True L̶o̶v̶e̶ Story (10 page)

I’m absentmindedly putting my gloves on as I step outside. The brisk air feels so good after the heat in the Lodge. A high-pitched giggle grabs my attention and I look up to see Ian and Jade standing by the coffee bar. She leans over and pulls Ian’s face closer to hers to whisper something in his ear. He smirks and shakes his head, while Jade looks like the cat that ate the canary. She swishes her blond hair back and places her hand on his chest as she says something that requires feeling him up.

I feel my eyes narrowing as my blood nearly boils out of my skin. I never thought I was a jealous person, but I just might be.

They don’t see me, so occupied with their own little tête-à-tête; they are oblivious to anyone around them. I study them both and wonder what she is to him. Jade looks stunning. Her long hair is perfectly in place, the straight edge of her blond ends are in a perfect line across her pink coat. Her skin is rosy and flawless. Even from this distance, her eyes stand out. It isn’t her looks that make my green-eyed monster go on the prowl though, it’s the complete ease she has with him and the way he hasn’t even looked around for me once.

I’ll give him five minutes and if he hasn’t walked away from Jade, I’ll conveniently forget about meeting him.

Approximately 4 minutes and 30 seconds later, and with 10 minutes left before he’s supposed to meet me, I see Ian glance at the gigantic clock on the outside of the ski rental shop. He puts a hand on Jade’s shoulder, she grabs him into a hug and he walks away. I nearly try to hide so it doesn’t look like I’ve just been waiting and spying, but figure I’d trip or something equally embarrassing.

When Ian sees me leaning against the building, he flashes his brilliance my way. His eyes take me in, and for a moment, I forget all about Jade and ride high on his attention.

“Sparrow. You are lighting up the whole damn mountain,” he grins.

I smile because I was thinking the same about him. “Have you had a good day?”

“It’s been great. We all went out early. I’m seeing a nap in my future.”

“Oh, did you want to meet up later?”

“Nooo, are you kidding me? You woke me right up.”

“You looked plenty awake before you ever saw me,” I smirk.

Ian’s grin doesn’t fade, but his eyes narrow just a little, as he tries to measure what I’m really saying.

“How was your lesson?”

“It went surprisingly well!” I can’t even tone down the excitement in my voice and what shocks me more, is that I actually want to get back out there.

“I’m not surprised. Well, come on. Show me what you’ve got.”

Ian leads me to one of the longer, more difficult runs, one that I haven’t gone near yet. Once we’re on the lift, it sinks in that I’m in such close proximity to Ian. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever even see him again.

“So, Sparrow…”

I look over at him. If we never have another moment together, I know I will still always remember this moment here, right now, with his phenomenal face perfectly surrounded by the snowy peaks.

“Your name … tell me about that.”

“It’s from that verse in the Bible about how the Father sees when every sparrow falls. And my parents are half-hippie, so my name had to be unique. My middle name is Kate after my grandmother, and I used to write that on everything because I was embarrassed of Sparrow, but now I kinda like it. I’m just glad they didn’t name me something like Zipporah. Not that there’s anything
wrong
with that,” I grin.

“It fits you. But then again, you could probably even make Zipporah work,” his laugh echoes over the mountain.

We get off one lift and get on another to go higher up. I’m starting to get nervous about how high we are.

“So what is your middle name?”

“Oh no. No. I don’t think you’re ready for that one just yet.”

“Ohhhh,” I snicker, “it’s like that, is it? Okay, at least give me an initial.”

“O.”

“Oh what?”

“No, O. That’s my middle initial.”

“Hmm. It’s probably something hideous like Orville, that would be so funny…” I laugh my head off. “Or…” I look over at him because he’s not laughing. He’s facing forward and while he still has a huge smile on his face, it almost looks like he’s blushing. Oh no. I sober up fast. “Oh … it’s not really … Orville. Is it?”

He nods.

“Nooooo!”

He nods again.

“You’re kidding.”

He shakes his head and then the loudest rumble comes out of him and he’s laughing so hard, the lift is shaking. I feel so bad.

