The Après-Ski Proposal

Chapter 6

When I returned to the table, the kids started shuffling out to check out the basement movie room and arcade. Mickey and Tamara decided they would go with them.

“We can’t leave them unsupervised, Mick.” Tamara nudged Mickey.

“But they are both in their thirties,” Mickey razzed us, pretending that his wife was referring to Blake and I having lunch together and before they left, Tamara winked at me. I knew she would expect a full recap of this exchange the moment we were done, so I smiled back at her.

Our conversation took off like a rocket. Blake had questions about the youth group, and I filled him in on the bonding retreat that I was blessed to join. When the food arrived, it triggered other discussions for him and before long, I was sharing my childhood fear of tomatoes and my preference for how eggs should be cooked. But I had questions too, and I it wasn’t long before I started firing them off, so I started as politely as possible.

“Tell me about you.”

“Shall I start from the beginning?” He ran his fingers through his wavy auburn hair. “I am here for a guy’s ski trip. My buddy who made the wisecrack about your names rhyming, that’s Timothy. This is technically his bachelor party. He is marrying his fiancé, Courtney, on Valentine’s Day. Isn’t that cute?” As he smiled, I saw a sincere twinkle in his eye. It was cute. “I live in Denver. I’m thirty-two years old, never married, and I would like three children. What a weird question to ask someone you just met.” He cracked up laughing, knowing full well I did not ask him that.

“So, you must come here often, then. What is it, four hours away?”

“About that, yeah. I come up here occasionally. I was here a few weeks ago to scope out which place to stay for this trip; hence, our brief, but magical encounter playing Chopsticks. ”

He winked at me again, and I felt all the signals in my brain misfire. That guy was smooth —so much, in fact, that I nearly forgot about his relationship status.

“And… your girlfriend?”

He squinted his eyes together in confusion.

“The bartender.”

He slowly nodded before bursting into laughter, recalling the exchange. “Ah, no, definitely not my girlfriend. That would be fifty shades of weird and probably illegal.”

My eyebrows raised at his laughter, anticipating his explanation for what was so funny.

“That is my cousin, Sheila. We are only a month apart in age. Sheila’s always been like a sister to me. She just moved here for the season, and before that, she lived with Sasha, Timothy’s fiancé, in Denver. She’s the hugging type, and now I can’t wait to tell her someone thought we were together . I bet she will never do it again. I am about as single as it gets.” He was cracking up left and right.

“Is that so?” Though I still wasn’t sure where this exchange was leading to, I was glad to know he didn’t have a girlfriend .

“Yes. I haven’t had a relationship in a long time. Between life and work, I don’t know… I guess I haven’t really been looking.”

We continued to talk and despite my best efforts to do a deep dive on just why that gorgeous man was single, before I knew it, the conversation shifted back to me, and I had told him everything: about getting dumped, turning thirty, and learning how to ski at my therapist’s suggestion; about getting fired after my design for the new Sage Mountain Airport lounge got rejected by my boss, and how she had called it “cliché,” and how hurtful that had been.

It seemed like he wanted to say something when I finished spewing out my life story, but he remained silent. The conversation fell flat, but the chemistry between us was palpable. It was right then when I saw I was ten minutes late for the second half of my ski lesson.

“Shoot. I better go. It was great chatting with you and thanks again for saving me back there. I’ll see you on the slopes, if Tara will still have me, that is!”

“I hope to see you again, Claire.”

My cheeks flushed, and I felt myself lingering. Truthfully, I would ditch Tara in a heartbeat to spend more time with that man, but I wasn’t there for that. I was there for the commitment I made to skiing and for the grace of God that Mickey invited me there to ski for free. And because of that, I was there representing my church. I was about to kneel in prayer for the strength to walk away when my phone rang. Mickey was wondering where I was.

“Uh oh. I need to go. See you later, Blake.” I tore out of the Peaks Lounge, racing until I made it back to the fireplace. The group was nowhere to be found. Then, I realized they wouldn’t be waiting for me in the lobby. I ran down the stairs to the ski boot room where I found my entire group dressed and geared up. I shook my head in shame.

