Chapter 48
I’m standing at the top of the hill, watching as Morella and Silas race down the hill on their sleds. Their laughter carrying through the cold afternoon air. Liv laughs, bounces and claps her hands as she watches them too. Archer is already at the bottom waiting for them.
She’s having fun watching everyone but every time she is about to take her turn she looks very nervous. Almost like she’s scared.
“You gonna go?” I ask her, motioning towards the hill.
I watch as she swallows hard and chews her lower lip.
“Yeah. Of course.” She says.
I can see it in her eyes that she’s not trying to convince me. She’s trying to convince herself. Her eyes didn’t leave the hill when she answered. She clutched her jacket tighter and she bounced back and forth on her feet. You would think we were trying to get her to jump off a cliff.
“You good?” I ask.
She turns and looks at me and I can finally see how not good she is.
“What’s wrong? Don’t tell me you’ve never been sledding before?”
“Well,” She hesitates. “We didn’t really get snow where I lived.” She takes a step away from the hill. “So, no. I haven’t done this before.”
My brows shoot up and I just stare at her for a moment. I school my expression when she glares at me.
“Sorry.” I apologize quickly. “I didn’t think about that. Thought maybe on vacation or something.” I rub the back of my neck and turn away from her.
She hesitates before she responds. “Before the medical center, we didn’t have the money for vacation.” I catch her glancing at me from the corner of her eye. “We weren’t dirt poor but it wasn’t easy either.”
I nod as I listen. I guess it never occurred to me that this was all new to her. The freedom to just live. Something I have definitely taken for granted.
“I think I’m just gonna walk back down to meet the others.” She says sheepishly. I notice she has shrunk in on herself a little. She looks disappointed.
I don’t think about my next move I just grab her by the wrist, pull her into my chest and drop us into my inner tube that I had been using in place of a plastic sled.
The momentum of us falling into the tube sends us down the hill and Liv squeals. Her hands shoot up and cover her face. I didn’t even think that this might scare her more. I wrap my arms tightly around her and let my laughter ease her fear.
Slowly her hands slide away from her face and she’s beaming. Smile wide, crinkling at the edges of her eyes. She’s laughing with me now.
“See! Not so bad!” I shout over our laughter at her.
She grabs ahold of my arms and seems to snuggle closer as we start to spin and gain speed. I relish in the feeling as my heart swells. I reposition my arms to hold her closer and rest my cheek on hers.
We laugh and scream all the way down the hill. We’re going so fast that we shoot right past the others and finally slow to a stop a few feet away. Liv and I are laughing so hard we can’t move.
“Well, well, well. Looks who’s finally having some fun.” Silas says, as him and the others catch up to us.
Liv has finally gotten her bearings and is standing up when everyone arrives.
“You two look like you had a great time.” Morella says with a smirk that she’s clearly trying to hide.
I look around at my friends and my sister eyeing me and Liv. I don’t like this feeling.
“All we did was go down the hill. It’s not a big deal.” I stand up and straighten my jacket. “She was being a big baby about it.” My grumpy facade falls back into place like nothing happened.
Liv’s happiness has faded and I can see the confusion and questions rolling around behind her eyes. Fuck this.
“I’m heading back to the cabin.” I shove my hands in my pockets and walk away from the group and back to the cabin.