Rocky Mountain Holiday (To Love Again Book 4) (7 page)

DECEMBER 28 ~ AFTERNOON

Isabel hit the hill just after one. It was packed and she had to schlepp her equipment a long way up the road. By the time she reached the main parking lot, she was over-heated and anxious to put her gear down so she could get some zippers and clasps undone and breathe again.

Not many people skied half a day, unless they were pass holders, so the line was short. She paid her ticket - cringing at the fact that it was never half of the full-day fee - and clamped it onto her jacket.

Dumping her skis and poles against one of the stands, she headed inside. The lodge was packed with people having lunch. She stepped over gear, around rosy-cheeked children and through throngs of teenagers flirting and laughing. The festive feeling immediately lifted her mood as she remembered how much she loved everything about skiing.

When she was a kid, she lived to ski the local hill. It wasn’t much, but when you were barely big enough to get on the T-bar, it was plenty big enough. Every week, she begged her parents to drive her to town so she could spend the day skiing, paying her way by taking on extra chores around the house - usually shoveling snow.

Growing up, and well into her early teens, it was the same. Every Friday night she’d babysit for the Whites to make enough money to pay for the lift ticket. And every Sunday, she’d meet her friend Joanne and ski until the final lift up the hill.

One year for her birthday, her parents took her to a mountain resort for a week of skiing - the best birthday present ever. She shook her head. How had she let daily pressures eliminate the things she loved? Here it was almost New Year’s and it was her first time out, and last year she’d only skied twice all winter.

She looked around again. She’d never find Jenny in this crowd. She dug her phone from her pack and sent a quick text:
Where r u?

Her phone chirped back:
Lunch w K. Temple Lodge.

Ok. Have fun. Meet l8r?

Gr8. Drinks 4.30. Whiskey Jack bar.

Isabel sent a smiley face back, threw her phone in her pack, and squeezed into an empty spot on a nearby bench to tighten up her boots. Once done, she rocked her way to the door and moved off to the side to bundle up. She zipped her coat, wrapped her scarf tighter around her neck, pulled her hat down over her ears, and finally, put on her gloves and joined the flow of people heading back out into the sun.

She groaned at the length of the lift-line. Everyone was coming out from lunch at the same time. Fortunately, the singles line got her through the worst of it in less time than she expected, and before she knew it she was on her way up the hill. The ticket office had a poster boasting that the new lift could accommodate up to 14,000 skiers per hour. Pretty impressive. Given how fast she’d moved through the line, she believed it.

The couple with her turned out to be newlyweds. It was their first trip to the Canadian Rockies and they were loving it. Best honeymoon ever, they both said. Ever? Isabel asked, intrigued. Turns out, the woman had been married before and she was wife number three for her new husband. They felt like they knew a little about honeymoons, and Isabel laughingly agreed. She asked where they were from and the normal ski-lift small talk carried them through until they reached the peak. They were too wrapped up in each other to be even remotely interested in her.

Isabel pushed away from the chair and glided to a stop off to the left, away from the lift, looking out over the front hill and the valley below. It was majestic. She could see Lake Louise in the distance, beyond the river, and turning, she was surrounded almost three hundred sixty degrees by mountains and more mountains. A slight wind blew, not unusual at the top, and the top layer of snow was moving in that way that made everything seem like shifting sand. It was a hard condition to ski in, especially if you had vertigo, which she did, a little. Everything felt like it was going in different directions.

The front slopes were packed with people. This was one of the busiest ski weeks of the year and the weather today had brought everyone out. She could go down the front and have an easy first run, but she wanted to escape the crowds. She headed for the back to ski the bowls. She’d start with a nice long green run to warm-up before she moved on to the black diamonds.

She did a few knee bends and hamstring stretches, sliding her skis forward and back, lifted a couple of inches off the ground and propelled herself forward and down, grinning all the way.

Reaching the back lift, she passed the lodge where Jenny and Kip were having lunch. She hadn’t wanted to pull Jenny away from him last night, but she’d been grateful not to drive alone, especially so late at night. Jenny had practically bubbled over as she told story after story about Kip. Now she knew every single detail Jenny had pulled out of him. Fair was fair, she’d listened to plenty from her over the years, and more recently … with Tray.