“It’s not what it looks like, guys. I totally lost track of time while I was, umm…”

“Mhmmm.” Mickey dramatically crossed his arms and shook his head. “Kids, this is what not marrying your high school sweetheart amounts to. The first good looking guy with fantastic taste in baseball that you romantically run into at a ski resort, you forget all about why you’re here in the first place…”

The adults in the room were roaring in laughter .

“Okay, okay. Mickey is just so funny! Now, before we go out, since I’ve already made us late, let’s say a prayer together. Who wants to lead?”

We all joined hands as our teen Kianna led us in a beautiful moment.

“Dear Lord, We thank you for bringing us all together for such a special week over our Christmas break. We ask for your protection on the slopes, especially since Mickey is not as good as he thinks he is, and at his age, we are really worried he will get injured. Also, we think Claire’s new boyfriend is cool. We pray he is better than her last. In your name, Amen.”

Mickey and I stood in silence for a moment, staring at each other with a blank expression when Kianna’s mom, one of our other chaperones, stifling back her laughter, scolded her daughter. “Kianna, we don’t pray things like that!”

A group of boys started making an impression of Mickey on skis. It made me laugh so hard that I had tears rolling down my face. It wasn’t until Tara and two other instructors walked by that we knew we better get a move on. I was still giggling until I saw Tara’s face when she turned to greet us at the bottom of the bunny hill .

“Okay, gang. Let’s do a few more runs to perfect those ‘Pizza’ and ‘French Fries’ maneuvers. Claire, want to hold back for just a minute?”

I nodded and motioned for the teens to go to the magic carpet. “I’ll meet you guys back down here and do the next run with you.”

They were gone halfway through my sentence, eager to get back on the slopes. In light of an impending conversation with Tara, for once, there was nothing more I wanted to do than join them.

“I just wanted to ‘clear the air,’ so to speak.” Her implied use of air quotes made me smile since she was wearing mitten style gloves, and I couldn’t see her fingers. “I didn’t know Theo was your ex-boyfriend. I wouldn’t have let that interaction happen if I had. He told me how hard you took the breakup.”

I raised my eyebrows at that, but I supposed I wasn’t surprised. If Blake had asked about Theo, I would have told him anything he wanted to know as well. It was the same thing.

“Thanks, Tara. I think we were both blindsided by what just transpired. Don’t worry about it; let’s just move on. ”

“Oh, that makes me so happy to hear you say that, Claire! I would love to just start over fresh with you. When I met Theo a few months ago, we had no idea that our friendship would grow into a romance. My point of all that was… I hope you don’t blame me for how things turned out, because I never intended to be a home wrecker.”

Her eyes were watering now, as if she was on the verge of tears, but she was smiling, as if her atonement was telling me. I hadn’t registered her words in my mind yet. My legs quivered as I slowly teetered back and forth on my skis. A fall was imminent, I could tell.

“A few months ago? How long have you been together?” Surely, I misheard Tara.

“Just a few weeks. Well, on my birthday, to be specific. December 13th.”

She smiled apologetically, as I took the information in. “Not to rub it in that it was so soon after your breakup, but when he said you’d parted ways, well, truthfully, I was expecting him to ask me out sooner.”

We broke up just three days before they got together. Was that not long enough? Or had Theo told her and me two different things? I was starting to wonder. A familiar feeling took hold of my gut as Tara glided away on her skis. The wind had been knocked out of me. The last time this happened, I was roller skating in a friend’s garage when I was ten. I fell so hard on my rear-end, that I couldn’t breathe right for a few minutes. While I was still upright, I couldn’t see straight, my legs were weak, and if I hadn’t just found out my ex was courting another woman while we were still together, I would have surmised this to a stroke.

It was all I could do to excuse myself politely, telling Kianna’s mom I wasn’t feeling well suddenly, and needed to make it back into the lodge.

The first person I saw when I went inside was Tamara. She looked up at me expectantly.

“Claire! Are you okay? You don’t look well.” She got up and motioned to a chair for me to sit in. “What’s wrong?”

“Theo… was talking to another woman while we were still together. With my ski instructor. Tara.”

