by Linda West
Earl came up the stairs with some fresh sheets and folded towels. He grinned at Dodie arranging the flowers. “Nice touch. Kacey will love those.”
“Thanks, Uncle Earl,” Dodie said, with a pretty smile.
“I’m looking forward to meeting her! Is it true she has a shot at making the Olympic team?”
Earl shook his head with a sad look.
“She did, but she had a bad fall. It’s been touch-and-go ever since, with her recovery. Might be a sore subject.”
Dodie nodded her head. “Of course. How sad.”
Earl opened the door to Kacey’s suite and Dodie peered in. It was a mirror image to her own, with the large picture window overlooking the mountain and the old-fashioned fireplace in between. The large four-poster bed was stacked with a fluffy mattress and white goose feather coverlets.
Earl placed the towels in the adjacent bathroom, then knelt down and pulled some small logs from the stack and got the fireplace going. In no time, it was beautiful. The warmth of the flames filled the room with a golden glow that set off the morning chill.
“Oh, Uncle Earl, it’s so lovely.”
“Just the same as yours,” he chuckled.
Dodie grinned. “I hope she likes it,”
“Hope so. She’s been through a tough time.”
Earl smiled tenderly. “Like someone else I know.”
Dodie nodded.
She was happy Kacey was coming, no matter what the reason.
It was a good place to heal.
Whatever ailed Jason and Brad’s younger sister, Dodie felt that being up here at Eagle’s Peak just might help.
Chapter 5
It was Sunday and the Landers ladies were brunching with hot cocoa and bourbon-infused maple scones. The movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s, their all-time favorite, played in the background.
Ethel Landers, Summer’s mom, put another log on the fire. Aunt Carol had just arrived and she was wearing a fetching new lavender frock that offset her large red beehive in a lovely gaudy way.
Ethel examined her sister’s color combination and cocked her head.
Aunt Carol planted her hands on her hips. “Why are you looking at me like I have a rooster sticking out of my décolletage?”
Summer waved to her Aunt, then jumped up and hugged her. “Hi Aunt Carol. I have a cup waiting all ready for you!”
Aunt Carol took her coat off and sat down next to Summer.
“You look beautiful, Aunt Carol! Where are you going?”
“Oh, this little thing.” Aunt Carol said. Her cheeks blushed, which just added another bizarre color to the whole off-red theme. “Just here with my favorite family to brunch and admire Audrey.”
She studied the TV as if she couldn’t be more interested in Audrey listening to Moon River.
Ethel and Summer looked at each other.
Ethel called bull. “Well if you have a date, then you might want to add a splash of white to break up that—brightness.”
With that, she walked over and picked up a pretty white carnation bud that was in a bowl and pinned it to her sister’s dress.
She stepped back to admire her work.
“Perfect. Just what you needed!”
Aunt Carol inspected the new development on her chest. “Hmmph,” she said, which in Aunt Carol speak, meant it would pass.
“You just happened to have one handy?”
Summer sang out, “Someone left a trail of white carnations up our walk the other night.”
Now it was Mom’s turn to blush.
“Earl?” Aunt Carol said with a teasing grin.
Mom nodded.
“Well now, isn’t that romantic?”
Carol hugged her sister, but Ethel pushed her away just as quickly.
“Ok,” she said. “Now you fess up about your date with Old Man Jennings!”
Aunt Carol sat back down and turned her head to the side haughtily, her chin thrust up and her beehive bobbing down. “I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Summer and her mom doubled over with laughter.
“Oh, you think you’re the only one that can eavesdrop?” Ethel laughed. “I may need to be a whole lot closer to hear, but I also have talents and I—”
“She has Earl,” Summer interrupted, grinning, “who told her that Old Man Jennings asked you out to dinner!”
Aunt Carol elbowed her sister good-naturedly. “Oh, you dickens. Don’t you go honing in on my gifts!”
She arranged the folds of her lavender dress over her knees in a prissy, delicate way that was out of character.
“Besides, he prefers Jackson.”
Summer spluttered. “Jackson?”
“I never knew he had another name!” Ethel said. “We’ve called him Old Man Jennings since he was in high school.”
“He went white early, right?” Summer clarified.
“Yes,” Aunt Carol said, quickly. “And there’s nothing wrong with white. I, for one, think it looks distinguished.”
Summer sat down beside her and squeezed her hand. “Well, you look absolutely beautiful, Aunt Carol. I’m sure he’s going to be thrilled. I’m so happy for you.”
Aunt Carol drank some more of her cocoa and squeezed her hand back. “You’re a good girl, Summer.”
