by Piper Rayne
I turn back around. “Yeah?”
“You give me that sympathy look one more time when I run into the two of you and I’m gonna punch it off your face.”
“Noted,” I say and chuckle.
He opens the door, loud voices pouring out before the door shuts and it’s quiet again.
Finally some closure. That was a long time coming.
Thirty-One
Stella
Today is the day. The day I have to stand by quietly and watch Kingston fly to the top of a mountain in a helicopter and parachute down on his skis. We drive up to the guide place, where some Tim guy Kingston keeps talking about is. He’s going with Kingston and Tank. Everyone is here with us—Allie, Stump, Lou, and Samantha.
I sit on a park bench outside the tour place where Kingston is laughing with Tank and the guy who looks way too much like his dad—and ironically, bears his dad’s name. I’m really trying to appear all smiles and carefree, but the closer it gets, the more I want to drag him by his arm to safety. Panic and anxiety are like rubber bands around my chest and I feel like a watermelon almost ready to burst under the pressure.
A golf cart rolls down the shoveled brick pathway, someone waving their arm out the side. It stops a few yards away from the small building. I raise my eyebrows when Dori steps out after leaving a smear of red lipstick on the teenage driver’s cheek. Ethel’s with her. Both of them might be wearing boots, but not snow boots.
“Dori, what are you doing here?”
“I wanted to see Kingston. Allie told me what was happening today.”
I blow out a breath and glare at Allie over my shoulder. She shrugs as if she has no control and bites into a big salted soft pretzel. Lou bends over to get some and she circles away from him, mumbling to get his own.
“Oh, Dori, it’s going to be up and down. It’s not going to take that long. You came all this way.”
She peers around. “Where is he?”
I point at the guide tours shop and she beelines in that direction. I go with her, holding her arm to make sure she doesn’t fall. Once we’re on dry ground again, she takes no time to walk inside and reach Kingston.
Dori comes to an abrupt stop when she sees Tim. “Now I know I only had one baby, and unfortunately he’s passed. Who are you?”
Kingston glances at me over her head, which is still as blue as when Sedona delivered.
“I’m Tim.”
“What?” She seems taken aback by his name but recovers quickly. “What kind of game are you playing? Trying to talk my grandson into doing this thing by pretending to be some resurrection of his father?” She waves her finger in front of the poor man’s face, inching closer and closer.
Tim steps farther and farther back.
But the light changes or something, because Dori’s expression eases and she says, “Oh, you don’t look like him. The dark hair and those eyes might have thrown me for a second, but you’re not my son.”
“No, ma’am I’m not.”
Kingston blows out a breath and shoots Tim an apologetic look.
“Now I’m leaving you in charge.” She pinches Kingston’s cheeks. “This is my grandson, and if he doesn’t return to all of us in one piece, you’ll have us to answer to.”
Tim nods. “I’ve listed all the risks to both Kingston and Corey.”
It still takes me a second to realize Corey is Tank.
“I don’t care.” She shakes her finger at him again.
Kingston puts his hand over hers, lowering it to her side. “Thanks for the concern, Grandma, but we’re all set and we’re going to head up now.” He kisses his grandma’s cheek. “You should go to the lodge and get a hot chocolate. I’ll come once we’re done.”
“Silly, I’m going to hang with Stella.” She slides her arm through mine.
Kingston mouths sorry to me. “Well, I’m going to steal her away before I leave.”
“That’s okay, I want to talk to Tim some more. And what happened to Ethel?” She looks behind her, but there’s no Ethel.
Dori walks toward Tim and Kingston puts his arm around my waist, pulling me to the other side of the small shop where there are no prying eyes.
“You good?” he asks.
“Yeah,” I lie.
“It’s okay to say you’re not.” He looks down. “I wish you would’ve opted to ski today to get your mind off it. We’re doing a few black diamonds before Tim takes us up in the helicopter.”