Tamara’s jaw dropped in disbelief. I may have been quickly moving past Theo, but the feelings of this fresh wound were just too much to bear. Before I knew it, I had told Tamara the entire story, including my reason for learning to ski, Theo’s supposed reason for dumping me, and then about getting fired from my job. The more I told it, the more exhausting it felt.

“Oh, Claire. You’ve really been through it, haven’t you? I’m so sorry.”

She sat with me in silence as I let a few tears fall. But with each tear, the negativity was released from my heart.

“If there’s anything I’ve learned in life, it’s that ‘this too shall pass.’ There’s nothing in life that God can’t heal. He has a greater plan for you. And I believe it’s starting sooner than you think.”

I looked over at Tamara and hugged her. “Thank you for being such a good friend to me.”

She was looking at something behind me as she smiled.

“How’s my perfect and beautiful-in-every-way wife?” Mickey’s voice rang behind me.

“My blood sugar is good. No need to walk on eggshells, Mickey. Unless, of course, you want to.”

We both giggled. Mickey and his wife had the greatest sense of humor. Their compatibility made them such a joyful couple to be around .

“Listen, Mick. The kids were right. You need to work on your core skills some more. Why don’t you and Claire trade places? Spending a little more time on the basics might do you some good.”

Mickey didn’t question a thing. “Sure, darling. And then I’ll give you a foot rub tonight if you promise not to make me sleep on the floor. Capeesh?”

They were both cackling as he gave her a kiss and nodded to me to switch.

“Thanks, guys. Mickey, which instructor are you with again?”

“Trevor. Black hair, white boots. You can’t miss him.”

And Mickey was right; I couldn’t miss him. In fact, I was a little worried that I hadn’t seen him until just then, given that his pants were neon tie-dyed.

“Trevor? My name is Claire. If you don’t mind, I’ve just switched places with Mickey and would like to join this lesson for the duration. I’m still a beginner, though, so it’s okay if you have nothing for me.”

Trevor pointed to the chairlift. “All the kids are going up. There’s two ways down: take a right for the green run. I’ll be right behind you.” For having such a fun way of dressing, he sure wasn’t exuding joy to talk to.

Filled with nerves, I lined up to get on the two-seater chair. I had to choose between facing Tara and confronting the pain of betrayal or taking on a more challenging slope than the bunny hill. I went with the second choice. To my horror, I realized they weren’t loading any single riders up. None of the teens were around, meaning I would have to ride up with a stranger. I counted all the riders ahead of me, and it worked out that I would ride up with the woman ahead of me. She had baby pink pants and a purple coat. She was about my mother’s age and looked cheerful. About a second later, a friend joined her in line.

“There you are. One more run?” The woman nodded.

I peeked over my shoulder. The man behind me was Timothy, Blake’s friend. He was totally immersed in his phone and didn’t look up from it. Okay, that wasn’t so bad, I guessed.

When it was our turn to get on the chair, things were moving slowly and the lift tech informed us it was because a group of kids were riding the lift. “They need extra time to offload. ”

“And how would I go about getting extra time?” I laughed, nervously.

“Just do this motion.” He showed me a bobbing thumbs down.

“Thanks.” We gently took off upward, and Timothy put the bar down on our laps. “Timothy, right? I’m Claire. Blake told me about you and your upcoming wedding. Congratulations.”

He grinned ear to ear. “Ahh, yes. Thank you. I can’t wait. It was cool for Blake to bring us out here for the week. Or, his dad, anyway.”

My ears perked up. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I mean, his dad owns the place, so he just had to make a phone call to the front desk, and we had three rooms and a week’s worth of ski passes. Pretty sweet deal, if you ask me. His dad is the greatest. He was like a dad to me growing up. Can’t ski to save his life, but loves the idea of it, so he buys up all these resorts.”

I was at a loss for words. Blake didn’t think to tell me any of this earlier? “Is his dad… James Walker?” The CEO at my job. At my old job, that was .

“Yes, that’s him. Do you know him?” Timothy looked me dead in the eyes.

“I do. Well, I know of him. I just got fired from the design firm for Sage Mountain Resort and Airport because he wouldn’t have liked my ideas, actually.”

