by Adele Huxley
“No? We’ll have to remedy that. Kayla, why don’t you take your friend to the rental shop and get her set up, on me of course.”
“That’s really nice of you, but—”
“I insist. Any friend of Noah’s is welcome to ski for free here. It certainly pays to be friends with the Richards family.” His voice was warm but the subtext of his words was icy. I felt like he knew everything about me, my full name just the start. Without waiting for a response, he quickly excused himself, reminding Kayla to see him in his office before she left for the day.
I looked to Kayla for some sort of explanation but she only gave me a coy smile. “Come on, at least now I don’t have to drive you back to the house.”
“I’m pretty sure he knows your name,” I said poking her in the ribs.
_____________
“Don’t I get a say in this?” I moaned, my nerves already jangling.
The entire resort was busy, but the rental shop was absolutely mobbed. It was mid-morning and people were still flowing in, playing hooky from work and school to take advantage of the fresh snow. I dodged out of the way of a couple kids, skis slung over their shoulders and laughing as they ran to the door.
Kayla grabbed my hand and led me through the maze to a harried looking girl giving out equipment receipts. “Emily! It’s so crazy in here.”
The girl groaned and slumped on the counter. Wisps of blonde hair framed her round, friendly face, pulled loose from running around all morning. “You have no idea. Just wait until Christmas. We get a snow like this during Christmas break and it’s mayhem.”
“Can’t wait,” Kayla laughed. “Listen, this is my bestie Liz. Mr. Richards wanted me to hook her up with some rental stuff.”
“Yeah, no problem. I need a break from dealing with these little shits.” She held out her hand and smiled. “Hey Liz, great to meet you. What level skier are you?” My fear must’ve been evident because she instantly nodded. “Okay, Level 1 it is. Fill out this form. Don’t lie about your weight, not that you have any reason to,” she muttered sarcastically, “and I’ll be right back.”
“So you’re good?” Kayla asked half way out the door.
“Wait, what? You’re not coming with me?” I was a little embarrassed at the amount of terror I heard in my voice. When I remembered the height of the mountain, I didn’t care.
“I’m supposed to be working,” she giggled. “You’re gonna be fine. Gravity takes care of it all for you.”
“Gravity takes you right off a cliff face!” I cried. I hated showing how terrified I actually was. Damn her for taking me to the top of the mountain before I knew how to ski!
“You’ll be on the bunny slope, stupid. It’s right over there.” She pointed through the rental area to a hill that looked pretty much flat. I watched as a kid took a pretty messy fall right on his face. “That reminds me.” She reached over my arm and checked two boxes on the form. “There.”
“A helmet I can deal with, but I’m not taking lessons. I’m done, seriously.” I held up my hands, backing away from the counter.
“Don’t be such a pussy. Everyone is a beginner at some point.”
“Fine. But I’m learning it by myself.”
“You suit yourself,” she replied. “Why don’t we meet in the restaurant around noon for lunch? I can drive you home after that if you want.” By this time, Emily had returned to collect my form. Kayla stuck her bottom lip out and sniffed. “You promised we’d be snow bunnies together, remember? Life experiences, broadening your horizons…”
I scowled, irked that she knew exactly which buttons to press. “I hate you,” I grumbled, hastily writing down my height, weight, and shoe size before I could chicken out.
“Love you, too. See you for lunch. Thanks Emily, I owe you!” She turned quickly with her dark hair spinning behind her. Kayla disappeared into the crowd and essentially left me to die. Nice.
No one told me the hardest part about skiing was just getting the equipment on. Helmet, skis, poles, all good, but the boots! Whoever designed those things was a straight up sadist. It took ten minutes to get one foot inside. Emily was such a sweetheart and stuck with me, kneeling in front as I grunted in frustration.
“All you have to do is slide your toe in and stand up, okay? You can hold onto my shoulders.”
“I’m telling you, they’re still too small,” I complained. I watched a couple snowboarders walk by in envy. Why the hell did I say skiing?
“I’m the professional here. Stand and put all your weight on your leg.”