I nod, my stomach ready to throw up the coffee I drank this morning. “I’m going to shop. I’ll keep Dori busy. But the minute your feet are on the ground again, I want word, okay?”
He inches closer to me, one arm resting above my head. “Okay, boss.” He kisses my nose.
I grab his jacket and pull him toward me. “Now really kiss me this time.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He gives me a kiss that makes my knees weak and ruins me for anyone else.
“Kingston!” Tim hollers.
Kingston kisses me one more time. “I’ll be back before you know it.”
I smile although I know it doesn’t reach my eyes. I remind myself of my mom’s words—I’d rather have him like this than not at all.
He winks, the cocky side of him that scares me making an appearance, and he disappears out the door.
I close my eyes, inhale a breath, and follow him out, watching the three men putting on their skis. Kingston waves to us and skis over to the chair lift. I look at my watch. I have four hours to kill. Great.
Allie throws away her wrapper. “Come on, let’s do some shopping to get your mind off it. Don’t worry, he’ll be back in no time.”
“Yes, dear, we saw a cute knitting shop Ethel wants to go to,” Dori says.
I nod, following them but glancing back to where he was. Where I last saw him alive.
Thirty-Two
Kingston
After a couple runs down the double black diamond, Tim okays us to go up in the helicopter.
On the way up, he leans forward although we’re all equipped with microphones in our ear so that we can communicate up there. “Listen, I’m going to give you instruction through the radio. If I tell you to do something, you do it. Understand?”
We both nod.
“Everyone thinks this is easy, and you guys are more educated than my normal clients, but that doesn’t mean things can’t go wrong. Even with the most skilled skiers, all you need is to become distracted for one second and disaster strikes.”
“Thanks, Dad.” Tank elbows me, laughing.
I see the anger brewing in Tim’s eyes at Tank’s lack of care. I feel like there’s something Tim’s not telling us.
The helicopter drops us at the top and we all climb out. Tim double-checks our gear and we wait for him to get his own equipment ready before we ski off the mountain. Another group is going down without parachutes next to us, all watching us with vast interest.
Tank makes a growling sound like he does right before he jumps from the plane when we’re smoke jumping. I’m not going to judge what gets one man’s adrenaline going. For me though, I keep my excitement inside.
Once Tim gives us the okay, we ski. I feel the lift of the parachute until my skis only lightly touch the snow. I’m not prepared for the butterflies, or the way I have to go one way or another. Tim’s in my ear, giving more direction to Tank than myself, but I’ve never felt this out of control. Like the wind could take my sails and I could face-plant into the side of a mountain.
My skis fly off the ground and I’m airborne for a few minutes. The views of the mountains and the snow are majestic, but all that’s on my mind is Stella and the way she’s nibbled her bottom lip ever since I picked her up yesterday. She’s putting up a good front, but hopefully when I return safely today, she’ll understand it’s okay to be worried, but I’ll always come back to her.
“King, you need to go left. Left!” Tim screams in my ear, so I adjust. “There you go.”
He rattles off more instructions to Tank. Seeing the b
ottom, I pull my cords and slide to a stop at the base of the helicopter run.
Tank follows with Tim coming up behind us.
“Way to go, boys! You did great. Want to go again?” Tim’s much more relaxed now that we have our first run under our belt.
“Hell yeah!” Tank screams, and I nod enthusiastically.
The adrenaline hits me, and I understand why Samantha and Tank want to get it on so much after the rush. I’m on a high after flying in the air over terrain that’s not always reached. Next, I want to fly somewhere no one can reach unless you’re speed riding.
We’re in the helicopter when I pose the question to Tim. “How do we get a ride up somewhere only speed riders go?”
Tim’s face falls and he shakes his head. “You’re not ready.”
I knew it.
He must see the look on our faces because he holds up his hands. “Just give me a few more times and I promise I’ll get you up there. You guys are quick learners, but you’re not there yet.”