“Ouch. I’m sorry about that.”

My mind was racing. Did that mean Blake worked with his dad, too? Did he already know about me, my designs, my firing? This was feeling painfully weird.

“There’s Melanie.”

I followed Timothy’s gloved finger’s direction to a woman with eyes of emerald that were so dazzling that I could see them from the chairlift. She was at a standstill as she looked at her watch. Her goggles sat around her cute, fuzzy hat and her long, thick, brown hair was perfectly spilling over her white coat. She was gorgeous in every sense of the word, and the feelings of dread came creeping back. Part of me didn’t want to know this woman, as I was feeling emotionally damaged, and she was like looking into the sun. I’d half expected her to be Theo’s new girlfriend if he wasn’t already linked with the stunning Tara, but alas, I was a curious creature. I turned back to Timothy and croaked out a minor question. “Who’s Melanie?”

He squinted his brow together. “Blakes ex… Didn’t he tell you? She’s here skiing with her family.”

My heart sank to the bottom of my gut. It felt like it was pressing on my bladder, or the hot chocolate consumption had finally caught up to me. Either way, I didn’t feel good about any of this. “No, I guess not.”

Timothy nodded at my reply. Not that he needed to tell me—Blake didn’t owe me any explanation whatsoever. We’d only just met. Still, the triple whammy of information I’d just uncovered was sickening.

Before I could contemplate asking any more questions, we made it to the top, and I’d forgotten all about the signal for the lift techs to slow the chair down. Thankfully, Timothy hadn’t forgotten, and we came to a glacial pace.

“Take it easy, Claire.”

The second he disembarked from the chair, he tore off to the left. I went straight, going slightly uphill, as I couldn’t stop. My skis were going out of control, but I didn’t want to bring any attention to the fact out of embarrassment. I was able to turn around once I slowed enough and came to a complete stop so I could assess where I was. Trevor had said to go right. Did he mean when I faced the chair lift or when it was to my back? The panic washed over me. Where was the sign marking the runs? I awkwardly skied over to the left. Not a sign in sight. Then, to the right. I saw a sign off in the distance, so I went a little further until I realized I was at the top of the run. I couldn’t turn back; there were too many people, and the ski patroller said no loitering. I knew it always looked the worst from that angle, so I went for it: my first solo run on that trip, feeling insecure and painfully inexperienced, and without an instructor to help.

I started out by making the pizza formation and attempting small turns, just like Tara had shown me. I couldn’t quite muster the part about lifting a foot up without almost falling, so I left that behind. When it got steep, I did smaller, more frequent turns. My biggest concern was getting run over by another skier. If I could go down without looking over my shoulder, it would’ve been so much better. Distraction came when someone called out my name.

“Claire!” It was the man of the hour: Blake. “How’s your ski lesson going?” He looked all around us. “Are you out here alone?” Suddenly, he spun around on his skis and was sliding down a small slope backwards . “I call this my swoon turn. Does it work?”

I laughed. “That would depend. Are you trying to swoon me? Because right now there’s a lot I don’t know about you.”

His smile turned into a frown. “What happened?” he asked, coming to a stop while I dug my poles into the snow, leaning on them to take a much-needed break.

“Oh, nothing. Timothy just told me about your dad owning the company I just got fired from. Owning this resort— heck, this whole town. Oh, and your stunning ex-girlfriend who just so happens to be here for the week. Meanwhile, I’m up here stuck on the glorified bunny hill, in a panic about getting to the bottom, and sweating all my makeup off in the process. I just can’t compete with all these women who can ski so well and still look absolutely perfect.” I huffed, taking a breath from my mini meltdown. “That’s all.”

His frown turned deeper. “I’m sorry, Claire. I was going to tell you all those things, but I couldn’t figure out how. After you said you were fired, I didn’t want to sour our relationship. ”

“What relationship? We just met, Blake. We don’t have one. I told you who my father was. That would have been a great opportunity for you to chime in.”

“Okay, okay. I know. And I’m sorry, Claire. Can you forgive me for not telling you immediately who my dad is?”

I thought about it for a minute, pushing my skis as hard as I could into the pizza formation.

