Finding Lacey Moon

by Donya Lynne

  God, he already couldn’t wait to see her again.

  Chapter 19

  Lacey stood at the top of the mountain on the opposite side from where the superpipe was and adjusted her lowlight goggles. It was an overcast day and she needed the special lenses to help see the ridges and ruts, otherwise the snow-covered run in front of her would look flat. And flat equaled dangerous in winter sports.

  It was Monday. Three days since Scott had told her he was in love with her. Three days since they’d made love.

  And Lacey finally knew what she wanted to do.

  For three days, she had communed with the snow in Sun Valley. She’d ridden the superpipe for the first time since the Olympics. She hadn’t thrown any fancy tricks, but she’d felt the desire to. But she wasn’t ready for that, yet. She’d need several months of reconditioning before she was ready to throw a double cork. Besides, throwing mad tricks down the pipe would have been like wearing a neon, flashing sign that said, “Hi, I’m Lacey Moon” to the crowds hitting the slopes and the pipe at the mountain resort.

  When she hadn’t been riding her boards through the pipe, down the freestyle course, or just down a hill, she’d been in her room meditating. Well, maybe not exactly meditating. But she sat quietly, staring out the window at the mountain, at the people milling around in their colorful snowsuits. And she wrote in her journal, releasing the last of her fears and embracing her future and the excitement that went along with it.

  Yes, she was excited again. She’d rediscovered her love of the sport. Between falling in love with Scott and hitting the slopes, she had found what she’d lost more than two years ago. Except for one last task, she was ready to be Lacey Moon again.

  It’s time to tell Scott. Past time, she’d written in her journal this morning.

  Tonight. I’m telling him tonight. I only hope he understands. I hope he sees why I kept my identity a secret. It was as much to protect him and Savannah as it was to protect me, especially after we started spending so much time together. The press would have rained down like the Great Flood if they’d found out, and that was a risk I wasn’t willing to take.

  And revealing my identity sooner would have short-circuited the whole reason I took this trip in the first place. There’s no way I would have found myself again and reached the conclusions I have if I’d told him who I was. My name would have gotten in the way. It would have caused problems I wasn’t ready to handle. And it probably would have led to me leaving weeks ago to avoid what would have been soul-crushing pressure. I wasn’t ready then.

  Everything happens for a reason, right? Everything happens in its own time. That’s why I haven’t told Scott the truth, yet. Because I wasn’t ready. I couldn’t handle it. And the universe knew it, which is why it kept throwing up roadblocks and excuses. Why every time I tried to tell him, something interrupted us or stopped me. The weight and expectations of the people in Hope Falls once they learned who I was would have been too much. And there’s no way word wouldn’t have gotten around. And even if it hadn’t, I would have worried constantly that it would. I didn’t have the mental power to deal with that at the time.

  But now I do. I’m ready. And at least I know that Scott fell in love with me. ME! Not “Lacey Moon.” No matter what happens, I’ll always have that.

  She’d called Scott that morning and left him a voicemail telling him she would be home tonight and that she needed to talk to him. That it was important. And this time, no matter what happened, she wouldn’t chicken out. She would tell him who she was.

  Lacey gazed down the hill and clapped her gloved hands together. This was her final run before heading home.

  Home.

  In her heart, she knew Hope Falls was home now. She belonged there. They had a snowboard park where she could train. There was a skate park where she could practice and stay conditioned in summer. As far as the pipe was concerned, she could train out of Sun Valley. A couple of the other female Olympian snowboarders did, and it would be nice to train with them. A little healthy competition between friendly adversaries never hurt anyone. In fact, training with fellow Olympians often pushed all to excel.

  She might have to relocate for a few months out of the winter, but Hope Falls would be home. She could work out the logistics and living arrangements later. There were a lot of arrangements that still needed to be made, but now that the pieces had fallen into place in her mind, she was ready to move forward, all cylinders firing.

