Page 7 of Snowed in with my Alien Boss

“Oh! An oven!”

“Yes. My cabin does not have a proper kitchen.”

“I guess it’s lucky you were all set to go up there, then. And I was lucky you came by to check on me. It would’ve sucked to be stuck here with no light and no heat. Thank you.” Her face reddened at the memory of him warming her and what they’d done afterward. But then he’d ended things by pausing… She did her best to pretend it hadn’t happened.

“You have not eaten an evening meal. I will make enough for both of us.” He unwrapped one of the frozen tepins and placed it inside the oven, still frozen, and selected a setting. “I apologize. My cooking skills are limited.”

“I don’t mind. I’m just grateful there’s food. I didn’t exactly plan to be here tonight, so I brought nothing.” She eyed the still-wrapped packages of frozen tepins doubtfully. “Shouldn’t we get all that frozen before it thaws?”

“We should. But I don’t think there’s enough room in the fridge.”

“I used to hang my food out the window in the winter at my old workplace on Earth since we didn’t have a fridge. Can you do something like that here?”

He brightened. “I can bundle them up and tie them outside so the storm doesn’t blow them away.”

Grogen got to work moving and securing all their food outside, and Abby searched the staff room cupboards for that all-purpose spice mix she’d seen the other day. She was too embarrassed to tell Grogen that her father was willing to sell her off to cover a debt. She shouldn’t have let it get to this point anyway—she should’ve kicked him out the first time she found out he was gambling again. But she hadn’t, and now, here she was.

She knew she’d have to tell Grogen eventually, but it would be easier when she wasn’t hungry and had had some time to think how best to put it.

She returned to find a slew of missed messages on her comm unit. She ignored the ones from her father and answered the one from Jenny, who, as expected, was offering to let her crash at their place.

Jenny: Come stay with us. That’s what couches are for.

Abby: You’re going to regret offering.

Jenny: Why?

Abby: Because I haven’t found a new place to stay. I might have been a teensy bit impulsive sending the message to the housing office before nailing that down.

Jenny: No prob. I’ll comm around and see if I find anything.

Abby considered telling Jenny about Grogen showing up but decided not to, at least not just yet. She thanked her friend, promised she’d still make it out to the festival to see her, then got up to see if Grogen needed help.

This winter solstice was turning out to be most interesting indeed.

Chapter 6: Grogen

“Don’t drop your arm after you throw the knife,” Grogen said as he adjusted Abby’s stance. “Make sure to follow through. Try again.”

Abby threw her knife at the board, and this time, it hit much closer to the target and stuck.

“Good job!”

She beamed up at him.

They’d finished their dinner of roast tepin, made more delicious after Abby worked her magic on it with spices she’d found in the breakroom, and were now passing the time playing knives and drinking the Rhean spirits Grogen had packed for his trip to the cabin.

Or rather, he was drinking Rhean spirits; she was drinking mostly water with just a splash of the potent alcohol mixed in. She’d assured him that it was plenty strong for her.

“I think that’s my last throw,” she said. “I’m getting tipsy, and I don’t think knives and alcohol mix.”

Grogen shrugged. “It is a common enough game at bars and inns. Some players are better with some liquor in their system.”

“True. I’ve seen them play,” Abby said. “But the boards at Last Stop Alley are mounted on a moving track.”

Grogen tried to hide his reaction. Last Stop Alley had always been the cheaper, rowdier bar in the colony, even when there’d only been two. Now that Reka 5 was growing so fast, many more bars and pubs had opened up, and Last Stop Alley had only gotten worse. What was Abby doing in a place like that?

“Do you go there often?” he asked, trying to keep his tone casual.

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