Snow Angel (11 page)

At least that time was still years down the road.

Working her boot carefully off her tender foot, Melinda left her sock on and applied the ice pack over it. It didn’t hurt as long as she didn’t press on it too hard or rotate it too sharply.

“Hey,” Danny said. “Look.”

He pointed at the rear bumper of the car in front of them. It bore a bumper-sticker that read
Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you may be in Utah.

“Great,” Wendell said, “where the hell are they taking us?”

Although the SUV was once again in motion, it took another ten minutes before traffic fully opened up and they got back to normal speed.

By that time, they were passing the scene of the accident, where six police vehicles, two fire engines, a scatter of glass, and three absolutely totaled cars, each perched on its own tow-truck trailer, still marked the spot.

Abruptly, silence filled the SUV, and Seth’s ghost seemed to settle inside with them, a powerful presence touching each of them with love, and sorrow, and regret.

Melinda shivered as they drove by the remains of the vehicles and said a quick prayer for the occupants who’d been inside the twisted shells of metal.

Karen called a few minutes later, and Melinda listened in silence while her mom gave her the oft-repeated lecture on safe driving, watching out for everyone else on the road, and reminded her why parents worried so much about their kids being behind the wheel.

As if they needed any reminders.

“Your mom freaking out?” Jacob asked when she hung up, his voice so deliberately casual, it hurt her heart.

“Totally.” She blew out a breath, striving for the same tone. “And your mom says ditto everything my mom said.”

“Got it,” Jacob said.

She could hear the eye roll in his voice and knew exactly what it cost him—all of them—to respond playfully to the parental worry. The way any young adult would who’d never lost a close friend in a devastating accident.

“Mom and Nancy, too,” Christian confirmed from the back seat as he hung up his cell phone. “I could hear Eddie getting his lecture through the phone while Mom gave hers to Rick and me at the same time.” Putting on a passable imitation of Aunt Pat’s voice, he added, “Daniel, you’re to remember you hold all of our lives in your hands, son.”

“Lest I forget,” Danny said.

“Makes me glad my folks aren’t here,” Wendell commented.

“You said it, bro,” said Gabe.

“Keep thinking that, dudes,” Christian said with a smirk on his baby face. “My mom already called both of yours so they’d know you were safe in case they heard about the accident.”

“Are you kidding?” Gabe asked.

Wendell groaned. “Oh,
man
.”

Right on cue, both of their phones went off, sending the rest of the car into a laughing fit that dispelled the gloom that had covered the group, while Gabe and Wendell tried to hear their mothers over the noise.

Melinda imagined a comforting brush of fingers over her shoulder as Seth’s memory seemed to lift from the car.

Gabe, impatience ripe in his tone, said, “Mom, I’m a professional driver,” into his phone, which was as far as he got before his mother’s voice went audible to everyone in the car with reminders of all the
professional drivers
who’d died on various race courses
and
highways throughout history.

Not to mention friends.

“Okay, yes, I’m sorry,” Gabe said, backpedaling as fast as he could when his mother stopped to take a breath. “I know you worry.” Another pause. “Okay. I love you, too.”

Hanging up, Gabe’s level gaze and clenched jaw challenged his fellow passengers to make any snide comments. Wendell completed his own conversation, and silence rang in the car for two beats.

“Lectures delivered?” Melinda asked.

Gabe reached forward and tweaked her ear, and Wendell said, “Shut it, squirt.”

“She’s such a hypocrite,” Gabe muttered.

His entire family, including his mother, raced cars either professionally, like Gabe, or as a hobby. But Mrs. McConnell was the only one allowed to voice words of advice or caution, and only with regard to everyone else. If anyone hinted at concern for
her
safety, she’d set them straight in a hot minute.

Since Seth’s death, her lectures had trended toward the extreme end of the spectrum.

The guys continued to bitch and moan about the worrywart tendencies of their parental units for a few minutes, if only for form, though none of them had been surprised by the phone calls.

They’d managed to hold off the memories while waiting in the traffic backup, but they’d all been shaken by the sight of the crushed cars and the awful reminder of the bloodstained highway.

CHAPTER SEVEN

They stopped in Vegas for lunch—burgers at In-N-Out, to the delight of Christian and Wendell—and to gas up the cars, now more than three-and-a-half hours off schedule, according to the time-lord, her dad. He and Uncle Allan ate while huddled over the printouts Stan had made for the trip.

Melinda sat sideways, her legs dangling out the door of the SUV while she ate the meal her mom had brought her.

Her mother and Aunt Pat muttered and
tsk’d
over her foot, gently prodding her mildly puffy ankle, which showed some bruising.

“Jake said it was fine,” she told them.

He’d also said to stay off it as much as possible for the rest of the day, just in case.

She didn’t mention that bit.

He’d taken a look at it before grabbing his own lunch, his long, warm fingers rolling her bulky sock down and off. Then he’d carefully held onto her heel and rotated her foot to and fro, watching her face for any signs of pain.

Gooseflesh had raced up her legs and shivered along her spine, but she’d put it down to the chilly breeze.

