Chapter Fifteen
ASPEN
Aspen stretched her hands over her head and sat up on the couch, swinging her legs over the edge as she took in her surroundings.
She knew she was at Cole’s, but she had no idea where he was—or what to do next.
Her eyes landed on a piece of paper taped to the front door, and she got up to retrieve it.
Hey Aspen,
Sorry about falling asleep. You kind of just zonked out, and I guess I did too. I hope you don’t feel weird about it. You shouldn’t. We just slept. That’s all.
Aspen smiled to herself. Even his writing was all jumbled up. So cute.
Your clothes are in the dryer. Feel free to eat whatever I have in the fridge. My homemade snacks are in the jars in the pantry. If you want some granola, that’s in the pantry too. Like I said—eat whatever you want. You know you want to.
Aspen’s stomach growled at his proclamation, and she held her hand over it, trying to silence it as she laughed out loud.
I have lessons all afternoon, but I plan on meeting up with you for the cookie decorating activity at 1 PM. Cell phones work at the lodge, so if anything changes, I’ll try to text you.
I’m glad I met you, Snow White. I think you’re really awesome. The whole snowboarding gig is just a perk.
Old King Cole
She chuckled at his signature and went to the dryer first. Finding her clothes nice and dry and warm, she changed back into her pajamas in his bathroom. She folded his clothes into a neat pile and opened his closet—almost dropping them at the sight of her own face smiling back at her.
His closet was plastered floor to ceiling with snowboarding posters. They weren’t all of her, but some were, and she was surprised to see that they were all signed. Had she met him before, she wondered? He really was a fan.
She smiled as she turned off the light, leaving his clothes on the bed. She would tease him about his closet later.
Next, she went to the pantry and grabbed the granola.
If his granola bars were that delicious, she couldn’t even imagine how good his granola would be.
It took a few tries to open the right cupboards for a bowl and a few more drawer searches to find a spoon, but once she had them, she sat down at the small kitchen table and poured the granola into her bowl.
The smell of honey, cinnamon, roasted nuts, vanilla, and oats filled the air.
She poured in the milk and took her first spoonful, the granola bursting with flavor.
She couldn’t help but hum in delight with each bite.
Once she’d had her fill, she grabbed a few snacks, tucking them into her pocket for later, tidied up the couch, washed the dishes from this morning and last night, and finally closed up his cabin behind her before heading toward her own.
The path to her cabin had been neatly cleared, and she smiled as she approached, a warmth spreading through her stomach at the sight of the large stack of firewood on her porch, with a few starter logs bundled neatly nearby.
She pushed open the door, restocked the little fireplace, and started a new fire.
She didn’t need to be anywhere until noon, so she planned to get warm, do some stretches for her stubborn knee, and take a long, hot shower before starting the day.
She had a feeling today was going to be great.
Her trainer would be at the lodge at noon, and she needed her knee fully stretched before the appointment.
He’d be upset if he knew she’d skipped stretches—it wasn’t like her to slack off.
She needed to prove she was back and better than ever.
But that didn’t mean she couldn’t have a little bit of fun with her newfound friend. Right?
Wrong. Apparently, she was wrong. Everything was wrong.
Her appointment with her trainer, Brianna, hadn’t gone well—she could tell her knee was bothering her and promptly added more stretches and exercises to her regimen, which she wasn’t thrilled about.
And now… now she was sitting in the Fireside Lounge, waiting to meet Cole for the stupid cookie thing. Only, Cole was nowhere to be found.
The ingredients were laid out in front of her, and all Aspen wanted to do was leave. She didn’t want to bake Christmas cookies. She didn’t want those memories creeping back—not without Cole here to keep her grounded.
A throat cleared, and Aspen turned to see a tall, handsome man standing behind her—Jack, if she remembered right.
“Hey, um… Aspen, right?” He scratched the back of his head and glanced at the rest of the cookie-decorating group. Aspen tried not to laugh at his awkwardness. Yup, this was Cole’s friend alright.
“Uh, yeah. That’s me. You’re Jack, right? What’s up?” She tried to sound cheery, but cheery she did not feel. And she was almost certain he was there to deliver bad news.
“I… uh… have a message from Cole. He told me to tell you he had a last-minute lesson, so he won’t be able to meet up with you until four.
” Jack lingered a moment, awkwardly shifting from foot to foot before adding, “Well, that’s it.
Have fun… er… making cookies. Bye.” He gave a small wave and spun around.
Her heart sank. Now she really didn’t want to be here, especially knowing Cole wouldn’t be coming.
