Chapter Thirty-Seven
Rick
They reached the mountain summit, and when they stepped out of the compartment, Rick was greeted by a breathtaking panoramic view of the surrounding mountains and valleys.
Each was snowcapped and gorgeous, while the lush green at the bottom and in the distance was a stark contrast. The ski resort restaurant, View from the Top, was a dark, wooden building with a wraparound porch.
A sign was added to the end of the moniker that read gift shop.
“Who’s hungry?” Rick asked, leading them up the steps and through the front door.
The hostess greeted them and escorted them to their table, and when they sat down, lunch passed pleasantly while they all chatted, even Kaylee.
Colin and Kaylee ordered burgers, while Josie got pub nachos and Rick ordered a Philly cheesesteak.
It was good—probably not as good as what the bill cost—but Rick had been managing his own money market account since he was eighteen and had done quite well for himself.
He was a big saver and hardly ever took vacations, but if he got to splurge a little bit and spend time with Kaylee, it was worth it.
They finished eating, and Josie suggested they go into the gift shop.
Colin opted to go outside for some air. As they walked around, Rick noticed Kaylee in front of a Christmas ornament, fingering it lovingly.
It was a blown-glass guinea pig that resembled Pumpkin, with antlers wrapped in Christmas lights.
“That’s cute,” he said.
“Yeah, but I don’t know if I wanna pay that much for an ornament.” She flipped over the tag, and even Rick’s eyes widened.
“Damn, is it made of gold?”
She laughed, letting it fall back onto the branch gently. “Must be.”
She moved on to something else, and when she joined Josie out of sight, he pulled the guinea pig off the branch.
Josie was buying a pair of slippers that read lava mountain ski resort, featuring a brown mountain spewing red, orange, and yellow lava from its sides.
They looked like they belonged in Hawaii, rather than here, but she seemed tickled by them.
When they paused at the door, he told them he’d be out in a minute and bought the guinea pig, wincing a little at the price when it popped up on screen.
Even though he’d been prepared for it, it was still rough to spend that much on something that came out of storage once a year.
“Is this the gift for someone special?” the clerk asked.
“Yes, it is.”
“Would you like it gift wrapped?”
“How much is that?” he asked.
“It’s free with your purchase.”
“Sure, thanks.”
She wrapped the guinea pig in a small box with lots of tissue paper, then placed the top on and taped it closed, creating a festive bow of reds and greens. She set it gently into a paper bag and handed it to him.
“I hope whoever it’s for loves it.”
“I’m sure they will.”
He stepped outside and found Kaylee, Colin, and Josie making a snowman. He shook his head and came down the stairs, teasing, “I can’t leave you three alone for a minute. Don’t you know this is a fancy place? They don’t want their snow disturbed.”
“Is that right?” Kaylee said, bending over to scoop up more snow.
“To be fair, I was harassed into this,” Colin said, holding up his bare, red hands. “It was frostbite or Josie was going to beat me.”
Josie shoved him against his shoulder. “Such a baby.”
Rick thought Kaylee was going to put the snow she’d gathered onto the snowman, but instead, she formed a ball, shooting him an evil smile before she launched it overhand at him.
It was a direct hit to the chest that stung even through his jacket.
“What the hell!”
Kaylee threw her arm in the air and cheered, “And she’s still got it! High school softball champion. Yeah, baby!” She did a little victory dance, flaunting her poor sportsmanship with glee, and Rick’s eyes narrowed.
While she twirled, Rick dropped his bag to the side carefully and bent over to pick up some snow.
He formed another snowball, and when she was spinning away, he tossed it.
Not hard, like the one she’d thrown at him, catching her on the upper shoulder blades.
She whipped around, mouth open with shock, and he smirked.
“Baseball district champion, third baseman.”
Her face set in an expression of pure determination as she cracked her knuckles. “Oh, it’s on!”
She bent over, and Josie squealed, getting out of the line of fire with Colin dodging and running behind her as Kaylee caught Rick in the face with one, the white powder burning his lips and nose and exploding like a glitter bomb, leaving his skin cold and stinging.
Rick hurriedly formed another snowball, doing a somersault to avoid another facer, and lobbed it at her, hitting her side as she tried to dodge it.
Rick bent over to make more, purposely giving Kaylee his butt as a target, wiggling it in the air tauntingly until the impact of her next snowball hit him right between the cheeks and nearly sent him ass over teakettle.
He could take it, though, because Kaylee was laughing.
She might be nearly knocking him out, but she was playing with him.
Maybe even working out a little bit of her anger?
They were within a few feet of each other, and Kaylee hadn’t noticed him creeping closer with every hit until she was trying to launch a new snow attack and he rushed her, wrapping his arms around her waist and tackling her to the ground.
As he hovered over her, both of them panting, he saw the snowball still in her hand right before she smashed it into the side of his face.
“I got you,” she said, smirking with triumph.
He took one hand off her waist to wipe his face and eyed her through the flecks of snow lingering on his lashes.
“Yeah, you did, but I also got you.” Rick squeezed her with his one arm, and her pink cheeks deepened to a burnished red.
Kaylee was still below him, and their eyes locked; the moment was charged with enough electricity to crackle the air around them.
Rick wanted so badly to cradle the back of her head and kiss her, but he didn’t want to make a move if she hadn’t fully forgiven him yet.
“Hey, there’s no horseplaying around here!
What are you doing?” a woman’s voice hollered from the wraparound porch, and both Kaylee and Rick turned and saw her waving her arms wildly.
She had white hair cut into a straight bob and sunglasses on, her mouth twisted in an ugly frown. “This is a family establishment!”
“Sorry,” they mumbled in unison, and Kaylee got to her feet first, holding her hand down to Rick. He took it and held her hand a little longer than necessary. There were so many things he wanted to say, but he stayed silent, afraid of ruining the moment.
“We should probably get going before we get booted off the mountain and have to hike down.”
Rick nodded. “You’re probably right. I don’t think Karen over there is going to stop at yelling at us and is most likely inside, telling the manager we were fornicating in the snow.”
Kaylee snort-laughed. “She’d probably use something more formal, like coitus.”
Rick picked up his dropped present. “Most definitely.”
“God, what a witch,” Josie muttered when they rejoined them on the walkway. “Why can’t people mind their own business and just let us live?”
“We weren’t living, we were shivering on the sidewalk,” Colin said.
“Enough with your semantics!”
“Sorry.” Colin didn’t wait for them to make a move to leave, heading that way, and they followed.
When they reached the gondola, Rick told Josie, “You can sit next to Kaylee, and I’ll ride with Colin. You two can have the good view.”
“Once again, decisions being made without asking me,” Colin snarked, but Rick clapped him on the shoulder.
“It’s okay, buddy, the two of us will come up here alone, and I’ll let you have the good seat the whole time.”
“See, that is more like it.”
Rick caught the tail end of Kaylee shaking her head and Josie’s sly smile, before she said, “You know, it’s okay. I’ll sit next to Colin. I’ve seen the view before.”
Hope flared in Rick’s chest as he wondered if Kaylee had given her the silent no because she wanted to sit next to him. He didn’t want to read too much into it, but on the way down, Kaylee didn’t make a single snarky comment or reference to liars at all. It was a start.