by Cara Malone
“Oh yeah, that’s exactly the mental image that I want you to have of me,” Carmen said. “Criminally insane cannibal is so much better than idiot trying to get a selfie.”
“I don’t think you’re an idiot,” Joy said, and then the medics picked up the handles of the stretcher and prepared to take Carmen down the mountain.
“Could you please just take me straight to my cabin?” she asked them. “It’s number four.”
“Sure,” they said.
Joy grabbed her broken binding and her snowboard, slipping her boot back into the remaining intact binding. She figured she could probably make it down the mountain using the snowboard as if it were a skateboard, as long as she took it slow. It was lucky that this had happened on one of the more gradual hills, or else she’d be walking down.
“Hey wait,” she said to the medics, testing out the skateboard method as she shoved off and glided over to the stretcher. She grinned at Carmen when she got there, dropping to the snow to make for a gentle stop. “You want to make yourself useful since you’re just lying there?”
“Yeah,” Carmen said with a smirk, and Joy tucked the broken binding into the bottom of the stretcher, careful to avoid her injured ankle.
“Hold onto that for me,” she said. “I’m going to have my work cut out for me trying to board with only one binding, I don’t need luggage too.”
“Thanks,” Carmen said, rolling her eyes. “I feel so helpful.”
“You’re welcome,” Joy said, and then emboldened by the depths of Carmen’s eyes, she winked. “See you at the bottom.”
Ten
Carmen
The trip down the mountain was much quicker than hiking up it, and Carmen focused her attention on Joy as the medics slowly brought her down the hill. She was pretty securely strapped down to the stretcher, with not a lot of room to move, but she could see Joy gliding along on her snowboard in the periphery of her vision.
She had noticed that Joy was pretty last night, but she didn’t give much thought to her because it was rare that she’d come into repeated contact with the same employee in a resort as big as this. Now, though, she wondered what that wink was all about. Was it just a friendly gesture, or was it possible that Joy had the same fire burning inside her that Carmen had felt when they shared a seat on the snowboard?
The medics made good time getting her back to the cabin, and she was grateful that Joy followed them all the way there, stepping off her snowboard and walking beside the stretcher when they got closer. Carmen still had her broken binding wedged between her feet, and she was trying to think of something clever to say to Joy when they got back to the cabin – something probing but which wouldn’t be too personal or too embarrassing to say in front of the medics.
She drew a blank by the time they came to a stop in front of the cabin door, but it didn’t matter because the cold from her wet jeans had set in during the journey and she was shivering so hard that her teeth were chattering and she wouldn’t have been able to pull off a flirtatious inquiry if she’d wanted to. The medics bent down to free Carmen from the stretcher and she handed Joy her binding.
“Are you sure you don’t want to come to the lodge and have the resort nurse take a look at your ankle?” one of the medics asked, and Carmen shook her head.
“It’s just a sprain,” she said. “Thanks for your help.”
“It’s what we’re here for,” he said. Carmen took a tentative step toward the cabin, limping as she put the majority of her weight on her uninjured leg, and Joy came over and looped Carmen’s arm around her shoulder.
“Come on,” she said. “I’ll help you get comfortable.”
“Thanks,” Carmen said, her heart in her throat once again and her teeth chattering lightly.
The medics headed back to the lodge and Joy helped Carmen limp into the cabin. It was still early – the large clock above the kitchen sink telling her it was a little past noon – and the cabin was empty. Her family would be enjoying their sushi lunch about now, and it was a good thing Carmen texted her mother before she left this morning because she had no way of communicating with them now.
“You’re shivering,” Joy said as she kicked the door shut behind her and dropped her broken binding on the floor so she could better hold up Carmen. “You’d better get out of those wet jeans before you get sick.”
Carmen nodded, then pointed Joy down the hall to the last bedroom. “Can you help me get to my room so I can find some dry clothes?”
“Yeah, of course,” Joy said, her voice going a little bit huskier as she helped Carmen slowly down the hallway. “This bedroom?”
“Yeah.”
