Day 2

I woke in the morning as soft light poured in the window. I went about my morning routine, getting dressed after making sure that Chloe was still out. Once dressed, I made a beeline for the coffee that the steward's had ready in the morning. Once I had some life giving caffeine flowing, I made a clatter and woke Chloe.

She lifted her head and mumbled. I laughed and told her, "Why don't you get dressed, and we can grab early breakfast." She mumbled something that vaguely sounded like agreement so I headed off to give her some privacy and wait for her to get ready.

I knocked twenty minutes later and Chloe let me in. Surprisingly for a woman, she was ready. I led off to the dining car. During the night, we had traveled the length of Nebraska, missing it entirely, and crossing into Colorado. There is a God. I had heard the Conductor announcing Fort Morgan as I got my coffee. I looked at the schedule and realized we were three or four hours behind schedule. I smiled thinking this was one time I really didn't mind being late since I was going to spend the time with Chloe.

The stewards didn't blink an eye when Chloe sat with me. They took our orders, she had French toast and I had the pancakes, as if she were expected to be there. I was going to have to remember to tip these guys well. Breakfast was actually pretty good. Hell, I'd had worse breakfasts at chain restaurants. I was feeling good about the world. Amazing how a nice meal makes everything right.

After breakfast, we headed up to the observation car. We settled into 'our' seats and started gabbing. I found out she was a card player and headed off to get my traveling cribbage board. It had places for two decks of cards, poker chips and of course, the board.

I came back and sat down. Chloe's eyes lit up when she saw the cards. It turned out her parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins were big time card players. Growing up, cards had always been times of great fun and good memories. I also found out, the hard way, her family had made her a cut-throat player.

We started out playing gin. I wasn't paying all that much attention, spending part of the time watching the scenery. She wasn't. I lost the first five hands in a row. That got my attention. We switched to cribbage and she beat me more times than I beat her. Now, you need to know I'm a competitive player. I was getting a little perturbed getting my butt kicked by this young woman. So I suggested we switch to poker, knowing skill plays a much bigger part in the outcome of the games.

Chloe said, "Sure," then asked me, "Strip poker?"

I looked up surprised, then realized she was teasing me. "No thanks. I've already won that last night."

She slapped me on the arm and laughed, "You escaped this time. I'm going to get even one way or the other."

"We'll see."

The train rolled into Denver right before lunch. We were scheduled for a half-hour stop, but the conductor came on and informed us the stop would be one hour in Denver. I asked the steward and he said that they had to do some routine brake and wheel checks, and that it would take about that long.

I turned to Chloe, "Let's go get some non-train food."

Chloe smiled, then stopped. "Oh, I don't think I can."

"Yes, you can. My treat."

She started to argue. I just shook my head. Once again her face lit up in a smile, "Okay."

"Let's go," I said leading her down to the doors. We were the first people off the train. I saw two trackmen under the car whacking the wheels with an iron bar and prying at the brakes. I guess if it doesn't fall off when they whack it, it is okay.

There was a grill right outside the station. We hurried over and ordered lunch, telling the waitress we needed to catch a train. She smiled; I'm sure having heard the same a million times. Chloe and I both ordered the hamburgers. A regular old hamburger sounded great.

The waitress brought the burgers in no time and Chloe and I soon had the juice from the burgers running down our arms. She was laughing at me and me at her. When we both finished I threw some money on the table and we headed back to the station.

I checked the board and the California Zephyr was scheduled to leave in 14 minutes. Chloe took the minutes to stroll into the guest shop in the station. She carefully spent a bit of her cash on some junk food. I grabbed her arm and hurried her back out to track 5 and we boarded minutes before the train pulled out.

"C'mon. We want to get good seats for this part of the trip." She followed me up to the observation car where we got two swivel seats together.

She was holding the bag with all of her goodies and asked, "Can I put these in the room?"

"Sure. Just leave something on the chair." She set her bag on the seat and started back to my room. "Chloe," I said. She turned and I told her, "Pick up the cards while you're there."

Her eyes lit up and a devilish smile crossed her face, "No problem."

I watched her leave the car, her ass molded by the tight jeans she was wearing. I was smiling thinking what a lovely woman she was. I couldn't help the other thoughts brought about by those tight jeans. I saw several heads turn as she went by. I was daydreaming, thinking about holding that ass in my hands, watching Denver go by when she returned. She plopped into her seat and pulled out the cards.

"What'll it be?" she asked.

"Your choice," I told her.

We played cards for a while until the train started its long climb into the Rockies. At first it was a gentle rise over low foothills. But soons we were in the mountains themselves, up in the pines and aspens. We both were watching as much as we were playing. The conductor came on and announced that we were about to enter the Moffat Tunnel, 6.2 miles long and 9,239 feet above sea level.

I was trying to see forward to get a glimpse of the tunnel when a wall went by and we were plunged into the dark. That fast we were in the tunnel. Unfortunately, there is absolutely nothing to see so Chloe dealt a hand for us. We played it and the next and the next. I looked at my watch. We had been in this tunnel over ten minutes already. I thought about how difficult it must have been to drill this tunnel through solid granite for 6 miles and have it come out where they wanted. I was picking up the next hand when, in a flash, the light returned. We were on the other side and in the Rockies proper.

There was a sheen of snow covering the mountains. It was a winter paradise. A deep canyon extended down to the right of the train and opposite a soaring line of mountains with steep granite faces and pine trees scrambling up the rocky faces. Chloe and I stared, caught by the beauty of the scene. I tried to imagine the difficulty of building the railroad through these mountains so that Chloe and I could ride in comfort.

