Snowbound (5 page)

“Hey, hot stuff,” said a smoky feminine voice beside him. Daniel turned to see Diane and Nancy taking their skis off, obviously about to go into the cafe.

“You wanna join us for a bite?” Nancy asked.

“Or better yet,” said Diane suggestively, “We could bite you.”

Daniel pretended he didn’t hear the comment. “I’d be happy to join you lovely ladies for lunch. Hopefully Cassidy will stop by and we can have our whole group together.”

* * *

Cassidy decided she was being silly about the whole “cougars” thing. After she skied away she remembered about his eye sensitivity and felt bad that she thought he was checking out the girls. And, really? What if he had been? It only proved he was a healthy male.
Maybe I’ll see if Daniel’s at the café and we can grab something together.

Even though they hadn’t set a lunch date today, she still had hopes he might show up anyway. She skied up to the café, glanced inside and promptly slid to a stop. There was Daniel sitting with the “cougars,” eating lunch and laughing.
So much for him wanting me to join him for lunch today, I guess that was wishful thinking.
For a minute Cassidy thought about going in, then decided against it. Better to do another run or two and work off some of her angst.

She knew she had a crush on Daniel—and wondered if her attraction was obvious. Different from Rick in almost every way, Daniel was so nice to her and generally helpful to everyone, although he wasn’t a wimpy nice. Physically quite strong, he obviously played to win. She had watched him in an impromptu snow volleyball game. Even though it was just for fun he seemed to take it quite seriously. His spike was something awesome to behold. Cassidy remembered wincing when one of Daniel’s spikes hit another player. It looked as if it hurt. Daniel didn’t make any apologies for the play, as it was part of the game, but he had asked the other player if they were ok. Some of the other members had mentioned that Daniel played competitive volleyball and was on both a rec and tournament softball team. Just thinking about him made her giddy and she knew there was no point. He was a nice guy, who was nice to her—end of story. Still, when he had spiked that volleyball and won the game, she felt a thrill right along with him.

Cassidy skied past a sign indicating which runs were open, but she was so deep in thought she only gave it a passing glance. She wanted to try Devil’s Tongue as she heard it was tough but fun. Apparently there were a lot of curves and forks, in addition to it being packed with moguls.
I know it’s a black diamond run but the conditions are awesome. I can do this!
Tired of second guessing everything she did, she made the decision to tackle a tough run and she was going to do it.
You are strong. You are confident. Yeah, right, just pay attention and ski.

She continued with the mental pep talk as she hit the first curve.
Not too fast, there you go. See this is great. Kind of exciting really.
Cruising along at a steady pace, she wondered where the other skiers were. She hadn’t seen anyone else for a while.
Huh. Whatever. It’s a big resort.
She came to a fork in the path and wasn’t sure which route to take.
Eenie, meenie, miney, moe.
Deciding on the one to the left, she veered in that direction.

All the while she had been skiing she kept thinking about the differences between Daniel and Rick. For too long now she’d been mired in an emotional roller coaster and she was pretty sure she wanted to get off. Somehow she had turned from a strong, independent girl with a lot of dreams into this wimpy, sad woman who cried a lot and had no idea where her life was going. As her skis dipped sharply, Cassidy snapped out of her thoughts.

“Wow,” she said, looking down. Somehow she’d skied onto a very narrow trail with deep moguls. The going was very difficult. When she banged over a particularly high mogul, slightly out of control, she tried to slow herself down. She was not used to this kind of skiing at all.
OK, Cass. Calm down. Breathe.
Breathing fast, she worried about hyperventilating and willed herself to breathe slower. Trying to snowplow over the moguls only made her skis jam right into them. She needed to gather her bearings, figure out where she was and how to get down safely, before she broke something.

Thinking that if she fell into one of the moguls it would help her stop, she side-slipped and allowed herself to fall, the way Daniel had taught her. Although, she was pretty sure he hadn’t meant for the technique to be used for this purpose. She did manage to land without hurting anything. Unfortunately, her skis fell into the well between the two moguls and then went backwards. And so did she.

Oh man, this isn’t good.

Chapter
Five

“Well, you were a bit busy at the time. I think that maybe she felt four was a crowd.” Debbie made the comeback a bit sarcastically.

“What do you mean by that?” Daniel questioned.

“Hey, if you two can stop for a minute... we need to find Cassidy,” Sandra interrupted. “I was hoping she’d be in here, but if not then we should go find her. Someone reported a skier entering a closed run. From their description, it sounded like Cassidy.”

Daniel said, “No, Cassidy wouldn’t do that. She seems like a very responsible girl. You should see how carefully she skis. She’s always watching out for others.”

“That’s what I thought too but, if she’s not here I’m not sure what to think. I did check her room and she’s not there either. Even if it’s not her, we should check anyway—no one should be on a closed run.”

“Isn’t that what you have the Ski Patrol for, Sandra?” asked Debbie, with a raised brow. Daniel thought he heard an odd note in her voice, but didn’t pause to think about it.

Flustered, Sandra replied, “Well, yes of course dear, but all hands on deck in this situation, right? I mean, Daniel has always helped before. He’s been coming up here a long time and he’s like our unofficial ski patrol, don’t you think?”

“I don’t mind, if someone’s in trouble I’d like to help—especially if it’s Cassidy,” Daniel replied. Picturing her in his head, he smiled. “She’s a sweet girl, who’s had enough trouble this week. Which run is it?”

“Devil’s Tongue. We’ve closed it because, between the storm the other day and the hot weather today, it became completely carved up and icy. We wanted to put another layer of snow on it with the machine tonight.” Daniel nodded. He knew that a lot of resorts used the snow machines, especially in spring skiing conditions.