  She shifted her weight and ratcheted her board around so that it was parallel to the hill. Gravity took over and pulled her forward. As momentum turned to speed, she raced smoothly down the mountain, her board easily carving into the packed snow. The wind whistled past her, stinging her exposed cheeks and mouth, but the cold refreshed her. This was the day her life would change, and she knew in her heart that it would change for the better. Her gut told her that Scott would understand. He would be surprised, but he would understand. That was just how he was. A year from now, they would look back and laugh at how they had met, and maybe he would always call her Mattie. She didn’t care. She liked that he called her Mattie. All she cared about was finally telling him the truth.

  The shout of someone in trouble came out of nowhere.

  Lacey’s head swung around just as the kid careening down the slope like an out-of-control madman struck her at full speed as she crested a small bump in the snow. The small bump became a cliff, and she flipped, landed on her side on the snowpack, and then gravity did the rest until she skidded off course and slammed into a tree.

  Shit!

  Pain shot through her left wrist and down the entire left side of her body. She’d wiped out plenty of times, so she knew what the different kinds of pain felt like. Her left arm and wrist had taken the worst of the fall, but she was pretty sure she didn’t have any broken bones. Then again, her head was ringing like a doorbell.

  The rush of boots beating against the snow drew closer, as did the hurried swoosh of skis, and then gawkers, along with a couple members of the Sun Valley patrol, surrounded her. One was radioing that they needed a medic.

  “No, I’m fine…” She tried to sit up, but she was too dazed and flopped back into the snow.

  “Just take it easy, miss.” One of the patrol guys placed his hand on her shoulder. “You need to stay down, okay? Can you tell me your name?”

  “Lacey Moon.” As soon as her name left her mouth, she froze. Oh God. Had she given her real name? She’d meant to tell them it was Mattie. Not Lacey. Shit. Oh shit, shit, SHIT!

  The guy’s eyes went wide behind his goggles. “Excuse me?”

  She closed her eyes and fought back her tears. “I’m Lacey Moon.” She knew what this meant. She had about five seconds left to enjoy anonymity.

  She heard someone whisper behind her. “Oh my God, it’s Lacey Moon.” Then the whispers grew louder. Within seconds, people were shouting all around her, gasping and snapping pictures and taking videos with their phones, all of them pushing forward, eager to get a look at the fallen Olympian.

  “Tell them to stop taking pictures,” she said, cringing as the patrolmen helped remove her helmet. She didn’t want pictures flooding the internet. This wasn’t how she wanted Scott to find out who she was, and she knew that within the hour, the story of how Lacey Moon had taken another massive fall in Sun Valley would be everywhere. With all the pictures being taken of her as she lay helpless on the ground, there was no way she could protect her identity, anymore. The cat was out of the bag.

  “Hey!” One of the patrolmen shouted to the onlookers. “No pictures! Move away. Now!”

  Few listened, and Lacey dropped her helmetless head back into the snow with a groan. There was nothing she could do. One out of control snowboarder who looked like he’d had no business outside the flats of the training area had just changed everything. In a split second, she had gone from anonymity to viral.

  The crowd surged closer. Cell phones rose in the air in ungloved hands. Everyone craned for a closer loo
k. A few cries of “Lacey, can I get a picture? Can I get an autograph?” rang out above the growing upheaval of celebrity-hungry fans massing around her.

  “Move!” the patrolman barked as the stretcher was hurried in and placed beside her. They quickly lifted her onto it and strapped her down, but the mass of humanity was swiftly becoming a riotous swarm.

  Lacey covered her face. “Get me out of here,” she said, starting to cry. She didn’t want to cry in public, where everything was captured with the click of a button and posted online for everyone to make fun of and mock.

  “Hold on, Lacey,” the man said. “We’re moving as fast as we can.” He and his team lifted her and pushed through the crowd to the waiting snowmobile.

  Cell phones shot out over her. The snap-click of pictures being taken rang out by the dozens. Hands pawed her arms and legs.

  “Get back!” the man shouted at the crowd.

