“It rocks.” She beamed, her long braids beneath her beanie swinging. “Seriously. Everybody’s having so much fun. You and Mr. Navarro were so smart to put this in.”
“It was all José’s idea,” Ethan said.
Despite her nerves, she had to admire the way he gave credit to Sofia’s son. She had worked for too many bosses who snatched up any praise for themselves when it was being handed out.
“We’re first-timers. Luke tells us we can choose our run speed.”
“Yeah. Some are definitely faster than others. What’s your pleasure?”
“Slow for us, at least for now,” Ethan said before Christopher could add his speed demon vote. She wanted to kiss him.
“We’ll see how we feel after the first run.”
“Totally cool,” Becky said.
“This is my first time sledding or tubing or anything,” Christopher informed her.
“You got this, little dude. You’re going to have so much fun. Your slower runs are all on the left, faster in the middle and fastest of all are on the right.”
Ethan led the way to the left section of runs, just as another group of riders went down with yells of excitement.
For a slow run, that still seemed entirely too fast to Abby.
Some of her nervousness must have shown on her features. “Are you still okay?” Ethan asked her. “You can walk down, if that would make you feel better.”
She couldn’t imagine the humiliation of having all these families and children watch her walk down the hill.
“I’m fine. Totally fine. Let’s do this.”
His features were illuminated in the bright night-skiing lights along the hill. The admiring look in his eyes made her feel like he had just lit a cozy little fire inside her.
“Okay, whenever you’re ready, it’s your turn,” Becky told them.
“What do I do?” Christopher asked.
“Just sit down on the inner tube with your feet up. That’s the way. I’ll give you a little push when you’re ready.”
“I want a big push,” Christopher said.
Becky grinned at him. “You got it, kiddo. One big push coming up.”
“I’ll go first so I can be at the bottom first,” Ethan said. “Abby and Christopher, you can come down at the same time.”
She didn’t have time to dwell on her stress. Everything happened in such a blur. Ethan took off down the hill and before she knew it, Becky was giving first Christopher a push then Abby.
Her fear of heights lingered for only the first few seconds, and then she was too busy having fun to remember to be scared. The wind whipped her hair beneath her beanie, stealing her own cries.
She felt young again, a girl racing down a hill with her arms out as fast as she could go.
Somehow she managed to stay on her tube as it slowed down where the hill leveled out. Black plastic grids in the snow helped the tubes come to a stop.
Before she could stand, a hand reached down to pull her up. Ethan. Christopher already stood next to him. Well, Christopher jumped next to him, anyway.
“That was the most fun thing I ever did in my whole entire life,” her son exclaimed. His voice radiated excitement and his eyes sparkled with happiness. “Didn’t you think it was so fun? Can we go again?”
She had survived it and had even enjoyed herself. In that glorious moment or two of soaring down the mountain, all her anxiety had disappeared like melting icicles.
“What do you think?” Ethan asked, watching her carefully.
She thought she couldn’t deprive her son of something he loved so much.
“I think we need to go again,” she answered.
They headed for the lift, Christopher in the lead. “You really feel okay?” Ethan asked her as they headed again toward the moving sidewalk that carried riders up the hill. “You did great, but I’m sure it wasn’t easy on you.”
“I’m actually fine. As long as I focus on what’s right in front of me and don’t worry too much about what might be far below, I seem to be handling it.”
“You’re doing great, but if you need to take a breather, I can do a few runs with Ethan and you can stay at the bottom.”
“Thank you. I appreciate that. So far I’m okay, but I’ll let you know.”
His smile left her breathless, and she was quite sure the elevation up here had nothing to do with it.
* * *
Abby Powell certainly had pluck.
After the first few runs down the tubing hill on the slow route, Abby had agreed to go on the medium-fast route that Becky had pointed out, and now she was letting Christopher talk her into taking the fastest run.
“I hope I catch air on this one!” Christopher said.
“What do you know about catching air?” she asked, cheeks pink from the cold.
“I went with Marta and Joey to the skate park when she was tending me once. Marta and me just watched. Joey said how fun it was to catch air with his skateboard. It looked cool.”
Abby was going to have her hands full with Christopher when he grew up a bit. Ethan tugged the pom-pom on the boy’s beanie. “I don’t think we’ll be doing any ollies or alley-oops in inner tubes. But since you like this so much, you really should try skiing or snowboarding while you’re here.”
“He’s only five,” Abby protested. “Maybe he should wait until he’s a little older.”
“How old were you when you started skiing?” Christopher asked.
“My granddad Clive took me when I was around your age. By the time I was in middle school, I was a snowboarder all the way. I moved around a lot when I was young, but no matter where I was, every winter I tried to come back here as much as possible so I could board with my buddies like José and a few others in town. Then I finished out high school here in Silver Bells, living with my grandmother. I still enjoy boarding but I’ve gone back to skis the past few years, I guess just to mix things up.”
