Anya pushed through the swinging kitchen doors for what she hoped would be the last time for at least a few hours. The restaurant behind her was finally starting to empty. It helped that she had just declared lunch hour over and that the room would be so the staff could prepare for dinner.

She had her apron untied from around her waist before she had even left the thickly carpeted room, even though it was against protocol. She was the only one who had the authority to do anything about it and she had a feeling she would let this one slide. Who cared if a few of the guests saw one server without their apron for half a second.

She threw her apron in the general direction of the hamper, only vaguely aware that it had made it in.

The inn had never felt smaller than it had over the past two hours. Such a thing had never seemed possible to Anya but she could feel the walls moving in with each time she had to return to Luke's table, to serve them once again. His family turned out to be picking eaters and Anya spent more time at their time than at any others.

The only break came in her fifteen minutes set aside for her lunch. But even then her problems seemed more than happy to surround her on all sides.

She found Manny sitting with the wait staff at the table set aside for their lunch in the back corner of the kitchen and so Anya found herself eating lunch in the pantry. She only gained sideways glances from the waitstaff who hadn't been working for her for very long. None of the veterans batted an eye.

And so it was with a large sigh of relief that Anya slipped off her regulation work shoes and put on her snow boots, grabbing her jacket as she called to Gloria over her shoulder.

"I'm going into town to get your turnips. Did you need anything else?"

"Can I go with you?"

At the sound of Luke's very familiar voice, Anya swung around to find him standing just inside the kitchen. Its occupants were still moving fast, it's natural order flowing around them as tables were getting cleared away and dinner preparations were just beginning.

No one seemed to notice one of the guests had wandered past the "Employees Only" sign and Luke had to move out of the way to avoid getting trampled by the constant flow of workers hurrying in and out of the restaurant with stacks of dishes.

Before Anya could figure out to politely tell Luke "No. Thanks. I would rather get stuck in a blizzard," Gloria appeared from somewhere in the depths of the kitchen.

"Great. Anya will need help. Anya, take your friend here. The list is longer than I thought. You'll need help carrying everything."

"Wait. What? What do you mean? You said you only needed turnips."

"Yes. Turnips and asparagus and I forgot all about the mutton and the mint jellies as well. The butcher will have a box waiting for you, so will the grocers. You won't be able to carry it on your own. Take your friend to help you."

At the second mention of that particular word, both Anya and Luke spoke up to correct her at the same time.

"We're not-"

"She's not-"

"Good. It's all settled. Make sure you hurry. I need that mint jelly for dinner tonight."

Gloria was already shouting orders to one of her many underlings before Anya could argue. She took a glance at Luke's footwear and regrettably found that he was wearing snow-appropriate shoes. She had been hoping he would be wearing some sort of loafer, any legitimate excuse that would keep him from joining her on her venture into town. Even his jacket seemed sturdy enough.

"Fine. Let's go."

Anya finally finished putting her arms through her jacket, an action brought to a halt when Luke stuck his nose into the kitchen. She didn't bother to see if he was following as she pulled open the kitchen door and stepped out into the cold waiting to rush at her. She had a feeling he was going to make sure she took him with her.

Her boots crunched on the packed snow beneath, the fresh pile that had fallen that morning already cleared and added to the small mountains of snow that lined the driveway. Anya made a mental note to thank the farmhands if she got the chance. Luke's crunch echoed hers, only at a faster rate as he hurried to catch up to her.

She didn't slow and he caught up to her eventually. She was bummed he hadn't slipped and fallen, keeping him from joining her and keeping her from having to face the conversation she knew lay ahead.

Luke's footsteps fell in line with hers but he didn't dare say anything as she led them down the inn's long driveway and on to the small winding road that led down to the village.

The small town was visible from the inn was one of its biggest selling points. "A quiet and idyllic town only a fifteen-minute walk away."

The antique shops and homes were all well kept up and Anya knew it was a part of the inn's budget to help the old church with any necessary repairs as needed. It's tall spire stood overlooking the town and it created just the right ambiance for people looking to escape the big city life and live in the country, even if only for a few days.

"So. This is where you work now."

Luke had found the courage to speak up and any hope Anya had of completing this task in complete silence blew away with the light chill wind that raced along the street, shaking the pine trees on either side and loosening the snow from their branches.

"This is where I live," Anya corrected him.

"Oh."

Anya didn't dare hope that was the end of the discussion. She knew it was hopeless. He had a million questions. She could see it in his stare.

"I didn't know. I didn't know anything, really. None of us did. One day you're going home for Thanksgiving and then the next you've moved out of your apartment. It was like you had vanished."

"Yeah. I guess so."

"So.... What happened?"

"My grandpa died."

That shut him up for a long moment.

"I'm sorry."

"Thanks."

Anya had to swallow, the lump rising in her throat not as big as it was when she used to think about her grandfather but still there. It was too cold for her to cry. Any tears that might have threatened to fall would have frozen at the corner of her eyes.

"So is that why you moved here?"

It was a reasonable enough question in Anya's mind and the idea that he might leave her alone if all his questions got answered seemed like a real possibility. Besides, they would soon be entering the town. She wouldn't have to talk long before she could use work as an excuse to cut their conversation short. Of course, there was also the walk back.

"The inn has been in my family for generations. My grandfather's great grandfather opened it when his family immigrated here from Russia. It's been running ever since. I grew up here after my parents..."

Anya coughed to cover up her trailing words and skipped over that little fact.

"When my grandpa died, my grandma needed help running the place. There's only me and my cousin left in the family line and it didn't seem fair to let something that's such a big part of my heritage just die out. So I left school. Moved back here and I've been running the place with my grandmother ever since."

"Wow."

Anya nodded, her gaze never leaving the road stretched out in front of her.

"So why did we never hear from you again?"

Anya knew Luke was using the mask of all her friends, everyone she had ever met at college, to cover up his real question. She finally looked up at him and found him already staring down at her.

"I don't know. My life became so busy it helped to forget that life for a little while. It made getting settled back here easier if I forgot that I had ever moved away and started a path of my own."

"I guess that makes sense."

He let the conversation lag and it seemed he had run out of questions, Anya already having answered his biggest one. Why.

A surge of guilt gripped Anya's chest and a flood of memories filling her mind of all the times the two of them had spent together, so many years ago, wandering around New York City, just like they were now but on a much smaller scale.

"I'm sorry."

The words came pouring out of her mouth before she could even stop them. They made Luke lift his gaze from the top of his boots to meet her eyes again.

"I'm sorry I didn't call or anything. I just thought a clean cut would have been best."

"For you, maybe."

"Yeah. For me."

Whatever cloud of tension that had been hovering over their heads since Luke had appeared on Anya's doorstep only that morning seemed to dissipate, even just a little bit and Anya found it easier to look at him.

"So what about the future?"

The one word Anya hadn't let herself think about in the past two years.

"What about it?"

"I mean, are you gonna stay here, working with your grandmother? Are you gonna ever finish your degree? Go back to school?"

The answers to those questions were easy.

"I have no idea. I gotta make it through the holiday season first."