Snowbound (9 page)

“Hey...” she reached across to jar his shoulder. “Hey, Daniel. It’s ok. I know that this hit you pretty hard, but maybe what you have to think about is that in the end she died doing exactly what she wanted to do. I don’t think she’d be happy knowing she hurt you.”

He lifted his gaze to hers and she noticed his eyes were wet, maybe with tears he was holding back. “I know. That’s the thing, I know. I just could never talk about it before. All of our friends...it was just too hard.” He shook his head. “I’m sorry that I took it out on you. Both earlier today and tonight. You didn’t deserve that, and I really have no excuse other than, well, the situation was similar and everything came rushing back. I dunno. Now, I’m probably not making much sense.”

She smiled. “It’s ok. I know you must have loved her very much. I’m sorry I brought back sad memories. If it helps, I promise to look for closed trails a little more closely next time.”

He nodded. “Some date this is turning out to be huh?”

“Date?” she asked shyly.

“I guess it wasn’t officially a date but, yeah, I think it is a date. You can’t end up all alone in a hot tub with a pretty girl if it isn’t a date.” He wiggled his eyebrows at her lecherously and she laughed.

“OK, well this girl is officially a prune, so I think the pretty part is a bit overrated. I think it’s time we call it a night.” As much as she wanted to stay there with him, she really felt that it was time for him to be alone with his thoughts. And she needed to figure out what she felt too. Every time she thought her attraction to him was growing, something came along to hold it back. Plus, it appeared as if he might still be too hurt from losing his fiancé. Then there was the little fact that this was just a week long ski trip and they lived in two different places. She was certainly not looking to be anyone’s ski trip fling. She came here with a totally different man; she couldn’t expect to leave with someone else.

Even if that someone else is ten times the man I came with.
She shivered as she climbed out of the hot tub, grabbing her towel to wrap around her hair. She tried to jam her arms into her robe but wasn’t quite able to get one of them through since she was holding the towel.
Smart, Cass, real graceful
. Struggling, she finally got her robe on. She no longer felt the chill as the heat of a blush worked its way up her cheeks.

“I’ll walk you back to your room.” As they made their way back inside Daniel lightly took her hand. “Careful. Don’t want to slip.”

When they reached the door to her room she realized that he had never let go of her hand. “This is me,” she said tapping on the door with her free hand. She looked up in to his eyes and then quickly back down, suddenly very nervous.
You’re acting like a silly schoolgirl.
She brought her head back up and gazed directly into his eyes. Feeling that she should say something, but unable to formulate any actual words, she thought it best that she go into her room instead.

He waited while she fumbled with her card key and opened the door. He bent his head and brushed his lips over hers, so quickly, like a feather. Leaning into him, Cassidy wrapped her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss for a few long moments before letting go.

Daniel touched a finger to her lips and smiled. Then he was gone, whistling as he walked down the hall.

Chapter
Nine

What a nice dream
,
she thought as her hand went to her lips. Still half asleep Cassidy rolled over and snuggled deeper under the covers. She wanted to get back to the dream. That kiss, so gentle, then so hot.
Mmmm.
Wait, don’t go!
It was gone. The dream and the kiss. She sat up in bed, frowning. It took her a minute to realize that last night had been no dream. The lack of sleep had made her all fuzzy, but seeing her damp bathing suit hanging off the back a chair brought it all back. Not the best place to hang a wet suit. Still, she didn’t move to take it into the bathroom. It had been a very late night. Something like two or three in the morning. She and Daniel had talked of so many things. Important things. And then, the kiss.

She knew it was just a brief fleeting thing, but to her it still held promise.
Maybe?
Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Stretching languorously, she gave a start as she heard a knock on the door. Looking at the time she saw that it wasn’t early morning as she’d thought. It was almost eleven. Putting on her robe, she answered the door to see an abundance of flowers, with legs and feet coming out the bottom. “Hello?”

“Flowers for you ma'am?” A bellboy’s head peeked out from behind the huge bouquet.

“Oh, thank you, bring them in.” She grabbed for her purse to find a tip for him, as he placed the vase on the small table in the room. “Here you go,” she said handing him some money. “Thanks again.”

“You’re welcome. Someone obviously likes you. Have a nice day.” He smiled, and then walked back out the door, pulling it closed behind him.

She was so excited.
Someone obviously likes you.
The bellboy’s words echoed in her head as she looked at the flowers. There were red and white roses mixed with some wildflowers and greenery. This was so extravagant. Could Daniel have sent them? Where on earth would he have found these up here? Just as that thought came, another one followed rapidly and she knew who the flowers were from. She opened the envelope that had been buried down in the flowers.

“I’m sorry,” was all the card said.
Rick.
She knew it was silly to be disappointed. For goodness sake she and Daniel had only had one date. It wasn’t even supposed to be a date. Granted it had turned into one. A long one. But still. Throwing the card on the table she looked dispassionately at the flowers.
How many times?
How many times had they gone through this exact scenario? They’d fight, he’d leave, then there would be flowers. Or, more correctly, he’d yell, leave, and send flowers. This time it had taken longer than usual for him to send them but still, here they were. It was almost ruining roses for her.

Lifting one of the delicate flowers up to inhale it’s fragrance she poked her finger on a thorn. “Ow.” She dropped it back into the vase. “Big surprise. He sends me flowers and I still get hurt.” Sucking on her finger she glared at the flowers.

The phone rang, breaking her out of her mildly violent thoughts toward the foliage.