My foot was wedged in the boot like I was wearing the tallest stiletto in the world. Just when I was about to declare that I was a lost cause, my heel slipped down and hit the bottom of the boot with a thud.
“Oh!” I cried, falling back onto the bench. “I’m in!”
“That’s what he said,” Emily snickered. A few teenage girls overheard and broke into a fit of giggles but I didn’t care. I had a boot on, a real ski boot! “One down, one to go. This one’ll be easier.” True to her word, Emily got me into the last boot but she didn’t warn me how horrible they were to walk in. After tightening the buckles, she explained, “You walk heel, toe, heel, toe.” When I tried it, it went more like, heel-slam-scrape-swear.
Once I sort of got the hang of it, I thanked her profusely for helping and shooed her away. Sitting on the bench in the middle of all the craziness, I gave myself a little pep talk. You can do it. You can do whatever you put your mind to and right now, you’re putting your mind to this. Even if you fall and make a complete ass out of yourself, you at least have to try. Besides, Mom was a natural and you will be too.
I tightened the strap around my chin, gathered my poles and skis, and went heel-slam, heel-slam all the way to the base of the bunny slope. For the sake of brevity and my pride, let’s just say that after a little while, I managed to get everything in place and my body at the top of the hill. Sweaty, breathless, and frustrated -- and I hadn’t even started yet.
“God, this looks a lot steeper from up here,” I whispered to myself. A kid no older than four or five stepped off the magic carpet and zipped past me down the slope, his dad following behind with a camera. “You’ve gotta be kidding me…”
After watching a few others around me, I thought I had the basic idea. Turning seemed to be the most difficult part, so I pointed my skis nearly parallel with the bottom of the slope and started sliding. I slid across the entire width of the slope before I realized I was running out of space. Thankfully, I was going so slowly I only had to slam my poles in the ground before I tangled myself in the orange safety net. I gingerly picked up one ski and pointed it back in the direction from which I’d just come, holding onto my staked poles for dear life. Thanking my diligent yoga practice, I stood with my feet pointing in opposite directions with just a tiny bit of discomfort. I lifted my other ski and after a slight wobble, was safely back on two feet, everything facing the same way.
I slowly skidded back across the slope, my confidence soaring with every slippery inch. My nerves were on edge as I approached the other side, nearly two-thirds the way there. I was so focused on planning my turn I didn’t think to look at who might be approaching from the slope above. Might as well be wearing blinders for all the attention I was giving the rest of the world.
“Bail, bail!” I heard a deep male voice urgently yell. I turned my head for a fraction of a second to see a terrified kid barreling toward me at lightning speed. Not that I had any idea what to do, I didn’t have any time to react. The kid scrunched his face up and fell, but he’d made his decision far too late. The speed carried him straight into my ankles, bowling me over like a pin. I managed to throw myself to the side and avoided crushing the poor kid, but that only landed me right on his hard plastic boots. Pain shot through my hip and I knew instantly I’d be sporting a beautiful purple bruise for weeks.
“I’m so sorry,” the boy said meekly.
I rolled off him with a groan and waved a gloved hand at him. “Tot
ally my fault.” Although hardly an injury worth mentioning, the pain was nauseating, the same as a stubbed toe. As I tried to swallow back my breakfast, I heard the quick swish of snow behind me. I sat up, leaning back on my hands. My legs were stuck in awkward angles because my boots hadn’t popped out when I crashed. I tried to push through the pain and remember Emily’s instructions on how to get out of the bindings.
“Hey buddy, are you alright?” A guy skied down, helped the kid up and gave him a good once over. The way I was sitting, I could only listen. “Aw, you’re good. Looked like a pretty awesome wreck.”
“Yeah?” the boy said eagerly.
“Totally. You’re good to go. I think your sister is waiting for you down there.”
I watched as the little speed bump skied down the hill. I breathed slowly, waiting for the sick feeling to finally pass and the guy to carry on. But he didn’t.
“Lady, I know you’re new but you should really look where you’re going.”
