Chapter 2
JED
Victory View News
Jed Murray — a humiliating end to a lustrous career
Jed Murray stood at the far top edge of Devil’s Run and gazed into oblivion, ignoring the sickly churn in his stomach and the snowflakes as they whooshed past his visor like tiny dementors riding the wind.
The gradient of the ski run was over forty-five per cent.
Technically it went beyond demanding and was definitely not for the faint-hearted.
He knew the run included a sequence of narrow pathways with icy patches that were unpredictable.
There were at least a dozen moguls, some hidden and some that would creep up and rip your breath from your throat.
The ungroomed sections delivered an all-round emotional rollercoaster, and in some cases an out-of-body experience too.
Eleven months ago, Jed would have relished the challenge. He’d have picked up speed and jumped into the void, shutting his eyes as he sailed into the full force of the wind cheering, fist pumping and yelling his earthiest battle cry.
But all he could do now was stand motionless, gripping his gloved hands into fists, trying to ignore the shudders that had hijacked his body.
He’d lost his nerve. Two seconds on the wrong slope, on the wrong day, at the wrong speed and he’d taken a tumble.
Distracted, he’d let himself lose focus for one foolish moment and suddenly he’d been falling, tumbling, catapulting, twisting and crashing.
Trashing his entire life, not to mention his anterior cruciate ligament and collarbone.
In a single moment, Jed’s career as a professional alpine skier had been obliterated. His coach and agent had left him when he hadn’t been able to return – and he’d lost all his sponsorship deals. Everything he’d spent a lifetime building had been gone.
But he was going to get it all back. He was going to rebuild – like RoboCop getting a new arm, or the Tin Man gaining a heart – he was preparing for a glorious professional return and was finally ready to kick ass.
And he was going to do it in less than two weeks – on Boxing Day to be precise – when he’d ski and win the annual Aberlinnie Winter Wonder Ski Championships. Right here. He was. Jed swallowed looking down. He just needed to…
He had to move. He took in a long shaky breath and narrowed his eyes as he gazed into the vortex trying to imagine his future, trying to visualise himself at the bottom, fist pumping the air, enjoying that moment when his whole body trembled with satisfaction.
He moved one ski forward an inch and found himself scooting backwards like a terrified toddler meeting Father Christmas for the first time.
‘Eejit,’ he admonished as the ski caught on something on the ground and his foot unclipped, making him fall.
‘Feck,’ he cursed into the wilderness, laying on the cold, bumpy surface and staring up into the dark swirl of clouds. There was a blizzard coming. He could smell it in the air, a warning of danger, of disruption and change.
His eyes caught on a cloud as it sailed past and for a moment, he thought he saw Mairi’s face in the angle of one of its soft edges.
Imagined he could see her tumbling auburn hair and the perfect bow of her top lip.
Then his mind drifted to the woman he’d seen at the top edge of the slope earlier – of the tumble she’d taken – and his whole body softened like it always did when he thought about Mairi.
He should have gone to help, but something about her had reminded him of—
No! He closed his eyes again, willing the cloud to disappear along with his memories. He would not think about her anymore. Mairi was in his past. It was the only way.
He heard his mobile buzz in the pocket of his salopettes. It happened like that sometimes. The wind blew in the right direction and the mobile towers that controlled the signal benevolently delivered a barrage of messages.
Jed stayed lying on his back and fumbled to take off his gloves so he could unzip his pocket and check who was trying to contact him just in case it was his aunt Effie.
Things had been challenging for her at Holly Berry Lodge recently, but he tried to help out as much as he could in between his mega busy teaching schedule and coming here to gaze into the abyss.
You sorted yourself out yet, kid? Exactly how long does it take to get over a bump and a couple of bruises? Remember, we’ve got people waiting for your glorious comeback and they’re not going to wait forever…
Jed swallowed, staring at the screen. ‘Not yet, Da. I’m trying.
’ He cleared his throat and stuffed the phone back into his pocket as his insides twisted.
He hadn’t heard from Boyd Murray for a few days now.
