Before I can get lost in her eyes, I lean around her and grab her pair of skis.
“What are you doing?” She regards me with suspicion.
“Being a gentleman,” I reply, matter-of-factly. Also, I think I need to touch the closest thing that comes to a snowboard, or else I’ll lose my mind.
Alara blinks. “I’m going to need some time to get used to your kindness.”
I bark out a cold laugh as she falls into step beside me. I have no clue where we’re going, but I find myself following her as though we’re already tethered by some invisible thread. “You’re so lucky I don’t make a snowball and throw it at you.”
“That is so chivalrous of you,” she bites back.
I can’t refrain my grinning. “How about we get a snack before our next lesson?”
She smiles and nods, and then we’re walking toward the chairlifts. I know she’s planning on taking me to the Glacier – they serve a delicious hot chocolate I haven’t had in years.
As we sit next to each other, I revel in the sight of the mountains encircling us, feeling like a huge weight has been lifted off my chest. I don’t even know what I would have done if Alara hadn’t forgiven me. Probably weep and fall to my knees?
As reluctant as I’ve been about staying here for months, I can admit now how good it feels to be back at Blue Ridge. There’s nothing like home, and I don’t think this sense of nostalgia will ever leave me.
“Do me a favor,” I ask, turning my attention to Alara and her pink cheeks.
I’ve always loved the view from here – the endless snow-covered mountains lined up, the tall pine trees dusted in white – but as I stare at Alara, I wonder why I suddenly find it impossibly hard to look away. A realization hits me square in the face: her beauty is incomparable, and it outshines everything surrounding us.
Alright, I need to keep myself in check. No matter how attractive I think she is, she is my boss’s daughter. My friend’s sister.My sister’s best friend. Besides, I’m leaving as soon as I can.
She glances up at me. “What?”
“Please don’t push me over.”
Her laughter booms, and fuck if it doesn’t make me elated. I want to hear that sound more often. I want to be the one who makes her laugh like this. “No promises here. You’d be less of a pain in my ass.”
“Liar. Just admit that you were bored until I came into your life.”
She rolls her eyes. “I refuse to stroke your humongous ego.”
I chuckle. “That’s probably for the best.”
In that moment, there’s something blooming inside my chest – something that feels like a flower starting to sprout with the first ray of sunshine in the spring.
Hope.
And maybe, just maybe, everything will be okay.
CHAPTER SIX
DIEGO
I think I’m about to hurl my entire breakfast in the nearest bush.
If I’d known that standing at Alara’s front door would make me so nervous, I would have refused her offer of a lift to the resort. I can’t recall the last time my heart was beating this fast, on the brink of battering its way out of my goddamn body.
Because I’m car-less and Gaby’s shift started early, she couldn’t drop me off at the resort like she did yesterday, and bothering Mom for a ride is not an option with how busy she is. Yesterday, as we were packing up everything at the lodge, I randomly mentioned my situation to Alara, and she didn’t miss a beat in offering to carpool.
I told her I would meet her at her house, so that it would give me the opportunity to take a five-minute walk from home to her place and get some fresh air.
So here I am, standing at her front door, nervous as shit, like I’m about to pick her up for a date.
Pathetic, I know.