Maybe, just maybe, she could slip out before anyone noticed.
But everything was already laid out in front of her, and she’d already been accounted for.
Just when she didn’t think things could get any worse, a voice reached her ears—low, familiar, and one she’d hoped never to hear again. Her heart stuttered into a slow, panicked rhythm, the kind that made her skin tingle and a chill creep up her spine. No. Not him. It couldn’t be him.
“He-hey, Red. Fancy seeing you here. What are the odds that we’d both… just happen to be here?” He laughed, and the chair next to her slid out. Aspen forced herself to focus straight ahead, trying not to look at him.
“What? No kiss for your most favorite boyfriend ever? I thought you’d be falling all over me, since you haven’t seen me in…
what, a few months?” He reached to place his hand over hers, but she pulled it away, grabbing a bare cookie from the tray in front of her.
She should say something—maybe it would make him stop talking.
His voice was like nails on a chalkboard.
“Hey, Chase. I didn’t know you’d be here.
I thought I was the only snowboarder representing our circuit.
” She picked up a piping bag and squeezed out a line of frosting, wincing as it blobbed in the middle of the gingerbread instead of forming the neat buttons she’d planned.
Why did she have to respond in a way that would make him talk again?
She could practically scream at herself for doing that.
“Uh… yeah. About that. The team wanted to make sure I was here, just in case you weren’t ‘up to it.’”
Aspen turned toward him, watching his hands form air quotes as he said the words.
She grabbed the edge of the table, digging her nails into the metal.
It was all she could do to keep herself from having a meltdown.
Why would her team do that to her? Didn’t they know how hard she had worked to be here?
She didn’t need a backup. But it was too late now.
She really needed to prove herself worthy—worthy to be here, to be a representative of the Mynt name.
She turned back to the cookie and continued piping frosting, focusing on each precise movement instead of the panic she was sure was about to take over.
She tried to ignore every word coming out of the man sitting next to her.
Of all the things she could have imagined happening today, this was not one of them. Just great. Abso-freakin-lutely great.
She stood from the table, her plate of kindergarten-grade decorated cookies in hand, and walked toward the door. The next activity was the snowman-building competition. Hopefully, if she moved fast enough, her ex wouldn’t follow.
“Wait up, Red!” he called, and her shoulders slumped. Apparently not. She had manifested him just by thinking about him. She would have to do better in the future.
“We really should talk about how horrible you are at decorating cookies. It looks like a child tried to decorate them—and failed miserably. I don’t even know why you’re saving them.
No one’s going to want to eat them.” He took the plate from her hands, tipped the cookies into the garbage, then grabbed her hand and pulled her out the door into the courtyard where the contest was being held.
She tried to wrench her hand free, but he held on tight. “We really should be giving off a better vibe of being together again, don’t you think? Our fans are going to love this.”
She finally pulled her hand away—only for his arm to snake around her shoulders. The stench of his cologne washed over her, making her stomach twist.
“What do you mean ‘our fans are going to love this,’ Chase? Love what?” She tried to nudge his arm from her shoulders, but it only seemed to encourage him, his hand tightening on her shoulder.
“Oh, you know. Us. Being back together. Didn’t you get the memo, Red?”
Her palms were slick with sweat, and she felt like she might lose her breakfast all over the snow. What was he talking about? What memo? Was he joking? They were over—she had made that perfectly clear when he had walked out on her after her injury.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Chase, but you and me? We are not a thing. Not now. Not ever.” She gestured sharply between them, and he finally released her, his eyes narrowing.
“Oh, I get it. You think you can do better than me, huh? Well, I know I can do better than you. I have done better than you, if you know what I mean.” His lip curled into a smug grin before he went on.
“But you’re good for my image—you make me look good.
And I, for all the right reasons, make you look better too.
So let me make this perfectly clear: you and me, Red—we’re a thing.
Got it?” He slid his arm back around her shoulders and pressed a kiss to the top of her head, making her blood run cold.
What was happening, and why? She thought she was done with this guy—thought she’d finally kicked him to the curb after her accident on the slopes. But apparently not. Just when all her hard work was finally paying off, he had to swoop back in and try to take credit for it.
She had her switchblade, sure. (She could almost see Cole’s face again, that flash of fear when she’d flicked it open the other night.) But Chase had never been afraid of her.
He’d always said she was too small to take care of herself—and somehow, he’d made her believe it.
Made her believe that even though she knew she could handle him, he still held some kind of power over her, the kind that made her feel weak and small.
And if she wasn’t careful, she just might let him.