“Wow, I’m not sure why Cassidy would attempt that. I mean, she’s a pretty decent skier, but I think that might be out of her league. I really hope she didn’t head that way.”
Devil’s Tongue? That’s a tough run. Why?...
Fear zipped through him, leaving him with a bad feeling. What would make Cassidy decide to ski a black diamond and then continue on if it was closed?

“Maybe she thought she could handle it. I don’t think she’s as meek as you think,” said Debbie.

“I don’t think she’s meek. Who said that?” Daniel became flustered. “Anyway, I’m wasting time. I should get going.” He pulled his jacket on, zipping it up as he walked. Sandra’s voice called out to him, just as he reached the door. “Thanks Daniel, I really appreciate this. I knew I could count on you.”

Daniel just waved his hand in answer and headed out. He still couldn’t figure out what Cassidy would be doing trying to ski a black diamond. She wasn’t a bad skier, actually more tentative than anything, but that could be a bad thing if you were stuck on an expert run.

* * *

“Well I don’t need to, but I thought he could help. It keeps him busy you know. Takes his mind off his troubles. The last time he was here was with Natasha. Plus, he knows what Cassidy looks like and I thought it would be easier for...”

Debbie interrupted, “You’re trying to set them up, aren’t you? Is Cassidy even on a closed run?”

“Well I don’t know if it is Cassidy, but yes, whoever it is, is on a closed run. I am not setting anything up. I just think it’s nice that those two have become friends. Why can’t I send a friend to help out?”

“I know you. You are never happier than when you can get involved in everyone else’s life. I know you mean well, but this time I think you just need to leave things alone. That poor girl’s boyfriend walked out and left her here. Daniel’s fiancé died. The two of them aren’t exactly prime love match material right now.”

Sandra straightened her shoulders and looked her friend square in the eye. “Ahhh, but I disagree. I think that those two young people need to find love and confidence. They need to know they are needed and cared for—albeit in different ways, but they both need it. Having more friends never hurt anyone and frankly those two could use all they can get right now.” Sandra popped the last of the coffee cake into her mouth, gave Debbie a hug and left.

Really, how can she think I’m meddling?
Not that Debbie had used those words, but that’s what she meant. Sometimes people couldn’t see things that were right in front of them, so she just gave them a little nudge in the right direction. She wasn’t meddling. Just look at her son Mark and his wife Tanya happily married for seventeen years, all because she thought her son needed a math tutor in college. Tanya now kept the books for the resort, was the keeper of Mark’s heart and mother to Sandra’s grandchildren.
Meddling indeed.

* * *

“Having fun?”

From her position on her back, skis stuck and pointed in the air at strange angles, Cassidy squinted up at the person who had spoken. Hoping she didn’t really recognize the voice, fearing that she did. Embarrassed to see that it was indeed Daniel, she flailed about once more trying to right herself, to no avail. “Oh yeah, this is heaps of fun. I personally love sliding down half a mountain on my butt. The skis were just for show.”

“Stop moving and let me help.” Daniel’s tone was rather curt, but then she was so mortified to be found like this she wasn’t exactly thinking straight. “There, I’ve pulled them out of the snow. Now you need to swing them around across the fall line, so that you are on your side. Can you do that?”

“Um, I can try.” She tried to maneuver herself as Daniel directed, but didn’t have much luck. As soon as she swung her skis around she slid backwards again.

Daniel quickly skied past her and stopped her with his body, basically bracing her. “No, I said across the fall line! Where are your poles?”

“Down there somewhere I guess,” she snapped in frustration and pointed toward the bottom of the mountain. She managed to swing herself around once more, enabling herself to get aligned properly. He handed her his poles, so she could use them to push up with. “Thank you. I’ve never been on such icy moguls before and I guess I kind of lost control.”

“Keep my poles until we get down. I suggest you sideslip most of the way since that should be easier for you. You’re going to find yourself sliding for a ways, but just push on your uphill edge and lean back toward the mountain to slow down or stop. Let’s go.”

Cassidy frowned, slightly taken aback by his tone, which was decidedly frosty—this time she knew she did not imagine it. “Listen, Daniel, I appreciate you trying to help, but if I’m interrupting something you can just go on ahead. I’m sure I will make it down just fine. Even if it is on my rear end!” She tried to give him his poles, but he pushed them back at her.

“No, I can’t just go on ahead. I’m here to make sure you arrive safely at the bottom. What do you think you are trying to prove, anyway?”

“Excuse me?” Her eyes narrowed as she tried to figure out what his problem was.

He looked back at her with an exasperated expression on his face. “I said, what are you trying to prove? You think a couple of days ski lessons means you can just go on any ol’ run and you’re now a whiz? ‘Cause that’s not the way it works.”

She continued to sideslip her way downhill and tried to figure out what he was going on about, while she concentrated on not falling in front of him again. “I don’t think I’m a whiz. I have done black diamonds before, you know. Granted none were quite this packed and icy, but still...”

“That would be why it’s closed,” he said sarcastically.

“It’s closed? What’s closed?”

“The run, Cassidy. Devil’s Tongue is a closed run. That means you are
not
supposed to be on it. How could you be so foolish? Do you know what kind of risk that was? What if no one had seen you come down here? What if when you fell you really hurt something and we didn’t realize you were missing until much later? Do you know how cold it gets once the sun drops? What if....” With every word his voice grew louder and louder.

“Stop! Just stop, ok!” Cassidy put her hand up. “I didn’t know it was a closed run. I’m sorry.”

“Oh come on, are you trying to tell me you didn’t see the big sign that indicated it was closed? It’s bright orange!”

The whole time they had been having their conversation they drew closer and closer to the bottom. Cassidy spied one of her poles and managed to snag it as she went by. She didn’t say anything, and Daniel continued to rant at her. She swiped at her nose, which was running, something it always did when she held back tears.