Chapter 8
EIGHT
EVIE
The outdoor fire crackled and the patio bustled with skiers clicking around in their plastic boots. The first time I’d heard of après-ski I didn’t understand it. Why would anyone want to sit around in their wet ski clothes and have drinks in their stinky polar fleece?
After the first crunch of tortilla chip chased with the lager, I got it.
I was exhausted yet invigorated, and surrounded by other people who felt the same way. The day was perfect and it was all thanks to Nick. He had saved me. If it wasn’t for his patience, I would’ve still been frozen at the top of Loosey Goosey.
It turns out I was good at skiing, but Nick was great. Watching someone full of natural talent just get better and better at something was impressive. By the end of the day Nick looked like he’d been flying down mountains his whole life.
“How did you get into hockey?” I asked.
He sipped his beer. “I was introduced to it by my foster dad. He was really into the game and their daughter was not the athletic type. He was pretty happy to have someone to take to the rink with him.”
Nick’s eyes got a faraway look. There were so many questions that I wanted to ask him, but I knew that it was a touchy subject. “It sounds like you had a good role model.”
He shrugged. “He was a good guy. I won the lottery when it came to a placement.”
I heard the word was and decided to change the subject. “If you skate as well as you ski, I can understand why the Bobcats wanted you on the team.”
Dimples dented his cheeks as he smiled. “I’m the goalie, there’s not really that much skating involved.”
The salsa was almost gone and I scraped the little white dish with my chip. “So you hobble to the net and try to stay standing while people shoot pucks at you at a million miles an hour?” I raised my eyebrow.
He laughed. “I started as a left-winger, I can skate. What about you? You mentioned that you used to barrel race? That’s pretty cool.”
“Hold on there, Tinsey.” I held up my hand.
“You’re the goalie. I don’t watch a lot of hockey, but I have seen those thirst traps of players warming up.
Can you do the splits?” The clip I’d seen had featured players on their hands and knees, presumably stretching, but the suggestive music placed over top of the clip had them looking less like players and more like Chippendales dancers.
His face turned the color of the last bit of salsa on my chip. “I sure can. Flexibility is important, not so much for me because I’m tall and it’s easy for me to cover the entire net, but yes. I can do the splits widthwise.”
“Do you do yoga?” I asked. “GJ runs a class in the parlor every Tuesday.”
“Yes,” he replied. “I’ve found it one of the best ways to stay limber…wait, why are you smiling?” He finished his beer.
The visual was too much. Nick Tinsel surrounded by octogenarians doing downward dog. Nick was a huge man with a stocky build. He’d proven that he was gifted athletically, but yoga? The new player in town was full of surprises. “I can’t picture you doing yoga, that’s all.”
“Maybe we will have to sit in on one of the parlor classes,” he said.
The server cleared our plates and left a leather billfold on the table. Nick scooped it up and slipped cash under the plastic flap before I could reach into the pocket of GJ’s snowsuit for my credit card.
“I’m calling your bluff, Nick Tinsel.” I rested my chin on my folded hands. “The day you unroll your mat in the parlor next to Muriel and Gladys, I will happily join in on the asanas.”
Did his eyes just twinkle? Maybe it was the beer. I wasn’t used to drinking draft, and I definitely wasn’t drunk, but as Nick walked me to the car, I felt a little wobbly nonetheless.
My legs trembled as I started Uncle Edward’s Cadillac.
Could my muscles already be sore from skiing?
My hand shook as I put the SUV in reverse.
It wasn’t muscle soreness, it was nerves.
The taillights from Nick’s pickup truck lit up the gray light between us as he pulled to a stop at the end of Sugar Peaks Way.
I’d just had the best afternoon I could remember.
Nick had saved me up on that mountain. After I’d expelled the I’m going to die thoughts from my mind, those thoughts turned to how can I be falling for the new player in town?
Everything was happening at breakneck speed.
I was falling for Nick Tinsel faster than those skis carried me down Puppy Pause.
Wolverine Way was still out of my skill set, but Nick had picked up skiing like he’d been doing it all of his life.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Nick could close his eyes, throw a dart at a board filled with sports, and go to the Olympics for whatever activity that dart hit.
Today I learned that athletic prowess is a goddamn turn-on for me.
We were less than a week away from the winter solstice, and the sun had already dipped behind Sugar Peak. I remembered the dark winter afternoons in Chance Rapids from when I was a little kid, but it still caught me off guard when it was dark at 3:50 in the afternoon.
