They ate heartily, friends for the moment. Tomorrow it would be a different story, Pappy knew. They were still high on the excitement of what had just transpired.

Pappy shook the snow from his clothing as he made his way through the dining hall. He stopped at the table where Team Five sat, and said, “We’ll reschedule your run for Thanksgiving morning.” He ignored the groans and moans as he ambled back to the kitchen, where his father was sipping coffee.

Pappy eyeballed his father. His voice came out in a tortured hiss when he said, “She kissed me, then she called me a mountain hillbilly and a stiff. A stiff takes me out of the human category. She actually had the gall to stand there and tell me I kissed pretty good for a hillbilly. She kissed me. She initiated it, Pop. And,” he continued to hiss, “she’s stealing my dog’s affection. Alpha adores her. He lets her hug him. He frolicked in the snow with her. Are you listening to me, Pop?”

Kyros did his best not to laugh. “What part bothers you the most, the kiss, the name-calling, or that she’s stealing your dog’s affections?”

Alpha, lying in front of the kitchen fireplace with his big head between his paws, looked up and whined, as if knowing the two men were discussing him. It was a pitiful sound, Pappy thought. “He’s fallen for her,” he said to his father. “Damn traitor. Look at him, just look at him! He’s lovesick!”

“You’re jealous, Kollar. Get over it. Dogs are shrewd judges of character, and we both know it. We also both know that we can learn a lot from animals. When we aren’t acting stupid, that is. And you are being stupid.” Then he rattled off a long string of Greek that made Pappy flush.

“Shouldn’t you be cooking or something?” Pappy snapped.

“Or something.” Kyros grinned, as Pappy let himself out the back door, Alpha on his heels.

Back in his quarters, Alpha raced over to Sam’s flight suit and flopped down. Pappy stripped down and headed for another shower. He looked longingly at the bed and wondered if he’d ever sleep again. Something long dead in him had risen, and he didn’t know what to do about it. Maybe ten years on this damn mountain was a few too many. How many more years could he stay up here, battened down in his cocoon? Maybe it was time to move to another mountain, desert, or maybe even another country.

For a long time he’d never thought he could ever fall in love again. That wasn’t to say he was in love or falling in love with Samantha Rainford. But he had felt something. He’d returned her kiss. Big-time. And here he was taking a damn cold shower when it was twenty-eight degrees outside.

Women!