Alice had always loved the winter. Kody saw her enthusiasm before him now, her forest eyes lit up with the crystalline prospect of snow, and the excitement of missing school. She’d complain about that in the summer, of course, but from December to February she was all bliss and no complaint. It was her happiness, her home.
            The memory of her smile lifted the corners of his mouth. But a light flurry had started to fall gently against his windshield, and his grip on the wheel tightened, his smile faltering. Images of their dance lessons twirled around his head, snow angels and ice ballerinas in her brother’s backyard. They had been preparing for the winter formal, and neither had even seen a dance floor before.
            Kody cleared his throat, swallowing the nostalgia lodged there. Alice was such an inspired spirit, with her short brunette hair and floral sleeve tattoos. She was clumsy and cute; he could see all the times she’d tripped over her own two feet and her face had reddened, and he allowed himself to laugh out loud, a single, sharp burst of noise.
The light before him turned green. His foot switched pedals.
            He glanced warily at the passenger seat and at the bouquet of Easter lilies there. They were hard to find this time of year, but he made a deal with a good online vendor for not too much. Not that the price would matter, anyway. He’d give his own life if he knew it’d bring a smile to Alice’s face, even if just for a second.
            The roads in the park weren’t plowed from the night before like the main streets had been. Kody stopped his car at the edge of the covered grass and crunched out into the snow, flowers in hand. He leaned his head back for a moment, allowing the crystals to kiss his face as Alice always had, before regaining his focus. He didn’t have but until noon before he’d be interrupted, and it was already pushing eleven.
          There weren’t many people who visited this park in February, but that only made his trips more enjoyable, more intimate with just him and Alice and the crisp air. On a normal day, he would take his time following the familiar route to his love, but he had a meeting at work this afternoon that he couldn’t afford to miss, so he picked up his pace, only a little bit.
          Alice’s place was small and cozy, like she had been and like she had wanted it to be. On the side he’d carved a heart with their initials inside, a cliche they’d both loved, and he gently leaned her flowers against it, pressing them into the snow.
          “Happy birthday, my love,” he whispered. He could see her smile, see her laugh.
          “How old am I now? Ninety?” she’d say with that little furrow of her brows. She hated knowing she was always getting older and fading away, even though she was only seventeen, but she’d always covered it with a joke.
          Kody’s pocket vibrated. Right on time. “Babe? Where are you? Your meeting’s in an hour.” His wife’s voice seemed so distant, so irrelevant to today and here and now that he could barely bring himself to answer.
          Still, he pried the response from his throat, forced a smile to his face as he allowed a single tear to run across his frosted cheek. “I was just saying hello to an old friend.”