Love on the Lifts (5 page)

“I thought I'd help you in the bookstore today.”

She turned away from the blender and gave me a pointed stare. “That's what you thought, huh?”

“Yeah.” I scrunched up my face. I knew what her expression meant. Honesty time. “I don't want to see Brad with Cynthia.”

“So you're going to hide away?”

“Just today.”

“Mmm-uh,” she said, like she could see through my lie, and knew I was considering never again returning to the slopes. “I think you're making a big mistake, but it's your life.”

She pushed the button on the blender, the buzzing stopping us from talking further. Which was fine by me.

I didn't have anything else to say, anyway.

A
llie and Leah were totally bummed when I called to tell them that Aunt Sue needed help in her shop, so I was going to forego skiing. I tried to make it sound like I was making some great sacrifice for Aunt Sue, instead of what was really going on. I simply couldn't stand the thought of seeing Brad with Cynthia, or Joe looking at me like he thought I was a total loser for not hiding my feelings any better than I did.

“But what about Operation Hook-Brad-Up-With-Kate?” Leah asked.

“Please tell me that you're in your bedroom where the guys can't hear you.” Using my cell phone, I'd called
her
cell phone, so as far as I knew, she was sitting at the breakfast table surrounded by everyone.

“I'm outside making a snow girl for our snowman. He was getting lonely. Allie's helping me.”

“And the guys?”

“Following the rules, cleaning the kitchen. You missed a scrumptious breakfast. Did you know Allie knows how to make omelets? The guys were majorly impressed.”

So was I. “I had no idea. I had breakfast with Aunt Sue.” The energy shake. An omelet sure sounded good, though.

“Okay, great, we won't worry about you eating, but what about Operation—”

“Not today, Leah. Aunt Sue really needs me to help her, and I figure it's the least I can do since she's letting us use the condo.” I looked behind me to make sure my jeans hadn't caught on fire yet from all the lying.

“Well, we should help, too, then.”

“No, she just needs one person. Not too much room behind the counter. We'd just get in each other's way.”

“Are you sure? I feel guilty going to the slopes without you. Allie's nodding. She feels guilty, too.”

“Look, I've skied before, so I don't need lessons. Y'all take the class today and learn the basics. Tomorrow we'll be able to ski on the slopes together.”

“I guess you're right. Besides, you don't need to hook up with a ski instructor, since Brad is here. As for me, I may need more than one day of lessons.”

“You won't. It just takes a few hours to learn the basics. Trust me.”

“We'll see. Oops! Sam just came out on the deck to give us the we're-leaving-right-now signal, so we've gotta run. But I promise Allie and I will stop by the shop this afternoon for some hot chocolate, after we leave the slopes.”

“Sounds like a plan. Y'all have fun.”

I closed my cell phone and took a deep breath. I figured a day to regain my equilibrium was all I needed. A day to completely sever my one-sided bond with Brad. Tomorrow I would definitely go to the slopes, and I'd find that stud of a ski instructor. Lessons or no, I'd find him.

Unlike Leah and Allie, who were planning to grab hot chocolate
after
a day of skiing, a lot of people wanted the hot chocolate swirling
through their system before they headed for the slopes. So for a while that morning, it was a madhouse, and I was rethinking my plan to avoid the guys.

My feet started to ache as I worked behind the counter, mixing one mug of hot chocolate after another. Fifty varieties arranged in alphabetical order. Most I never touched. Plain old chocolate, dark chocolate, or white chocolate were the most requested. And of course, I periodically fixed myself some mint chocolate, my absolute favorite.

Once things slowed down, I browsed through the bookstore looking for a good read. I always found some sort of treasure whenever I looked through the shelves. Aunt Sue was a voracious reader, so she and I always spent a lot of time over our winter breaks reading and discussing books. Or at least we had in the past. With Allie and Leah here, not to mention Sam and his friends, I didn't know how much time I'd have for actual reading. Especially if I did find a ski instructor.