“You really need to watch your knees,” Blake chimed in.

I was drenched in sweat, and he looked fresh as a daisy.

He gracefully skied closer to me and saw me up close, stifling back a laugh. “I love how serious you’re taking these skiing lessons. I find it very endearing. You really put your heart and soul into what you set out to accomplish, I can tell.” He gave a sincere smile, but when I didn’t give him one in return, he frowned.

“I guess.”

“Do you trust me?”

“I—I don’t know.” I felt my blood sugar dropping fast. Where was everyone? Mickey? Chaperones? The snow cat to take me down in the sled of shame? “I’m just feeling completely exhausted.” This was so tiring, and the run looked like it kept getting longer and longer.

“I know how you feel. I get it. Here, let me help you. I promise to take care of you, Claire.”

I weighed my options: Staying in place or getting out of this situation now. I took the latter. “Okay, fine.”

Blake linked our arms together, and he placed his skis on the outside of mine. While he wasn’t holding me close to his body, I felt secure. Within seconds, we were gliding down the mountain at a perfect speed. “Just stay still and keep your skis together. I got you,” he said in my ear as my legs instinctively tried to do some work. I closed my eyes for a moment, taking the words in. Doing what he said would require my letting go of the control I desperately wanted to keep. But I was getting nowhere trying to control that situation and was only making it harder on myself. The same went for many aspects of my life. I felt myself melt into his arms, putting the weight of my body into his as I let that man—one whom I did not know, but admittedly, wanted to—help me .

When we reached the end of the run, he began to gradually release my arms. “You know what to do. Don’t panic, Claire. Just ski.”

He released me from his grip, and I kept up the momentum, gliding at an easy pace as the ground turned flat beneath me. When I came to a natural stop, I looked back at him, and he smiled and clapped. With Blake helping me, the trip had become effortless and without physical and emotional strain. I thanked God for sending Blake to me at that very moment to help in my time of need.

I took off my gloves and unhooked my skis while Blake took two strides and met me where I was, my legs shaking in the aftermath of the trauma of feeling afraid and stranded on the ski hill.

“Claire, I’d like to tell you a few more things about me.” He paused, waiting for me to accept the conversation.

“Okay, sure. I’m interested in what you have to say.” Saying it out loud also admitted it to myself: The man had intrigued me. He had just witnessed me having a total meltdown and was then still interested in speaking to me.

“You see, my parents and I are kind of at a fork in the road. They want me to be living life on their timeline and I…” He paused, releasing a big breath into the cold air. “Well, I just don’t see things the same. I guess I’m just out here forging my path, and don’t want everyone to decide who I am based on my father’s company. Especially not this. I feel terrible that you were let go. But please, Claire. Let me make it up to you,” he pled with his eyes, as well as his words. “You and I are both here this week, but so is your ex-boyfriend, who seems like a real piece of work. I saw him in the men’s restroom styling his hair. I know just his type.”

I didn’t know what he was getting at, but the jab at Theo made me feel defensive. “Lest we forget about your ex-girlfriend being here. Melanie? Yeah, it’s the real icing on the cake, I’d say, unless you planned it that way. Unless you want to get back with her and speaking to me is now interrupting those plans?”

Blake shook his head. “It’s not what you think, Claire. Yes, she is here until tomorrow, which is an unfortunate coincidence. Her parents were the only ones slighted in our very mutual breakup over a year ago. They will not quit meddling and always seem to plan these trips when we might run into each other. But believe me when I say there’s no future where Melanie and I end up together. Trust me… We ar e two extremely different people. For instance, I want a family. She wants to move to India. I want to learn about competitive clay shooting. She doesn’t believe in weapons. Our personalities clash, too. Melanie is a very serious person, and you can’t take me anywhere because I’m always laughing.” He put his hand on my shoulder. “But even if I liked all the things I don’t, and I wanted to get back with her, she’s already moved on and is dating a guy from the NFL.”

I was surprised at his words and why he was speaking them, but it gave me relief knowing that she was not looking for love with Blake. Regardless, I was feeling a little embarrassed at my blowup. “Blake, you don’t have to explain yourself. We’ve only just met, and I don’t expect you—”

He cut me off. “I know I don’t have to, but I want to tell you, Claire. You deserve to have people be upfront with you. That being said,” he leaned closer and took my hands in his, “I have a proposal to make.”