Suddenly, Summer’s smile faded away. She sighed deeply and took a deep gulp of her own cocoa. “I’ve got a problem.”
Ethel and Aunt Carol were all ears.
Summer sucked her breath in. “My agent called me yesterday. She says I have to go back to LA to shoot the new Sports Illustrated. She says I can’t get out of the contract. I’m stuck.”
Aunt Carol twisted her lips.
Ethel got up and crossed the room to the cupboard. Retrieving a bottle of whiskey, she returned and poured a little in Summer’s cocoa. She walked away until Aunt Carol cleared her throat really loudly.
Summer looked at her Aunt mournfully. “He’s not going to take it well, is he, Aunt Carol?”
Aunt Carol shook her head and her red beehive swayed back and forth like a dizzy Tower of Pisa—if the Tower of Pisa were red.
“Bring the bottle back, Ethel. This is a conundrum.”
Summer shook her head. “That’s what I thought.”
“The thing is,” Summer continued, “I just don’t know how to tell Brad. He already quit his job so we could commit to our life here and…” She trailed off. “Oh, I just don’t think he’s going to be happy about this.”
Chapter 6
“What? When? Why did you wait to tell me?!”
Brad Anderson’s grey eyes went stormy. Kacey had seen that look before. She was sure glad she wasn’t on the other end of that glare! That was her older brother’s ‘I’m not happy’ posture.
She turned to look out the window and hoped everything would be okay.
“Look honey, let’s talk about this when I get back later, okay? . . . I know, I know. . . I love you too.”
Kacey couldn’t help but share a familiar smile with her brother Jason in the back seat. He flashed her his winning smile with the double dimples. One thing was certain; their big bro was still a pushover for Summer Landers.
Brad pulled up his Ram truck to the lodge and the full beauty of Eagle’s Peak came into view.
Kacey couldn’t take her eyes off of the mountain—it was so superb. It had been so long since she had been home to Kissing Bridge and her childhood friend, Eagle’s Peak Mountain. After all the places she had been around the world, Eagle’s Peak was still one of the most impressive ski mountains she knew.
She took a deep breath, breathing in the mountain air she loved so much.
It was perfect.
Here she could train the way she wanted to train—not the way the team physical therapists thought she should train.
She knew her own body.
She knew she was ready.
Her brother Brad had told her that they’d recently added some new snow slope features on the east mountain. It was simple, but
it had everything she would need to train. She wouldn’t be ready to make the next Grand Prix in Breckinridge and for sure would miss the Dew Competition. But if she trained hard, she could make the US Open and the last Grand Prix—which could make her a qualifier for the Olympic team.
She wished Brody could see Eagle’s Peak. Only a fellow rider of his talent could understand how truly spectacular and special it really was.
She wondered what Brody was doing now—probably modeling for some underwear ad or men’s cologne. She glanced at her phone. No messages.
As of late, Brody had blossomed into a big star (for a snowboarder). He wasn’t only splashed all over ski wear and surf gear, but now mainstream commercial products wanted his California good looks and X Games raw charisma.
The retailers weren’t the only ones who wanted a piece of Brody.
Everywhere they went together, he was thronged by women wanting his attention—or more. It wasn’t easy for Kacey. She was a small-town girl with small-town values and he was a rising global sex symbol.
She knew they had a strong connection, and had been through a lot together.
They trained together, won together and traveled together.
They were “two peas in a pod,” as their team members would call them, and they made a stunning couple for the press.
But the press liked winners, and for the last two months Kacey hadn’t even been entered—let alone won anything.
Sometimes she feared Brody’s fame might pull them apart.
She glanced down at her iPhone.
The mountain was notorious for bad reception, but Kacey hadn’t heard from her boyfriend in a couple of days. She knew he spurned “technology” and could barely text (poor 98) but certainly he had to wonder how she was doing?
Or miss her…?
She let out a big sigh and a cold cloud formed—a symbol of her worry puffing out in the air.
She wanted to believe in love, but Brody had never said he loved her. That fact left her wondering what his true intentions were. Maybe he just wanted to be free? They were young, after all.
Kacey shook her head, like she could shake the thoughts right out of her mind.
All she wanted was to take a ride down the hill.
She had learned early on that the only thing that stops a worrying mind was a busy body.
She needed to get busy now.
Right now.
Brad and Jason each took a piece of luggage and Kacey followed them up into the lodge with her backpack. Earl and Dodie were just coming down the stairs when Jason held the door for her so she could step into the lobby.
Kacey lit up at the sight of the old lodge she loved and Earl, the lodge keeper—such a kind old man.