* * *

Cassidy smiled as she wandered dreamily back to her room. She’d just finished eating brunch with Daniel and it was all she could think about. When he’d called earlier to ask if she was hungry, she’d leapt at the chance to see him again. They seemed to have so much to talk about and got along so easily. She was already regretting that she’d declined to go back out skiing with him. Unfortunately, she was just too tired and was thinking about a nap. She had agreed to meet him again for dinner and she felt her stomach tighten, just a little, in excitement.

She opened the door to her room and promptly dropped her key card.
What is going on?
There were flowers everywhere. More flowers. Red, white and pink roses. Long stems, bouquets and petals. They filled every corner of the room. The smell itself was overpowering as she’d left the heat up a little high this morning before she’d left—she tended to be cold when she was overtired.

Cassidy had no idea where to look. There were so many flowers she couldn’t even see the original bouquet that had arrived earlier. She headed straight for the large bouquet in front of her. There was a card that had only the word
me
on it.
What the heck?
She perused all of the flowers. Some had cards and some didn’t so she went through all of them, gathering the cards and laying them in from of her on the bed, brushing aside the petals that covered it. Each card only had one or two words on it. She just kept moving them all around until they made sense.

I love you. Let’s get married. Meet me this afternoon. Log Cabin Chapel. Back Run. Rick.

Holding her hands over her mouth, she stared at the words. She sat in stunned silence. She had no idea this was coming. She’d dreamed of him asking for so long, but not now. Not when they weren’t even together, when he’d been so rude and left her all on her own. Not now that she’d met Daniel and knew the difference between a temper and emotional abuse. Not now.

This afternoon? What time this afternoon?
She glanced at her watch. It was already pushing two o’clock. She called Rick’s cell phone, but it said it was out of the service area.
How am I supposed to know when this is supposed to happen?
Log Cabin Chapel
.
Where had she seen that before? Jumping up she ran over to the dresser and opened the top drawer. She had thrown the hotel promotional info in there after reading through it when they first arrived.

“Yes, here it is,” she muttered to herself. She flipped to the right page and read the information she needed.
The Log Cabin Chapel is located on our back run and is the perfect place for private services and ceremonies. It is only accessible by ski or snowmobile in the winter, and bikes or ATV in the summer. The back run is an intermediate run that is considered more rustic and picturesque since there are no lifts to bring you back up. You must cross country ski around the base to the front and side lifts.
She looked at the accompanying map. It looked like it would take some time to get there. Probably forty-five minutes to an hour between getting to the front lift, then trekking to the back side and skiing down to the chapel. She tried Rick’s cell phone again. No luck. Although Cassidy had no intention of marrying Rick she felt she owed it to him to talk to him about this in person. There was nothing to do but go and find him. Even if that meant making her way to this remote chapel.

“He could have at least given me a time. Knowing him I’m already in trouble for not being there now.”

“Think, Cass. If he had the flowers delivered while you were at lunch then he had to expect it could be about this time when you returned, so it should be fine.” She talked openly to herself as she changed into her ski gear. Becoming tense, she realized she was already anticipating Rick’s mood. “What was he thinking? Oh sure, just send me a bunch of flowers and we’ll be fine. It doesn’t matter that you abandoned me at a ski resort. Cripes.”

Grabbing her toque she dashed out the door, stopping only when she hit the lobby, where she realized she would probably be late for dinner with Daniel. If she could make it at all. She quickly wrote out a note for him, which she gave to the desk clerk before heading back out to the ski lift. By the time she got her skis and boots on and made it to the bottom of the lift an hour had already passed. She still had to make it up the slopes and back down the other side to the chapel.
This is crazy! Why are things always like this with Rick? It’s either all excitement and fun or just plain misery!

She once again realized she’d spent far too long trying to be with someone who wasn’t very good to, or for, her. As the chair lift rose up the mountain she thought about the good times she and Rick had shared together. Truthfully, in the last few years there just weren’t many. When they had first gone out she’d been nineteen and Rick had made her feel like a million bucks. About a year or two into the relationship there was some weird family stuff that went down with him and his attitude toward her began to change. Suddenly he found more things wrong with her than were right. They had broken up several times already and probably should have stayed that way the first time it happened.

Cassidy never thought she deserved better, until now. She’d thought she was desperately in love with Rick when maybe she was just desperate to not be alone.
Yeah, we all have our things. I was so desperate not to be divorced several times over like my parents that I stayed with someone who was wrong rather than be alone.
She knew when Rick wasn’t around she was much more confident and outgoing. Her friends at home had told her the same thing over and over again. They had grown tired of constantly having to build her back up after Rick tore her down. They were good friends but sometimes hard love is an eye-opener. In fact, her best friend had even advised her against this trip. It was probably a good thing she hadn’t been able to get a hold of her, because she was sure to have heard an earful.

The vibrations of the chair lift indicated that she was almost to the top. It shook her out of her memories.
Better pay attention now, Cass. Don’t want to end up on the wrong run again.
Skiing off the lift, she moved over to the side to check her run map to see if she was headed in the right direction. She then glanced up at the run board to make sure the back run wasn’t closed. When she didn’t see any signs indicating that it was, she headed off to find the Log Cabin Chapel.

Skiing off to a shindig that was supposed to be your wedding in order to tell the so-called groom you weren’t interested was a strange thing. If only she could have reached Rick and been able to get this sorted out before having to come all the way up here. However, he’d really gone all out with those flowers, getting the chapel and everything. It was best that she do this face to face. For all the things she knew Rick to be, she didn’t think he was purposefully hurtful.

Unfortunately, he was just inherently selfish. Still, she felt she needed to face him and explain why this was the last time they would break up, why this is the last time they would go through any of this, and why she could not and would not marry him. Although, in the end, their bad times outweighed their good, he’d still been her first love, and he would always hold a small piece in her heart

Chapter
Ten