"I am so sorry, Mr. Scott," the lodge employee said. "There seemed to be a sudden power surge that messed with the elevator."
"Then you should have some protectors on the outlets so this kind of thing doesn't happen," Ellery snapped.
I was shocked at his tone. He sounded angry. Seriously angry.
"We will be looking into it," he said. "Please, let us make it up to you. We can offer you the one-on-one instruction tomorrow for free.”
"That's the least you could do," he said sharply. "Be lucky if my family decides to come back next year. Let's go."
Ellery turned me so I was still held against him, but we were now moving to the stairs and going up. I tried to keep my head down, sure I had makeup streaked down my face at this point.
We got to the room and I was relieved to be out of that situation.
"Are you okay now?" Ellery asked. He had a much calmer tone asking me than he did downstairs. His hands gripped my shoulders, running up and down each side, making me feel grounded.
"I'm fine," I said. "Just a bit startled."
"I'm sorry that happened. We will definitely be speaking to management.”
"It's fine. It's no one's fault."
"It scared you, though, and it shouldn't have happened."
It was at that moment I realized how close we were, how much we were really touching. And how good it all felt.
I pulled back, suddenly feeling empty without his touch. "I think I should go wash my face."
He nodded. "Let me know if you need anything. We don't have anything going on until dinner."
I slipped into the bathroom and gazed at myself in the mirror. My nose and eyes were red and I had black streaks working their way down my face.
I hated crying in front of people. I was not one of those cute criers, my face would get all splotchy and my eyes too puffy.
I cleaned myself up and managed to feel a bit better before going back out to the main room to find I was alone.
That was probably for the best. The energy between us felt a bit weird after what happened. Though, I could admit it was nice having him there. If that happened while I was alone, I would have truly lost it. And he did feel warm and cozy when we were pressed together. I also got to learn a bit about him. I didn’t know he broke his nose, I couldn’t even tell. Every bit of information I got about him felt like another piece of a puzzle I was never meant to solve.
I knew I shouldn't go down this road. That these thoughts would only lead to complications, and complications could only lead to heartbreak. I didn't need complications or heartbreak. I just needed to get through this and get back to my life.
Ellery
Somehow,we were up even earlier the next morning to get to skiing. I booked Juniper a lesson since she hadn’t been before. I wanted to have an easy going morning, but Juniper insisted on being on time for her lesson. When I tried to tell her we had plenty of time she reminded me how long it would take me to style my hair and shave, not to mention eat breakfast. Though I was sure we were getting going too early, we did end up down at the slope right on time.
The lesson was also given to us for free after what happened yesterday. I wasn’t sure what came over me. Juniper was right, I knew it wasn’t really anyone’s fault. But she wasterrified.
What didn’t anger me was how she reached to me for comfort. Her soft, plush body felt right pushed against mine.Tooright. I purposefully pushed it from my mind.
Soon enough, I was able to distract myself with the business of prepping for the slopes. I had my coat on and my boots strapped and ready to go.
“Ready to eat my flakes?” Samuel said as he approached. He had always been competitive, especially whenever we went on these ski trips.
“Sure, but I’m not the one who’s gonna leave you in the dust,” I said, looking towards Arthur, who’d decided to grace us with his presence today.
He already had his boots on and skis in hand. He was the dark horse every time. I swore if he wasn’t running a company, he should have done snow sports professionally. Snowboarding or skiing, he was a pro from the first time he got on them. And Samuel had been trying to catch him ever since.
“I’ll get him this year,” he said with certainty.
“Sure you will, babe,” Rachel said as she joined us. She was in all white with the puffy ear muffs and gloves. “Where’s Juniper?” she asked.