My chest tightening with barely suppressed anger, I tried to turn and look at him. Shielding my eyes from the sun, his face was mostly obscured by a pair of big orange goggles. “Ah, so you’re the guy who’s teaching blind kids to ski? I’m pretty sure he could’ve seen me just as easily. Accidents happen.”
He opened his mouth to speak and then groaned. He shook his head, dropping his chin to his chest. “Ah shit. Why can’t I talk to you without it turning into some huge thing?”
I was too fired up to recognize his voice. I’d already climbed onto my indignant horse and was waving my bitchy banner. “I don’t know what the hell that’s supposed to mean. As far as I can tell, that kid is the only one who walked away from this crash unscathed. There should be some kind of capacity out here. It’s dangerous and—” As I was speaking, he pulled off his goggles, the brightest green eyes gazing down at me. Not a whole lot can stop me once I start ranting, but those eyes…my heart fluttered and the nausea returned. Why couldn’t we meet without fighting?
“Liz, I really want to explain about the other night—”
“Bryan, I thought you worked—”
“I do. Powder day, you know. I was just out here testing out some new equipment.” He tapped a ski with his pole, a bright red and white pair that made my rentals look like a Fiat to his Ferrari.
I suddenly felt really odd talking to him while sitting at waist height, the sun blinding me. I tried to push myself up but flopped back down on my ass in a heap.
“Do you want some help?” he asked. If I’d detected even an ounce of laughter in his voice, I would’ve declined. Instead, I held up my arm.
“Yes, please.”
He reached out but hesitated, a small curl forming at the corner of his mouth. “Do I have permission to touch you?”
I rolled my eyes but bit my tongue. After the way I’d reacted the first time we met, I deserved that. “You may touch my hands and arms. I’ll have to decide about the rest later on.”
With a laugh, he bent and scooped me up. I was surprised at his strength. While muscular, he was quite lean. I didn’t expect him to lift me so easily. It was difficult to maintain my dignity while fighting to stay upright. With a firm grip on his shoulder, I tried to regain my balance, nearly falling once again. With a quick move, he caught me in his arms, our faces only inches apart.
“You okay?” he whispered with lips I needed to feel against mine.
My eyes flickered from his mouth to his eyes, breath catching in my throat. “I’m good. Good.”
We stayed that way for a moment, that agonizing space between not kissing and kissing. I had to remind myself I was still upset with the guy. No matter how good looking he was, he’d been incredibly rude…but just one kiss couldn’t hurt. Just as my resolve weakened, he glanced away, deliberately breaking the connection.
“I still have another fifteen minutes with this gear and then I’m done for the day. If you stick around, I’d like to buy you a cup of coffee and apologize for the other night.” His expression was so earnest. If it had been any other guy, I would’ve told him to fuck off, but I still hadn’t figured him out yet. He still had a slim chance of getting back into my good book. Old Liz wouldn’t give a guy a second chance, so I figured New Liz should.
“Okay. I’ll meet you in there. I think I need to get some ice for my ass anyway,” I said with a grimace. I almost smiled at the relief in his face but kept my face stern.
“Good! I’ll see you in there. Great! Thank you.” He kissed me quickly on the cheek, skiing away before I had a chance to react. Even though I didn’t want to admit it to myself, that kiss made me feel as giddy as a junior high girl at her first dance. My cheek tingled all the way down the slope. And while it might’ve taken me forever to get down, I didn’t fall once. Bonus points for not killing any small children on the way!
Liz didn’t hate me! My exhilaration practically floated me down the bunny slope. I felt like I’d just asked out a girl for the first time and I wasn’t rejected. I glanced back up the hill to see Liz nearly fall over as she retrieved her poles. I didn’t want to show up a sweaty mess but I wasn’t going to have time to take another run before having to return the skis to the pro shop. I was able to run to my locker, change my shirt, and splash a little water on my face. As luck would have it, I found a small bottle of cologne on the bottom of my bag, which I hastily sprayed before rushing back to the dining room.
I stood in the doorway and scanned the room, finally spotting her sitting in a plush chair near the fireplace. I paused, just wanting to look at her for a moment. She sat with her legs crossed, her beautiful pale skin flushed from exertion and the cold. She idly ran her fingers through her brown hair, looking around the room, presumably for me. With an unfamiliar knot in my stomach, I finally found my balls and walked over to her.