“I’m so sorry. I can’t believe that. It’s not
hideous
… but really? Why would your mama do that to you? I mean—” I give up because now he’s wiping his eyes and it really is too funny.

He can barely breathe, but in between gasps and laughing, he’s saying, “I can’t believe you guessed it…”

“Well, O didn’t give me a lot to work with…”

He straightens up and I look forward. We’re almost to the top.

“There’s Oliver or Oscar … Omar…” he starts laughing again. “I’m named after my grandfather.”

“Well, now I really feel bad.”

“Don’t. That’s the funniest thing that’s happened to me in a long time.”

- 7 -

My stomach is growling to beat the band by the time we take off our skis and walk to the condo. My feet feel like they’re still gliding on snow. We run into Wendy and Jade outside the lodge and they invite us to eat with the group. I feel Jade’s eyes on me, taking in every look Ian gives me. So far, he seems nice to both Wendy and Jade and not as flirty as it seemed earlier. She doesn’t quite give me daggers, but I can tell she’s evaluating the situation and sizing up how much of a threat I am.

Lars is walking out of the building just as we’re going inside. “Sparrow!” his voice booms. “How did the rest of your day go?”

Everyone turns to look at me, waiting expectantly for me to speak. They act like it’s a foreign concept that I would have already made a friend.

“Hey, Lars! It was so great! I LOVED it!”

His smile stretches wide. “Well, you’re a natural.”

Jade lays her hand on Ian’s arm. Ian looks back and forth from me to Lars.

“Aren’t you going to introduce us to your friend?” Jade speaks up.

“Oh! Yes, this is Lars. He was my instructor this morning.”

Ian nods and reaches out to shake his hand. “Ian.”

“Jade and Wendy.” I do a sweeping arm in their direction.

“You should join us,” Jade announces. “We’re going to that pizza place on the corner. Come with us.”

Lars looks at me and raises his eyebrows. “Well, sure. I don’t want to intrude, but pizza sounds good, actually.”

Jade links her arm through Ian’s, and he looks at me with a mixture of confusion and apology.

“Sparrow?” Lars asks. “You’re going, right?”

“Uh, yeah … I’m going. I’m starving.”

Lars chats all the way to the tram. Jade and Ian walk in front of us, and she’s hanging all over him. Jared and Jake meet us on the tram. Lars sits in the seat next to me and I feel Ian’s eyes on us the whole ride. I avoid looking at him. If he wants Jade attached to his hip tonight, he can have her.

At the restaurant, I find myself between Lars and Ian. It feels like the day I met Ian all over again. Except Lars is a lot more attentive than Michael was. By the time the night is over, I’m exhausted with trying to block the levels of testosterone that seem to be bouncing off the walls by the minute. Ian keeps his arm on the back of my chair, his hand lightly resting on my back, but Lars seems oblivious and keeps interrogating me with first date questions.

Jade is getting more and more agitated because now she not only doesn’t have Ian’s attention, but she doesn’t have the new guy’s either. It’s obvious she’s used to being the center of the hurricane. I’m dying from all the attention and wish I could just go back to the condo and cover my head.

When I’ve answered where I’m from, where I’m going to school, what my major is, my favorite color, if I have pets, do I want any pets and have I ever thought of spending summers in Colorado, Ian finally speaks up.

“Hey, little bird … do you have plans for tomorrow night?”

That shuts Lars up.

It shuts me up too and I wasn’t even talking.
Little Bird
, I kinda like that. Makes me feel delicate and not so … tall and gangly.

“Ohhh…” Lars says. He smiles weakly at me.

I feel bad for Lars and shoot dagger eyes to Ian. He laughs and shrugs, then he leans over and whispers, “I’ll let you get back to this little … whatever this —,” he subtly points to Lars, “—is … for tonight. As long as I can please have you tomorrow night?”

I want to murder him and thank him at the same time. Lars’s Twenty Questions were about to send me running for the hills.

“Shut. It.” My whisper comes out with a bite.

