“There’s Remi.” Knox points to the crowd of people exiting the stairwell door.
I stand on my tippy toes to see better. “Where’s Marley? And my mom and dad?”
Remi stands tall over everyone in the crowd, but the rest of my family ishard to make out.
“He’s got them.” Knox puts a hand in the air using the other to cup around his mouth. He yells Remi’s name but is unable to get his attention.
He does it again, louder this time, and Remi’s head jerks up to spot him. They start in our direction, and the crowd breaks around them, making it easier to see Marley tucked under Remi’s arm with my mom and dad directly behind the couple.
“See, everyone’s safe.” Knox looks down and smiles. He quickly kisses the top of my forehead. “So this is us then?”
“Yup.”
“Tomorrow at my race you’ll be there as my girlfriend?”
“Yup.” I smile and my cheeks turn pink from the cold air around us. Totally not because the thought of supporting Knox tomorrow as his girlfriend makes me a little giddy inside.
“And every race there after?”
“Yup.”My smile grows. I guess I’m not done in the snowboarding circuit after all.
Knox grabs my hand, staring at me with such an intensity I’m forced to maintain eye contact rather than turn away. “You’re the first girl I’ve ever loved and the last one I ever plan to fall for. There’s no point in me competing if you aren’t there.”
“I’ve always been there to cheer for you, Knox.”
“And now you alwayswill.” He squeezes my cold hands between his mittens as a loud siren from an emergency vehicle drives into the hotel parking lot.
It looks oddly like a fire truck you’d see in America, just a little shorter with some yellow on the side. Kind of like a big food truck here to put out a fire rather than serve us tacos. A team of men jump from the truck before it fully stops moving. One of them slidesopen a door on the side of the truck, revealing a collection of hoses and gear. Definitely no tacos.
The last few people slowly trickle out of the door and stand with the large crowd that gathers on the lawn next to the building.
Riley, Marley, and my parents make their way to us.
“Is everyone okay?” Remi asks looking me up and down.
“Yeah,”
An American — it’s easy to tell from his gold-medalevent jacket with the big emblem on the left pocket walks past us heading to the edge of the crowd.
“Can I have everyone’s attention, please?” he yells, but the murmuring of the conversations going on around us barely lowers. “Attention!”
His second yell gathers more people. Others see them pausing to turn in his direction, and so the rest the group follows.
“The fire department is here assessingthe situation, but it appears as if this was a false alarm. A senseless act of stupidity set against the American hotel. The fire department needs to clear the building and complete safety checks, but then we will be allowed back inside. Please stay here until further details are available.”
“How long will it take?” someone yells from behind us.
“Hopefully not long. I’m sorry. That’s all theinformation I have right now.” The man who was so excited to give us this announcement quickly walks back into the crowd. People converge on him, asking questions.
I shiver, not having had time to grab my coat when Jake ushered me out of the room.
“Let’s go back to the dorms. You need to warm up,” Knox says.
“We’re going with you.” Remi nods his head like he’s not giving anyone any room toargue. “We can stop for food on the way there.”
“Well, let’s hurry before everyone else makes the same decision. We’ll never get a taxi.” My mom, always five steps ahead of everyone else, gets the family moving. “I wanted to try that little place on the corner before we turn to the arena.”
There’s no possible way anyone would have any idea what restaurant she’s talking about. Who pays that kindof attention?
“Oh you mean the one with the neon sign in the boot out front?” my dad asks. Okay, no one but my dad would understand my mom’s crazy logic and figure it out.
