Nothing had changed while she was gone. The nurses and doctors told her how much they missed her and Warren was glued to her side. She was honestly happy to be back. The rhythm felt right and she settled right back into the fast pace of the busy hospital. She had finally been back home longer than she was in Aspen, but her dreams still carried her right back to the snow covered town every night.
“You know you’re off until tomorrow right?” Warren said when he bumped shoulders with her when she showed up in the doctor’s lounge on her day off.
“Yeah, I don’t know I was just walking around my condo today and it was so cold and empty. I figured you could use the help.” She shrugged.
“You ever gonna tell me what happened?” He said.
She grinned. “Nope,”
“Alright,” He knew better than to press her. “There’s a stabbing coming in. Want to assist?” He said.
She smiled. Yes, it was nice to be back. “Of course,” She said.
***
May was the only month that Adler actually took time off. It was also the only month she couldn’t find snow. She was glad it finally passed. Over the last three months she traveled all over the United States for competition and training camps. She was exhausted, but she threw everything she had into riding her snowboard every chance she got. It was exhilarating and excruciating at the same time. Everything she did, saw, or heard reminded her of Cason Macauley and she hated it. She tried to have a vacation over the last four weeks, but nothing seemed relaxing or vacation-like so she just gave up and flew to New Zealand two weeks early.
The snow finally began to fall two weeks later and her friends showed up stoked and ready to free ride for the next two months. She was waiting in line to ride in a helicopter to top of the volcano that doubled as one of the best mountains on the continent. The slopes they were dropping in on were for the most advanced riders with jumps, obstacles, and absolutely no marked path whatsoever. She was more than ready.
“I’ve been salivating for two months waiting for this moment.” Gordy said from the seat next to her in the chopper. When they got to the top they snapped their bindings closed and jumped out of the helicopter hovering thirty feet in the air. Loose tendrils of long blond curls always found a way out of her purple jacket and flowed behind her. The lime green board she was riding was the only thing that physically set her apart from the other riders dropping in on various parts of the volcanic mountain. It was sort of hideously loud, but she loved it.
Adler hit three jumps in a row that were well over fifteen feet in the air, throwing and landing a different trick each time. She had an ear to ear smile on her face behind the black wrap that kept her from getting frostbite. She was happy to be back in the snow. The thrill of free riding at this level was the adrenaline rush from hell. This was where she felt alive. The only place she could truly be free and clear her mind, if only for a few minutes at a time. She carved around boulders and through forests of tree on her private path to the bottom. Gordy was about twenty feet in front of her riding a very similar line.
When they finally skidded to a stop at the bottom Adler pushed her tinted goggles up onto her black helmet. “That was fucking awesome.” She panted slightly.
Gordy sat down in the snow. “Holy fucking shit.” He laid back and swung his arms and legs back and forth creating a snow angel. “I’m in heaven.” He laughed.
She dropped down next to him and did it too. “Wanna go again?” She said with a grin when she looked over at him.
“Hell yeah,” He jumped up, brushed off, and headed towards the bus stop. Various buses ran a route back and forth that picked up skiers and snowboarders and dropped them off at multiple destinations all over the ski area. They waited for the next bus to come by and take them to the helicopter pad.
When they grabbed a seat on the bus behind the driver Gordy looked out the window at the light snow starting to fall. “I hope we can still go up if it’s snowing.”
“It shouldn’t be a problem, unless it gets windy.” The driver said.
“Awesome. Amy is going to be pissed she missed this for a wedding.” Gordy said.
“She’ll be here in two weeks.” She shrugged. “It’s not every day that your mother gets remarried and you’re the maid of honor.”
“I guess.”
“You have a thing for her don’t you.” She turned half towards him and grinned.
“What?” He furled his brown eyebrows together and made a scrunched up face.
“I’m not going to say anything to her. That’s your business.” She smiled brightly and started singing, “Gordy has a crush on Amy.” He smacked her arm.
“Shut the fuck up, what are you ten?”
“Oh just admit it.”
He sighed. “Fine, I think she’s cute and I like hanging out with her. It’s not like I want to get married or anything.” He bit his lower lip as soon as the words left his mouth. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s cool.” She said. She signed the mediation papers for her divorce before she left for this trip and would probably be officially divorced before she made it back to the states in six weeks. She and Kevin had no assets together, no children, no property, nothing. The mediation wasn’t exactly amicable, but it had proceeded smoothly. Gordy was one of only a few people that knew she was in the final stages of her divorce.
“It’s a new beginning.” He said when they stepped off the bus.
“Yeah, something like that.” She said and walked to the helicopter line. They paid in advance for unlimited access for the day so they could easily pass all of the people inside the office paying for each ride individually. She wondered when she would stop looking twice at every person that walked by with short messy dark hair. Cason was as far away as she could get, yet Adler felt like she was right there with her warm body and soft lips. She tripped getting into the helicopter. Gordy caught her before she smacked her head on the side.
“You okay?” He asked.