Every time he did, his father was pushing, asking how long it would be before Jed was back in the news, winning trophies, and more importantly – in his words, ‘making the big bucks again’.
He knew why it was important and he’d had sleepless nights over it.
His dad had lost a fortune when he’d bet on him winning the competition in Nevada in February.
The one where he’d crashed and burned. It had left Boyd with a debt he couldn’t pay and despite Jed sending him large chunks of his teaching wage each month, the deficit hadn’t shifted.
The interest was multiplying, and it wouldn’t be long before his father was facing more than bankruptcy in the shape of broken bones…
Not just that, anyone connected to him was going to be in the firing line too.
Even Mairi, if anyone found out about her.
And it was all Jed’s fault. If he hadn’t had the accident, they wouldn’t be in this mess.
He shook his head as he braced himself to shift into a sitting position so he could gaze over the mountains in the far distance. At the undulating scenery, and thick forests of Scots pine all heavy with layers of fresh snow.
The air was crisp and frigid, and he sucked in a deep breath, forcing himself to climb back onto his feet so he could clip his foot back into the ski.
He considered attempting the run again, but the sun was starting to lower in the sky, getting ready to put itself to bed and with it the light.
The wind was picking up too, blowing golf ball-sized flakes into his face and he knew trying the slope now wouldn’t be a good idea.
Even if he could bring himself to do it.
His mobile buzzed again and he cursed, before pulling it back out of his pocket. This time he grinned when he picked up.
‘Turbo.’ Quinn Fraser – Jed’s best friend since forever – still used the nickname that had been assigned to Jed when he’d been skiing professionally. Jed didn’t have the heart to ask him to stop.
‘Yep,’ Jed muttered, swallowing a mouthful of ice as he turned away from the wind so he could hear.
‘I just wondered if you’d heard from my sister?’ his friend asked, making something in Jed’s stomach turn over.
‘Mairi? Nae, why would I?’ he mumbled, stopping where he was for a moment trying to calm his breathing.
Quinn didn’t know they were married, and he had to keep it that way.
‘She okay?’ The question came out gruffer than he’d intended and he had to suck in a few more snowflakes to get himself under control.
‘I dunno. I haven’t heard from her for a couple of days and she’s not returning my messages. She switched off family sharing on her mobile about eleven months ago, so now I can’t track her.’
Quinn paused and Jed winced when he registered the timing. That had been just about the time she’d flown to see him in Las Vegas. Just before they’d married and… well, he wasn’t going to think about what a total mess he’d made of both of their lives after that.
‘She’s been seeing more of that guy I told you about. You know the one at her publisher?’ Quinn said.
‘Yep.’ Jed knew all about that guy. He ignored the sharp surge of jealousy. ‘I remember. Big job, small brain, can’t trust him as far as you can throw a snowplough.’
He knew Mairi had started seeing the man two months, three days and five hours ago.
Apparently, she’d only been accompanying him to work events.
According to Quinn, it was purely professional, no doubt because she looked incredible on his arm and was amazing company.
The eejit had behaved impeccably to date – at least that’s what Mairi had told Quinn and his friend had shared with him – but Jed still had an uncomfortable feeling.
‘That’s him,’ Quinn chuckled. ‘Last time we spoke she said he’d asked her if she’d consider dating him for real.’
This time the punch from Quinn’s words made Jed wonder if his ribcage had splintered.
‘She did,’ he said, his voice strained. ‘And she’s going to do it?
’ Jed shook his head. Was she actually going to cheat on him?
And did he have the right to think that?
‘No way,’ he said roughly as his insides shrivelled like ash in a spent fire.
‘She’s considering it, apparently. This whole situation reminds me of the eejit she married.’ He sighed.
Jed’s heart thumped hard. He knew Quinn wasn’t talking about him. How could he? He still didn’t know about Vegas – but the words still jarred. ‘That happened a long time ago,’ Jed said quietly.
Mairi had been twenty-two and the boy she’d met at university, Mike Poppy, had swept her off her feet. They’d married and Quinn and Jed had attended the wedding. Jed had loved her even then and the day had ripped him in half.