“Do you come up here to the mountain often?” Abby asked.
“Not as often as I should. I used to try to make a few runs after work a couple nights a week, but so far this season I’ve been so busy I’ve only gone once since we opened before Thanksgiving.”
It was a shame, really. Clive would have been disappointed in him. His grandfather used to go just about every Saturday of the ski season.
“What about you?” he asked Abby. “Want to give it a try?”
She snorted a little. “I can barely handle a tubing hill. How would I take a ski lift?”
He wished he could figure out some way to help her overcome her fear of heights.
“You’ve done fine tonight. Better than fine. If I’m not mistaken, I think you’ve even enjoyed it a little.”
“I have,” she admitted. “It still takes me effort to face the hill each time, but the moment I start down, I’m glad I did it.”
She was facing her fears, one tubing run at a time. He had to admire her courage.
“You really should try skiing, at least once. It’s the same rush as tubing, only magnified.”
She didn’t look convinced, but they had reached the top of the moving sidewalk lift and had to step off.
“We’re going on the fastest one this time,” Christopher informed Becky at the top.
“Good for you! Hang on and have fun.”
The run was fast and fun. Christopher shrieked the whole way with excitement and even Abby let out a cry, though Ethan couldn’t tell whether it was terror or enjoyment.
“That was the best. Can we go again?”
If Christopher had his way, Ethan suspected he would want to tube all night. Abby was beginning to droop, though. He could see it in the fine lines of exhaustion around her mouth.
Poor thing. He knew she had been working hard for days, helping his grandmother.
“Last run,” sh
e said.
“Aww. I want to keep going.”
“It’s already past your bedtime. One more time up and down again and then home. We have another big day tomorrow.”
Christopher was clearly not happy at having to end for the night. Still, he didn’t whine or fret, which Ethan admired.
“Can we go down the fast one again?” Christopher asked.
Abby gave an almost imperceptible sigh, clearly not looking forward to it.
“How about I take Christopher and you can sit this one out by the fire.”
She seized on the suggestion with gratitude in her eyes that made him feel about as tall as the ski lift towers.
“I’ll do that.”
“Watch me, though. Okay, Mommy?”
“You got it, bud. I’ll watch the whole time.”
On the way up, Christopher slipped his mitten into Ethan’s hand and chattered away about his friends back home and his cat Mr. Jingles and a time he went to Disneyland with his mom and they rode every ride.
Ethan was aware of a weird tenderness in his throat, an overwhelming humbleness that this sweet boy trusted him to keep him safe.
He wanted a family.
Was it possible he could be a parent and not completely screw it up like his own father had? He had no idea, he only knew that he longed to build a warm, supportive family unit, the kind he had never had.
He would remember this night always. The cold night air, the red and green lights of the tubing hill, and especially the joy he had felt sharing this with Abby and her son.
“I never had so much fun,” Christopher said happily as he settled into the back seat. “Will we have snow in Texas, Mommy?”
“Um, not much, I’m afraid. But we can always visit a place with snow again.”
“Can we come back here and go tubing again?”
“Maybe,” she answered in that noncommittal way parents had.
Christopher seemed content enough with that. He looked out the window at the falling snow and the Christmas lights they passed as Ethan drove back to Holiday House.
“That kid has no fear. You should have seen him on that final run. He wasn’t nervous for a minute.”
“I wish I were five again and had no concept about all the scary things in the world.”
“He’s a terrific kid. You’re doing a great job with him.”
“Thanks,” she said with a startled look.
“It can’t be easy, on your own.”
“It’s not. Being a single mom is much harder than I ever imagined. I wish I could tell my own mom thank you for all the sacrifices she made on my behalf.”
He glanced in the rearview mirror and saw that Christopher’s eyes were closed, his face nestled against the leather upholstery.
“Looks like he’s asleep,” Ethan said in a low voice. “That was fast.”
She turned around to look at her son, her features soft with a tenderness that made something ache inside him.
“He’s always been a kid who plays hard and sleeps hard.”
Maybe that was Ethan’s problem, why his sleep was often troubled. Maybe he wasn’t playing hard enough these days.
“I don’t mean to nag, but you really should think about taking Christopher skiing while you’re still in Colorado. The resort has an amazing beginner hill and some stellar instructors. I think he would really love it.”
She sighed. “I know he would. He loves any kind of active adventure things. His father was the same way. My own natural instinct is to curl up with a good book on a snowy day, but since his father isn’t here anymore, I guess part of my job as his mom is to step outside my comfort zone when I have to.”
“Exactly what you did tonight when you took him on the tubing hill. I was impressed by your courage.”
She sent him a quick look and then looked away. He could see color climb her cheeks but wasn’t sure if she was blushing or if it was a reflection of the streetlights.
“Why don’t you let me take him skiing?” Ethan suggested.
