46
I wasn’t there for any of this: Halli, sitting on the porch of the hut, tightening up her boot laces. Karl standing nearby, waiting. He’s wearing his pack and looks ready to go.
But Halli doesn’t. She pauses for a moment and looks out at the snow.
She says something to Karl, and he looks up at the sky. Snowflakes fall against his face. I notice that Red’s coat looks whiter than it was before. The snow must be coming down harder.
Halli looks off toward the distance now, in the direction I know Daniel and the others just went.
Halli hesitates for a moment more, then rises to her feet.
She goes to Karl and hugs him. No, not just hugs him—she grips him by the shoulders, pulls him toward her, and plants on him a far more passionate and skillful kiss than the one I just witnessed myself