We pulled into Winter Park a while later. A whole lot of people gathered skis and jumped off the train. I thought, 'That's a perfect way to ski. Jump on the train in Denver. Jump off at the ski resort. No driving through ice. No driving at all.'

After Winter Park the train entered the Colorado River valley, which we would follow all the way to Grand Junction. The river was mostly frozen except for brief patches where the river had broken up the ice. Being a California boy, this was like something from the movies; ice floes carried along the river, snow piled along the river banks. The river valley changed constantly, from steep canyons to broader farmed valleys and back again. We saw eagles, beavers, coyotes, and even an elk herd along the river. Once, Chloe grabbed my arm and pointed out an osprey swooping into the river to grab a fish and carry it away. Her hand on my arm overwhelmed any other sensations I was feeling. I berated myself; she's a high school girl you old fart. But I couldn't stop the thoughts surging through my head.

Later in the afternoon we had been playing cards for a while. We set them aside and watched the canyon and the river. Chloe leaned towards me and rested her head on my shoulder. Without thinking I kissed the top of her head. Her head jerked up and she looked into my eyes, a broad smile crossed her face and she put her head back on my shoulder. Her hand found mine and clasped it as we sat. Once again I was in turmoil imagining Chloe and me together. The counter arguments were so much quieter this time. In my head, I was holding her in my arms, her naked body pressed against mine. I felt so close to her, her hand in mine, her head on my shoulder. I could have stayed there forever.

The train was in a narrow steep-walled canyon, the wheels screeching as they navigated the tight turns. We had dropped in elevation and the river ran clear of ice. There was still plenty of snow. As we rounded another tight turn, the opposite bank of the river widened into a shallow beach. There was a herd of Elk pawing the thin snow and eating. I pointed them out to Chloe. We were both enthralled by the majesty of these animals. The train continued on around the turn and the elk disappeared. Not long after, the Conductor announced Glenwood Springs. On the opposite side of the river there were ski runs climbing up the sides of the mountains. This was also the stop for Aspen. But instead of skiers getting off, this time the skiers were pouring onto the train, probably ending a day of skiing.

After Glenwood, night quickly fell in the steep canyon. Chloe had fallen asleep next to me, her head resting on my shoulder. She was out when dinner was announced. I woke her gently and we headed off to dinner. Chloe had the chicken again and I decided to try the roast pork. I ordered a bottle of Chardonnay which we shared. The stewards were quite purposely oblivious of our sharing I had noted, so I didn't even pretend we weren't. Tonight, Chloe had two small glasses of wine. I watched her carefully. She was upbeat and talkative, but seemed lucid, so I didn't make an issue of the two glasses.

It was dark by the time we finished dinner. We headed back up to the observation car for some cards. It was my lucky night. She couldn't beat me at anything. I could tell she was getting a little frustrated. Finally, she crossed her arms across her chest and sat back in her seat. "I can't win anything."

"You ran into a buzz saw tonight," I admitted.

She turned and looked out the window, silent for a minute. "Mike?"

"Um?" I answered.

Chloe leaned over and whispered, "Would it be alright if we had a little more wine?"

I thought for a second. She still seemed lucid and wine, as the Europeans say, is food. I couldn't really think why not. "Sure. I'll go get us something."

A bright smile lit up her face. I went forward to the lounge car and picked up a half bottle of the Chardonnay along with an elegant plastic cup. I poured the wine into the cup and headed back to the car. I set the cup between us, caught her eye, and glanced around the car noting that others were there. She nodded.

We talked about the Colorado River canyon and the sights we had seen as we sipped the wine. Chloe would glance my way and smile a devilish smile as she took her turn. She was having fun, being bad.

Lights started appearing on the dark plain stretching out to the horizon as we approached Grand Junction. The train was back out on the flats and tore along. I was feeling quite tired even though it was early by the clock. Traveling, even though most of it was sitting watching the world go by, turns out to be tiring. We entered Grand Junction. I was expecting something more. I was expecting a Western town, maybe horses and saloons. Of course, it looked like any other American city. As we pulled out of the station, I told Chloe I was off to bed. She yawned and said she was joining me.

In the room I told her, "You can have the first shower."

She had climbed into the top bunk. She looked over the edge. "No. You first."

I waited for her to turn away but she continued looking at me. "Um, you should avert your eyes."

"Chicken."

"We already settled that," I said. She made a humph sound and rolled back on her bunk. I quickly stripped, wrapped myself in a towel, and went into the shower/commode. As I closed the door I could see her head turn and look. I wagged my finger at her as I closed the door.

I dried as well as I could in the tight confines of the shower and wrapped myself in the towel before I opened the door. I looked up and could see Chloe's head turning as she heard the snick of the lock. She looked disappointed and I could imagine about what. But I knew too well that if I started down that path of teasing her, I might not be able to stop. Drop my towel and I'd want hers to drop as well. Nude, I'd want to touch. Touch, and I'd want to kiss. No, I needed to stop before I started for I was quite certain I wouldn't be able to stop after I had started.

I climbed into my bunk. "Your turn," I said turning my head to the wall. I heard her drop from the bunk. I didn't hear her getting undressed before the shower door opened and she entered. The water came on immediately. My active imagination quickly discerned she had to be nude when she jumped down which meant she would be nude when she came out. I was so tempted to turn on my other side so I would be looking towards the shower when she emerged.