Joy helped Carmen sit down on a vanity chair near the window, then Carmen said, “Can you go into that black bag over there and find me a pair of leggings and a sweater?”
“Sure,” Joy said. Carmen took off her jacket, hanging it over the back of the chair, while Joy sat down on the floor and unzipped the suitcase. She sorted through a pile of carefully folded clothes, finding a pair of gray, fleece-lined leggings and an oversized burgundy sweater. “These good?”
“Yeah,” Carmen said, taking them as Joy handed them to her. “Thanks.”
“Umm,” Joy said, hesitating. “Do you need help?”
“No,” Carmen said with a smile. “I don’t think I’m that much of an invalid.”
“Okay, I’ll wait in the hall,” Joy said.
She stepped out of the room, but getting changed turned out to be a harder task than Carmen expected. Her ankle had swollen a bit more since the last time she’d looked at it on the slopes, and it hurt to take her boot off.
Once that was done, she had to struggle out of her wet jeans, which clung to her and put up quite a fight. Just as she managed to free herself from them, wincing as she pulled them over her swollen ankle, she heard Joy knock on the door frame.
“Oh shit,” she said, looking away from Carmen in her underwear. “I’m sorry.”
She was holding a towel in her hand and she put one hand in front of her eyes.
“I thought you’d need a towel,” she explained.
“That would be helpful, actually,” Carmen said. “It didn’t occur to me how miserable it would be to mix denim with snow.”
“Yeah, we’ve got to get you some appropriate ski wear before you go back out there,” Joy said. She tossed the towel across the room and Carmen caught it, then she went back into the hallway.
Carmen dried off and got dressed, smiling all the while at the use of the word ‘we’. It seemed increasingly possible that Joy was interested in her in more than a professional capacity, and Carmen liked the idea of flirting with Joy a little bit and testing the waters.
“Okay,” she called. “I’m decent.”
Joy came back into the room and Carmen put her arm around her shoulder again, hopping on her good foot while Joy helped her back into the living room. She eased her into an overstuffed lounge chair by the fireplace, picking up Carmen’s bad ankle gingerly and putting it on the ottoman in front of the chair.
“You’ll want to keep that elevated,” she said. Carmen nodded and an involuntary shiver ran through her. She’d been in those wet clothes for so long that she felt chilled to the bone, and it’d probably take a long time to get warm. Joy noticed and asked, “Still cold?”
“Yeah,” she said, and Joy went over to the coffee table, grabbing a remote control to turn on the gas fireplace. Flames jumped into view and Joy dialed them down to a comfortable level.
“Good?” she asked. Carmen nodded and Joy followed up with, “How’s the ankle?”
“Not great,” she admitted. “But I’ll live. Umm, do you want to stay a little while?”
Carmen hadn’t had a lot of experience with flirtation, or women for that matter, and her pulse was pounding in her ears as she waited for Joy’s response. She glanced at the clock in the kitchen and said, “I have to start work in an hour and a half, but I’ll stay for a bit.”
“You don’t have to,�
� Carmen added quickly.
“No, I want to,” Joy said. “Where’s your family, anyway?”
“Denver,” Carmen said. “Shopping.”
“Oh,” Joy said. “You didn’t want to go with them?”
“Not really,” Carmen said with a shrug, another shiver rolling up her spine and vibrating outward. The heat from the fireplace was nice, but the cold had gone deep into her. “It’s not really my scene.”
“You’re still freezing,” Joy said. She went over to the couch and pulled a knit lap blanket off the back of it, and this time she didn’t toss it to Carmen like she’d done with the towel. She came over to the lounge chair and tucked her in, and all the while Carmen was sure her heart might stop beating all together. Joy looked up to see Carmen watching her, her tongue flicking out of her mouth and gliding over her lower lip for just a second, and then she stood upright again. “Do you like hot cocoa?”
“Who doesn’t like hot cocoa?” Carmen asked, wishing she’d been brave enough to do something like taking Joy’s hand or pulling her onto the chair with her.
“Good answer,” Joy said, going over to the kitchen island. “Have you tried the mix here yet? It’s out of this world.”