But after less than a year Mike had had an affair, leaving Mairi devastated. Quinn still hadn’t got over it – and he’d been desperate to save his sister from every man she’d met since. If he knew about them… Jed shut his eyes, absorbing the surge of dread. It would be the end of their friendship.
‘I don’t think I’m going to be ready for her to date again until she’s at least sixty,’ Quinn grumbled.
‘I’m not sure your sister will wait until then. She’s barely thirty – it makes sense that she’s going to want to see people,’ Jed croaked, understanding that friendship rules dictated that he had to discuss this, even if he’d rather be pulling his own teeth out about now.
He should have expected this, though. A woman like Mairi would have men queuing up. But she deserved better than some pretty Chief Financial Officer with no soul. She deserved a husband. She deserved…
Nope. Not going there.
‘He’s not good enough for her,’ Quinn said sourly.
Jed nodded and forced his legs to move. He needed to head back to Holly Berry Lodge before he turned into a yeti. The wind was picking up and it felt like the temperature had plummeted at least ten degrees since they’d been talking. Or maybe that was just his cold dead heart.
‘I’m sure he’s not.’ Jed swallowed. ‘And I know Mike was a total bampot.’ He cleared his throat. ‘But you never did think anyone was good enough for her.’ He felt a familiar ache of hurt in his chest.
Quinn sighed. ‘Probably because no one ever has been. But you’ve known her for years too, Jed. She’s a romance writer. She lives in her head and thinks the best of everyone.’
‘Aye.’ Everyone but him, he frowned. Although, whose fault was that? ‘Who would be good enough?’ Jed asked because – hell – why not torture himself some more.
‘No idea. But I’ll know when she meets him,’ his friend said. ‘This one’s definitely not.’
‘Why?’ Jed asked, curious.
‘He’s…’ Quinn paused. ‘I’m just concerned she’s romanticised him.
I looked him up online and he’s always in the company of a different woman.
He’s been engaged to five of them. After a few months he moves on to someone else.
I don’t want her getting hurt and I definitely don’t want her getting involved with someone so shallow. ’
Jed bit his lip. ‘So you think she might like him?’ he asked, feeling a little sick.
Quinn huffed. ‘Aye. But I think she’s been drawn into a charmer’s web.’
Jed forced himself to move. He had to bunch both of his ski poles in one hand so he could still hold the mobile, which meant he could only edge along the pathway slowly.
He was almost at a familiar clump of dense fir trees and knew it was about a twenty-minute ski from here. ‘What are you going to do?’
Quinn was silent for a beat. ‘I’ve got no idea.
Talk to her I suppose,’ he muttered. ‘Which is going to be impossible if she keeps ignoring my messages. I’m on call with mountain rescue for the next week, so I can’t go looking – there are a lot of rescues in the lead up to Christmas.
Who knows why. Surely everyone should be shopping? ’ He sounded frustrated.
‘What can I do?’ Jed asked.
‘Just tell me if you or your aunt Effie hears from her. I’ve been calling her friends, but either they don’t know where she is or they don’t want to tell me. Her bloody agent is the worst.’
Jed grinned. Quinn’s ongoing battle with his sister’s literary agent was amusing. They both loved Mairi and had her best interests at heart, but neither of them agreed on what those were.
‘I’ll let you know if Mairi gets in touch,’ he promised. Even though that was about as likely as him skiing down Devil’s Run stark naked with his eyes shut. ‘In the meantime, try not to worry.’ Jed grimaced as he hung up feeling a sour mix of dread and unease.
But this is what he’d wanted, wasn’t it? For Mairi to move on and be happy. Why then, did the idea of her dating someone else make him feel like someone had just reached into his chest and torn out his still beating heart?
He shook his head. He needed to stay busy, perhaps he’d head into the village later, drown his sorrows in one of the hotel bars.
He had to stay focused on his goal. Had to make himself ski down Devil’s Run so he could win the Aberlinnie Winter Wonder Ski Championships and put things right for his dad. Then he could get back to his real life. Whatever that was.
Obsessing over Mairi and who she may or may not be dating was the last thing he should be thinking about.