“Yeah,” She shook it off. If she didn’t get her head cleared soon she was going to be in trouble. She was straight. Whatever the hell was making her think of Cason was driving her crazy. It wasn’t just the kiss, no, it started long before that. She didn’t go around cruising women, wrestling in the snow with them, kissing them. Damn it, she was in the middle of a divorce, from a man. Not to mention, she was about to jump out of a helicopter and free fall thirty feet onto one of the most treacherous mountain ranges in the world with a snowboard strapped to her feet. Now was not the time to be thinking about any of that.
Twenty Two
June quickly turned into July and August wasn’t far away. Cason was working more hours than she could keep up with, but she was starting to finally move on and let go of Aspen. She definitely had no problem settling back into to her chaotic work load and she loved every minute of it.
“We have a shooting victim coming in by helicopter from Aurora.” Dr. Harris said. “It’s your patient. I just got a family emergency call. I gotta go.”
Cason watched him run down the hall towards the ER double doors. “Is everything okay?”
“I don’t know. I think something happened to his dad.” Warren said. He was standing next to her.
“Feel like assisting on a gunshot wound?” She turned to him and raised an eyebrow.
“Sure, what the hell, we might as well kick this shift off with a bang.” He laughed.
***
Adler was sitting in the snow with her board strapped to her feet, looking out at the magnificent view from the top of one of the slopes. She pulled a protein snack bar from her pocket and tore it open.
“I knew I forgot something this morning, son of a bitch.” Gordy said. He was sitting in the snow next to her. She opened her jacket pocket and pulled another bar out and handed it to him. “What would I do without you?”
“Starve.” She said between bites. He laughed. “My lawyer called this morning.”
“Oh yeah, how’s that going?” He asked.
/> She sighed and looked at the sun burning down on them. It was ironic how hot the sun seemed to be in the summer, but during the winter, no matter where you were the sun just wasn’t warm at all. “My divorce was final a couple of days ago.”
“Wow.” He said. He wasn’t sure if he should say he was sorry or cheer for her. Adler Troy was a very closed off person when it came to her personal life. When she got married most people didn’t even know she was dating anyone. He wondered how long it would take the world to realize she was divorced. “My offer still stands, if you ever want to talk about it.”
“Thanks. I’m good.” The only person she had ever talked to about her marriage in general was Cason. Hell, she hadn’t even told her mother the full story. She wondered if she ever would. She wondered why she even told Cason. What made her air her dirty laundry to a stranger? What made her want to be comforted by that same stranger right this very moment? And what the hell was causing her to want something she’d never had? She was haunted by the fraction of intimacy they had shared in one unguarded moment. Her mind had finished that scenario many times over in her dreams. At first, it scared her to death waking up in the middle of the night with a very detailed picture of a very naked Cason in her bed, on top of her, inside of her. She was terrified. Now, she welcomed the comfort of the dreams when they invaded her sleep. From the time she was a small child she had very real dreams. Many times she would dream of snowboarding all night and wake up exhausted the next morning from her body and mind going through the motions in her sleep. Lately, she was waking up covered in sweat with her body urging her to finish what the dream started.
“I’m ready when you are.” He shoved the wrapper for the snack into his pocket and zipped it up.
“I’m leaving tomorrow.” She said as she stood and snapped her boots into the bindings.
“Seriously?” He looked at her and stood up. “I thought we all planned to be here a few more weeks.”
“I’m just ready to go home.” She shrugged. “Besides, have you even asked Amy out?”
“Well, no, but what does that have to do with you leaving?” He asked.
“Go after what you want Gordy. Go after it and never look back.”
He raised his eyebrows and cocked his head to the side. “When did you get so philosophical? Did you finally read those books I gave you?”
She smiled. “I’ve been reading them. It just finally sunk in I guess.” She turned to the side and pointed her board down the mountain. She was gone before he could blink. He quickly took off behind her.
***
Cason was about to leave the hospital when the chief of trauma paged her to his office. The hair on the back of her neck stood up. She was only summoned when it was serious. She hoped she wasn’t being sued over the patient she lost two weeks ago. The woman DOA, she tried to revive her, but the situation was just out of her hands. Her family was so distraught they thought Cason should have brought her back to life like she had the hands of an angel or something. She felt bad for the family, but in the world of medicine you played the game with the cards you are dealt and she had a folded hand on that round before she even looked at it.
Dr. Anthony Frank was sitting at his desk reading something inside a manila envelope when she knocked on the door. His head was balding and what hair was left was salt and pepper colored and shaved very short. He was a short, slender guy. He picked up his glasses from the desk and waved her inside. “Dr. Macauley.”
“Good morning.” She said and sat down across from him.
“We haven’t talked much recently. I must apologize for that. I get great doctors on my staff and sometimes I forget I still need to communicate and not wait for a mistake or negative issue to arise.” He smiled. “How was your rotation at AGH this winter?”
Cason froze. Had Adler complained to the hospital about their encounter? Would she try to ruin Cason’s career? She swallowed a lump down a suddenly dry throat. “It was fine. Why? Did you hear different?”
“No. Is there something I should be concerned about?”
“No. I mean we lost a couple of people, which was very rare, but my rotation was fairly routine.”
