“Sounds pretty…normal. Not monster-y at all.”
She put her hands through the loops on her poles. “No, not like that.” I pointed to the straps. “You could hurt yourself. If they get caught on a tree it could—”
“Rip your shoulder right out of the fucking joint,” Clem interrupted. “Listen, Evie. I’m really sorry to do this to you. I’m going to have to issue a snow check for the lesson. An emergency has come up with the Windswan Holiday Bazaar and I have to go.”
Evie’s eyes grew as big as the sun in the sky behind her. “But, Clem. We’re on top of a mountain.”
“Nicky will get you down.” I choked as she slapped me on the back. “He’s the best student I’ve ever had.”
“But—” There was a tremble in Evie’s voice.
“Bye!” Clem clicked into her skis, and in a flash of orange and a whip of white braids, she was gone.
Evie’s wide eyes shimmered. Oh no. No. No. No. Damn you, Clementine. There was no way I was letting her cry.
“Hey. Tell me more about this croissant.”
She sniffed and then sighed. “GJ’s sister makes this jam from haskap berries.”
“Haskap?”
“Yeah, they’re kind of like blueberries but longer and they’re not as tart.” The strength seemed to be coming back to her voice.
“That sounds amazing. A Jam stuffed croissant.” As long as I could keep her talking, I could stop her from thinking about getting down the damn mountain.
“There’s more to it than that—he also put in goat’s cheese. They’re incredible.” The smile spread across her face and her eyes glazed over. If the memory of the breakfast could put that look in her eye, I wanted some.
“What did you name it?”
She cleared her throat. “How am I supposed to wear these things?” She held up her arms and the poles dangled from her wrist.
It looked like I had graduated from beginner to instructor. I held up my own pole and demonstrated. “Put your hand up through like this and then press down on the top, like this.”
She tried to do it but ended up repeating her first method. Her shoulders slumped. I could tell she was deflated, and as much as I liked Clem, I wanted to shake her. I tried to make my voice sound as calm as possible. “Let me help you.” I shimmied next to her and tried to ignore the magnetic feeling between us. We weren’t touching, but it felt like we were. Was it possible I could feel the warmth from her body when we weren’t even making contact?
I directed her hand with mine. “There. That’s all there is to it.”
Her hands were shaking.
“Look over there.” I pointed. Next to Widowmaker was a trail sign with a green circle. I swore that I heard gospel music and a sunbeam shone like a spotlight directly onto the sign. “We can either go down there. That one’s called Wolverine Way, or there,” I pointed to the green circle run, “Loosey Goosey.”
“Well, I’m definitely not loose, and a Wolverine is pretty brave, so maybe we should go that way.”
I laughed. “They also call Wolverine Way, Widowmaker.”
Evie’s shoulders shook as she laughed. “Oooookay. Goose it is.”
A group of ski school kids snowplowed by. They squealed and laughed as the line of them snaked down Loosey Goosey.
“That’s called the pizza.” I demonstrated with my skis. “This is called the French fry.” I jumped with my feet parallel. “For your first run, I think we should stick with the pizza.”
“Sounds delicious. I like pizza better than French fries.”
“Me too.” I smiled. “Clem showed me some exercises. I can show them to you too. I learned this morning and I can already French fry.”
I hated that I sounded like I’d stepped off the set ofSesame Street, but I had to work with the vocabulary I’d been given. “You can do it. I believe in you.”
“That makes one of us,” Evie said.