Carmen told her that she hadn’t – they’d gone to the steakhouse last night and she had her fill of dessert at the restaurant, so none of them had a chance to dig into the welcome basket left by the resort. Even Carmen’s sugar fiend sisters hadn’t gotten around to it yet, but she made a mental note to recommend the hot cocoa to them when they got back.
For now, she watched Joy retrieving a pair of mugs from the upper cabinets, then a saucepan from beneath the island. She went to the refrigerator and took out a bottle of milk, asking, “Is it okay if I use this?” and Carmen told her it was fine. Her mother had ordered the groceries that were in the fridge and she doubted Mom would miss a little milk.
While Joy heated it on the stove and then mixed in the cocoa powder, Carmen asked, “So what do you do here at the resort?”
“A little bit of everything,” Joy said. “I’m a shift supervisor, so I basically just do whatever needs doing.”
“Including rescuing girls off the side of the mountain,” Carmen said, laughing at herself.
“That was a new one for me,” Joy said, smirking at Carmen. “Are you going to learn how to ski for real on this trip, or just continue faking your selfies?”
“I don’t know,” Carmen answered. “You’d have to ask my dad – he’s the one with the itinerary.”
Joy laughed, then carefully poured the finished hot cocoa into the mugs she’d gotten out. She brought them both over to where Carmen was sitting, handing her one and then walking over to the Christmas tree in front of the picture window. Carmen craned her head to watch as Joy plucked a couple of candy canes off the tree, then came over and sat down on the edge of the large ottoman. Carmen tried to move her foot out of the way, wincing slightly, and Joy gestured for her to leave it.
She unwrapped both candy canes and then leaned forward, dropping one of them into Carmen’s mug with a look that seemed like a challenge. There was very little doubt left in her mind that Joy was interested in her, and Carmen felt her pulse in her ears as she summoned all of her courage to make sure Joy knew it was mutual. She retrieved the candy cane and kept her eyes locked on Joy as she licked the hot cocoa from it.
“Thank you,” she said, and Joy’s eyebrows raised almost imperceptibly, her teeth sinking into her lower lip just for a second.
Then Carmen’s courage melted away and she dropped the candy cane back into her mug, taking a sip while Joy sat there watching her, stirring her own candy cane slowly in her mug. “You’re welcome.”
“Oh wow,” Carmen said as she lowered her cup. “That is incredible. I don’t know if it’s the chocolate or the milk – I’ve never had hot cocoa with milk in it – but it’s really delicious.”
“What?” Joy asked, furrowing her brows. “You’ve never had hot cocoa with milk? That’s the part you’re impressed by?”
“Yeah,” Carmen said, and she had to laugh at how utterly shocked Joy looked.
“How is that possible?”
Carmen shrugged.
“I’m usually a coffee or tea kind of girl. I don’t think I’ve had hot cocoa since I was a kid, and back then we were kinda poor.” That was putting it mildly, but there was no reason to give this practical stranger a complete history of the Castillo family’s rise from the gutters. She added, “My mom always just used water to save money.”
Joy curled her lip in disgust. “Gross. Wasn’t it all watered down?”
“Probably,” Carmen said, laughing. “But I didn’t know any better. What about you? Did you grow up here, drinking amazing hot cocoa and having the most magical Christmases ever?”
“Well, I did grow up here,” Joy said. “And it is pretty magical in the wintertime.”
“But?” Carmen asked. Joy’s mood had shifted into a slightly melancholy tone.
“It just gets a little lonely living in a town where so much of the population is made up of seasonal visitors,” she said. “It feels like there’s not a whole lot of permanence sometimes. Most of my high school friends have moved away and my own mother moved to Florida a couple years back.”
“Aww, that’s sad,” Carmen said, getting up the nerve to put her hand on top of Joy’s. It was warm and the way that Joy rubbed her thumb over the side of Carmen’s hand sent little sparks through her. After a minute, though, she snapped out of it.