“We’re professionals,” Tank says.
I kind of agree. We have parachuting down to an art. We deal with wind conditions and weather all the time. Sure, we’re not often being dropped in the mountains, but I could handle it.
We reach the summit and go through the motions of checking all our equipment again. There are no other skiers this time and I realize that this place doesn’t look familiar from when we went helicopter skiing.
“We don’t bring a lot of clients up here, so consider this my treat. You guys still need to give it some time before going out to uncharted territory,” Tim adds.
Tank slaps Tim on the shoulder. “Let’s do this.”
He skis off before Tim gives the okay and Tim shakes his head.
“You go,” he tells me.
My skis dip and I’m only skiing on snow for a minute before I feel the lift of my parachute. Shit. This is more intense and feels more uncontrolled than the last run. Tim’s screaming in our ear a lot more. Tank is pretty much disregarding him, and I take flight after coming off an edge, a white cloud obscuring my view. My heart rate picks up, but thankfully, I come through to clear skies.
“You cannot do that, Kingston. You have to think on your feet. Go right,” Tim says in my ear.
I move to go right, but a wind shear tucks under me and I circle around in the sky before falling down on the snow. My skis pop off and I face-plant into a pile of snow.
Tim lowers himself and meets me, staring behind him. “Get your skis, Kingston.”
I follow his gaze and see what he’s seeing. Small chunks of snow breaking apart. I must have stirred something when I fell. I scramble in the snow for my skis, clicking my boots into them as Tim positions my chute.
“Go. Go. Go!” he screams.
“I’m going,” Tank says, oblivious to what’s happening behind him.
I slide my skis, pushing off my left leg to gain momentum. I ski down but keep looking over my shoulder.
“Eyes ahead, Kingston. Go. Don’t look back.”
The panic in Tim’s voice is clear and scares me in a way I’ve never felt before. Like there might be no getting out of this one. Dread feels like a ball and chain strapped to my ankle, keeping me tethered to this mountain.
I try to lift, but the wind has died down and all Tim keeps saying is, “Left. Left.”
I follow his instructions, finally finding a cross wind that lifts me into the air. I look down to see the cascade of falling snow tumbling down the mountain under my skis.
Shit, I’m not flying any faster than this avalanche.
“Just concentrate on getting to the bottom. We’re in good shape,” Tim says in my ear.
I think he’s lying as a puff of white surrounds me, and now a haze is blocking the visual of my surroundings. Fear grips my heart and all I see is Stella. The despair on her face when they tell her I’m buried in a pile of snow, most likely dead. A headline in Buzz Wheel, “Kingston had it all and threw it away for a thrill ride down a mountain.” Her finding another guy and his kid growing in her belly.
“Stay straight, Kingston.” Tim says in my ear.
But I’m too busy thinking about Stella living a life without me. My gut twists and I choke on my own vomit, staring at the snow growing faster and denser under my skis.
I come out into a clearing and breathe fresh air. Tank is up ahead completely unfazed by what’s happening right behind him.
“We’re going to land, but the helicopter had to leave, so we’ll see what the conditions are like,” Tim says, and I nod. “Say something, Kingston.”
“Got it,” I say, but I can’t stop examining the impending avalanche.
Then it all stops. I look behind me, seeing a classic V shape, but it’s not chasing us any longer. We land five minutes later.
Tim’s not playing games. “We’re not taking any chances. There’s a van coming to get us to take us back to the lodge.” He doesn’t even let us pack our parachutes away properly.
“What happened? That was fucking awesome,” an oblivious Tank says.
I do what Tim says. We’re in the van ten minutes later, still no sign of the avalanche getting worse. Tim and I sit in the back of the van while Tank sits up front with the driver, telling him what an awesome thing we did and how he’s going to nail his girlfriend in every position he can imagine when he gets back to the cabin. I figured they were just fooling around but I guess there’s more there because Tank told me they’re official.