“A proposal?” He had my attention.

“If you think you can pretend to like me, I will be your pretend boyfriend for the rest of the week, so you can save face with your ex. What do you think about that? I mean, if you think you can stomach the thought of riding the chairlift with me, holding my hand… being my date on New Year’s Eve…”

I thought about it for a minute as my legs quivered beneath me from overuse. I hadn’t gotten as much exercise as I had hoped, but this was pushing my limits. All I wanted to do was get inside and sit in front of the warm fireplace with a cup of hot chocolate.

“I don’t know, Blake. I mean, it sounds like it could be fun, and I appreciate it, but how would it be believable?

“Easy: We can’t do this halfway. We need to make a full-fledged commitment. I want it to look so real that even we forget it’s not. If I promise to give it my all for your sake, will you give it your all for mine?”

I wondered what he would get out of this, but even so, the agreement was just what I needed to feel better around Theo. “Okay.”

Blake cheered as he jumped up and down, somehow even doing that perfectly on his skis. “Thank you, Claire, for letting me make this right. If we do it correctly, I think we are going to really have some fun. Just you wait.” He grinned and held his hand out. “Oh, there’s one more thing.” I cocked my eyebrow, wondering what else there could be on earth that we hadn’t covered. “When you said that you can’t compete with women who ski, meaning Melanie and Tara… I just want to say, I never asked you to compete with them. And I never would.”

Watching him gracefully slide away, taking any remaining words I had with him, I wondered just who that man was. He differed from anyone else I’d ever met, in the best way.

I was so eager to get back inside, I nearly cried when I took my ski boots off. What. A. Day. A group of the youth group moms and girls were urging me to accompany them to the hot tubs before dinner, and I couldn’t think of anything better. “Let’s do it, ladies.”

*****

That night, I reflected on the proposal I had agreed to with Blake. Taking out my phone, I opened my social media to see a friend request waiting from him. I accepted because it would be weird not to be connected online to the man I was supposedly dating. Clicking on his profile, I scrolled through to see his pictures .

Blake had done it all: He was a world traveler; sailed the seven seas; experienced Michelin restaurants; talented at different sports; and was especially good at playing the piano, which I knew from experience. His charm was evident, even through the phone screen. I admitted to myself just how attracted I felt to Blake but in a much different way than to Theo.

Theo was built like a Grecian statue, and he knew it. There was nothing he loved more than showing off his physique. He looked in every mirror he had the chance to and never let a photo opportunity pass him by. Blake, on the other hand… Most of his photos were candid, and friends posted most of them. In fact, the only photo Blake had posted of himself was his profile picture of him at his college graduation and scenery photos of his travels. I could respect that.

Upon scrolling, I found a photo posted by Melanie. It was a picture of them standing at a golfing tournament together, presumably with her parents. I clicked on her profile to see she wasn’t just dating a man from the NFL, but they were newly engaged. While I assumed he was a football player, I learned he was a football executive and a solid ten to fifteen years older than Melanie.

Going back to Blake’s page, I felt closure with Melanie. While she was one of the most beautiful women I’d ever seen, neither Blake nor Melanie appeared to be interested in each other. I could let that go, writing it off as an awkward coincidence that she was there. “Not that any of it matters, because we aren’t really dating after all…” I mumbled to myself before a final scroll of Blake’s pictures, when my jaw truly dropped.

Apparently, Blake was a world-class skier…I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the photo of him holding a trophy. He didn’t post it, but a skiing association tagged him in the photo. It looked like he won the men’s cup in a national slalom race two years prior. I felt impressed and worried at the same time. Tossing my phone to the side, I was impressed that he was so talented at, well, everything, yet worried because I wasn’t. I just needed to get through that week and put my best ski boot forward.

“It just has to be believable that we are dating,” I mumbled, trying to convince myself. “Then I can go back to my life and figure out what’s next.” The feeling of dread started to creep up as I considered just what could be next for me.