“We just got in a new one from the Fingerprints series,” Paige said.

I looked over my shoulder at Aunt Sue's assistant manager, Paige Turner. She swore that was her real name, but I didn't believe her. I mean honestly, what were the odds of someone with a name like that working in a bookstore?

“Thanks.” I took the paperback book she was offering me.

“I think Sue lives for these winter breaks when you come to see her,” Paige said. She had blonde hair that reminded me of Cynthia's, but her attitude was so different. Plus she talked and breathed like a normal person. I couldn't help but like Paige. She wasn't that much older than me, having gone straight from high school to the bookstore a few years back. Or at least that was her story. I had another theory on how she'd ended up here.

“I'm sure someone who has scaled Mount Everest lives for spending time with me,” I said, smiling.

“Hey, she really does. You're her favorite niece.”

I laughed. “I'm her
only
niece.”

“Well, then, aren't you special?”

I felt my smile grow. It was one of the reasons I loved being there: I always ended up feeling good about myself. “Why, yes, I am.”

“So why are you hanging around here instead of on the slopes with a cute ski instructor?”

“What is it with everyone trying to set me up with a ski instructor?” I asked.

Her blue eyes widened. “I didn't know everyone was.”

“Pretty much, yeah.”

“I guess because they're usually a lot of fun. Some of us are getting together at the lodge tonight. You and your friends should join us. I'll even take the time to point out the available instructors to you.”

“Thanks. I'll let my friends know.”

“Be sure you bring that cutie who was with your brother yesterday.”

“Hate to disappoint you, but I think he's already hooked up with someone permanently.”

“Bummer! That happened fast.”

“Yeah.” It sure did.

She shook her head in wonder. “She who
hesitates, I guess. I should have made my move yesterday.”

Great. She liked Brad, too. Still, I couldn't dislike her because of it. She wasn't at all like Cynthia. If I told her I had interest in a guy, she'd back off. I didn't think Cynthia knew the meaning of the phrase.

“What about Sam's other friend? The one with the dark hair?” Paige asked.

I stared at her, trying to decipher her meaning. “Wait a minute. When you said to bring the cutie…weren't you talking about the one with the dark hair?”

“Heck, no. I was talking about the blond. What was his name? Jim? Jack?”

“Joe.”

She flashed a smile that would do a game-show hostess proud. “Right. Joe. Is he the one who's no longer available?”

“Uh, no. Brad is the one.”

“Well, that's great!” She wiggled her brows and patted my shoulder. “Be sure and bring Joe. We'll swap: friend for ski instructor.”

That sounded fair. Even though I didn't know how Joe might feel about it. Still, I found
myself nodding. “Okay.”

“I can't wait!” Paige said.

“Me, either.”

Paige went back to placing the new shipment of books on the shelves. So she preferred Joe over Brad.

Wasn't that interesting? It looked like all the guys were going to end up matched with someone. Well, all except for Sam. I truly couldn't imagine anyone wanting to purposely hook up with my irritating brother.

 

By mid-afternoon, I was almost ready to admit that Aunt Sue had been right. Working in the shop wasn't nearly as much fun as playing on the slopes. Mainly because once everyone had their morning hot chocolate fix, they were off to the mountains, leaving me curled up on one of the love seats in front of the fireplace, toasting my toes while periodically looking up from the book I was reading to stare at the snow-covered mountains and wondering what was happening on them.

Had Allie and Leah finished their ski lessons? Had they flirted with an instructor? Had
Cynthia broken a leg? Had Brad? Either scenario might be satisfying.

Or I could simply not care. Could stop thinking about them. Why invest my energy in even wondering what Brad was doing? He didn't know who I was. So I'd just forget who he was.

It sounded like a plan. I spent my afternoon retreat working on not thinking about Brad. Not caring. Envisioning the satisfaction I'd feel when I deleted his picture from my computer's wallpaper list.