He rears his head back and laughs and then comes back in for my ear. I want to bop the mischief right off his face. “Just trying to get a word in,” he whispers. “I meant it, though…”

He looks at my mouth and all reasonable thought leaves my brain. Fortunately, Jade comes to my rescue and pulls the focus back on herself.

“Ian! I talked to Milly the other day.”

There’s a turn in the air as Ian acknowledges Jade’s statement. It feels a bit thicker in here, like a huge fog just rolled into the restaurant.

“Cool,” he says. “How’s she doing?”

“Great! She’s loving life. I think she’ll be getting pregnant before we know it.” Jade looks at me and then says, “You know … you kind of look like Milly.” Her lip curls just a touch when she says it.

I don’t want to give her the satisfaction, but I
am
curious. “Who’s Milly?”

I can tell by Jade’s smirk that I’ve done exactly what she hoped I would—taken her bait. She’s very pleased to be the one to tell me that Milly is Ian’s ex-girlfriend.

“They dated forever,” she says. “I love that girl. She’s so funny … and gorgeous.”

“You don’t look alike,” he assures me. “And we obviously didn’t date forever.”

Somehow that doesn’t make me feel better. I don’t like the feeling in the room. The shift in Ian’s mood is enough to dispel any lighthearted vibes I had picked up from him all night. I’m ready to go and I don’t care if I ever see Jade again. She’s trouble, that one.

“You think you’ll ever be married to anything other than your music, Ian?” Apparently, Jade is just getting started.

I turn to Ian and I don’t like how sad his eyes have turned. “Well, it
is
the only thing I’m good at,” he says quietly.

“Lars, I’m ready to go. How about you?”

Lars brightens up and there is a momentary twinge of guilt when I realize I might be getting his hopes up. I determine to straighten that out on the way to the Lodge.

Ian stands up as I put on my coat. “Sparrow, wait, I can—”

“I’m sure I’ll see you tomorrow, Ian … thanks for the fun day. Goodnight, everyone.”

Jared watches the whole exchange. He hasn’t said much all night. I wonder what he’s thinking.

The next morning, my parents and I head out to ski together. When we open the door to our condo, Ian is just walking up with 4 steaming coffees.

“Oh, Ian, how nice!” my mom gushes. She doesn’t tell him that we just finished 2 cups of coffee with our breakfast.

“I’m probably too late, but I hoped I’d catch you before you went out. You up for having one more with you today?” He looks at all of us as he asks, but his eyes land on me last.

I don’t answer his question, but take the coffee and thank him for it. I look at my dad and he answers for all of us.

“Sure! The more, the merrier!” My dad chuckles. He is the nicest guy, he really is.

“Great,” Ian lets out a breath and for a minute there, I think he’s nervous. Ian Sterling is actually nervous.

“You’re looking
sweet
this morning, Little Bird,” he says low and sexy. And there it went. All nervousness out the door for him and back on me in heaps.

My mom’s eyes light up at his endearment, while I shake my head at it. “Little Bird? Do I look little to you?”

“You do have a point there,” he whispers and I swear his eyes do a sweep over my chest. Oh my word.

That’s it. I tell my parents we’ll meet them in five minutes and as soon as they walk off, I light into him.

“Look. I can’t handle the little innuendos in front of my parents today. I’m not sure I can when it’s just the two of us, but my ‘Little Bird’ heart REALLY can’t take it in front of them. If you want to be with us today,
behave
!”

He laughs so hard, he has to bend over to catch his breath.

“Oh, Sparrow … you are … perfection.”

He is wiping tears from the corners of his eyes, his now standard reaction to me, I note as I glare at him.

“Don’t you think that was just a
tiny
bit funny?” He holds up his thumb and forefinger close together and quirks his eyebrow.

“You … are … trouble.” I huff.

He nods and pulls a solemn face. “You’re right about that.”

Ian is on his best behavior the rest of the day. My parents love him. We have a blast on the slopes, and the worn-out feeling we have when we’re done feels good. As we’re walking back to the condo, he brings up our date.