Snowbound

by MG Braden

  Fourteen?

  “Dan,” Nancy practically purred, “how about we try out Mustang Sally? I hear she’s a hot run.”

  Nancy wiggled in closer to Daniel, causing her chest to brush into his arm.

  Daniel blinked rapidly, and he couldn’t seem to look up to Nancy’s face. Holy cow, get a grip man

  —they’re not even real. Cassidy began to get annoyed. This was ridiculous, they were out here to ski and

  yet, apparently, there was some kind of mating ritual going on. Cassidy knew she had no right to feel

  proprietary over Daniel but, for whatever reason, she just did. It’s not like he went to lunch with them .

  Of course, maybe it was because she was more like his buddy, his friend. Nancy and Diane certainly

  seemed well equipped to make a man really interested.

  Cassidy stood there for a few more minutes, listening to all three of them laughing, while they tried

  to decide where the group should ski. Daniel still blinked furiously, looking up and down. Yeah, we get it

  buddy you’re enjoying the view. Cassidy looked down at her own assets, which were completely

  covered from head to toe, and realized she could never compete with these women. Rick’s probably

  right... he left me and no one else would likely be interested.

  “You know what Daniel? I’m not really into this today; I think I’m going to head off on my own.”

  “Hey wait...you shouldn’t go off on your own...” Daniel was interrupted by a comment from one of

  the “cougars”, as Cassidy now thought of them. She couldn’t overhear the comment, but she didn’t need to.

  Turning, she skied away.

  * * *

  Daniel stood in front of Peaks Cafe because he figured that Cassidy would come down for lunch

  and join him. Not that they’d set it up in advance or anything, he just hoped she would. He really liked

  talking to her, and especially loved watching her laugh. She would throw back her head, laugh heartily

  and her eyes would twinkle through the corkscrew curls that hung in front of them most of the time. He had

  a feeling she hadn’t laughed very much in the last few years. Not that he really had either, at least not

  since the accident with Natasha.

  Daniel let his mind drift back to that day. He and Natasha had gone hiking with some friends on a

  mountain trail they knew very well. Natasha said she was bored with the same old routine so she and

  another friend of theirs, Jill, had split off on a smaller trail that would connect back up again a little

  further on. Daniel hadn’t wanted them to go. He had argued with Natasha that it was a bad idea. Natasha

  had always been very independent and the fact that Daniel didn’t want her to go seemed to further spur her

  on. Since he couldn’t come up with any valid reasons, other than a “feeling”, Natasha and Jill had just

  laughed, said it was fine and then took off.

  Daniel and the rest of the group had made it to the area where the two trails met in record time, so

  they sat down to catch their breath and enjoy the views. As time passed they realized the girls should have

  arrived, and yet they couldn’t even hear them. Since the group hadn’t planned on separating, and were

  doing a trail very familiar and easy to them, they hadn’t thought to bring their walkie-talkies on this

  particular hike. Their cell phones were useless as they couldn’t pick up a signal in the area. As the hours

  passed Daniel had become increasingly worried and tried to go down the other trail himself. Since there

  were four of them, his friend Matt joined him and the other two were sent back to the bottom to call a

  rescue team. It had been too long without any sign of the girls. Daniel and Matt reached an impasse where

  they saw there had been a rock slide. There was no way to get across to the other side. It was there they

  heard Jill’s feeble voice calling up to them.

  Later, after the rescue team had heli-lifted the girls from below, Daniel heard the whole story. As

  the girls had hiked up the trail Natasha’s foot had slipped and she had grabbed for a rock above her.

  Unfortunately, the trail was narrow and the ground mostly shale at that point. Everything crumbled at once.

  Jill had reached for Natasha only to start slipping as well, the entire ground had given way and they had

  both gone down in a hail of rocks and dirt. One of the rocks had knocked Jill out and when she came to,

  Natasha was mostly buried. Jill worked frantically to dig them both out, but there had been a large

  boulder pinning Natasha down and Jill couldn’t move it. Natasha wasn’t breathing—the paramedics

  believed that the boulder had crushed her chest and probably given her a heart attack when it landed.

  Daniel hadn’t gone hiking since that time. He barely saw Jill, although that was her doing since she

  couldn’t look him in the eye. She’d taken responsibility for the whole thing, even though he told her it

  wasn’t her fault, it had been a freak accident. Natasha had wanted to go and no one had made her. The

  whole incident had been rough on all of his friendships, since Daniel couldn’t seem to feel or care that

  much about anything anymore. He just didn’t want to. A drift of snow coming off the lodge roof hit him in

  the back and brought him back to the present. Shivering he looked at his watch and realized that Cassidy

  probably wasn’t going to show for lunch. Maybe she’s already grabbed a bite and gone. Although he

  was disappointed, he knew they hadn’t made plans, so he couldn’t really complain.

  “Hey, hot stuff,” said a smoky feminine voice beside him. Daniel turned to see Diane and Nancy

  taking their skis off, obviously about to go into the cafe.

  “You wanna join us for a bite?” Nancy asked.

  “Or better yet,” said Diane suggestively, “We could bite you.”

