ă how to thaw a stranger | icedxflower ă
  ur had figured one thing out when she had turned thirty: from this point onwards, everyone she might end up dating would come with varying degrees of baggage, with a past. no one past thirty was still free from the imprints and ghosts of other people, of people they had met before. nothing else would make sense, actually. she saw it near daily at work â young people met others, fell in love and half the time, it did not last. this was the way it went, this was why everyone had ghost of their past haunting them. she had never been quite sure who was her ghost, if she actually had one â bane might qualify, but she would never grant him the satisfaction of being the one who left an actual impression on her.Â
  ( so if someone had left an impression on her, it had to be a faint one because she did not even know, perhaps because most the time, she had been shielded from these messes. )Â
  she guessed that if she was actively looking for a boyfriend, she might be upset by this kind of baggage that was now revealed to her, but it did not actually matter to her. as far as she was concerned, everyone lied in their profiles â even hers was not hundred percent accurate but that was to blame on clint and gildarts and the two bottles of wine they had had by the time they had decided to set up the profiles. during the dates she had had been on so far, she had dug up lies much worse than the small one regarding the age â a quick calculation placed Giles at approximately forty, likely a bit above â and the complete omission of the adult daughter.
  there had been the case of the âiâm nearly divorcedâ man, the case of the âyou are related to octavian rosenboom, yes?â evening â to name only TWO of the countless disasters. this was, in comparison, not as much of a big deal, this was something she could overlook.
  still, she took the next few steps in near silence, happy about the way the surrounding cold kept her nerves from flaring, from letting agitation grow roots inside of her. under different circumstances, her temper might have flared up â but she was not always the one who lost her cool. in fact, she rarely did. and this was surely for the better; her temper did rival her brotherâs â and no one wanted another lance running around.Â
  ârumour has it that once this town got its claws into someone, they always come back, and i suppose family is always a good reason to return,â she finally said, her words chosen carefully because her upbringing told her that this was a delicate matter â && unlike her friends, she had always been more of a scalpel rather than a sledgehammer. it was not always helpful, she knew that, but her motherâs shadow was long and difficult to escape. âbut unless i miscalculated, thatâd put you at about fortyââ her eyes narrowed and she angled her head, trying to be as accurate as possible ââfour or five, in my estimation.â
  ( and people said that she was terrible at mathematics. )
ăâă The measured tone that was directed at him in return caused Giles to cringe a little. He had emphatically told Cana that there was no need to lie about his age. But apparently his opinion that women like older men wasnât shared by his daughter. So here he was caught with a lie â hardly a good start even if heâd essentially owned up to it. When the petite woman stated her estimate with what he assumed was an expression close to annoyance he gave her a genuinely apologetic smile.Â
â Only forty one, Iâm just a little rugged and worn by the elements.
  And Canaâs definitely worth sticking around for, even in a town like this.Â
  Sheâs a sweet girl with a big heart, although she can be a bit of a pain.
  Joining that site was her idea, seems to think her old man shouldn't be alone. â
He left it there, hesitant to delve into more details of his hermit-like life. If she wanted to know more about him and his daughter, heâd answer truthfully, but he wasn't about to prattle on about his personal life to someone he barely knew. Thankfully they had finally emerged from the vegetation and Giles hoped the change in scenery would be enough to distract the woman from being too scornful of him. He tried not to dwell on too much on the fact that he felt a need to impress the scientist.Â
Greeted by a glittering expanse of white and silver, Giles paused and scanned the clearing which was mostly taken up by the large frozen lake. To the far side he could see a small group of skaters and an ice fisher had set himself up at the edge nearest the trail. Sunlight beamed down through clouds and lit the lake up so that it shone like a giant diamond.Â
Forgetting for a moment the tension of their conversation, the traveller felt himself filled with the familiar awe that came every time he viewed a place of natural beauty. This was why he had roamed the world â to explore and have a chance to capture everything with his mind (and his camera when I had it with him). For a long moment he simply observed the scene in silence, a thoughtful smile on his face. Suddenly recalling his companion he turned to her and winked.
â Still not too old to have a sense of wonder I guess. â Â
Looking around again he spied a fallen tree about one quarter of the way around the lakeâs edge. The intended direction indicated with a nod of his head, Giles led the way and dropped his bag beside the log. With a sweeping motion he swiped the surface clear of dirt and snow before sat down heavily, making sure to leave room for Ur. As he pulled off his boots to swap them for skates he narrowed his gaze at the icy expanse a few feet away.
â Well the ice seems to be solid enough but those clouds look troublesome.
  Lets hope we get a decent skate in before the weather turns on us. â