  Lacey couldn’t believe how selfish and rude these people were being. She was hurt. Nothing serious, as far as she could tell, but still, these people didn’t know that. She could require swift medical attention, but the mob intruding into her personal space would be preventing it. All they saw was a celebrity. A piece of meat to consume. To them, she wasn’t human.

  And so the machine began churning again. She’d thought she was mentally prepared to defeat that piece of shit, but she hadn’t been expecting to be blindsided on a mountain while enjoying a leisurely ride.

  After several long, agonizing minutes of unbearable psychological torture, Lacey was finally secured to the snowmobile and whizzed down the mountain to the first aid center.

  A news crew had already been on site filming a story, but apparently word had gotten out that she was there and had fallen, because the crew rushed toward her, cameras rolling. The reporter shoved a microphone in her tear-streaked face.

  “Lacey, what happened on the mountain?”

  She turned away, trying not to cry as anger exploded inside her. “What’s it look like happened? I fell.”

  “Lacey,” the reporter said, “you’ve been out of the public eye since your fall in the Olympics. Where have you been?”

  Where did these guys learn how to ask such stupid questions?

  “Can’t you see I’m hurt?” she said imploringly. “I need medical attention, and all you care about is where I’ve been?” No way would she tell them about Hope Falls. She would do what she could to protect Scott and Savannah from these vultures, but she knew it was only a matter of time before they found them.

  “Will we see you return at the next Olympics?”

  Seriously? Were these idiots so desperate for a story that they were already talking about the next Winter Olympics?

  “That’s three years away.” She frowned at the reporter, who wore a fur coat and a matching fur cap that sat high on her head, as if she didn’t want to mess up her hair.

  “Lacey, can we expect you—”

  She’d reached her breaking point. “Can’t you fucking vultures leave me alone for two goddamn seconds so I can get medical attention!” Outrage spilled from her veins.

  The reporter hesitated for only a second before pushing forward.

  “The public deserves to know—”

  “The public doesn’t deserve to know anything right now other than I’m injured, need medical attention, and have a right to my privacy. Now fuck off.”

  Okay, so two f-bombs in one interview wasn’t her finest moment, and her publicist was going to have to conduct emergency fire control, but right now, she didn’t care. She was laid up on a stretcher, being carted into the first aid center, with pain shooting through her wrist, her head spinning, and about a hundred mobile downloads of her flying out into cyberspace, running down Twitter and Facebook feeds even as she lay there staring up through tear-filled eyes at the overcast skies.

  So much for telling Scott the truth. With her name going viral this very second, if he didn’t already know, he soon would.

  Chapter 20

  Scott carefully inspected every rose before selecting a dozen perfect blooms.

  Mattie had left him a message this morning that she would be home tonight with her decision and something important she wanted to talk to him about. He wanted everything to be perfect.

  He took the roses to the checkout, where the clerk wrapped them in green tissue paper then inside heavier paper that was a light-blue shade.

  “Thank you, Clara,” he said, exchanging cash for the flowers. He’d known Clara for almost ten years. Her husband had helped build some of the cabins at the resort before being killed in a forest fire out-of-state four years ago. She’d decided to stay in Hope Falls after his death, and while she always wore a smile, he could tell his death still haunted her.

  “It’s about time I saw you come in for red roses, Scott. Must be one special lady.”

  “She is.” He waved the bound roses at her, smiled, said good-bye, and headed out.

  Next stop, Pappy’s. He needed to pick up lunch before heading back to the office.

  The fact that it was cloudy didn’t dull his happiness one bit. In fact, nothing could kill his good mood today. For the first time in years, he could see a future that didn’t include a lot of lonely nights and emptiness. He had his daughter, which filled some of the gaps in his life, but a man needed more than that. He needed more than that. And now, with Mattie, he could have a richer, more meaningful life. And children. More children. He wanted Savannah to have a little brother or sister, maybe both. And Mattie was so good with kids. The way she related to Savannah was incredible.

  Maybe he was jumping a little ahead of himself, but he couldn’t keep the hope he felt from pouring forth. Everything was falling into place, his future stretching in front of him, and he couldn’t wipe the smile off his face.