  Daniel pretended he didn’t hear the comment. “I’d be happy to join you lovely ladies for lunch.

  Hopefully Cassidy will stop by and we can have our whole group together.”

  * * *

  Cassidy decided she was being silly about the whole “cougars” thing. After she skied away she

  remembered about his eye sensitivity and felt bad that she thought he was checking out the girls. And,

  really? What if he had been? It only proved he was a healthy male. Maybe I’ll see if Daniel’s at the café

  and we can grab something together.

  Even though they hadn’t set a lunch date today, she still had hopes he might show up anyway. She

  skied up to the café, glanced inside and promptly slid to a stop. There was Daniel sitting with the

  “cougars,” eating lunch and laughing. So much for him wanting me to join him for lunch today, I guess

  that was wishful thinking. For a minute Cassidy thought about going in, then decided against it. Better to

  do another run or two and work off some of her angst.

  She knew she had a crush on Daniel—and wondered if her attraction was obvious. Different from

  Rick in almost every way, Daniel was so nice to her and generally helpful to everyone, although he

  wasn’t a wimpy nice. Physically quite strong, he obviously played to win. She had watched him in an

  impromptu snow volleyball game. Even though it was just for fun he seemed to take it quite seriously. His

  spike was something awesome to behold. Cassidy remembered wincing when one of Daniel’s spikes hit

  another player. It looked as if it hurt. Daniel didn’t make any apologies for the play, as it was part of the

  game, but he had asked the other player if they were ok. Some of the other members had mentioned that
>
  Daniel played competitive volleyball and was on both a rec and tournament softball team. Just thinking

  about him made her giddy and she knew there was no point. He was a nice guy, who was nice to her—end

  of story. Still, when he had spiked that volleyball and won the game, she felt a thrill right along with him.

  Cassidy skied past a sign indicating which runs were open, but she was so deep in thought she only

  gave it a passing glance. She wanted to try Devil’s Tongue as she heard it was tough but fun. Apparently

  there were a lot of curves and forks, in addition to it being packed with moguls. I know it’s a black

  diamond run but the conditions are awesome. I can do this! Tired of second guessing everything she

  did, she made the decision to tackle a tough run and she was going to do it. You are strong. You are

  confident. Yeah, right, just pay attention and ski.

  She continued with the mental pep talk as she hit the first curve. Not too fast, there you go. See this

  is great. Kind of exciting really. Cruising along at a steady pace, she wondered where the other skiers

  were. She hadn’t seen anyone else for a while. Huh. Whatever. It’s a big resort. She came to a fork in the

  path and wasn’t sure which route to take. Eenie, meenie, miney, moe. Deciding on the one to the left, she

  veered in that direction.

  All the while she had been skiing she kept thinking about the differences between Daniel and Rick.

  For too long now she’d been mired in an emotional roller coaster and she was pretty sure she wanted to

  get off. Somehow she had turned from a strong, independent girl with a lot of dreams into this wimpy, sad

  woman who cried a lot and had no idea where her life was going. As her skis dipped sharply, Cassidy

  snapped out of her thoughts.

  “Wow,” she said, looking down. Somehow she’d skied onto a very narrow trail with deep moguls.

  The going was very difficult. When she banged over a particularly high mogul, slightly out of control, she

  tried to slow herself down. She was not used to this kind of skiing at all. OK, Cass. Calm down. Breathe.

  Breathing fast, she worried about hyperventilating and willed herself to breathe slower. Trying to

  snowplow over the moguls only made her skis jam right into them. She needed to gather her bearings,

  figure out where she was and how to get down safely, before she broke something.

  Thinking that if she fell into one of the moguls it would help her stop, she side-slipped and allowed

  herself to fall, the way Daniel had taught her. Although, she was pretty sure he hadn’t meant for the

  technique to be used for this purpose. She did manage to land without hurting anything. Unfortunately, her

  skis fell into the well between the two moguls and then went backwards. And so did she.

  Oh man, this isn’t good.

  Chapter Five

  Daniel was paying for his meal and chatting with Debbie, when Sandra rushed in.

  “Where’s Cassidy?”

  Daniel shook his head. “I dunno. I haven’t seen her. I was hoping she’d show for lunch but...”

  “I saw her go by about a half hour ago, but she didn’t come in,” said Debbie.

  “You did? I didn’t. I wonder why she didn’t come in.”

  “Well, you were a bit busy at the time. I think that maybe she felt four was a crowd.” Debbie made

  the comeback a bit sarcastically.

  “What do you mean by that?” Daniel questioned.

  “Hey, if you two can stop for a minute... we need to find Cassidy,” Sandra interrupted. “I was

  hoping she’d be in here, but if not then we should go find her. Someone reported a skier entering a closed

  run. From their description, it sounded like Cassidy.”

  Daniel said, “No, Cassidy wouldn’t do that. She seems like a very responsible girl. You should see

  how carefully she skis. She’s always watching out for others.”

  “That’s what I thought too but, if she’s not here I’m not sure what to think. I did check her room and

  she’s not there either. Even if it’s not her, we should check anyway—no one should be on a closed run.”