“Jakey’s an expert now, is he?” asked Aunt Pat.

Melinda shrugged. “He’s had enough sprains himself, and he does work in the student health center and volunteer at the hospital, so—”

“Which is all well and good,” Karen interrupted, “and I tend to agree with him, but be careful for the next day or so. You don’t want to make a minor injury worse by overdoing it.”

Instead of arguing, Melinda leaned forward and hugged first her mom, then her aunt. She was used to their over-protectiveness, and even understood it most of the time. It was a loving—if occasionally annoying—by-product of being the only girl. Most of the time it didn’t bother her at all, but she was not about to miss any time on the slopes this week. She didn’t want to give herself time to mope.

She had something to prove.

Once her mom and Aunt Pat were occupied elsewhere, Melinda put her sock and shoe back on, lacing the boot loosely over her tender ankle. She got out of the SUV to test her foot, sliding carefully down from the high seat and stepping gingerly at first, braced for pain. Though it twinged, more than she wanted to admit, she was sure it wasn’t injured enough to keep her off the slopes.

For his part, Jacob insisted on carrying her anywhere she wanted to go, and she mostly let him. It
did
still hurt, and she wanted to save her foot for skiing.

Plus, when he got in stubborn-mode, it was easier to simply play along.

If she was honest, she enjoyed being treated like a fragile flower sometimes, getting carried around by a big, handsome, muscular guy. She’d hate it as a regular thing—she was a girly-girl to her core, for sure, but she was also a strong, capable
woman
who could handle herself, thank you very much. But once in a while it was nice.

Jacob was really, really good at playing the rescuing knight.

Melinda absolutely would not think about why being touched or held by him, even in casual ways, had her pulse spiking and racing tingles shivering over her skin.

He was always picking her up and swinging her around or giving her piggyback rides. He’d done that their whole lives, even before he’d passed her up in height when they were twelve. Some of his college girlfriends had expressed... issues with how touchy-feely they were together, but it was how they’d always been.

It didn’t mean anything. Even if she sometimes wished it did.

Like now.

Damn, this rebound process was a bitch.

Laying her cheek against his shoulder blade, she breathed in his scent.

Jacob would be a great catch for some lucky girl someday, anyone could see that. He was gorgeous, funny, smart, sweet. Loyal. And deep down, a truly good person. He’d had a few hiccups along the way—he wasn’t perfect, after all. No one would forget his freshman year of college any time soon. Luckily, he’d straightened himself out.

Nowadays the girls wouldn’t leave him alone, but they’d have to wait a while if they wanted him to get serious. At twenty-one, Jacob was far from ready to settle down.

Had that been the real problem with Nicole? Had she been angling for a commitment? Jacob had never given any indication he was looking for a serious relationship. He had a giant list of goals he wanted to achieve, including medical school and all the places he wanted to travel. All sorts of things to see and do and be before he’d even consider getting married or starting a family, which she, for one, respected.

Melinda had goals, too. Different than Jacob’s, though they had the medical field in common. Studying to become a nurse-midwife made her incredibly happy. She could hardly wait to start serving the needs of the women and families in her community.

She didn’t need a man—any man—to make her dreams come true.

But she still wanted to share her life with someone who loved her.

Mitch had swooped in, swept her off her feet, then sent wedding bells pealing through her stupid head, followed closely by a vision full of tiny feet. She’d believed her whole life was falling perfectly into place.

At least Jacob didn’t mislead his girlfriends deliberately. He was honest about his goals.

He wasn’t a liar like Mitch.

Though she still had several years of schooling and practical experience ahead of her before she could work on her own, once her training was complete, she’d move back to Pasodoro, as she’d always planned. She’d deliver babies in the hospital where she’d been born or assist in homebirths.

Yes, she wanted to get married and have babies of her own and raise them close to her family. But in the meantime, she’d be perfectly happy following her dream and living her life in her wonderful hometown.

Melinda sighed and held on to Jacob a little more tightly as he strode around the parking lot, stretching his legs, working off a small amount of his boundless energy—long car rides always made him twitchy—and taking her wherever she wanted to go.

Because he could never resist the opportunity to perform, Rick strode before them wherever they went, marching with his legs and arms locked in rigid lines, and intoning, “Make way for the queen! Here ye, here ye, make way, or lose your worthless heads!”

Jacob took to kicking him in the butt whenever he got close enough, so Rick changed tack and dropped low to the ground, imitating Dobby from
Harry Potter
.

“Master is angry? Master wishes Dobby to punish himself, Master, sir?”

“That’s right,” Jacob said, “and if you’re not careful, I’ll let my crazy, jailbird sister-in-law throw a knife your way, servant.”

“Oh!” Melinda gasped, smacking Jacob on the back of the head. “Don’t joke about Dobby’s death scene! I love Dobby.”

“Is that what they teach you at that fancy school?” Jacob asked.

Rick attended acting classes at CalArts in Valencia. He also had his eye on schools back east for his MFA program and dreamed of Broadway.

“Don’t question the ways of The Force,” Rick said, still in Dobby’s squeaky voice.

