Page 19 of Holiday with the Aliens

“Okay, when I offered, I didn’t realize just how far it was.” Dash was clothed and he closed the distance between them, pulling Ro close. “Are you warm enough? Sore? Need a rest?”

She was cold, tired, and achy, but they had to be close. “We’re almost there. Right? Please say we’re almost there.”

Dash kissed her, and for a second all her bodily complaints quieted. If she could bottle him up she’d make millions. But she wanted him just for herself. “We’re almost there,” he said when he pulled away. “It’s about two kilometers down the road, but I didn’t want your sister to spot us. We can walk it, or I can call a taxi and have it drop us off.”

Two kilometers. Ro could walk that in her sleep, but then she realized what it would look like. Arriving on foot at dawn? Witha strange man? And only a single backpack between them? Yeah, that would cause more questions. “Taxi,” Ro said.

They made for the road and huddled next to each other, cuddling up close, for the ten minutes it took for the taxi to arrive. And the car was delightfully warm when they piled in. Ro was never leaving. “This is my home now,” she informed Dash. “And you can’t make me get out.”

He just smiled at her and laced their slowly warming fingers together.

Less than five minutes later, they pulled up in front of a house that was over two hundred years old. It had been in Ro’s family since before humans had managed space flight, and May had been keeping the place in great shape. No one was around so early in the morning, but a robot zipped up and down the driveway, clearing the snow from the asphalt. A light was on in a second story window, but Ro couldn’t see anyone moving around.

She was suddenly nervous. She’d been so focused on getting home that she didn’t quite know what she was supposed to do now that she was there. Would May really let her stay for the holiday? Would Lee remember her? Was this all bound to be a failure?

Maybe sheshouldstay in the taxi forever.

The light outside the front door turned on and the door opened before Ro could tell the taxi to pull away. And there in the doorway stood her sister, wearing pajamas and a fluffy robe, looking out at them with a hand held up to her forehead.

Now or never.

Ro got out of the taxi and Dash followed. The walked up the path to the front door where her sister waited for them, a look of shock naked on her face. “You’re here.”

Ro nodded. “I’m here.”

“You actually made it.” May’s cheeks were getting pinker by the minute and she had to be freezing.

“I actually made it,” she confirmed. “Can we come in?”

For the first time her sister seemed to notice Ro wasn’t alone. “Who’s this?”

“Dash. He’s my…” Calling him her transportation was too simple. And did two nights together make him her boyfriend? “He’s with me,” she settled on after too long a pause.

May seemed too cold to care. She took a step back and waved them inside. “Where are your things? And why didn’t you tell me you were coming today? You said you wouldn’t be here until Friday.”

Ro wasn’t even sure what day it was. “There were complications. Plans changed. And our bags are being shipped.”

“They should arrive tomorrow,” Dash added.

“FromMars?”

“Florida,” he corrected. “We took a circuitous route.”

And for some reason that set Ro off and laughter burst out of her. It echoed around the room and she was sure to wake someone up, but she couldn’t hold it back. They actually made it to May’s in time! Her sister had let her in the damn house. The relief was so freeing that Ro felt like she could fly.

Wait, no, that was Dash who actuallycouldfly… and shapeshift.

Oh no, if she didn’t stop laughing she was going to pass out.

Dash put a hand on her back and rubbed, grounding her in the moment. It surely wasn’t lost on May, but Ro couldn’t bring herself to care.

“Aunt Ro?” A child’s voice broke through her hysteria and Ro looked up, wiping her eyes. A young boy, though older than she remembered, stood by the stairs, one hand hooked on the banister. He had floppy blond hair and would come up to her shoulder if they were standing beside one another, but he wastoo skinny, as if he’d just hit a growth spurt and hadn’t had time to fill out yet. Still a little boy, but growing so fast.

“Hey, Lee.” She smiled and wanted to blame her watery eyes on the laughter even as emotion assaulted her. “Come here.” She opened her arms wide.

The boy darted across the room and she held him tight. “I knew you’d come this year,” he told her, his voice a little too loud in her ear, but she didn’t care. “Mom didn’t believe me, but you said in your letter that you’d come.”

She had. Months ago, in Lee’s birthday card, she’d promised to make it before the end of the year. And at least he hadn’t give up hope. “I’m here, buddy. Had to see you before you get taller than me.”

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