She wanted to look away but couldn’t. In fact, she wanted to breathe and couldn’t do that either.
“Jack,” she whispered. “Did you bring me out here to flirt?”
“Just like the first time,” he said with a laugh. “In fact…” He gave the reins a tug to the left as they reached the turn to Bluebell Crossing. “I’m in the mood to recreate that night.”
If he remembered her hat, then he certainly remembered…their first kiss. The thought of recreating that simply melted her.
“Now, that could be dangerous,” she said quietly, but made no effort to move away.
“Copper knows the way,” he told her. “I added it to the sleigh ride trail for the longer rides. And every time I’m up there, I think about you.”
She sighed.
“I do a lot of that lately,” he confessed as Copper trotted up the hill.
“Well, technically, you work for me,” she said, fighting the urge to sink into what he was offering—a connection, a romance, a reliving of such happier days.
“I’m not thinking about work,” he said. “I’m just…sleigh-riding down memory lane.”
She smiled at that, letting silence stretch between them like a snow-laden branch, delicate and heavy, as his sweet words fell like a few flakes fluttering around them.
“What are you remembering the most?” she finally asked.
“Everything. All the moments and memories. All the love and laughter. I know, I know. I sound like a sappy Christmas card, but it’s how I feel being here. And with you. And Nic. The whole family, but mostly you.” His words tumbled out, his voice thick with emotion that squeezed her heart.
“Why did you come back, Jack?”
“What do you mean?” He blinked in surprise at the question.
“When Nic asked you to come back here, to do this…” Cindy took a deep breath. “Did you really agree just because you wanted to teach her to ski again? Or you cared about the lodge? Or…”
He inhaled slowly. “Because I missed everything. The lodge. The smell of the air here. This place…it’s part of me. I was raised in these mountains, and I lived here for fifty years.” He looked at her, eyes full of something soft and sincere. “Truth?”
Her breath caught. “Please,” she whispered.
“I didn’t come back just for sleigh rides,” he said. “I mean, that’s what I told myself. But the thought of seeing you…of spending these weeks with you…” He glanced away, laughing easily as he shook his head. “I jumped at the chance, to be honest.”
She looked down at the blanket on her lap, her heart thumping against her ribs.
“I was excited when you came back,” she said.
“You didn’t look excited,” he scoffed. “You looked dumbfounded.”
She laughed. “Well, I didn’t want to admit it, but…I was happy.”
“I was happy, too. I’m still happy. Happier than I’ve been in a long time.”
They didn’t speak again until the sleigh crested the final hill. There they reached the overlook where two trails connected at a pasture that, in spring, was filled with tiny blue flowers, giving it the name of Bluebell Crossing.
To Cindy, it was, and always would be, where she and Jack had their first kiss.
Even in the waning light, the view was as breathtaking as she remembered—rolling white hills, shadows curling between evergreens, the sky glowing gold and lavender with the last whisper of light, the mountain looming high and holy.
Jack pulled Copper to a stop. “Want to give him a break and walk in the snow?”
“Sure.”
They climbed out of the sleigh, hitting the drifts of snow. Cindy turned in a slow circle, taking it all in. The beauty. The stillness. The memories.