When Jacob deposited her back in the car and launched into a discussion about Marshall’s Peak, the backcountry skiing, two tube parks, and four, count them
four
, parks for snowboarders, she broke out the map she’d downloaded from the resort’s website. It showed the two main areas of the mountain making up the resort, crisscrossed by all the trails and lifts, as well as local points of interest.

With their heads bent close together, they traced the expert runs, where Jacob and the rest of the guys would spend most of their time. She studied the beginner trails.

“I love that they have one whole mountainside for beginners,” she said.

“Waste of good ski space,” was Jacob’s opinion, “but at least it keeps them out of our way.”

Melinda nudged his shoulder. “It
protects
the beginners from everyone else. Remember that time I got clipped by a boarder jumping where he wasn’t supposed to? They’ve got it all separated out to keep everyone happy and safe. I like it.”

“Whatever flips your skis,” Jacob said, snagging her cap off and ruffling her hair.

“I’ll probably start over there.”

“Every year.” He rolled his eyes. “Seriously?”

“I haven’t been out yet this season.”

“You’ve been skiing since you were four. You don’t need another refresher lesson.”

“I want to take it easy the first day, especially now with this stupid foot. Get my skis under me, get used to the area.” Get used to the heights of the lifts again... “Besides, remember what Danny said about Marshall’s Peak? It’s the highest base elevation in the state. Headaches, bloody noses—”

“—which can happen just as easily on the bunny slopes as the expert ones.” He gave her his soulful look. “Come on, string bean. You’re a great skier. Come out with us. You’ll love it, I swear.”

Melinda huffed out a laugh and tugged a lock of his hair, shining like melted chocolate and caramel ribbons in the winter sunlight. “No way. I’m not skiing vertically down the side of a mountain.”

“It’s not that bad.”

“I’ve seen the photos.”

“It’s not the same,” Jacob said, waving his hand as if to say the steep slopes were nothing.

“I’ve seen the casts on your broken bones.”

“One cast,” Jacob countered, “don’t exaggerate.”

“And three for Christian, two for Danny,
four
for Gabe, one for—”

“Gabe’s were from car crashes.”

“Still.”

“Okay, okay,” he said. “But I feel bad you’re on your own so much on these trips.”

Well, she wasn’t supposed to be this year, was she? Damn Mitch.

Because there was a strangely intense look in Jacob’s eyes, she put a teasing note in her voice. “Are you kidding? It’s the only time I get away from you stinky, disgusting boys.”

“Well, there’s that,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest.

“It can’t be discounted. Besides, I don’t need to risk my life to prove my womanhood like you lunatics. We’ll catch up at the lodge and stuff, like usual. And I’ll be on the same side of the mountain by day two. It’s fine.”

“Yeah, but—” Jacob broke off when her dad called out to the group.

“Time to roll out, people,” Stan said. He opened the passenger door of their car for her mom, and Karen climbed in as the rest of the party moved toward the vehicles.

Melinda and Jacob looked at each other for a moment, but whatever had been in Jacob’s eyes before seemed to have faded. He kissed the top of her head, tucked her hat back in place, and hopped in the backseat. Melinda ignored the little flare of heat at the gesture. They were always hugging or kissing on each other. All the time.

It was totally normal.

Nothing to get excited over.

Shifting to get comfortable in her seat, she tugged on the belt a little harder than necessary. It had to be the breakup with Mitch that had her emotions all twisted around and out of whack. She shoved the memory of that very sexy dream firmly into the back of her mind. Rebounditis. That had to be it.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

By the time they left Las Vegas behind, the mammoth casinos nothing more than toy-sized structures in the side-view mirror, it was well after noon. They still had more than three hours to travel, and a black, roiling bank of clouds had appeared in the sky directly ahead.

“Great,” Danny said, turning down the radio and peering through the windshield as the day got steadily darker.

Gabe, who’d been flipping through a sports magazine, leaned forward next to Danny’s shoulder. “’Sup?”

“Weather,” Danny said, turning on the headlights. “This could get nasty.”

A group groan answered that prediction. Twenty minutes later, he was proved correct when the clouds opened wide and sent down a deluge of water mixed with ice, turning the road treacherous and slippery in minutes.

Danny slowed the SUV to a crawl behind Melinda’s parents’ car, and behind them Uncle Allan did the same. A few idiots flashed by in the next lane, sending sheets of water geysering over the hood and driver’s side windows.

“I guess they didn’t see the accident this morning,” Jacob said.

“Man, we are never going to get to Utah,” Wendell groused.

“You guys didn’t actually want to, like, go skiing this week or anything, did you?” Christian asked from the backseat.

Jacob sighed loudly. Danny gripped the steering wheel and didn’t respond.

Melinda ignored the guys and got on her cell phone to check out the weather information. This storm had not been predicted before they left, according to her dad, who had checked the reports repeatedly all during the previous week.

“It’s not supposed to last long,” she said after a quick scan.

“Good,” Gabe snorted. “The rain’s coming down so hard the sand doesn’t have time to absorb it, look.”