  “Hey, sugar,” Shirl said as he entered the diner. “Those for your girl?”

  He glanced down at the flowers. By now, the whole town knew he and Mattie were together. There was no stopping the rumor mill. “Yep, they’re for Mattie.”

  Shirl smirked. “Mattie,” she said with a chuckle and a wink, sounding amused. “You don’t have to keep it a secret, anymore, sugar. Everyone already knows.”

  He stepped up to the counter. “I know that everyone knows we’re together. There’s no way I can keep a secret in this town.” He flipped over the cup on the saucer in front of him.

  Shirl gave him a funny look as if she was trying to figure him out. “You don’t seem too worried,” she said, pouring coffee in his mug.

  “Worried? What would I be worried about?”

  “About your girl, of course. Mattie.” Shirl winked conspiratorially again and giggled as she set the decanter down. “I mean, it’s all over the news.”

  Scott was beginning to get the feeling he and Shirl were talking about two different things. “The news? What are you talking about?”

  She looked up and frowned. “Didn’t you hear?”

  Now Scott was starting to worry. What did Mattie have to do with the news, and why would she be all over it? “Was there an accident?”

  “Well, yeah. I thought you’d heard. Isn’t that the reason for the flowers?” She pointed to the roses he’d placed on the counter. It was too cold to leave them in the truck.

  “No. I didn’t hear about any accident. What happened? Is Mattie okay?” His heart raced. He needed Shirl to tell him everything she knew so he wouldn’t worry, and then he would get in his truck and go to wherever Mattie was. If she was hurt, he needed to be there.

  Shirl sighed. “You don’t have to keep calling her Mattie, Scott. I know the truth. I mean, I can understand why you didn’t want the whole town to know, but now everyone knows, so the jig is up.”

  “What the hell are you talking about, Shirl? Is Mattie okay or not?”

  “Lacey is fine,” she said with a huff and a dismissive wave. “It’s just a wrist sprain.”

  “Lacey?”

  She tsked him. “Quit playing.” She picked
up a bar towel and started wiping down the counter.

  “I’m not. Why did you call her Lacey?” A bad feeling bloomed in the pit of his stomach.

  “Because that’s her name.” She eyed him like he was crazy.

  Like he was crazy?

  “No it’s not. It’s Mattie.”

  Shirl stopped and narrowed her eyes. “Wait a minute. Did you seriously not know?”

  “Know what?” If Shirl didn’t level with him in about five seconds, he was going to lose it.

  “Scott, you’ve been dating Lacey Moon. That’s her real name.”

  He shook his head. “No…no, that can’t be…” Why was Shirl playing such a cruel trick on him?

  “Holy shit.” Her mouth fell open. “You really didn’t know, did you?” She gasped and leaned on the counter. “Scott, the woman who came into town two months ago, who is renting one of your cabins, and who you’ve been involved with, is Lacey Moon. The Olympian. I thought you knew.”

  “No, I didn’t…”

  Looked like the joke was on him. Scott stared into the distance as his mind raced through the memories of all the time he had spent with Mattie. She had been so secretive, as if she’d been hiding something. And then Savannah had said she looked like Lacey Moon, and Mattie had hesitated before answering that she got that a lot. The skateboarding. The snowboarding. The way she knew how to handle an injury. Even the fact that she had read a book by a fellow Olympian. There had been so many signs, and he hadn’t seen any of them. Mattie had—no…Lacey had lied to him. She had fucking lied to him. Why? Why had she lied? To him? To Savannah? To everybody?

  “It’s on the house today,” Shirl said quietly, handing him his order. Her face was the picture of worry and sympathy, but Scott knew that as soon as he walked out of the diner, she would be on the phone to everybody she knew.

  Within hours, he would become the laughingstock of Hope Falls.

  Without a word, he picked up the bag of food and the roses then left. Unable to feel his hands or his feet, numb to everything but the blinding realization that Mattie—Lacey—had lied to him, he somehow made his way to his truck, climbed into the cab, and drove home.