“There’s our hometown golden girl! Great to have you back, sweetie!”
Kacey hugged Earl, grinning from ear to ear.
“Nice to see you, Earl! It’s been a long time!”
“Let me look at you, all grown up,” Earl said, holding her at arm’s length. “I don’t know why I still picture you as that pesky little tomboy that always wanted one last ride down the hill—keeping me working late.” He winked.
“Ahh, Earl. And you always let me, even though you complained the whole time!”
He wagged his finger at her, pretending to be stern. “Hey, keep that soft spot side under wraps, Missy.”
Jason cleared his throat as he came in, stamping the snow off his boots. “Hey, Dodie!”
Dodie smiled.
She looked beautiful in a blue and white polka dot dress and her hair pulled back with crystal-studded pins.
“Hi Jason. Hi Brad!” She swallowed hard to keep herself from smiling like an idiot.
Jason Anderson looked so handsome in his plaid lumberjack flannel shirt and blue jeans. Since being back home from the war he had relaxed, and if possible, had become even more handsome.
Dodie noted to herself that these Andersons certainly had it going on in the looks department! She caught herself imagining what her and Jason’s children might look like. Then Jason stepped forward and took her hand, leading her over to Kacey, just like a true gentleman.
“Dodie Randall, this is our little sis, Kacey.”
Kacey stuck her hand out and pumped Dodie’s hand hard like the athlete she was.
“Nice to meet you, Dodie! Jason told me we’re going to be neighbors.” She smiled, all bright and full of young hope.
Dodie smiled. “I’m so glad you are home for a while, Kacey! I’m right across the hall.”
Chapter 7
Dodie and Kacey met for breakfast the next morning on a big wooden table in front of a roaring fire. They gobbled up scrambled eggs with fresh herbs and little potatoes on the side. After a pot of coffee and enough food to hold them until dinner, they were fast friends.
Dodie was excited to share with Kacey her philanthropic desires and how she had loved working with the girls for Valentine’s Day.
She had recently visited Burlington—a two-hour drive from Kissing Bridge—and had met with the head of a children’s home that wanted to work together to help the kids and the planet. Since she took up writing to the soldiers from Kissing Bridge stationed abroad, she’d discovered how much helping others had eased her own pain. It seemed that whenever she could reach the heart of another, her own burdens lifted just a little.
Dodie chattered excitedly, telling Kacey that the kids might flourish with a ski event where they could learn to snowboard, and that she had been setting up a Kissing Bridge Climate Awareness Day to bring the children up to the experience the joy of the mountain. It was part of a larger event that was twinned with a documentary to bring awareness of climate change.
The guy in charge was a very handsome up-and-coming activist filmmaker, Tanner Williams.
Kacey cocked her head—she knew that name.
Her thoughts hovered on a tall, broad-shouldered, eagle-eyed man preaching about the effects of climate change around the world. Full of passion and the need to change the world, yes, she could almost hear his deep voice in her head.
Then it clicked – of course! Tanner Williams!
He was one of the stars of the documentary that really helped bring awareness to young people about getting involved – Your World, Your Turn!
She had met him at a climate change event sponsored by some of her snowboarding sponsors in Aspen. He was shockingly handsome.
“I’ve met him. Briefly. A very interesting and powerful guy for someone so young.”
“Well, he’ll be here on Saturday to help set it all up,” Dodie continued.
“We’d be overjoyed if you’d want to be part of the event?”
Kacey didn’t really have to think twice. “Of course!”
No competitions to enter.
No calls from her ‘one and only.’
Why not help the world and some children too?
It had absolutely nothing to do with that gorgeous hunk of man, Tanner Williams.
Chapter 8
“Wow, so it’s Kacey Anderson herself,” Tanner Williams said. With his dark eyes so deep, Kacey felt she might get lost in them.
She withdrew her hand from their handshake quickly, trying not to acknowledge the tingle that played up and down her spine as she touched him.
“You follow snowboarding?” she asked, focusing on her shoes.
She had been in the lounge of Eagle’s Peak Lodge, nursing a hot buttered rum in front of the fire, when Dodie and Tanner Williams walked in and Dodie had introduced them.
The truth was, that Kacey couldn’t wait to get out on the slopes and away from this guy that made her feel like she was standing there naked. As she sat back down, she fixed all her attention on all her memories of Brody and how much he must be missing her. She looked down at her phone willing him to text or call. It had been another long span with no communication from Brody.
“Sure,” Tanner said as he sat down, wide and powerful in his chair. His dark eyes flickered toward her, with an intensi
ty belied by the small smile that turned up one corner of his lips. “I like all things mountain.”
