I pushed off, my board hitting the moguls. A sense of calm overtook me. Up here, there was nothing but the mountain, the sky, and the quiet hum of the wind. I could’ve beenanyone, just a traveler with no past and no worries about the future.
When we reached the bottom of the slope, I lifted my goggles and unsnapped one boot from the board. Alina did the same. Her tanned face appeared, surrounded by wisps of pale blonde hair.
“Another run?” I asked.
“We could. Unless…” She smiled in a way that probably worked on most guys. Alina rarely left alone at the end of a night of drinking with our fellow resort instructors.
It was also a smile she’d givenmeplenty of times, to no effect. But it looked like she was giving it one last go.
“Unless you want to call it a day early,” she said in faintly accented English. “Do something else for fun before you leave.”
Fuck. This was awkward.
It had been a great season here at Verbier. But now that it was late spring and the crowds were waning, it was about time to get moving again. Something I’d done pretty much every season since that longer stint I’d spent in Colorado.
I’d learned my lesson. These days, four months in one place was long enough.
“I can’t,” I said apologetically. “Though that’s a very tempting offer.”
Alina shrugged off my rejection. “All winter, I’ve never seen you with anyone. There’s someone else? Maybe back in the States?” She nudged my arm. “Come on. You never talk about yourself.”
Someone else.
How could I explain that there was no one waiting for me, not in the way she meant? No one I could ever be with, anyway.
It was easier just to agree. Easier on Alina’s ego, which probably didn’t need that much help if we were being honest.But also easier on me. I’d never enjoyed confessing my secrets.
“Yes. Someone else.”
“Just a drink then?” she offered. “If you wanna talk about it.” When I hesitated, she added, “Or another run would be lovely too.”
I grinned. “Another run.”
As expected, the snow didn’t hold out long, and by the late afternoon we found ourselves at the preferred watering hole of the seasonal instructors.
We were an international crew. Alina was a local, while Lars was Swedish. Matteo had come from Italy, and Yuki from Japan.
“So where’s everyone headed next?” Lars asked, leaning back in his chair with a beer in hand.
“Got a line on some hotel work in Mykonos for the summer,” Matteo said. “Sunny days, wild nights.”
“I didn’t think your nights could get any wilder,” Yuki joked. There were backslaps and playful nudges around the table. They were all grown adults in their twenties and thirties, but acted like teenagers. I wouldn’t claim to have all my shit together, but sometimes I felt like the boring older brother. At thirty-six, I was set in my ways.
“What about you, Dean?” Yuki asked. “Where are you heading?”
“Don’t know yet.”
Lars guffawed. “But aren’t you taking off tomorrow morning?”
“I guess I’ll decide by then.”
Yuki shook her head, smirking. “So mysterious.” She tipped back her drink, then thunked it on the table. “I think Dean sprang fully formed into the world one day, jumped onto a snowboard, and never looked back.”
I laughed. “That’s pretty much it.”
“I’d say that works well with the ladies,” Lars said, “but you never take advantage there.” He nodded toward Alina, who was dancing with some new face.
“Or with guys,” Matteo added. “Haven’t seen you with any of them either.”