As soon as the words were out, he couldn’t quite believe what he had said. He couldn’t find time to take himself skiing these days. Why was he offering to take a five-year-old?
He wasn’t quite sure he knew the answer to that, only that he had enjoyed spending time with Abby and Christopher tonight more than he had anything in a long time.
“You wouldn’t have to go,” he went on. “You could stay in the lodge and watch the whole time.”
“That’s very...kind of you.”
She seemed as confused by Ethan’s offer as he was. Something told him Abby didn’t like accepting help unless she didn’t have any other choice.
That was one more thing they had in common.
“I would enjoy it,” he said truthfully. “Anyway, it never hurts to work on fostering a love of skiing in the younger generation. I’m creating new customers, one by one. Makes all the business sense in the world.”
Her laughter tingled down his spine and made him want to stop the car and pull her into his arms.
“I’ll think about it. I should tell you that I don’t know how much longer we’ll be in town. Once Lucy comes to town next week, Winnie won’t really need my help. But if we are still here and we are able to coordinate something that works with your schedule, I’ll consider it.”
She was leaving before the holidays? He had assumed she and her son would stay through Christmas.
He didn’t want them to go.
Ethan reached Holiday House while he was still processing that information and the tumult of emotions it stirred in him.
He pulled through the gates, trying not to think about it.
“Thank you again for taking time out of your busy schedule for us. Tell me the truth. Your grandmother conned you into it, didn’t she?”
“I don’t know if I would use the word con. More like strongly persuaded.”
She winced. “I’m sorry. Christopher begged me this morning to take him sledding. He probably would have been content with taking a cardboard box to a park somewhere, but Winnie obviously had other ideas.”
“You did me a favor. I’ve been meaning to check out the new tubing hill but never seemed to find the time. It was much more fun giving it a test run with you and Christopher along than it would have been on my own.”
He parked in front of the house, but Abby made no move to open her door and climb out. Perhaps, like him, she didn’t want the night to end.
“I’ve been meaning to talk to you about last night,” she said after a moment.
“Last night?” he asked warily.
“When we...kissed. Thank you for not making me feel like a total idiot. Every time I think about the things I said to you, I want to curl up and pull a pillow over my head.”
Ah. That kiss.
Apparently she couldn’t forget it, either.
“You have no reason to be embarrassed. I’m the one who kissed you without warning. Which, by the way, is something I never do. I am not sure what came over me.”
He studied her in the moonlight. This time the color on her cheeks was definitely a blush. “I found your honesty refreshing.”
She gave a small laugh. “Honesty is one thing. Blatant oversharing is something else entirely.”
He smiled. In that moment, he wanted to tug her across the space between them and kiss her fiercely. Even with her son in the back seat and with Winnie inside, possibly peering out the window at them, he wanted to kiss her.
He even leaned forward a little, driven by a soft tenderness mingled with a need he couldn’t control. She looked up at him, eyes wide, and he almost thought she leaned forward, too.
He caught his breath but just before their mouths connected, Christopher woke up.
“Are we home now?” he asked sleepily.
Abby sat back
in her seat, shock and dismay on her features. “Um. We’ve just arrived.”
“I fell asleep.” A gust of wind suddenly blew down from the mountains and rattled the car. “What’s that?” Christopher asked, his tone fearful.
Abby seemed to gather her composure. When she turned to face her son, he saw none of the confusion from seconds earlier, only a serene, calm parent.
“Just the wind. Nothing to worry about, sweetheart.”
“It won’t blow me away, will it?”
For all his bravado on the tubing hill, Christopher sounded genuinely nervous. Just another reminder, Ethan thought, that everyone was a complex mix of courage and fear, pluck and panic.
“No. That might have happened to little tiny Piglet in the Winnie-the-Pooh book, but you’re five years old and too big for a wind to blow away.”
“Except a tornado,” he pointed out.
“Fortunately we don’t have too many of those around here, especially in December,” Ethan said. “Why don’t we get you two inside?”
He opened the rear door and helped Christopher out of his booster seat, then lifted the seat out.
“That wind is pretty fierce all of a sudden. I heard we were supposed to have windy conditions over the next few days.”
“I hope they’re gone by Friday for our first night,” she said anxiously.
They all rushed into the house as another gust of cold wind blew through, icy and somehow forbidding.
The house offered shelter and safety against the weather, as it had offered it to him as a child.
He half expected his grandmother to be waiting for them, but she was nowhere in evidence.
He set down the booster seat on a bench in the entryway.
“Thank you again for a wonderful time. Christopher, what do you say to Ethan?”
Christopher beamed up at him, and Ethan was aware of a curious knot in his chest again.
“Thanks for taking me tubing. Can we go again sometime?”
“I’ll see what I can do,” he promised.
The boy flashed him a smile, which slid away quickly. He danced in place in his boots, giving his mother a worried look. “Mom, I gotta go to the bathroom. Really bad.”
Christmas at Holiday House Page 15