Nick headed directly to the inn and I pulled into the parking lot beside him. A light flickered in the cab of his truck and then it bobbed in the darkness as he made his way to the driver’s side of the Cadillac.
He opened the door and shone the flashlight at the ground next to the car.
“Are you always this prepared?” I laughed.
The main street of Chance Rapids was so bright from all the Christmas lights that you could’ve navigated it from space, but behind the inn, a lone streetlamp hummed at the edge of the parking lot.
“Always.” He held out his hand and I stared at it for a second before I realized that he was being chivalrous.
It was something that I wasn’t used to, and I debated swatting it away.
I was a modern woman after all. But, every bit of that independence melted at the thought of holding his hand.
It was not a patronizing gesture, it was a sweet one.
My breath hitched as I slipped my hand into his.
I hoped that the trembling that was shaking my entire body from the inside wasn’t translating to the outside.
GJ’s snowsuit and the leather seats were a dangerous combination, and I literally slipped out of the car. Nick gripped my hand tightly as I regained my footing. “Whoa, Nelly.” He chuckled. “That was an aggressive dismount.”
His comments brought me back to my horseback riding years. “I used to be able to ride bareback.”
“Really?” His eyebrows shot up, almost disappearing under the word otters that was embroidered on the back of his baseball hat. “I don’t know if that is hard, but it sounds impressive.”
“It just takes practice.”
“Evie Newton. Are you being modest? Riding without a saddle sounds more like expert level to me.”
“Says the guy who just, how did Clementine describe it? Slayed pow on Wolverine Way.”
Nick laughed. “I’ve got a long way to go before I can keep up with Clem.”
My eyes were glued to his. Gold specks dotted the crystal blue behind a curtain of dark lashes.
I had two feet safely on the ground, but my hands were still in his.
Snowflakes swirled in the glow of the streetlamp.
Nick let go of my hand, but only to brush away a melting flake that had smacked into my cheek.
I shivered. After being hot all day, nervous sweat had mixed with exertion, leaving me with a chill.
“Come on, you need to get warmed up.”
Nick reached for my hand and I intertwined my fingers with his. It was as though we had done it a thousand times, like we were on autopilot as a couple. My mittens were on the passenger seat of Edward’s car, but they wouldn’t have been able to warm me up like Nick’s touch.
As we reached the covered awning at the rear of the hotel, reality set in.
Nick and I released our hand clasp simultaneously.
The mountain and our day together had been a brief escape from real life.
But, as I stuffed my hand into the pocket of GJ’s snowsuit I started to wonder, why was Nick Tinsel off limits again?
That’s right. Heartbreak. Men. It was only a matter of time before the sparkle would wear off and he’d go searching for novelty somewhere else.
The Christmas tree glowed in the corner, its white lights casting an ethereal glow on GJ’s curly hair. She was bent over the reception desk, her head in her hands.
“GJ?” I rushed to her side.
She looked up and blinked, then picked up her glasses and put them on. A smile spread across her face as she looked at me and then Nick. “How was your day with Clem?”
I shook my head. “Clem bailed on me. If it wasn’t for Nick, you’d be sending search and rescue up to the top of Sugar Peaks.”
“Oh, that Clem.” I swore GJ winked at Nick. She didn’t sound surprised at all that her pal had abandoned me on the mountain.
“What are you working on here?” I pulled the sheet of paper from under her bony elbow. It was her reservation map. “Are you still trying to figure this out?”
GJ’s voice trembled. “We’ve got that family of six coming in late tonight and I’ve got nowhere to put them.”
Nick stepped beside me. “What’s going on?” His brow furrowed as he focused on the ratty piece of paper.
“Nothing, dear. It’s nothing.” GJ flipped the paper over.
I pressed my hand on Nick’s chest and steered him to the corner by the tree. A clothespin reindeer with its googly eyes stared at us as I whispered, “We have a reservation for a family, but we don’t have any suites left.”
Nick blinked. “That’s easy. Give them mine.”
He didn’t wait for me to respond and strode to the desk. “Janie, I don’t need a suite all to myself. Please give it to the family. I can have my stuff out of there within the hour so you can get it all cleaned up.”
“Nick.” GJ shook her head. “I can’t do that to you. You need your rest for the big game. Where would you go?”
“I’m sure there’s another hotel in town, or an Airbnb I could check into…until I find a more permanent spot, that is.”