Pete couldn't help snorting dismissively, and Shanti laughed. "It does, though, compared to Nepal, anyway! But it's the opposite at this time of year, right? The sun must not rise until…when?"
"Almost nine, and then it goes down at about three."
Shanti's voice rose. "In the afternoon?"
"Yes? It doesn't get dark-dark until about four or four-thirty, but…yeah?"
"I cannot imagine. That might sound awful."
Pete chuckled. "Well, you'll find out, right? And if you hate it, then that's a good thing for us to learn. But I should still take you to Fairbanks in the summer sometime. The only reason the sun sets there is because the mountains block it, but it's still pretty much full daylight at mid-summer."
"You are from an alien land," she told him quite solemnly. "How do people even sleep in the summer?"
"Blackout shades and habit," he answered honestly. "And also I think it's probably safe to say that Alaskans literally do sleep more in the winter."
"That makes sense. Wow. Okay, yes, I need to visit in the summer and the winter to see if I can cope with that. I can't decide if it sounds awful or amazing."
"It's some of both," Pete admitted. "But it does make me think the sun sets too early everywhere else in the summer."
"Not too late in the winter, though?"
"Somehow that doesn't bother me as much," he said with a grin. "If I Had All The Money I might split my year between Alaska and Argentina. The southern end. It's not quite as bright there as Shkalnik is, but it's pretty close. Eternal light and summer sounds great to me."
"But what about your railroads?"
"I'll build one from Shkalnik to…uh…" Pete grabbed for his phone and looked up Argentina. "To Ushuaia! It's the southern-most city, apparently. That would have worked better if I'd already known that and had just been cool about it."
Shanti laughed. "Yes, it would have, but I like the enthusiasm anyway. Do you have any idea what's happening in this movie?"
"Yes, he's the bad guy and he's going to…" Peter trailed off as another dark-haired white guy with a blinding smile came on screen. "No, wait, he's the bad guy, and…no. No, I don't have a clue what's going on."
"As long as it's not just me." Shanti turned the movie off and grinned up at him. "When did you get tickets for us to go to Shkalnik?"
Pete shook his head. "I haven't yet. The railroad's going be done on schedule, but…the first train is scheduled for the twentieth. Before Christmas."
"Yes?"
"I didn't know if you really wanted to leave before Christmas," Pete murmured. "I know you're talking about the first train out of here, but I didn't know if that was literal."
Shanti fell silent for a moment, then sighed.
"You have to remember I couldn't imagine where I'd go next.
I thought I'd just slink back into Virtue as quietly as I could and…
hate myself a little. I would love to really, truly take the first train out and not come back for a while.
There isn't anything here for me at Christmas now, and I'd rather be with you, wherever you are or want to go. "
"Then that's what we'll do," Peter said softly. "I just wanted to be sure. And the last thing I want is for you to hate yourself at all." He slipped his fingers under her chin and tilted it up to kiss her, then put his forehead against hers, eyes closed. "Everything okay?"
He could hear the smile in her voice. "It is now."