Page 12 of Snowbody

I decided it was time to call it a day when the sun started to go down. I sighed and rose from my desk, stretching. I was hungry.

It occurred to me then that I hadn’t eaten since breakfast, too caught up in my work to notice the time slipping past.

Dinner would be ready in the lodge restaurant, so I headed downstairs.

Jacob was at the bottom of the stairs, talking to one of the guests.

I bit my lower lip, pausing on the landing. What was I supposed to do? He’d said this morning that he couldn’t be with me.

But… I wanted him to know how I’d changed the marketing plan.

I took a deep breath and approached. “Hey, Jacob?”

“Maddy, hey!” He looked up at me and smiled.

Heat ran through me.

Oh, I was in trouble.

“Hey, um, could we talk for a second?”

“Of course!” He said goodbye to the man he was talking to. The guy walked off, and Jacob turned to me. “What’s up?”

“Well, um… I was looking at the marketing today and thinking about what happened in the bar last night.”

“Yeah?”

I nodded. “I was thinking we could try and market this place on its own, without using you as a draw? Like, definitely keep you as an employee and snowboard instructor, but… make it less about you and more about the location. How, uh… how do you feel about that?”

To my surprise, Jacob lit up. “Are you serious? Maddy, that’s—”

“Jacob!”

My head snapped up.

Melody.

She power-walked toward us, arms open. Immediately, she threw them around Jacob.

He half-heartedly patted her back.

She gave me a filthy look over his shoulder.

Why did she have to treat me like scum all the time?

I wasn’t hungry anymore.

I turned and hurried back up the stairs, going toward my room.

I’d just order room service and spend the rest of the night crying.

Chapter Seven

Jacob

I didn’t see Maddy for a few days.

It was disappointing, more than anything. I’d wanted to tell her how much I liked her idea of taking me out of the marketing. I wanted to know what else she had in mind.

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