“Hi again,” I managed as our eyes met. She had the most piercing eyes I’d ever seen. In fact, I remember little else from the other night in the bar than her eyes and her laugh. “Can I get you a coffee?”
“I’ll decide that after I hear your explanation,” she replied coolly. She glanced at the empty seat beside her, separated by a small, round table.
As I sat, I realized I was trembling with nerves. I hadn’t exactly thought through what I was going to say. I’d been too excited that she hadn’t slapped me. I cleared my throat as she looked on expectantly. Maybe she isn’t as pleased to see me as I thought?
I sat forward in the seat, my elbows resting on my knees, fingers clasped. I stared at my hands as I began to speak. “I don’t really remember everything that happened the other night, but I do remember I did something to upset you.”
She scoffed and folded her arms over her chest. “You could say that.” She flicked her head slightly, clearing the hair from her eyes. God, those eyes could make or break me…
I took a deep breath and nodded. “We don’t have to go over it. I’m sure whatever I said was really insensitive for you to leave like that, but I wanted to say—”
“You asked me if my back hurt because my tits are so big.” Liz arched her eyebrow, her foot starting to shake in annoyance. She’d spoken loudly enough a few heads turned to look.
“Jesus, I’m so sorry,” I groaned, wiping my face with my hand. Had I actually been that rude? How was she still talking to me? I couldn’t meet her eye as I continued. “This isn’t an excuse, by any means, but…I’m on medication that apparently interacts—okay, that’s a little vague. That makes me sound crazy or something. I’m on a new pain medication that doesn’t mix well with alcohol, I guess. I had a little too much to drink and it…” I glanced up at her unimpressed expression and sighed. “I was in an accident a couple years ago.”
“I know,” she said quickly.
“You know?” Fuck, she knows who I am after all. I braced myself. If there’s anything worse than The Squint or The Look, it’s The Remembering. Oh, how terrible. I remember when I saw that crash on TV…I remember seeing your fiance on the front of Gossip Magazine.
> “You took your shirt off when I put you to bed. It’s not hard to notice all the scars.” I must’ve winced at that because she quickly added, “I mean, they aren’t bad. I just saw them and figured something bad had happened.” A silence fell between us and I wanted to sink into my chair and disappear into the floor. She pursed her lips slightly and chuckled. “Shit, I’m sorry. Now I’m the one being rude. I guess we’re even now.”
I loved the way her cheeks dimpled when she smiled. I was so happy she was smiling again, I couldn’t help grinning back at her. The whole situation was incredibly embarrassing, I felt completely rocked back on my heels. Whatever confidence I’d regained talking to her at the bar had been wiped back to zero by my behavior.
“So, can I buy you that coffee now?” I asked, my heart pounding as I approached the last hurdle. Please say yes, please…
“I suppose…” she replied with a sideways glance.
“That was just the explanation, I still have to apologize. The coffee’s just the first part,” I said as I stood, walking away before she could reject the offer.
With the awkwardness out of the way, our conversation flowed. I discovered she was an only child from all over but mainly North Carolina, born and raised on military bases, her dad was a Marine. She told me she was taking the spring semester off to clear her head. We kept the conversation light but I could feel some real weight hiding behind her comments. I noticed that she talked about her dad all the time but never her mom. And for some reason I just wasn’t buying the story about school being too stressful. If I’m honest, I was a little miffed that she wasn’t telling me the entire truth but I had to remind myself that neither was I. Lying by omission had become almost a hobby of mine. Plus, we were practically strangers. She was under no obligation to tell me anything she didn’t want to.
We were there for almost an hour talking, laughing. I fell in love with the way she held her coffee with both hands, closing her eyes nearly every time she took a sip. The whole lodge disappeared, leaving me and Liz and the crackling fire. It was mystifying. Nothing we said, nothing we did could explain the draw I felt towards her. On the surface, our conversation wasn’t anything special but there’s nothing in the world that could’ve pulled my attention away from her.