She’d been right about the crowds. The lift line here was much lighter and she skied into place. As they moved forward, a commotion broke out on the other side of the line. A tall man in a bright orange jacket in the singles line, was shifting to the side to allow the people behind him to go ahead. It looked like he wanted to pair up with someone in the main line, but that’s not what single lines were for and there was little room for the others to slide by him. She glanced into the small crowd of two’s and three’s, then behind her shoulder, wondering who he was meeting.

~~~

She would be up on the next chair. Tray shifted as far to the side as he could and motioned the skier behind him to go ahead. The man shook his head as he edged past. He shrugged and mumbled an apology.

They were next. He pushed forward and boarded the lift. As the chair lifted into the air, he arranged his poles and pushed his goggles back. He waited a few seconds while she did the same, then leaned forward to catch her eye.

“Isabel?” She looked over in his direction, surprised to hear her name. She didn’t look entirely pleased to see him. Damned if he knew why either. He’d called twice since he saw her at breakfast and his calls had gone directly to voice mail. Even his text went unanswered and he assumed she was dealing with her daughters or catching up on lost sleep.

“Tray? That was you making the racket?”

He grinned. “Guilty as charged. I wanted to ride up with you.” The couple in the middle smiled at him, then Isabel, and returned to their own conversation.

“I didn’t realize you were skiing today,” she said, lips pursed.

“I was waiting to call you, figured you got back late from Radium.” It had sucked to not spend time with her last night, but now didn’t seem the time to say so. Her reception was almost as chilly as the weather.

She nodded. “It was pretty late.”

“I didn’t want to intrude this morning - with your daughters there.” He couldn’t read her, she kept glancing off to the side as if the most important thing in the world was the line of fir trees below them. “How did things go last night?”

“Long night,” she sighed. “I’d rather not go into it right now, if you don’t mind.”

“I’m glad you got back safely,” he said, backing off. How did she go from being thrilled to see him last night at the bar, to barely civil. She was treating him like a distant acquaintance - one she didn’t even like - not her lover.

He settled back into his seat and tried to enjoy the view. There were a lot of people on the hill today. The weather this week had been like a Goldilocks test for skiers - too cold, too wet, and finally today, almost perfect. With final exams and late snowfall on the hills, this was the first time he’d been out all year. He was planning to enjoy it.

Reaching the top of the hill, they pushed out of the chair. Isabel went left while he went right. Once he was clear of the lift, he looped back and glided up beside her.

“I’m thrilled to see you,” he said, leaning in to kiss her cheek. She moved back, just slightly, but enough to cause him to stop mid-pucker. “You seem unhappy to see me.”

Isabel stared into the distance. When she turned to face him, her eyes were brimming with tears. “I thought you just got here, last night.”

“I don’t understand —”

“You don’t? You’ve been here since the day after Christmas. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I, I …” Damn, apparently his best intentions hadn’t served him well. “I did come up earlier. Danny called me early that morning and begged me to come play at the bar. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to interfere with your writing time.”

Head down, she brushed at her tears. He dug his poles into the ground beside him and reached an arm around her shoulder.

“Isabel—”

“Right. My writing time. And you were working at the bar last night
and
the night before?”

“Yes, both nights. I’ll be working tonight, too.” People exiting the lift skied around them and clustered in little groups a few feet away. He focused on Isabel, he knew she was tired and probably stressed after the Radium trip. Still, surely she was over-reacting. “Listen, babe—”

She pulled away instantly. His heart sunk. “Don’t you call me
babe
. Isn’t that Chrissie’s name for
you?”
Her face knotted and she kept her eyes on his. “Isn’t it?”

“Chrissie? I don’t see what she has to do with any of this.” Surely, she wouldn’t be jealous over a girl flirting with him.

“You weren’t at a party with Chrissie the day after Christmas? Karin and Shelly recognized you this morning. They said she was really drunk and falling all over you. What are you doing running around with girls that age?”

“Wait a minute. Is that what you think of me? That I would take advantage of someone Chrissie’s age?” He stepped back, sucking in a deep breath. She had some story in her head and he needed to set her straight. “Look, when I got to the bar a neighbor called Danny to tell him Chrissie was in a pretty bad state. Danny couldn’t leave the bar, so he asked me to go and get her.”

Looking up at him, her eyes widened. “That’s all it was?”

“Of course, what do you take me for? I picked her up and went back to the bar.”

“Oh.” She pondered this for a few seconds, biting at her lower lip. “That still doesn’t explain why you didn’t tell me you were already here. I mean, when you texted me I assumed you were still at the farm.”

“I didn’t lie to you. Not at all.” He shuffled his feet, it was getting cold standing in one place. “Don’t you know I was dying to see you?” He smiled. “I
was
being selfish, though. I didn’t want to disturb you yesterday because I wanted you finish your work so we could play the rest of the week.”

A half-smile tugged at her lips. “That’s all it was?”

“Since I met you Isabel, you’re the only woman for me. I can’t get you out of my mind, don’t you know that?” The tension was easing between them, thank heavens she believed him.

“Please, have a little faith in me,” he said. Her trust issues went deeper than he’d imagined. He’d have to tread carefully, because he couldn’t imagine losing her now. “Should we do a run? You must be getting cold.”

Shivering, she agreed. “Let’s have some fun. I need it.” With that, she pushed off. He grabbed his poles and followed.

~~~

The bar at Whiskey Jack was crowded and it took a few minutes for them to make their way through the crowd. Jenny and Kip had a table in the corner near the windows and had already ordered a pitcher and three mugs. They flagged the server down and motioned for another mug.

“How was skiing?” she asked Jenny. Her friend’s cheeks were red and she couldn’t wipe the grin off her face.

“Great, we had a great day.” She smiled over at Kip.

“I love the mountains here. So different from central Europe.” Kip reached over to shake Tray’s hand. “Good to see you again, Tray.”

“And you.” He settled into a chair, sliding it a few inches closer to Isabel’s.

“I was just telling Jenny how good you guys sounded last night. You were great on your own, of course,” he rushed on. “But you and Jenny sound like you’ve been playing together for years.”

“Nope, first time.”

“That’s what she told me, but wow, seriously, you guys sounded tight.”

“Thanks,” Tray said. “Jenny’s got the chops.”

“Yes, but you changed it all up for my keys.” Jenny smiled. “Thanks again for calling me up.”

“My pleasure. It was Barry’s idea. He’s not skiing today?”

Kip shook his head. “He was here earlier, but had something to do after lunch. We’ll meet him at the bar later, in time for your set.”

“In that case,” Tray glanced over at Jenny, “we should do a few more songs together.”

Jenny nodded. “Love to. You coming tonight, Issy?”

“I don’t think so, I was up early to deal with the girls. I’m beat.”

Jenny stood. “We have to run, early dinner reservations. See you later?”

“You bet. Breakfast tomorrow?” She winked and grinned wickedly.

“Sounds good.” She shrugged her coat on and Kip put a few bills on the table.

“See you tonight, Tray,” Kip said. “Isabel, hope to see you soon.”