  “Isn’t that what you have the Ski Patrol for, Sandra?” asked Debbie, with a raised brow. Daniel

  thought he heard an odd note in her voice, but didn’t pause to think about it.

  Flustered, Sandra replied, “Well, yes of course dear, but all hands on deck in this situation, right? I

  mean, Daniel has always helped before. He’s been coming up here a long time and he’s like our unofficial

  ski patrol, don’t you think?”

  “I don’t mind, if someone’s in trouble I’d like to help—especially if it’s Cassidy,” Daniel replied.

  Picturing her in his head, he smiled. “She’s a sweet girl, who’s had enough trouble this week. Which run

  is it?”

  “Devil’s Tongue. We’ve closed it because, between the storm the other day and the hot weather

  today, it became completely carved up and icy. We wanted to put another layer of snow on it with the

  machine tonight.” Daniel nodded. He knew that a lot of resorts used the snow machines, especially in

  spring skiing conditions.

  “Wow, I’m not sure why Cassidy would attempt that. I mean, she’s a pretty decent skier, but I think

  that might be out of her league. I really hope she didn’t head that way.” Devil’s Tongue? That’s a tough

  run. Why?... Fear zipped through him, leaving him with a bad feeling. What would make Cassidy decide

  to ski a black diamond and then continue on if it was closed?

  “Maybe she thought she could handle it. I don’t think she’s as meek as you think,” said Debbie.

  “I don’t think she’s meek. Who said that?” Daniel became flustered. “Anyway, I’m wasting time. I

  should get going.” He pulled his jacket on, zipping it up as he walked. Sandra’s voice called out to him,

  just as he reached the door. “Thanks Daniel, I really appreciate this. I knew I could count on you.”

  Daniel just waved his hand in answer and headed out. He still couldn’t figure out what Cassidy

  would be doing trying to ski a black diamond. She wasn’t a bad skier, actually more tentative than

  anything, but that could be a bad thing if you were stuck on an expert run.

  * * *

  “OK Sandra, what are you up to?” Debbie crossed her arms and looked at her.

  “Whatever do you mean, dear?” Sandra picked up a piece of coffee cake and took a bite.

  “You know what I mean. Why do you need to send Daniel up to that run?”

  “Well I don’t need to, but I thought he could help. It keeps him busy you know. Takes his mind off

  his troubles. The last time he was here was with Natasha. Plus, he knows what Cassidy looks like and I

  thought it would be easier for...”

  Debbie interrupted, “You’re trying to set them up, aren’t you? Is Cassidy even on a closed run?”

  “Well I don’t know if it is Cassidy, but yes, whoever it is, is on a closed run. I am not setting

  anything up. I just think it’s nice that those two have become friends. Why can’t I send a friend to help

  out?”

  “I know you. You are never happier than when you can get involved in everyone else’s life. I know

  you mean well, but this time I think you just need to leave things alone. That poor girl’s boyfriend walked

  out and left her here. Daniel’s fiancé died. The two of them aren’t exactly prime love match material right

  now.”

  Sandra straightened her shoulders and looked her friend square in the eye. “Ahhh, but I disagree. I

  think that those two young
people need to find love and confidence. They need to know they are needed

  and cared for—albeit in different ways, but they both need it. Having more friends never hurt anyone and

  frankly those two could use all they can get right now.” Sandra popped the last of the coffee cake into her

  mouth, gave Debbie a hug and left.

  Really, how can she think I’m meddling? Not that Debbie had used those words, but that’s what

  she meant. Sometimes people couldn’t see things that were right in front of them, so she just gave them a

  little nudge in the right direction. She wasn’t meddling. Just look at her son Mark and his wife Tanya

  happily married for seventeen years, all because she thought her son needed a math tutor in college. Tanya

  now kept the books for the resort, was the keeper of Mark’s heart and mother to Sandra’s grandchildren.

  Meddling indeed.

  * * *

  “Having fun?”

  From her position on her back, skis stuck and pointed in the air at strange angles, Cassidy squinted

  up at the person who had spoken. Hoping she didn’t really recognize the voice, fearing that she did.

  Embarrassed to see that it was indeed Daniel, she flailed about once more trying to right herself, to no

  avail. “Oh yeah, this is heaps of fun. I personally love sliding down half a mountain on my butt. The skis

  were just for show.”

  “Stop moving and let me help.” Daniel’s tone was rather curt, but then she was so mortified to be

  found like this she wasn’t exactly thinking straight. “There, I’ve pulled them out of the snow. Now you

  need to swing them around across the fall line, so that you are on your side. Can you do that?”

  “Um, I can try.” She tried to maneuver herself as Daniel directed, but didn’t have much luck. As

  soon as she swung her skis around she slid backwards again.

  Daniel quickly skied past her and stopped her with his body, basically bracing her. “No, I said

  across the fall line! Where are your poles?”

  “Down there somewhere I guess,” she snapped in frustration and pointed toward the bottom of the

  mountain. She managed to swing herself around once more, enabling herself to get aligned properly. He