By late afternoon, I was totally over him. It wasn't going to bother me to see him with Cynthia. I'd moved beyond him.

Looking out the window, I saw a group of people trudging up the boardwalk, bundled in ski jackets, and I figured they were going to be stopping by for some hot chocolate. We usually had an afternoon rush as people began leaving the slopes, heading home for the day. I set aside my book and went behind the counter to await their arrival.

And I found myself wishing that I'd looked at them a little more closely as they'd approached.
Then I would have realized that sneaking out the back door was the way to go, because when they came inside, laughing and happy, Brad's arm slung around Cynthia, I realized that I hadn't gotten over Brad.

I wasn't even close to getting over him.

“H
ey, Kate, we missed you,” Leah said, as she sat on a stool at the counter.

“We were so busy today, I hardly had time to think. I don't know what Aunt Sue would have done if I hadn't been here to help out. It was chaos.” I was babbling. “What can I get you guys?” Another lie, maybe?

Everyone lined up on the stools at the counter: Cynthia, Brad, Sam, Allie, Leah, Joe.

I really felt like the odd one out, standing on the other side. My own fault entirely. Avoidance. You can't be part of the crowd if you're not
with
the crowd.

Cynthia ordered Guilty Pleasure—why was I not surprised? Everyone else just wanted plain old hot chocolate with mini-marshmallows
sprinkled on top. I decided to fix myself another mug of mint chocolate, just so I would feel like I was part of the group.

“Hey, gang, how'd it go?” Aunt Sue asked as she stepped out of her back office. She spent a good deal of time in there working up her supply orders and going over spreadsheets on her computer.

Everyone started talking at once.

“Awesome!” Allie.

“The cutest ski instructor.” Leah.

“Went down Devil's Peak.” Sam.

“Such fun!” Cynthia.

“He was so incredibly hot.” Leah again about the ski instructor.

“What a rush!” Brad.

But I didn't think he was referring to the ski instructor. Like I said, everyone was talking at once.

Aunt Sue was laughing. Joe wasn't saying anything, just sipping on his hot chocolate, watching me, like he was patiently waiting for the moment when I reached across the counter, wrapped my hands around Cynthia's throat, and strangled her.

“I have some good news to share,” I said when the exclamations died down. “Paige invited us to a party at the lodge tonight.”

My announcement received another set of exclamations.

“Awesome!”

“What's the lodge?”

“A hangout.”

“Totally cool!”

“Oh, gosh, I absolutely adore parties. I need to get home so I can start getting ready.” Cynthia's announcement caused silence to fall as she slid off the stool.

“I'll go with you,” Brad said.

Could he get any more pathetic? I watched him traipse out the door after her like a dog trailing after a bone.

“You managed to beat the crowd,” Aunt Sue told the others. She laid a hand on my shoulder. “Why don't you take a break before it gets really busy in here? I'm sure you have a lot to catch up on.”

“Sounds good to me.”

I directed the others to grab their mugs and join me near the fire. Only Allie and Leah took
me up on the offer, which was cool. I was only being polite when I invited the remaining guys. I didn't really want them there, because I knew Allie and Leah wouldn't tell me as much if we had an audience. So it was okay by me that they stayed at the counter and talked with Aunt Sue.

“How was it really?” I asked after we sat down.

“Totally awesome,” Allie said. “I thought my heart was going to stop when I watched Sam go down Devil's Peak. But he is such a great skier. Not at all afraid.”

Devil's Peak was one of the trails designated for the more advanced skiers. The trail started above the tree line. The tree line marks the spot where the altitude is so high that trees don't grow there. It's great for skiing. The Devil's Peak trail eventually narrows down once it reaches the tree line, but until then, skiers have room to maneuver and an unobstructed view.

“You watched him?” I asked, surprised anyone would want to. I mean, this was my brother we were talking about here. Not some hottie hunk.

