Cold was something Jake didn’t do well, but Connecticut in winter leaves a man with no real choice. He was standing leaned against a light post, watching over the parking lot. In the old days there would have been a cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth, but he had quit a few years back.

It’s a pity, he thought. The image would have been perfect with a cloud of smoke drifting from his position under the lamp. As it was, he stood there, one leg crossed at the shin in front of the other, his hands jammed in the pockets of his leather jacket, and his face shadowed by the brim of his hat. Snow swirled around his boots, borne on the chilly north wind.

The door opened with a tiny chime of sound, and the employees filed out into the night, heading for their cars. He watched in silence until his eyes reached her. He had situated himself so that she would pass within a few dozen feet of his location and he waited patiently as she approached. He was stock still now, even his breathing slowed. Deer had walked within ten paces of him when he was like this, and there had once been a bobcat that came close enough to sniff at his foot.

“Happy birthday,” he whispered in a husky tone. She started, hand rising in a defensive pose. Her eyes narrowed as she stared into the shadows.

“Who are you?” she demanded. He slipped off his hat and grinned as the light fell on him.

“I made the trip.”

“Jake?”

“In the flesh.”

He took a couple of steps toward her, unsure if he had made the right decision. Would she flee?

That adorable smirk stretched her lips. “How’d you do it?”

He held out a small box. Roughly the size of a television remote, its surface flickered with colored lights.

“I told you I was working on a teleporter.”

He was at her side then, hand reaching up to brush her silky hair aside. Her eyes flashed in response to his own. She tilted her head back.

“You built something that lets you go anywhere, any time, and you chose here?”

“Well, it IS your birthday,” he said.

Their lips met and he knew the teleporter had been a good plan.