“I’m sorry,” she said, pulling away and taking a sip of her cocoa. “My mom moved because the cold was hell on her joints, and I’m not nearly as pathetic as I just made myself sound. So tell me, what does your family usually do for Christmas? Do you vacation every year?”
“Yeah, but usually we go somewhere with a warm climate. My mom’s favorite is Cancun so that’s usually where we go,” Carmen said. “This year, I think my dad wanted my younger sisters to see what it was like to have a snowy Christmas before they got too old to be amazed by it.”
“You’re never too old for that,” Joy said. Then she nodded to the picture window behind Carmen. “Look.”
Carmen twisted around in her seat again and saw that it had begun to snow. Large, fluffy flakes were falling outside, and the sun shone so brightly that the snow that blanketed the ground was sparkling like someone had dusted it with glitter. She wondered if her family was somewhere that would allow them to see this – it was exactly what her dad had been seeking when he booked this vacation, and it would be a shame if they missed it.
“Beautiful,” she breathed. She watched the snow come down for a minute or two, and when she turned back around, Joy was watching her with a spark of desire in her eyes.
Eleven
Joy
There was something about this girl… Joy couldn’t tear her eyes away.
She set her mug down on the end table next to the chair and Carmen slowly did the same. It felt like all the air had suddenly been sucked out of the room, and the way Carmen was looking at her, she was filling it back up with an electric charge. Joy leaned forward on the ottoman, putting her hands on the arms of the lounge chair while her heart thrummed out an anxious beat in her veins.
If she was reading this moment wrong, she’d probably have to answer some pretty uncomfortable questions for her manager. But it certainly didn’t feel wrong.
Carmen leaned forward and Joy knelt on the ottoman, mindful of her ankle as she bent down to kiss her. Their lips met, Joy’s eyes closing just as a burst of shivery pleasure ran through her. Carmen’s plump lips felt even better than she’d imagined, and she tasted like cocoa and peppermint.
Joy let out a satisfied little sigh, then pulled back for a moment to study Carmen and retreat if necessary.
Instead, Carmen put her hands on either side of Joy’s face, warm from the cocoa mug, and pulled her back in. Joy dropped to her knees in front of the lounge chair to get closer to her, and ran one hand through Carmen�
�s hair – thick and soft as silk. It smelled like fresh flowers and Joy had the sudden urge to bury her face in it. Everything about Carmen was delicate and alluring, soft and intoxicating.
She opened her mouth and Carmen did the same, their tongues meeting tentatively, and then a little more urgently. Carmen’s hands traveled down from Joy’s cheeks, gently tracing the curve of her jaw and then gliding over her neck and tangling in her short hair. She pulled Joy closer and, emboldened, Joy wrapped her arms around Carmen, coaxing her closer to the edge of the chair. Her waist was small, the feel of her curves against Joy’s hands causing the blood to rush back into her cheeks.
And just as she was tightening her grip, pulling Carmen to her, Joy heard the front door bang open. The rest of the Castillos burst into the cabin in a cacophony of conversations and rustling shopping bags, and Joy practically leaped up from the floor, whirling around to face them with her heart pounding for a whole new reason.
“Hi, honey,” Mrs. Castillo said to Carmen, and when she noticed Joy standing there, she didn’t miss a beat. She said, “Oh, good. Would you mind stopping whatever you’re doing to help with the bags?”
Relief washed over Joy – Mrs. Castillo thought she was here on resort business, not getting to first base with her daughter. Joy was more than happy to perpetuate that belief, so she rushed over to take the shopping bags she had lined up both arms.
“Thank you. Could you please put them on the dresser in the master bedroom?” Mrs. Castillo asked, and then she got a look at Carmen with her foot propped up and swollen on the ottoman. “What happened to you, baby?”
“What’s the matter?” Mr. Castillo said, going over to Carmen while the twin girls went ahead of Joy down the hall to their room to unload their own new purchases. Joy shot a mirthful look at Carmen over her dad’s shoulder, and Carmen quickly mouthed the word ‘sorry’ to her, then launched into the explanation of her mountainside adventure for her parents’ sake.