“I ended up there because we went on the
ski lift together. I'd never been on a ski lift before so he offered to show me how it works. My heart was pounding so hard when I realized that the lift kept moving and that we were supposed to get off it by skiing. I don't think I could have done it if he hadn't held my arm. After he skied down the slope, he took the lift back up and we rode it down together.”

“Sounds like a regular Prince Charming.”

“He was,” she said, her cheeks turning red. “And I liked watching him ski. He's really good. I was impressed. I'll never be able to ski down a trail like that.”

“Sure you will,” I said.

“Today I didn't actually ski on anything other than the bunny slope, but at least I graduated from ski class.” She jerked her thumb at Leah. “Klutz over here has to take the class again tomorrow.”

Leah wiggled her eyebrows, not at all offended. “You bet. Ian is such a hottie. He's Australian and has the most delicious accent. I adore it. He promised to give me private lessons if I don't do any better tomorrow.” She
leaned forward and whispered, “I won't do any better tomorrow.”

“He's that hot, huh?”

“His presence melts snow.”

I laughed. “I've got to see this guy.”

“Just remember that I had first dibs on him.”

I watched the marshmallows bobbing in my hot chocolate. “I guess Brad hung around with Cynthia all day.”

“Like a sliver of metal against a magnet.”

I grimaced. “She's too old for him. She's gotta be like, I don't know, twenty-four.”

“At least,” Leah said.

I wondered what Brad really saw in her, other than her tight pants and too-small sweaters.

“Whenever she talks, she sounds like she's on the verge of hyperventilating,” Allie said.

I laughed. “She does take heavy breathing to the extreme.”

“You wouldn't have liked seeing the way she sat on Brad's lap in your brother's SUV, ‘practicing' for tomorrow when you'd be with us and there wouldn't be enough seats.”

“Great,” I mumbled.

My parents had given Sam the SUV when
he'd graduated from high school. It gave him freedom that I didn't yet have. He and his buds had been able to drive up while my friends and I had flown.

Of course, we'd left from different destinations as well. Allie, Leah, and me from home, the guys from college. The university was about six hours from where we lived, so I completely understood Sam not wanting to come and get me, even if he had known I'd be there. Besides, I wouldn't have wanted to be in a vehicle with him for fifteen hours, anyway. Fifteen minutes with him was a stretch of my patience.

“I think I'm just going to have to give up on Brad,” I muttered.

“Maybe not,” Leah said. “What's Cynthia got that you don't?”

“Lots of curves.” I wasn't totally flat, but my chest resembled hills, while Cynthia's looked more like the Grand Tetons. And my hips didn't exactly flare out, not that I wanted them to.

“Look, we're going to that party tonight,” Leah said. “We'll all look our best, and before the night is over, maybe Brad will come around to noticing that you have a lot more to offer
personality-wise than Cynthia. And you don't have any trouble talking and breathing at the same time.”

“I doubt he'll notice me.”

“Don't be such a negative Nancy,” Leah said.

I rolled my eyes. “Have you been talking to Aunt Sue?” Aunt Sue had all kinds of quaint descriptions: Sad Sally, Happy Hannah.

Leah grinned. “Come on. So Brad spent the day with Cynthia—”

“Let's not forget that he also spent the night with her.”

“Probably because he didn't have a key and a way to get in. Give him a reason to want to be with you tonight.”

I nodded. “Okay.”

But I was also wondering if I wanted him that badly. Was he really worth it?

“Hey, you girls walking, or riding back to the condo with me?” Sam asked.

Allie popped off the loveseat. “Riding.”

Leah got up, too. “How long are you gonna work?”

“I'll help with the late afternoon rush, then I'll be back at the condo.”

“Okay, we'll see you later.”

