Melinda shoved her hands farther into her pockets, hunching her back up against the wind that buffeted the town. She'd only been living in this cold hellhole for a couple weeks since getting a job teaching PE at the local high school, but the cold took her by surprise every day. Honestly, she thought, who in their right mind would live way the hell out here? She'd only moved here because of her mother's health issues and when it looked like this was going to be a long-term struggle, she'd put her martial arts academy in Portland on hold and instead signed on to teach a bunch of teenagers how to throw a ball. She huffed at the weather and her life and walked across the parking lot. Suddenly, her foot slipped on a slippery patch and just as she lost her balance, strong arms caught her and put her back on her feet before she was really able to register that she had slipped. Melinda turned to find herself face to face with Mr. Coulson, the junior-year gym teacher she passed every morning in the staff lounge. They'd never actually spoken, but he always smiled at her and none of the other teachers had anything bad to say about him. In fact, many seemed to look up to him. He left one hand in the middle of her back to keep her steady and held the other out to her,

"Nice to meet you. I'm Phil."

"Melinda." she said, shaking his hand, "Thank you." She was about to walk away when her foot slipped again and she flew back, crashing into Phil and sending them both sprawling on the icy parking lot. Melinda groaned and rubbed at the back of her head. She'd hit the ice and Phil was chuckling as he sat up,

"Well, there's a first time for that every year."

"I'm sorry." said Melinda as she carefully stood up. She grabbed Phil's hand and pulled him up, miraculously not losing her own balance. Phil grinned,

"It's okay. Are you alright?"

"Nothing permanent." Melinda gingerly prodded at the back of her head and she winced. Phil frowned,

"Here, turn around. Let me look at that." Melinda carefully spun and she felt Phil's fingers gently exploring her scalp. She shivered in spite of her embarrassment and told herself firmly that it was because of the cold. His fingers left her, "Yeah, you'll have a pretty good goose egg there by tomorrow. Anything else hurt?"

"No." said Melinda. Phil nodded with a grin,

"That's good. Let me walk you to your car, just so you don't slip again." He held out his arm to her. Melinda had half a mind to snap that she was perfectly fine, thank you very much, but two slips in the past five minutes would have proved her words a lie. She linked her arm with his and they carefully walked to her car, a couple almost-falls along the way that always resulted in Phil automatically pulling her tight to him. Melinda pushed the feeling that brought on deep down. Finally, they got to her car. Melinda pulled her keys out of her purse and turned to Phil,

"Thank you again." she said. He grinned again and she was starting to wonder if he had hit his head too. He shrugged,

"No problem. Happy to help. If you ever need anything, a guide around town or anything, just let me know. I'm the first left on the second floor."

"I'll keep that in mind." said Melinda. Phil nodded to himself and turned, walking to his own car across the lot. He turned and called back,

"Hey, maybe I'll see you at the Christmas party!"

"Maybe." said Melinda. Phil grinned and waved. Melinda unlocked her car and got in, putting the heater on full blast. As she pulled out of the lot, she let herself smile. Maybe this frozen hellhole wouldn't be so bad.