Tim knocks his knee to mine. “You can breathe.”
I run my hand through my hair. “I’ve never been so scared. With everything I’ve ever done, I’ve never felt out of control like that.” I clench my hands.
“Sometimes small avalanches like that happen, but those aren’t the ones we hear about on the news. I’ll alert the authorities and they’ll handle it to make sure skiing is safe again. It was a loose snow avalanche, not a slab, so we were lucky. But the threat is there any time you ski.” He runs a hand down his face and blows out a long breath. “You want to know why I agreed to take you two out?”
“I have wondered,” I say.
He nods and doesn’t say anything for a few seconds. “I took you guys speed riding because once I denied a group of kids. Said they weren’t ready. They ended up hiring a helicopter themselves because their parents paid for it. They had some stupid guide who didn’t know his ass from his asshole and two of those kids died when they flew into the side of a mountain.” He pats my knee. “You were smart and listened to me.” He nods toward Tank. “Talk some sense into your friend though. I know when you’re young you feel like you’re invincible, but no one is.”
That’s something I should’ve already known with my parents dying so young and leaving nine kids behind. We have so many unanswered questions regarding their death and how they ran into the tree when they were snowmobiling.
“You’re smart. You should definitely try this again,” Tim adds.
“Yeah, maybe.” But it’s not an adrenaline rush I want right now. I want Stella in my arms.
We sit back in the van and I blow out a breath, closing my eyes. I’ve never appreciated my life more than right now. Suddenly, Austin’s advice makes all the sense in the world. Who knew he was so smart?
Thirty-Three
Stella
Shopping was a bust. We sit on the park bench again because I won’t relax until Kingston comes back. Looking at soaps and lotions and handmade crafts isn’t going to distract my brain from the fact he’s up there risking his life for a thrill. A couple of kids walk past us on the bench.
“I heard they were speed riding and there was an avalanche. That’s why the helicopter came back.”
Before I know it, I’m calling out to the kids. “Excuse me!”
One of them turns around. “Yeah?”
“What were you saying about an avalanche?”
“Don’t worry, it’s not going to come here. It was the other side of the mountain.” He turns and continues to wa
lk to catch up to his friend.
Allie drops her gummy worms in my lap, stalking toward them. “Hey, kid!”
Both of them turn around and look her up and down. “Yeah?”
“We have friends who are speed riding. What kind of avalanche and are they okay?” Allie asks.
I hold my breath, waiting for the answer, tears pricking my eyes.
“Not sure. All I heard was the helicopter had to get off the mountain and they were hitching a ride in a van. That’s if they’re not buried six feet under. Maybe they’re ice pops by now.”
My mouth opens.
Allie huffs.
“Little boy, let me tell you something.” Ethel follows them.
Dori sits down next to me. “Sometimes I just don’t have the energy but watch this. Ethel learned everything from me.”
Ethel pokes the kid in the chest. “One of those men up there is her grandson, the other one’s boyfriend. And that one.” She points at Samantha. “Well, from what I understand, they only have nookie. Not sure what you call that.” She scowls at Samantha.
Samantha tucks over by us, snatching one of Allie’s gummy worms. “Actually we’re official now,” she says.
“Well thank God for small favors,” Dori says.
“Don’t speak so lightly of people’s lives,” Ethel says to the boys. “It’s disrespectful. You two been smoking that whacky weed?”
One kid raises his eyebrows like, ‘what the hell is wrong with this woman.’
“And before you open your mouth, I’ll remind you, I’m someone’s grandmother. So speak to me with the respect you do your own grandparents.”
“Sorry, ma’am,” the one who hasn’t spoken yet says, weaving around Ethel. “I’m very sorry. If we knew more, we’d tell you.”
“Whatever,” the other one says to the quieter kid. “You’re such a pussy.”
“Grandmas are badass. Mine hit me with her cane once when I back talked her. You don’t want to fuck with them.”