I sipped on my hot chocolate, contemplating what I might wear for the party. Most of my sweaters were bulky, designed to keep me warm rather than to show off the shape of my body. I thought about stopping by the Knitted Cable to see if I could find something that might prove a little more interesting to Brad. It was a boutique. All the stores in the village were labeled a shop or a boutique—they weren't really big enough to be anything else. And they all smelled like pine and were as cozy as a fire in winter. I guess because most had fireplaces and it was winter.

I heard a footstep and turned my head to see Joe standing there. I hadn't realized he was still hanging around. I should have. I mean, I hadn't seen him leave, but he just wasn't on my radar. Not totally true. He was on my radar, I just preferred that he not be. After all, he'd witnessed one of my more humiliating moments.

He held up a paper bag that looked like it contained a book. “I was browsing. Looks like I got left behind.”

“Yeah, Sam already left with Leah and Allie.”

“That's all right. What's a little walk after
trudging up mountains all day?” He sat down on the loveseat across from mine. “Think you'll go with us tomorrow?”

“Probably. How did you enjoy the lessons?”

“Didn't take any. I know how to ski.”

I felt myself blush. “I'm sorry. I didn't know.”

“No reason you would know.”

“So you're not as mesmerized by all this as Allie and Leah are? No building snowmen for you?”

“Sure, I build snowmen, and make snow angels. It's the magic of snow. It's gotta be done.”

“You don't agree with Sam that playing in snow is just for kids?”

“The way I play in snow isn't for kids. Maybe I'll show you sometime.”

Those hazel eyes of his unexpectedly darkened, and I thought maybe he was thinking about things that would warm up a girl. Dangerous things.

Now where did that thought come from? Brad was the danger, not Joe. Or at least I didn't think the danger was Joe. But the way my heart was thudding against my chest, I suddenly wasn't so sure.

“Have you ever been to Snow Angel Valley before?” I asked, wanting to change the subject.

“No, but I'll be sure to come back. It's beautiful country. I love being around mountains. I grew up on the Texas coast—flat as a pancake.”

I hadn't known that, either, but then we really hadn't talked except for last night while I was making my pitiful attempt not to look like I was waiting for Brad. And we hadn't delved into each other's histories.

“Where did you learn to ski?”

“Wyoming, New Mexico, other parts of Colorado. My folks would take us every year.” He shook his head from side to side as though contemplating how much to tell me, how much I might really be interested. He gave a little nod like he'd made his decision. “I prefer rock climbing and mountain climbing, though.”

“You and Aunt Sue should talk. She scaled Everest.”

“We did talk. She's a fascinating lady.”

“She's definitely that.”

“Do you have any interest in mountain climbing?”

“I like to hike snowy trails through the mountains, but it's not the same thing.”

“No, it's not. When we were walking through town, I noticed that a little theater is showing
Touching the Void
. Have you seen it?”

I remembered hearing something about the movie. The Last Buck Theater—which did, in fact, have a stuffed deer standing outside the entrance and only charged a dollar—usually showed movies that had already done their time on prime cable channels. The more obscure the movie, the more likely it would make an appearance at the Last Buck.

“Wasn't that a documentary about those two English guys who almost died on a mountain?” I asked.

“Yeah, one had to cut the other guy's rope when he was dangling over a crevasse. It's really incredible that either of them survived.” He hesitated. “Don't suppose you'd want to go see it?”

“What? The movie?”

“Yeah.”

“Sure. Why not? Maybe tomorrow night, since we have the party tonight. I'll check with Allie and Leah and see if they're up for it.”

He pressed his lips together into this funny shape like he was trying to stop himself from saying something.

“Right,” he finally said. “Yeah, let's see if everyone wants to go.”

Oh, gosh, sometimes I'm as clueless as my brother.

“You weren't asking me out on a date, were you?”

“Heck, no. I just wanted to see the movie and thought it might be fun to not see it alone. The more the merrier.” He stood and tapped the bag against his leg. “So I guess—”

Whatever he was going to say was lost as a crowd of people came through the door. Snow Angel Valley's version of the rush hour traffic had just descended upon us.