He makes me tea on their wood-burning stove and wobbles over to make more when I am done with the first glass. “Don’t go yet. Wait for Anna. She will be so sad to have missed you.” Anna went to town to shop for food. The two of them will do for Christmas what they do day in and day out: eat together, just the two of them. But they’ll cut down a tree and bring it inside.

I have to go: my ride is waiting in the next village. I love that he walks out with me, my highlander, my grandfatherly friend. He stands in the snow and watches me trudge down the path until we cannot see each other anymore.