“Good. They speak very highly of you. I think if they ever found the money in their budget to hire a trauma surgeon they would be making you an offer.” He put his hands together in the middle of desk to form a small teepee. “Dr. Harris is suppose to start his rotation in a few days and I just found out his father has fallen suddenly very ill. In fact, he may not survive much past the next couple of weeks. I obviously can’t go into details, but I need to send a doctor for the rotation and you are the only other doctor on the Interim Team. I can call one of the other hospitals to see if one of their doctors wants to double back, but if no one is available, I’m afraid Dr. Harris would have to step down from the team so that someone new could be appointed.”
“I’ll go. If he wants to step down he can do it down the road when he is thinking with a clear head. I don’t want him to be forced into making a decision like that right now. He needs to be with his family.”
“Spoken like a true team member, and a true friend Cason. It’s a privilege to have you on my staff, and it’s a pleasure to know you as something other than an employee.” He smiled. “Get out of here. I know your shift ended two hours ago.”
She shook his hand and left his office. If anyone on the hospital staff ever dug through her family tree they would find out her great-grandmother had a sister who lived in Boulder and raised her family there. She had a son, who had a son named Anthony Frank. Cason had been working at the hospital a few months when she found out her boss was her very distant cousin. He never treated her like anything other than an employee even though he knew they were related. In fact, he knew who she was the day he hired her, he just hadn’t seen her since his grandmother died when Cason was five or six. When she interviewed for the position he could see the fire in her eyes, he knew she was going to be a hell of a doctor. One day, after working together on critical patient he asked her about her family and in turn he explained how they were related. She was pretty shocked and confused at first. She wondered if that was why she got the job, but he reassured her it had nothing to do with her blood, only her medical skills. She didn’t know the Frank family because there had been a falling out when she was a small child and it was still going on to this day. Neither side of the family knew they were working together, so their secret worked out nicely.
Twenty Three
Cason looked around at the scenery as she pulled into the hospital parking lot. She had never been to Aspen without the town being covered in snow. It was so different seeing all the colors. She was use to everything being white and various shades of grey. It was actually uplifting, the small town was full of life, and the sun was beating down lighting everything up. The fresh air was thin and clean. This was the complete opposite of the way she felt the last time she stood in this very spot. She felt like she was dying inside that day, now she felt like she was alive again.
“What are you doing back here?” Serena asked when Cason walked through the double doors.
“Dr. Harris had a family emergency. It looks like you’re stuck with me for another eight weeks.” She walked past the shapely brunette towards the other end of the hall where the doctor’s lounge and chief of emergency’s office were.
“Maybe you’ll get your head out of the clouds and see what’s right in front of you.” Serena called back to her as she watched her tight ass in her loose fitting scrubs.
***
Adler walked into her townhouse and flung herself down on her couch. The worst part about traveling was the actual traveling. She wasn’t a fan of flying, and flying around the world just plain sucked. She was glad she was able to come home quietly. She only had to stop and sign a few autographs in the Aspen airport, allowing her to quickly grab her bags and get the hell out of there. It had been a very long seven weeks since she left. Her house was in need of a major dusting and airing out
, her two suitcases were full of dirty clothes, she had half a dozen voicemails to return, and all she wanted to do was sleep. She kicked her shoes off and curled on her side. She loved the overstuffed, soft leather couch, when she didn’t feel like going up the stairs it doubled as a very comfortable bed.
Two hours later, her cell phone rang, waking her from a very nice dream. She stretched like a Cheshire cat and stood up. It was dark outside and she had completely missed dinner. She checked the message, along with the other six waiting for her. Her mom wanted to know when she was coming home so they could get together for dinner, two of her local friends were inviting her to a party where some new band was playing, Gordy wanted to know if she made it back, one of her sponsors was calling to schedule a photo shoot, one call was from lawyer saying he mailed the final documents to her, the last call was her PR rep wanting to know when she planned to make a statement regarding her divorce being final. She tossed the phone onto the couch and went into the kitchen in search of food for her growling stomach. She wasn’t in the mood to go to a party or think about her schedule, much less something like writing a ‘news flash people I’m officially divorced’ post on her website. It really wasn’t anyone’s business.
She threw away three half eaten food cartons that looked like science experiments. The vegetables were all mushy and smelled horrible, and the cabinets were practically bare. Finally, she grabbed a takeout menu for the local Italian restaurant and ordered dinner. A Caesar salad and a hearty plate of lasagna would be ready in twenty minutes. She didn’t want to go out for any reason, but she wasn’t keen on giving out her address. She remembered the last time she had eaten at the small mom and pop establishment, Cason was with her. She wondered what she was doing at that same moment, probably saving someone’s life, and definitely not sitting around pinning over her. She wished things had gone differently the last time they were together. Not the kiss, that was an eye opening experience that haunted her like the memory of an old lover, no she wished she hadn’t made the mistake of telling her to go. She missed her so much. They had easily and quickly become very close. Cason knew a side of her most people would never see. When she was sitting up on the mountain in New Zealand she realized she grown closer to a virtual stranger in a few short weeks, than she was with her husband of two years.
Falling Snow Page 10
