Chapter 6
Chapter Six
R onnie felt her shoulders sink with every step she took away from her childhood home.
Main Street wasn’t exactly close, but she’d opted to walk so she could stretch her legs. She might not be training during her stay in Paradise Springs, but if she didn’t get some exercise every day, she’d go nuts.
Too late.
She squashed that voice. It wasn’t Margot’s fault. Weddings were stressful. Everyone knew that. And her sweet sister was far from a bridezilla, just…
Needy.
And that was to be expected. The problem was, the person she really needed wasn’t here.
Ronnie let her head tip back until the sunshine hit her face. She let out a long exhale. “We miss you, Mom. I’ve been doing my best to fill your shoes, but…”
She trailed off.
She wasn’t sure what she’d been waiting for. A sign? An answer of some sort?
Whatever she’d hoped to get in response, it didn’t come, and she let herself wallow in self-pity until she reached the Stop sign at the end of the block. This was a trick she’d learned long ago. Around the time her mom had taken ill back in high school, actually.
It was a simple trick, but it helped. She let herself wallow in whatever grim emotion for a set period of time. When the time was up, she had to snap out of it and get into motion. Wallowing never solved any problem.
And self-pity doesn’t help pay the wedding bills.
She stretched her neck from side to side in a bid to rid herself of all this tension. Stress was never good for the body, but without her regular training regime to exhaust herself physically, she could feel it building up.
At the next block, she picked up her pace until she was jogging. Soon enough she was outright running.
Was it the best move considering she was supposed to be resting her knee this month?
Maybe not. But she didn’t have a weight room at home, and she’d risk a lecture from her physical therapist over an ulcer any day.
By the time she reached Main Street, she’d found her stride, so she kept going, ignoring the buzzing coming from the phone in her back pocket.
She waved to some people she recognized and darted left and right to pass slow walkers. Eventually, she circled back around until she reached the park just off Main Street, and then she stopped.
When she sank down onto a bench, a little smile hovered over her lips.
Yup. A run was exactly what she’d needed. This time when her phone buzzed, she actually snagged it out of her back pocket and hit Answer.
“Ronnie! How’s my favorite champ?” Mike’s voice boomed out of the speaker.
She pulled the phone away from her ear. “Oh, you know—on a break. What do you want, Mike?”
Ronnie didn’t even try to be coy about it. One thing she knew about her agent after working with him for nearly ten years? He didn’t respond to subtle.
“Remember that winter gear company I was telling you about? They’re having a photoshoot in Jackson Hole?—”
“No.”
“It’s not so far?—”
“It’s in an entirely different state.” She held the phone away from her to scowl at it. “Do you even know where home is for me, Mike?”
“Don’t get prickly, champ.”
She rolled her eyes. He only called her “champ” when he wanted something. Ronnie had no doubt he’d read it in a motivational book at some point. Like, if he called her a champ, she’d be tricked into thinking she was still some championship-winning snowboarder.
With a frown, she sank back onto the park bench, barely noticing as a dog walker passed with a handful of puppies.
Mike’s voice turned to a hum in the background as she sifted through her own thoughts.
Last time she’d competed was at the X Games, and she’d won gold. So yeah, by Mike’s way of thinking, she was still a champ.
Her head fell back. So why did it sound like a lie to her? Why did it feel like a compliment she no longer deserved?
She rubbed at the injury that had knocked her out of the running for the past year. Her knee still ached and throbbed occasionally, but it was only the sharp spikes of pain that really scared her. Thankfully, she hadn’t had one of those in months.
Curving her fingers over her kneecap, she gazed down at her bent leg and shook her head.
Champ?
Who could honestly say that and truly mean it?
She wasn’t even sure she was a contender anymore. Despite what her physical therapist said, what her coach insisted…
She wasn’t sure she could do it.
“Look, I know you want some R and R.” Mike’s tone was all placating. This only made Ronnie’s shoulders tense as she waited for the “but.”
And sure enough…
“But injured or not, this is still your job, Ronnie.” Mike sounded like he was telling her something new. As if it might have escaped her notice that the only way she paid the bills—and her family’s bills—was through sponsorships and endorsements.
She pinched the bridge of her nose. But sponsorships and endorsements were earned. The best-paying deals went to the best-performing athletes.
She knew this. She’d always known it.
It wasn’t rocket science.
And yet, lately, the whole system was starting to feel like a trap. A prison.
She idly rubbed her knee, even though it didn’t hurt today.
It was the injury talking, that was all.
Her coach had forced her to talk to some therapist who specialized in athletes and sports injuries.
Both the coach and her therapist had been convinced that the biggest hurdle to getting back in the circuit wasn’t the physical injury but her mindset after the fact.
She looked up at a puffy cloud as it drifted by. Maybe this was what they’d been talking about.
It wasn’t like she’d loved catering to sponsors before the injury, but now she was all too aware of how fickle those endorsements were. How her financial future rested on her being able to be…
Well, a champ.
“So, champ?”
The stupid nickname made her flinch. “I’ll think about it.”
He started to launch into another sales pitch, his tone lighter now, like it was a done deal just because she’d think about it. And maybe it was. He knew she wasn’t in a position to turn away a paycheck.
“Mike.”
He didn’t stop talking.
With a sigh, she said his name again, and then “I’ve gotta go.”
She hung up before he could respond. Right now, she needed silence.
Just a few minutes to herself to think without Margot asking her opinion about another costly wedding expense or her dad gently but persistently prodding about when she was going to be ready to compete again.
And definitely without Mike in her ear harping on about sponsorship deals.
She stood, not even sure where she was going to walk next, but knowing the best thing she could do to relieve this stress was to keep moving.
She’d taken no more than two steps before she heard it.
“Well, hello, Ronnie Colbert.”
She blinked. The voice was low and familiar, eliciting a plethora of emotions, from nostalgia to amusement to outright irritation.
She turned slowly, until?—
There. A tall dark-haired man was walking toward her, and for a second, her breath caught.
He was hot. Piercing blue eyes and a cut jaw, a short, manicured beard, broad shoulders, and a cocky strut that could only belong to one man.
“Dallas King,” she whispered, but he smiled like he’d heard.
Oh crap. That smile. Her heart gave a sharp kick of surprise.
Dallas King. Bailey’s twin brother. Her summertime nemesis. The most annoying teenage boy to ever walk this planet.
Oh boy.
He was all man now.
He drew closer, his smile twisting into a sexy smirk and his strut becoming a swagger that she should not find so attractive.
Her shoulders straightened and her spine stiffened. She was battle ready as old instincts locked into place.
When he was mere feet away, she eyed him from head to toe. It was the beard, she decided.
Last time she’d seen him, he hadn’t had facial hair, and it?—
She swallowed hard. She didn’t like beards on most men, but his was neat and trimmed and gave him a sort of Captain America vibe.
Oh heck, it looked good on him. If one liked that sort of look.
“So, what do we have here?” Dallas eyed her just like she’d been eyeing him. “You on vacation, or are you calling it quits with that whole snowboarding thing?”