“A proposal?” He had my attention.
“If you think you can pretend to like me, I will be your pretend boyfriend for the rest of the week, so you can save face with your ex. What do you think about that? I mean, if you think you can stomach the thought of riding the chairliftwith me, holding my hand… being my date on New Year’s Eve…”
I thought about it for a minute as my legs quivered beneath me from overuse. I hadn’t gotten as much exercise as I had hoped, but this was pushing my limits. All I wanted to do was get inside and sit in front of the warm fireplace with a cup of hot chocolate.
“I don’t know, Blake. I mean, it sounds like it could be fun, and I appreciate it, but how would it be believable?
“Easy: We can’t do this halfway. We need to make a full-fledged commitment. I want it to look so real that evenweforget it’s not. If I promise to give it my all for your sake, will you give it your all for mine?”
I wondered what he would get out of this, but even so, the agreementwasjust what I needed to feel better around Theo. “Okay.”
Blake cheered as he jumped up and down, somehow even doing that perfectly on his skis. “Thank you, Claire, for letting me make this right. If we do it correctly, I think we are going to really have some fun. Just you wait.” He grinned and held his hand out. “Oh, there’s one more thing.” I cocked my eyebrow, wondering what else there could be on earth that wehadn’t covered. “When you said that you can’t compete with women who ski, meaning Melanie and Tara… I just want to say, I never asked you to compete with them. And I never would.”
Watching him gracefully slide away, taking any remaining words I had with him, I wondered just who that man was. He differed from anyone else I’d ever met, in the best way.
I was so eager to get back inside, I nearly cried when I took my ski boots off. What. A. Day. A group of the youth group moms and girls were urging me to accompany them to the hot tubs before dinner, and I couldn’t think of anything better. “Let’s do it, ladies.”
*****
That night, I reflected on the proposal I had agreed to with Blake. Taking out my phone, I opened my social media to see a friend request waiting from him. I accepted because it would be weird not to be connected online to the man I was supposedly dating. Clicking on his profile, I scrolled through to see his pictures.
Blake had done it all: He was a world traveler; sailed the seven seas; experienced Michelin restaurants; talented at different sports; and was especially good at playing the piano, which I knew from experience. His charm was evident, even through the phone screen. I admitted to myself just how attracted I felt to Blake but in a much different way than to Theo.
Theo was built like a Grecian statue, and he knew it. There was nothing he loved more than showing off his physique. He looked in every mirror he had the chance to and never let a photo opportunity pass him by. Blake, on the other hand… Most of his photos were candid, and friends posted most of them. In fact, the only photo Blake had posted of himself was his profile picture of him at his college graduation and scenery photos of his travels. I could respect that.
Upon scrolling, I found a photo posted by Melanie. It was a picture of them standing at a golfing tournament together, presumably with her parents. I clicked on her profile to see she wasn’t just dating a man from the NFL, but they were newly engaged. While I assumed he was a footballplayer, I learned he was a football executive and a solid ten to fifteen years older than Melanie.
Going back to Blake’s page, I felt closure with Melanie. While she was one of the most beautiful women I’d ever seen, neither Blake nor Melanie appeared to be interested in each other. I could let that go, writing it off as an awkward coincidence that she was there. “Not that any of it matters, because we aren’t really dating after all…” I mumbled to myself before a final scroll of Blake’s pictures, when my jaw truly dropped.
Apparently, Blake was a world-class skier…I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the photo of him holding a trophy. He didn’t post it, but a skiing association tagged him in the photo. It looked like he won the men’s cup in a national slalom race two years prior. I felt impressed and worried at the same time. Tossing my phone to the side, I was impressed that he was so talented at, well, everything, yet worried because I wasn’t. I just needed to get through that week and put my best ski boot forward.
“It just has to be believable that we are dating,” I mumbled, trying to convince myself. “Then I can go back to my life and figure out what’s next.” The feeling of dreadstarted to creep up as I considered just what could be next for me.
Chapter7
December 29th
The next morning, I woke up to my alarm. Getting up an hour prior to the teenagers was always my plan so that I could eat breakfast in the early morning, but once that it was in action, I felt groggy and like my face was puffy. Pulling on my bathrobe, I went over to the modest balcony in my room and opened the double doors for some fresh air and stumbled upon the most amazing sunrise.
As the sun slowly rose behind Sage Mountain, a peak known for its angular ridges and blunt shape of a narrow triangle, the fresh layer of powder that lay on every surface started sparkling. Little flakes blew off the roof, swirling around me. The colors in the sky were unbelievable as it lit,going from pinks to golds. I watched in awe, unaware of my cold feet and surroundings. I felt a tear fall down my cheek, both from the cold weather and the humbling beauty that God had shown me.
Alpenglow.I remembered my dad telling me about this term of colors in the sky when I was a kid. Though I could always be reliable with being on time, I was never much of an early riser. I was more of a sunset-chaser. But it was worth getting up for, as I vowed to enjoy it more frequently. Just then, I saw a skier in the distance make the way down a run. With no lifts running yet, that person must have hiked up. Each turn was perfectly carved through the powdery, sparkling white. While I watched, I felt that person’s commitment to skiing was inspiring and found myself wanting to experience a sunrise ski. As our glowing orb of light arrived at its full form, and the skier was now out of sight, I slipped back inside, feeling refreshed at the experience.
After making a cup of coffee in the little machine in my room, I started sorting through my clothes to find what I was going to wear for the day. I chose a black turtleneck with thermal leggings to go under my ski pants and jacket. Blacklooked good on me when I wore a little mascara, otherwise it washed me out. So, that’s what I decided to do.
No amount of mascara could conceal just how puffy I had looked that morning. Things spiraled out of control and by the time I was done with my makeup, I was wearing mascara, blush, bronzer, under-eye brightener, and a swipe of pink lip gloss. I wondered if it was too much but remembered that Tara wore a full face of makeup, and it didn’t seem out of place at all. It’s just that this was abnormal for me because I normally only wore it on special occasions. But then again, I had a new—er,fakeboyfriend to show off to, and an ex to face, so the occasion was pretty unique.
Once I had my hat and gloves on, I headed down the hall, only to hear a door opening behind me.
“Good morning, Claire.” Mayah, with her long, jet-black hair, was one of the older girls in the youth group at seventeen. “Do you want some coffee? I just made a pot.”
My eyes widened to see she was drinking it black. “No, thank you, Mayah. I am more of a coffee-with-my-creamer type, I’m afraid.” I laughed, not expecting to see such a young woman with a taste for black coffee.
“I used to think that, too, until we started getting our coffee direct from a grower in South America. It’s completely fair-trade, organic, and it has hints of hazelnut. Once you drink this in its purest form, there’s no going back to that sugary sludge that’s served in coffee shops.”
“Hmm. I don’t think I’m ready for that kind of enlightening yet because I happen to relish my sludge. Well, I’m going to get some food.”
Mayah nodded in agreement. “Great idea. Most of us are up if it’s okay that we join you? We can be there in just a few minutes.”
